Blogs from Peru, South America - page 1149

Buenos Dias mis amigos!! Was up and ready to leave for the prison today at 8.30am sharp -despite my hot date with Tom Cruise which lasted until 1am this morning!! Eleven of the volunteers and Marisol headed out to the prison this morning. That made thirteen of us in a twelve seater minibus (including Alejandro the driver). There were a lot of journalists and reporters there today. Apparently some guy who is a head honcho in the cocaine trefficking business has been transferred to the Ayacucho jail, and there is a lot of media interest. We passed the first checkpoint where I got an ink stamp and something written on my right arm, and my ID (passport) checked. Once inside my passport was checked again and retained until we left. I also got another ink stamp ... read more

Hello loves, I was just thinking that Jules and I haven't updated you in a while on our adventures, so we've compiled some of the random every day stuff...nothing terribly exciting, but just to let you know what we've been up to. - we just discovered that there is a fruit here called a guanábana, which sounds like (manomana)...so every time we see it, we of course sing the muppet song, doo do do do do guanábana doo do do do do.(if you don't remember that muppet song, you probably think we're crazy, but trust me, it's funny). -there is a man who walks around our neighborhood, usually in the morning and sometimes at night, who is selling something and yells in a very loud voice something that neither of us can understand, although we think ... read more

Hola Amigos! Getting to South America proved way more difficult than expected. My only real prep before leaving work was to get a travel book, which I hadn't read and buy an iPod (essential). The first obstacle to overcome was quitting my job. Much harder than I thought, 6 years is a long time and the offers to stay where tempting. The second obstacle was booking the Round The World Ticket, the plan was simple leave work then on Monday morning book the ticket. A week went by still no ticket, my time was mostly spent in bed or lounging around watching daytime TV, can´t beat a bit of mid morning Property Ladder. Many friends (and relatives) where questioning if I was actually intending on going?!? I didn't have a good answer. With new found enthusiasm ... read more

Nazca, what a place. Elisa and I arrived early afternoon from Huacachina and took the first persons advice after exiting the bus. Not something I normally do but we were in a hurry to get this over with and move on to Arequipa. The woman we met came with a free taxi ride and she assisted us in purchasing a night bus ticket to Arequipa before heading off to the airport. The people in Nazca must be used to such rapid travellers cause the bus station happily secured our large packs in the back office untill our return at 10:30 that evening. The airport, and our new guide's office, wasn't that far from the bus station and she ran us through her usual routine. We were given two options; Economic - a large craft that ... read more

Monday 21 November Hello all, Today was my first day at the orphanage. Vicki wasn´t feeling great today, so I went on my own. Was working with the babies in the nursery. Marisol (one of the CCS staff) took me along and introduced me to the head nun. The orphanage is run by the RC church and also supported by the government. The sister asked if I could work a full day on Tuesdays as there is only one person in the nursery in the afternoon. I said that this was no problem. When I arrived, the babies were being washed and changed out of their pyjamas into their day clothes. There are 11 kids in the nursery in total. The youngest is 3 months old and the eldest maybe a year. After they were changed, ... read more