Tom BC goes to Peru

Hey!

Its been a while since my last blog post, which seems like an age ago. A lot has hapenned since then. Huanchaco was one big chill out, definitely what I needed at the time. Bonfires on the beach, Ron Cartavio Gold, eating at My Friend with team wankacheros, failing at surfing, smoking cheap cigarettes and telling myself I'll stop the next day, LOTS of guitar playing and drunken oasis singalongs, chillout bar on tuesdays and thursdays, pool at the Sabes, friday reggae nights at Sunkella you get the idea... I had a wicked time and met a bunch of people from all over the place. Most travellers were from the states or canada, though there was always a perpetual group of ozzies and the odd kiwi here and there. Though however much fun it was, there came the time when I decided I'd experienced what huanchaco had to offer. James arrived a week or two ago, left for cuzco and came back again, then we bought coach tickets to Tarapoto in the jungle, far to the east of Trujillo. Felt I needed a change of pace and scenery, which is exactly what we got.

The journey was fraught with delays. We were told the journey would be 18 hours, though two landslides hindered us and it ended up taking about 30 in the end. Felt like we were on the bus forever.. luckily we brought a bottle of rum along with us and some good books. Im reading Machiavelli's The Prince, james is reading something about drugs.. Its called Freakonomics he just corrected me lol. Lets put one thing straight, machiavelli was a real nasty piece of work. If I recall correctly, in one passage on 'Lands recieved by a new prince through favour or luck' he reccommends that you kill all the poor people, because no one gives a damn about them... then kill off the bloodline of the previous establishment, or make them poor and dissipated so that they cannot rebel. Sounds like sound advice to me, but he is also a ruthless son of a bitch! Really enjoying the book, as you can see. Anyway back to our journey. I was awake at dawn, and the sun came up to show us the rainforest we'd been driving through. Was an amazing moment, Ive got piccies and a few movies too. The second landslide meant we had to wait for a good 3 hours for it to be cleared up, so we clamored to be let out of the coach for some fresh air. Was great to be out of the coach, and the land around us was stunning! I got one pic Im going to submit to InterfaceLift as a wallpaper (once Ive gone over it in Pixelmator ofc :) ).

We got to Tarapoto last night and had a quarter chicken and chips each at the Polleria, having not eaten anything but fried platanos for over a day (they didnt have anything else on the coach!! could have told us before..) and booked our hospedaje. Today was breakfast in tarapoto after a frustrating search for a cash machine that accepted mastercard, then onto Yurimaguas via a taxi. Shittest driver, ever. He just loved overtaking on a blind bend (maybe it was the thrill of it he was after) and we skidded out on a bend in the middle of a rainstorm right by a huge drop on the side of the road... Scary shit, I had my foot down the whole way. We stopped off for some lunch halfway, had some caldo de gallina (hen soup) and we gathered our wits and carried on. Arrived here a couple of hours ago to get our hospedaje. And here I am now at the internet. Were taking the boat to Iquitos tomorrow, it leaves at midday and were equipped with hammocks and mosquito nets. Should be no more than 3 days but Im finding it difficult to trust peoples estimations nowadays, especially concerning transport. Anyway, were going to meet Pete and Mike in Iquitos and head down to Mishana for a bit. Im hoping I can help Mike out with some of the construction. Heard of some awesome tours you can do where you take a canoe out and go and hunt monkeys and shit sounds wicked.

Got to go now, Ill try and make these posts more of a frequent thing, when I can find a nearby internet cafe. Will put images and our video diary up when I find a comp with USB.

Byee

So I tried surfing today, soooo much fun! Went out with a Finnish volunteer called tero (I call him terror) whos been doing it for a while now. Was expecting to have lessons on theory etc before I actually got in the water but in typical south american fashion I was just handed a board and an ill fitting wetsuit and told to have a crack at it. Which I did. The first wave headed towards us so I started paddling and then stood up and unbelievably, there I was, surfing, with the biggest grin on my face. The grin lasted perhaps two or three seconds before I fell off sideways and was engulfed by foam and spray, but that was awesome. The rest of the 2 hours I spent paddling towards waves, missing them, half catching them and falling, being thrown about by monster waves which scared me shitless and generally feeling very frustrated and exhausted. Thats surfing they say, all hard work and no pay. Well it was worth it anyway, and Im getting my first lesson tomorrow and booking a months use of the boards and wetsuits. My arms ache and I find lifting things challenging, and it really made me realise just how lazy Ive become recently.. oh well, I guess this excersise thing will be good for me.

The weekend was fun. In the course of three days I met what must be every gringo in town. Friday night we found a house party, Saturday was El Carnival (ended up dancing with indigenes in the parade hahaha) which then settled into a beach party with cherangitos and a flute player, sunday was more drinks by the beach ahhhh it was such a laugh.. A new volunteer is staying at my house now, she´s 50 and called marilyn monroe (not joking) and is an um.. interesting character to say the least. Well im not on my own there now which I suppose is good. Work is going okay, were moving on quickly with the library as two new volunteers came in on mondya so theres 5 of us now. But school has been pushed back another week because they realised the roof of the to-be new library was built completely wrong and the second floor of classrooms hasnt been finished. Some of the americans built a skate park for the kids a km out of town so I want to help out painting it all up should be fun but no details as of yet. Yesterday (errr and today) I had a hamburger that would put macdonalds, kfc and burger king to shame. Whilst in more developed fast food places they tend to make burgers higher (at around 99p extra per millimetre) I bought a burger the width of a dinner plate for 5 soles (about 1 pound) with cheese, egg, salad and a whole lot of meat in it. Too good to be true. Got to have it with an inca kola and dont even consider buying fries on the side (you wont finish them).

All in all Im growing to really like huanchaco and Im thinking I may even come back here after travelling with James. There are also opportunities for work teaching english and working in bars which is a bonus. My camera is bugin, it runs down the batteries very fast so not sure if its the batteries or the camera but either way its a shame. Oh well. Until next posttttt adios

Our library at the moment:

View from roof:

Roof 2 view:

Im going to take some of the beach tomorrow :) 

So I´m here in Huanchaco. Camera ran out of batteries a day or two ago sorry! Read on if you stand having to read actual text (challenging, I know).

Oh my gaaawwwwd this place is buff. Sun is shining every day, the town is built along a beautiful beach, markets everywhere and best of all, they have motocars!! It´s 1 sol to anywhere in town on an extremely noisy and precarious half motorbike half gazebo thing. Brilliant, though I imagine being lazy is going to cost me.. everything is within walking distance anyway, since its a very small village. I´m staying with a family in the outskirts of town theyre all v friendly and helpful, everything is very basic but functional. I managed to zap myself three times in the shower before I realised the hot water has to be turned on after the water itself... lol.

Did my first day of work today, at the CEP school project. School term starts in March so there isnt any teaching going on at the moment. Ive been allocated to the organisation of the library (basically a huge, menacing pile of books and magazines) with two belgian girls whove been here a few weeks. Was really impressed by the project actually. The grounds are massive and theyre even building a second floor right now. All very good but SO tiring... the room is literally packed to the ceiling with books, and were moving all the shit ones into boxes, then organising and cataloguing all the others bit by bit. Now I know why librarians are such miserable bitches.. lol. It was good though I feel like its going somewhere and the other volunteers are really committed and hardworking.

I get a discount at one of the surf schools, so I thought meh why not have a go? Theres one beach with just foam which is great for starting, and on the other side of the pier there are some really big waves for later : ) Im going to book some lessons tomorrow because im only working from 9 till 12.30 in the afternoon here and Ive got tonnes of free time so i thought its the perfect opportunity! Lol imagine me surfing hahaha oh well Ill keep you all updated on how it goes. Maybe some piccies next time too.

Okay my treinta minutos de tiempo is nearly up so Im going to have a quick go at the game of CounterStrike going on (I havent once come into this cafe and not seen five or six people playing, theres a perpetual lan party going on hehe) and zen i head to the volunteer lunch. byee

I've booked a seat on a Cruz del Sur coach to Trujillo tomorrow where I'll be for the next month doing voluntary work.. it's a VIP ticket and theyre giving me FREE CHICKEN : O so all in all I'm looking forward to the journey, which is nine hours. I'm going to try and get a little bit further on crash bandicoot hehe.. pokemon red has been neglected completely I'll have to pick that up at some point. Both the digital camera and the gameboy have been invaluable so far so thanks to my lovely sisters for their donations! 

I've finally got a phone here. Went to every electronics/mobile store in San Isidrio looking for a god damn charger but no one had it, and each shop in turn would lead me onto another hopeful little store but alas the cycle repeated itself until lunchtime and was getting very fed up with it all so bought a nokia handset - it has a torch and a numeric keypad so im feeling pretty tech right now! I must learn how to use predictive text one of these days.. i feel incompetent as a mobile phone owner, slowly spelling out each word. Oh well works for me I guess.

Spent a good deal of time restringing guitars today but happy with the result. A friend of james and nicole came round yesterday night - played us some amaazing choons and she sang so well! Decided the classical could do with a new set so headed out today to buy them.. there is the equivalent of Denmark Street here in Lima, a cluster of guitar shops in one area. Had no trouble finding the ones I wanted :)

Sorry today's update isnt so exciting, next time I'll have pics of me swinging from vine to vine like tarzan PROMISE kthxbai

Was a bit more active. Got up at 9 (yes, 9 oclock mum, isnt that just incredible??) and got a taxi to the museum of archaelogy. Really interesting it did this kind of chronological history of finds in peru.. saw some deformed and trepanned skulls from paracas too - scary. most of the stuff was ornamented pots and bits and pieces, but there were these massive carved obelisks and loads of weapons too hehe. I got really excited when i thought id stumbled across an ancient peruvian NINJA STAR : O : O but it turned out to be a mace : ( disappointing in the extreme.. though there were loads of muskets and halberds and generally a great variety of sharp and lethal objects which were fascinating. i only saw one other person the whole time i was there, had the place to myself : )

taxi drivers here are really friendly and not at all bothered by my atrocious spanish. I held my first conversation that lasted over 10 minutes and wasnt about how to get to the train station - it was about football actually, which was even more surprising as i dont really know anything about it. They both supported chelsea and seemed to have an intimate knowledge of british football lol! I then took a walk along the coast and saw la rosa nautica in the distance, had something to eat and also drank my first Inca Kola mmmm. erm then I came back here. Its really hot and ive a funny feeling im going to wake up tomorrow a little pinker than usual :S James and nicole are lovely and im not the only one here. theres another guy called rolo who's training to be in the merchant navy, and nicoles sister stephanie who i can talk to about MMORPGs and gaming hahaha who would have thought right? food is good - different and i think my stomach is rebelling a bit but a couple more days and i think itll belt up.

Sooooo anyway some piccies. cant be bothered to resize them so they may take a while to load : ). oh and the internet here is amazing, 4mb speed and apparently some people pay for 4 and get 8!! finally no more moving my MBP around my desk to catch da intanetz - when i got onto this one i got a popup saying 'signal - excellente!' and nearly cried with joy.

Breakfast with Pete

Papaya

Pacific! ^^

Thought this owl dude looked pretty mean

Llama jug - best invention hands down

These llamas were pretty cool too. though the word noob springs to mind for some odd reason

Maces

Coast again : )

They have a rabbit here too

Sorry i couldnt snap anything more interesting. will make an effort next time hehe

Dinner last night was gooooood. Some maize thing and plenty of veg, topped off with jungle root nightcap :D So I'm here at James' place, so humid! Just bought some grettes and had a walk by the sea, all the kids skateboard here - i saw an 8 year old ollie off these steps he got some phat air! seriously theyve got skills.. and his skateboard was literally as big as him lol. family here are lovely and the house is gorgeous. double bed and my own bathrooom too!

think lunch is nearly ready, smells good. im kind of jetlagged though so i think a siesta and a shower will do me some good. still have to plan the rest of today but should be pretty chilled

I'm in Lima at Pete's place. Journey was okay Iberia fed me very well (4 meals??) and my bag came through at the end so couldn't have turned out better! Read 'Mockingbird' on the plane.. suicidal robots + dystopic drugged up world = win. Was about 20 hours I think not sure but im bloody tired. Taxi back from the airport was erm interesting.. crazy driving, seriously. I was shitting my pants.. but ive made it haha. Going to tuck into some dins now so got to go but will be posting some photos soon! : )

I'll be posting very soon. Stay tuned : )