My First Odyssey

I am sitting in an internet cafe in Lima, staring at the computer, trying to waste time before my flight back to the UK, and thinking how strange it is that some ´barrios´ in Lima can be so far removed from Peru, so Americanised ,so rich.
Last night i stayed in the Roosevelt Hotel in Miraflores, Lima. It, with its cable tv, huge buffet breakfast and rich important business men clients is only part of something much bigger that seems to have affected this district in Lima.
I walk out of the hotel and head to the restaurantes for lunch. I pass bookstores selling hardback copies of arty novels and fashion photography books. I pass by large houses with huge metal gates and security men. As i walk alone i do not pass wormen and children in traditional Peruvian dress, old men with no teeth asking for money. I instead come across men in smart suits, shiney shoes, women in designer clothes, not a hair out of place, full makeup. When i reach the restaurants i do not find a range of Peruvian dishes, Cerviches, Saltados, but posh Italinas, a McDonalds, TGI Fridays, Chilis and Starbucks. Instead of the usual Peruvian platers i get Big Macs, Fajitas and Mochaccinos. The cars that drive past aren´t taxis, all small and bashed up, but Land Rovers, BMW´s and Mercs. I have stepped out of Lima, Peru into North America.
I decide that out of my chouce i will go to Chili´s (the only one that we don´t have back home - i don´t think). I sat there, huge glass of coke, chips, onion rings, over friendly waiters, half expecting to be spoken to in American English and having to order English named food, ´Cajun Chicken´ for example, with a spanish accent. I look around and see that everyone here must be spending at least 30 soles on a meal each, families 200 plus, an amount of money that could easily feed a family for 2 weeks. I conclude that this is anywhere but Peru.
Because i am a gringa (the word they use in South America for westerners) and on my own, people seem to have been given the license to stare at me. I look around at the staring eyes. No one in this room looks Peruvian. No one in this huge restaurant looks remotely related to an Inca or other native culture. The man standing outside as i came in, asking for money, looks Peruvian, and this here is the issue!!
I hereby ask the question, a question that has come to light many times over my time in Peru, a question that is only asked with thought and reflection: why are the Peruvians who are rich not REAL Peruvians? Another question: why on Peruvian tv, Peruvian shows, are there not REAL Peruvians? Let me clarify that by real Peruvians i mean indiginous Peruvians, Peruvians who don´t look like they could have recently moved here from the States or Europe.
I don´t actually have answers to these questions, and they are not rhetorical, i would like answers, i would like someone to explain to me why this happens, what is going on, why the Peruvians seem to be hidden in their own country!?!
If anyone wants to shed some light on this, feel free to do so!
Right, i´m off to a Pre-Inca pyramid ruin, hopefully there i can find what i am looking for (dead or alive) a real Peruvian in Peru!

Hey!
Right, its my last week in Peru, not even that, and i am starting to HAVE to think about going home. It is a really scary prospect, let me tell you that. It doesn´t seem like it has been 5 months at all. Last night i was looking at my passport. Every in and out of any country in South America is documented in there and it is something that will remind me where i went and how far i have really travelled.
So yeah, coming home. I am really not to sure about it. I have been joking for weeks that i will have to be dragged on the plane kicking and screaming like a little child, but now i am not too sure...very difficult. As i have said before, half of me wants to stay in Peru, continue working with the kids in the market and in the school, keep improving my spanish (and my tan) and continuing to not really have too many responsabilities. The other half of me wants to see my family, my friends, just random people i see regularly walking to work or while walking down Sutton high street. That part of me is the same part of me who sent a long list of food to my mum as a HINT of what i was craving...that part of me does want to come home. Think of it like a Jekyl and Hyde kind of thing, only i don´t know which one is good and which is bad, if either. But all in all i am torn!
Enough about that...still got a few more days to decide...i come back on the 17th of this month for those of you who didn´t know or were wondering.
Oh... just as a travel up date, i left Cusco for a few days to visit Nazca, Ica, Huacachina and Pisco. This places are all near the south coast of Peru (in the Peruvian desert). Its winter over here, but of course being a desert its BOILING here. I will put the pictures up soon, when i find my camera cable, which hopefully is somewhere in Cusco!
Right, i better go, i think this will be be penultimate blog post, or at least my last in Peru most probably. The next one will be all the things that i have learnt in Spanish, expect a long one!!! Take care, see you all soon! Emsxxxxx

I really really can´t believe i am back in Peru and back in Cusco. Its a really wierd feeling to know that i have done a round trip and almost ended back where i started. It also doesnt feel like it has been nearly 4 months and that in about a months time i will be back in England and back into my life back home. This feeling doesn´t (to be honest) fill me with a lot of joy, but i think people would be slightly confused if i didn´t get off the plane that i am to take!
I am now at the end of my travels, as this next bit is the volunteer work part of my trip. It feels really strange to be able to put my clothes in a draw or hang them up, and to actually have a place to sprawl my stuff.
At the moment i am living with a Peruvian family. Marta is the mum (she also organises everything for the new volunteers), Alipio is the dad and he is bonkers and really funny, and then they have a 10 year old daughter called Paula, who is also really lovely. The whole family are really sweet and really welcoming, which has been really good. Also the fact that i am living with a family who can´t speak English has done wonders for my spanish - even if my spanish teacher has not!
My volunteering is brilliant! For anyone who ever even considered volunteering for 2 minutes i would strongly recommend it! I have two jobs out here. Some mornings i go to a school to work as a classroom assistant. The school i work in is really rough as the kids are really poor, some have lost parents and many have some sort of behaviour or learning problem. Even though they are little monsters and the words no fighting, sit down and be quite are used regularly they are really cute and normally sweet. In the afternoons i go to a market called Molino and work in a govenment run project helping the kids whose parents work in the markets to do their homework. It also lets them have a safe place (that is not a street corner!) to draw, colour in and play games and also talk to Marta, who is a psychologist, about any problems they might have. It is really really good and really necessary! Last week i heard about a girl of 14 who was taken advantage of by a guy of about 19/20 and got pregnant. She had the child but is too young to breast feed so has to buy powdered milk (which she can´t afford!). Now her mum is pregnant and soon the whole family won´t have any money as the mum is the main earner. You hear stories like this all the time and realise that projects like Molino may help to make some kids lives better, at least that is what i am hoping! So if any of you want to do volunteer work, donate money, anything, just think that there are people out there who do really need it, its not just stories made up by big companies trying to make money out of your kindness! Right, thats the rant over. So yeah....loving the volunteer work, and the people i have met through it! Thats it for now, will update you all later!
Take care... Emmsxxxx

Right, well i havent written on this thing for a couple of weeks as i have been a lazy so and so and also keep forgetting, so i think you are going to get a few entries at once, dont worry you dont HAVE to read them!
Lets start with Lake Titicaca! One word, beautiful! You will be able to find the pictures at this link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1503&l=3924b&id=514709675
Dont know if i have already given it to you, but you can see them again if i have!
I went to two towns on the shore of the Lake, one in Peru and one in Bolivia. I´ll start with Puno, Peru. My then travel buddy Eirian and i got the bus from Arequipa to Puno and arrived in the late(ish) afternoon. We checked into our hotel, got ready to go out and just happened to bump in to three people who had come with us to the Colca Canyon. Ela from Poland and Monserrat and Juan from Spain. They told us about a place called Condor Hill, which we could climb up to that a view of the whole of Puno and some of the Lake Titicaca. Let me tell you, it was a bloody hard climb! There were steps all the way to the top and i thought i was going to die, luckily that was just me being a hypochondriac and i was actually fine. The view from the top was spectacular (see photos) and the sun was just going down behind us so the light was amazing.
Bright and early the next morning, Eirian, Ela and I caught a "speed" boad to the Islas Del Oros (or the Floating Islands). These islands are literally totally made out of reeds that the natives have cut from their surrounding lake and weaved together. It was amazing to think of how they have done it! Everything was made out of reeds, from houses to shoes to look out points (a BIG fish) to their boats. Very clever!
From the floating islands we took a boat to Taquile, an actual island in the lake. Whilst there we walked what seemed like the entire length of the island to get to a little community who gave us lunch and showed us some traditional dancing (which we were forced to join in with - REALLY fun!). Taquile was really pretty as the sun was shining and the water glistened, the pictures dont do the place justice.
That was about it in Puno. There is one other thing that i can now say i have done. I have been to a club wearing black combats, a huge and horrible grey t-shirt, a huge fleece and my hiking boots. That was an experience and people didnt half stare, especially when the spice girls came on!
Ok, Copacabana, definitly not the hottest spot north of Havana, nor are Music and passion always in fashion, as Mr Manilow says, but it was quite a nice place to spend an hour or two. Ok, ok so its not the Copacabana, i know, but everytime someone said where we were that song would go round and round in my head for hours. Anywho, quickly we went on another island tour, this time the Isla Del Sol, the apparent birth place of the Incas (someone sprouted from a puma shaped rock - which non of us could make out when we saw it!). We were again lucky with the weather, but i was again feeling ill so i dont think i appreciated it as much as i should. We did a quick historical tour and then walked from the North end to the South end (only about 9km). Eirian and I started talking and walking with two other guys, Craig from Scotland and an Irish guy who i cant for the life of me remember the name of. It was funny (not laugh out loud) as together we made up the British Isles (ok thats only funny to me!). The island was very pretty, if a little touristy. We got to the south and then got a boat (another "speed" boat) back to the town. There isnt too much to do in Copacabana but we managed to find a pub where some SERIOUS Jenga was played (i won every time!). Thats about all of Lake Titicaca i saw, very beautiful and i would advise anyone to go there if they can, just bring a pack of cards as the night life isnt too happening!

This is going to be quite short entry and one that i should have done a while ago! After finishing my trek on the Sunday, i spent a week in Cusco and quite honestly didn´t do too much during that time. Let me just give you all a little overview of Cusco. It´s a city in the southeast of Peru. As with many of the big cities in Peru its a colonial city but was the Inca capital (its name means Belly button of the earth - or something along those lines). My hostel was two blocks away from the Plaza de Armas (central downtown area and very pretty!) There is quite a bit to see and do in Cusco, but i´ve left a few things as i´m hoping to go back sometime this trip. The city in the day is full of tourists (which sucks a bit) and children trying to sell you postcards. At night Cusco is a true party town and my hostel was no exception. As a said, didn´t do too much but met loads of really lovely people in the hostel and had a relaxing time, which is what i needed after the trek. I won´t babble on anymore about Cusco as i know that if i don´t stop now i probably won´t, but i would recommend Cusco to anyone who comes to Peru as it ROCKS!