MaikenAH

The last 2 weeks have been hectic. The major event here in Peru has been the floodings due to all the rain we had last week. Lots of houses have been flooded, forcing people out with nothing. Also, lots of the houses up the mountains especially in Cusco, have collapsed as they're pretty fragile. Lots of people are living in the schools and there's also a lot in the sports field just down the road from our house. 2000 tourists were trapped on Machu Picchu as the roads and train tracks were all washed away - they were all flown down by helicopter. According to my host mum, Machu Picchu wont open until April - there's so much work to do. It's pretty much all that's in the news over here.. I'm thinking we'll be helping ... read more

Something I forgot to put in the other entry and something I think deserves it's own entry: I have seen the Peruvian Johnny Depp. It's quite fascinating really, as he now joins the group of non-white Depps out there. I saw the black version in Tanzania (he was one of the drummers at the circus - obviously they're all in the entertainment business). I have now to find the chinese Depp - must go to China. x... read more

My problems with my stupid host mum have been "resolved" in that I have now moved host family. I now live with the people who run SOK, the company we did safari and Kili with, and they are so nice, they are some of the nicest people i have ever met and they also live in luxury (tanzanian luxury that is) - i now have a shower ! with hot water, they say, but so far i've only had a freezing cold shower. But I really don't care about that. My host dad is called Sebastian, he's quite a big guy but he does it (being big that is) with style somehow. My host mum is called Irene, also have a host sister, Winfred/Winnie and a host brother. They're so nice and are a lot ... read more

So Alice and I have been here in Zanzibar on the north-west coast since wednesday and it's absolutely brilliant! It's pure paradise. I love it ! The sea is so blue/green and the sand is so white, it's like flour. The days we've had here have been amazing.. We live in a small hut with 2 double beds and a bathroom with flushing toilet and a shower! The shower is amazing after only using buckets for the past 6 weeks unfortunatly there was only luke warm water the first night so it's been freezing cold showers ever since. We've spent a lot of time on the beach just relazing, reading and listening to music, lying in the hammocks, having drinks in the evening.. I'm so glad i'm travelling with alice as she's so much fun, absolutely ... read more

So Alice and I go to Zanzibar on Wednesday!! and we start climbing Kili in a week and 3 days. Shit. Can't wait. In the next three days I'll be living by the ATMs as we both have to pay for Kili (1000 USD) and get money out to last us in Zanzibar as apparently VISA sucks there and you cant get any money out. Which is really weird since it's a tourist haven. The ATM of course has a daily limit and often they dont work so I'm gonna take as much out as poss today, tmr and tuesday. I have to get out 1,300,000 tsh to pay for Kili and the highest tanzanian note is 10,000. It's gonna be like robbing the bank! Just getting out 100,000 gets you a huge wad of money. ... read more