We had a whole day to recover back in Cusco and the next day we headed down south to Puno on the coast of Lake Titicaca. In true Peruvain style, we all got in a convoy of took-tooks!

With our local guide, Manuel, we boarded our boat and headed through the waterway through the reeds. Our first stop was an island made entirely of Water Reeds! On this small island, there were 8 different families! It was an incredible experience feeling how firm the island felt under our feet! Here, the people are free from the conventional laws which govern Peru. We were told that if you don’t like your neighbours here, you can just cut the island down the middle and let them float away! They were all even smaller than the other people in Peru. One of the women nearly had a heart-attack when she found out I was 18!

When we reached the peninsula on the far side of the bay, we met the families we would be staying with that night. After having a delicious fish lunch, we went out with our families in their boats to help them put their fishing nets out. After that, we played beach volley ball. It was Locals vs. Gringos (the spanish word for foreigners). That evening, we went to the village president’s house for a poncho party! All of the clothes meant something here: single man, married woman, man in love, woman seeking man. Jackie and Ada came dressed in the clothes of virgins (snigger).

The next morning, we went out with our families in the fishing boats to collect the fish caught in our nets over night. It was mine and Sean’s family that won (with about 34 fish). We had a talk with everyone before we left. The locals (with their large families) were asking Josh and Amber what contraception they used. After that, we sailed on to Amantani Island. After being humiliated in a game of football, we wanted to siesta but Manuel made us go up to the temple at the top of the island. Slave-driver! That evening was another Poncho party, but this time with more singing and dancing! Every dance meant something. Some were about sowing seeds and others were about helping your drunken partners back home!

The next day, we got the boat back to Puno ready for going over the border into Bolivia to stay in La Paz. Now Jackie said that a lot of the holidays she’d been on, there’d been some sort of disaster. She was around during the bombing in Gibralta for one. Now, as we switched the news on, we found out that there were fierce riots happening in La Paz! Our jaws dropped. Ada tried to convince us that we would be fine as the police would quickly sort it out. That didn’t stop us from worrying all the way there. But sure enough, whilst the traffic was absolutely manic, there were no riots and we got to our hotel safely. This was Ada’s last night with us, since she’s heading back to study at the University of Lima. We made sure to have a good night (even though she wasn’t drinking because of her studies) going to fake english bars and posh restaurants.

The rest of us then had a day of just hanging around in La Paz. Me, Sean, Beth and Janet went to the Luna Valley. An mountainous area with rock formations which make it look like the surface of the moon. Almost everywhere we went there, we could see the lone piper on his rock. He was even good enough to pose for us!

We then went to the market to enjoy the incredibly cheap prices. I got a decent pair of jeans with a belt for under 7 pounds! That evening, we went out to a local bar and I said goodbye to everyone else. At least, I thought it was goodbye.

As I waited in the airport lobby the next morning, I saw the dreaded word, ‘CANCELLED’ appear next to my flight. After a lot of panicking and running around, I found out that there had been a strike in Santa Cruz meaning that my American Airlines plane could not refuel. I grimly exited the airport to get a taxi all the way back to the hotel where I met my suprised Australian friends. With the help of Sean, I set about finding out how I would get home, with the start of Uni only being a week away. I found out that the plane might not be flying for at least 5 days. We found out that my best option was to get a 26 hour bus all the way back to Lima where I could get a plane to Miami and then to Heathrow. It was very strange going back on the 3 week journey in a day. The sights of Lake Titicaca, the mountains around Arequipa and the deserts of Nazca really brought back memories. But a 26 hour bus ride is not an experiance I want to repeat! On the plus side, going back to Lima meant I got to see Ada again! I’d actually missed hearing her call me names like Nicsito and Baby Boy.

It was a real relief to get back to my family (even if I only did get half a week before Uni). Despite this three-day trauma, I really do miss Peru. The colourful people and the wild experiences. Meeting new people at University only seemed like a minor challenge compared with traveling a world away on your own.Whilst I am enjoying finally being able to settle down in one place, but it wasn’t long after I got back that I started thinking about where I should go next. Perhaps Fiji or Russia?  I’ve had real ups and downs whilst I’ve been out there (probably more noticable in my first blog when I was still trying to work out what I was doing) but the ups really outweighed the downs. I’m really pleased that I’ve kept a record of what’s happened since it just shows how much things can turn around and I hope this is useful to other rookie travelers!

By the 3rd lesson, we´d gotten used to the kids and we had a better lesson plan. Letting them write in their books from the start meant that they spent the whole lesson just doodling, so we started off with just writing phrases and numbes on the board and getting them to say them. We also did a bit of role play. Caroline and Gill spoke in English and I translated. When it came to writing, we set extra tasks for those who´d finished early such as learning to say how old they are. We felt the kids had done so well in the lesson that we finished with a game of football.

That´s what we wer doing in the afternoons. In the mornings, we´ve been building a wall to defend the town´s resevoir. However, we were midway through the second week and we still hadn´t had any support from the locals. We were getting a bit tired of the whole ´si mañana´attitude. But eventually they came and the real work began. We first had to dig trenches which the walls would be built in. Next, we had to put rocks in the bottom of the trenches to act as the foundation of the wall. To keep the rocks held together, we mixed up mud, water, and a type of straw called ´wank´(no joke)! We had a couple of ways to keep our energy up. First, the was the Chinchua corn beer. It is traditional to pour a bit into the soil as thanks to mother earth before downing the rest and getting a buzz off it. Then, there was the Coca leaves which you can chew. At first, you feel like a bit of a chipmunk, but after a bit of chewing, you can leave it in the top of your gums and let it slowly release revitalizing juices.

Back to Cusco for the weekend. It´s rarely a quiet night out here, and this weekend was no acception. As we had a new group member, Alexandra, we decided to show her the eary white statue of Jesus which looms over the city. We were on our way back to the hotel, when a man from a nearby ranch came by and offered us a horse-ride. We decided to be spontaneous and go for it. Me and Alex were constantly trying to get past eachother whilst Caroline went along at a leisurely pace. They took us to the Moon Temple, where we had fun scrambling about on the rocks. On the way back, it was a spectacular feeling coming across the mountains and seeing Cusco spread out below us.

The last week out in Uycho has gone past scarily fast. Now it´s time for me to start a new adventure in Lima which will eventually take me to the Bolivian capital of La Paz. Already I´m missing the old group` with their teasing, their humour and their toilet talk. The last full day I was with them, we went up to the Hot Springs at Laris and had a pizza for our last dinner. It was hard saying goodbye to everyone. The last few weeks have been such an experiance for me. Unfortunately, one of the things that comes with travelling is lots of goodbyes. Still, now a new adventure´s about to start. Let´s see what happens!

Being part of a group out here felt much better than wondering around on my own. The next day, we decided to go and see the Cristo Blanco, which we saw the night before, glowing earily, seeming to float in the darkness. After a conversation with the taxi driver on the way over there, I became the group´s translator. At the end of the day, Dick invited us round to his place for a BBQ! There, we met some more of the Madventure crew. There was Anna who was working in a local orphanage, Roy the Regional Officer, and Matt the rock - Roy´s bodyguard and Spike, Dick´s dog. The crowd was nothing like I had suspected it to be.  Within no time, there was some absolutely crazy banter flying! By about 9, I was ready to go to bed, but I ended up going out to the Indigo Bar with Roy, Anna and Matt. The chance of a good night out in Cusco was too tempting to miss. Indigo turned out to be a great lounge bar.

The next day, our group was joined by Alexis, a French student studying English and Spanish. As soon as I was up sometime in the afternoon (finally getting the hang of Peruvian times), we had some lunch and headed out to the Village of Uycho to start our project. It was a spectacular drive through the Andies. As we sped along the mountain roads and the crowded streets, I kept unconsciously putting town by break foot, but surely enough, the driver judged it right every time. Cusco quickly disappeared and rocky and snow-capped mountains unfolded around us. When we arrived the villagers gave us a local delicacy; Cuy meaning ´Guinea Pig´. It tasted a bit like salty mackerel, but I couldn´t stand the feeling of cutting into it, since it was still shaped like Guinea Pig! Kudos to Jill though. She got stuck in despite having two Guinea Pigs; Chaz and Dave back home!

At first, work was a bit dull. We were aimlessly moving rocks into piles in the field. But, on Thursday 7th, we got out the diggers and awakened the boys within us. We loaded the rocks into the lorries and had them taken away to the resevoir where we´d be building a wall to protect the town´s water. Riding in the lorry meant we had to launch ourselves up the sides and grab hold of things. It was pretty rough terrain meaning that we were occasionally flung into the air. When a wall stood in the way, we simply got out the digger to take it out. I wish I´d have brought my camera! The next day, we were clearing room for construction using pick axes and machetes. It was fun but prickly!

The days went suprisingly quickly. By no time it was our last day of the working week. We spent evenings simply playing cards and chatting. Our last working day was also Alexis´ last day in Peru! We headed back to Cusco for a night out at Indigo´s. I´m feeling a lot more at home now. The great thing about travelling alone is that I´ve been free to meet so many great people over here. It´s the same story for the other volunteers as well. I´ve gone from wondering how I´m going to survive 6 weeks out here to wondering where the time´s been going.

It hasn´t been an easy transaction from that homely field in Bransford. On Tuesday, I said goodbye to my fellow campers who, over the last few weeks have become like a family to me. The night before, we´d had a literally magical feast in which I played music on my flute and we had singing and dancing and wine.

As I left, I found myself questioning why I was going. The longest I´d been abroad away from my family was a week at the end of last year in Barcelona. But now, I´m going further away from home than I´ve ever been for 6 weeks! But I feel that it´s time I launched myself into the worlde. I´m at the age where I should be making my own way in the world and getting distance from my protective family cocoon. After wanting to escape for a while now, parting with them at Heathrow proved incredibly difficult. I kept turning and waving, but in the end, I had to force myself through that gate. I sympathise with anyone else starting travelling alone for the first time.

When you´re in a strange foreign land, it´s always a comfort to connect yourself with home (although not too much otherwise you´ll never get anything done). Even just noticing the grass and straw from Green And Away mixed in with my luggage was enough to put a smile on my face after my long day of travelling from Heathrow to Miami and then to Lima. A degree of confidence is also good. This doesn´t mean showing off. Silent self-confidence is good for establishing yourself as someone who knows what they´re doing. Think of all the great things you´ve done that have made you feel on top of the world. I think back to the feast at camp, where I was surrounded by great people having the time of our lives and that makes me feel more than just a boy stuck away from home. Also, when it comes to preparation, I don´t think you can prepar yourself enough. I was lucky in that my father kept persistently pushing me to sort myself out. I didn´t really appreciate all that he did until I was actually out here.

But now that I´ve been here in Cusco for three days, the place is starting to grow on me. When I first went walking in the streets at first, everything seemed strange and unnatural. I didn´t much want to be out in this strange place with its narrow streets and irate drivers. When I did go out to get lunch, I went to this Irish bar! But now the place is growing on me. Now when I see the shops, I´m thinking about what to buy and what my friends and family might like. In fact, I´ve just gotten myself one of those classic Peruvian hats! Yesterday, I had a massage to calm myself down. It worked a treat and I got chatting for a while with the girls who work there as they smiled at my attempts to speak Spanish. I´m staying in a hostel called ´Home-Sweet-Home´where I´m really being looked after. Despite the tiring walk up from the city!

There are quite a few sellers on the street but I´ve got some experiance with dealing with them from the Gambia. I´m just getting used to saying ´No Gracias´. Apparently you have that printed on a t-shirt for you. I´m still adapting to the time difference, since Peru is 6 hours behind the UK. Also, the fact that it´s so much colder when the sun goes down in the evening doesn´t help. So far, I haven´t been able to stay up past 8 in the evening, which has been annoying since the message grils said I should go with them to see the night-clubs.

This has been a rambling blog partly because it was written over a few days and partly because I keep having mood changes. So, if you feel confused imagine how I feel! The main thing about starting travelling is to persist and have faith. It´s completely natural to feel lost and confused for a fair while and it can seem like you´ve made a big mistake, but the bad times will pass. I´m beggining to see that the exciting thing is that so many different and unexpected things could happen from here on now that I´m finding my feet. In my next blog, I´ll tell you about Madventurer as I´ll be meeting them soon.

Ciao!

It’s called Green and Away. It’s a tented conference centre I work at. It probably sounds really dull but it really isn’t! Let me tell you a bit about it. Basically, it is put up by a team of highly trained experts (snigger) for the summer, then used by organisations who pay enough money before being taken down again. While it’s up, we all try to live sustainably by growing our own vegetables and having them cooked by our shaman chef and his team. If you wanted to be vegetarian, this is the place to come! The drinks are locally brewed as well to fuel our evening discussions. The site is just beautiful especially when the sun is out. There are few things better than lieing in a hammock in the fresh air with the sun on you. Here are a few pictures below:

Sunlight on the campsiteThe entrance

Whilst I am forced to be here, I’m loving it! It’s something I’ve been doing for years. Everyone who works here is a volunteer and so we’re all here because we want to be! Here is a picture of the maintenance team setting up our wind turbine:

Justin and Mark on the tower

My job here is fire lighting! Not very environmental but we’re living in a field, so we do need to keep warm at night. We also have showers in which the water is heated by wood fires. Just have a look (bit small, sorry):

The wood heated showers

My typical day involves about an 8 O’clock start for breakfast which sometimes involves freshly baked bread! Then, after a bit of chatting, I’d go around the site checking on our wood stock. If I find we need for wood in particular areas, I go to our main wood area to chop or saw some more wood. If the main wood area is low on wood then I’d get a team together to go into the woods and get together and dead wood on the floor. Sometimes, there are group projects going on like repairing tent canvases or getting bar/kitchen supplies. In the afternoon, I light the fires for the showers and after dinner, I light the camp fires. Sometimes we stay up around these fires telling dirty jokes and singing beatles songs.

But a couple of days ago, I had a major change of scene. I went to the STA explorer meeting in London. The hustle and bustle of Paddington and the tube was quite a shock compared to the camp. I only had time to eat a plate of chips and a few snacks the STA crew had put out for us. I got a warm welcome, which was very welcome after my rushed journey. I was also slightly nervous as I was the youngest of anyone there, and fairly new to the world of traveling and jobs and uni. The others seemed pick up on that and so helped make me feel at home. Molly gave a presentation about the STA explorer setup. It was useful in getting across the logistics of blogging and how to obtain a presence on the internet. But that wasn’t all. We all went for some STA paid for pints at the local pub:

I kept saying to myself “I’d better go to the station to get home” but I kept just staying and chatting. I decided to risk staying for a second pint. We talked travel plans, swapped stories and time just shot by. Like with Green & Away, it was great to see everyone’s genuine enthusiasm in what they did! Eventually, I had to go so Juliette showed me how to get back to Paddington as quick as possible.

Now I’m back at camp, busy with with collecting and cutting wood with the team. I’ve had to write this blog bit by bit during the breaks. It’s now the evening and I’m about to hit the bar. Tomorrow we’re having live music from Dragonsfly (you probably haven’t heard of them but they’re good!) I may or may not release more blogs if I have time. I’ve sort of rolled 2 blogs into 1 here. but if you want to know more about what I’ve talked about, just leave a comment.