Madrid - Lima

So, after an emotional goodbye with the parents I left Manchester and boarded my Ryanair flight to Madrid. My excitement was obviously somewhat contagious as I befriended half the people on the plane, then I ditched my bags in the left luggage office at the airport and went to meet my two favourite Spaniards, Javi and Juanto. We had some beers and ended up in an Irish pub until daft o'clock. I manage to sleep an hour or two in Juanto's spare room before dragging myself back to the airport with a stunner of a hangover.

I had to pick up my bags from terminal 1 and get a bus to terminal 4. Realising how MASSIVE Madrid airport actually is. Then I had to get a train to the gate. Its huge.

Finally, 20 hours after leaving home, I boarded my Iberia flight to Lima! It was exciting. For the past 5 years Ive almost exclusively used Ryanair flights for my travels, so imagine my amazement to see pillows and blankets and big comfy chairs on the Spanish plane! I even bagged myself an extra legroom seat next to the emergency exit. My friend for the next 12 horas was Diego, a peruvian who was highly amused by my life, especially when I whipped some masking tape out of my bag and taped my head phones into the socket because they weren't working.

Arrived in Lima at 6.30pm local time, an hour late. Met my wonderful couch host Enzo, who got stopped by the police as we left the airport and was accused of kidnapping me!! My first bit of drama. We got in a taxi and I had my first experience of Peru traffic. It's like nothing I have ever seen before. There are no lanes, no one has right of way, cutting each other up and beeping horns are as normal as changing gear, grid lock is a constant, all cars have bumps, some have parts missing. Its fun, like a rollercoaster, but I wouldnt want to be behind the wheel here!!

Enzo lives with his family in the north of Lima in the distict of Olivos, it's far from the tourist track and is unlike any place I have ever seen before. People selling things on every inch of the pavement, everything from barbecued corn to stole car doors. Dogs roam the streets and 'mototaxis' zip between the cars.

I met Enzo's two sisters, Vanessa & Karen, his mum, grandma and aunty. Then crashed out dead from jet jag and 48 hours travelling with hardly no sleep.

On Friday we went into the center. On the bus. There are 4 different types of bus here, of varying sizes, some are huge brand new ones which have their own bus lane, others are tiny minibuses or cars and the driver holds a piece of paper out of the window with the destination. All are packed to the rafters. We got on a middle sized one.

The center of Lima is huge, diverse and chaotic. Some areas like the La Plaza de Armas (the main square) are really pretty, touristy and clean. Others and run down decaying buildings with street vendors and beggars. We saw loads; the palace, the change of the guards, the catedral, the river, the Central Bank museum which has gold tribal masks from pre Inca times, the literature museum, churches, an exposition of Inka artefacts, China Town, Parque de la muralla... Enzo should be a tour guide, his knowledge of this city is amazing.

For lunch we had a 3 course set menu for 5 soles... thats less than £1!!! I ate Ocopa (potato with a creamy green chili sauce) Aji de pollo (chicken korma).

Oh and a scruffy pregnant girl tried to rob me but we caught her in time.

Saturday we went to the southern districts of Lima, Baranco and Miraflores. They're the upmarket areas, very touristy, by the coast. Again completely different to the old town. I paddled in the Pacific ocean, the beach is natural and rocky, not particularly clean. We watched paragliders by the cliffs then went to a park where a typical band were playing and old couples were dancing.

I ate street food for tea, these kebab type things that Enzo said were "meat" - by which he meant heart and stomach meat! He tricked me. The heart was nice, the stomach wasnt. Also had Peru's answer to egg fried rice which cost £1 for a huge bag that fed 5 of us!

Saturday nobody tried to rob me, result!

So thats the highlights so far. Im really glad I decided to couch surf here, I would have been scared and clueless without Enzo.

CHAPTER II : South America

Tonight I leave Manchester with a one-way ticket to Peru. I can't believe today has finally come after 6 months planning and 6 years dreaming about this trip! It's The Big One. Different continent, different time zone, different hemisphere of the planet!!! No jumping on a £15 Ryanair flight and popping home for the weekend.

Although I've traveled in Europe on my own before this really is going to be a completely different experience, and I'm scared. In a good way.

As usual I find myself asking myself "whhyyyy are you doing this?", "why don't you just get a job and settle down", it would be cheaper, easier and would stop my mother getting grey hairs. But I wouldn't be happy. I wouldn't be me.

So I'm all packed, I'm taking hardly any clothes with me, and only 7 pairs of knickers!!! I don't even know when I'll be coming home, going to aim to be back by November at the latest though.

Tonight will be spent wandering the streets of Madrid with Javi and Juanto, then I'll be back at the airport in the morning to catch my flight to Lima.

Farewell England!!

London

During my stay at Hatfield, Laura and I went for a day out to London! And I fell in love…

…With Camden Town. I’ve never been before, and it really captivated me. It’s weird and different. All the shop fronts are decorated with eccentric models/art displaying the things they sell. It looks like a very scruffy alternative Disneyland! The place has got a real buzz to it. I’d love to be cool and bohemian enough to live there, although I couldn’t be doing with the crowds. It was a Saturday, and nice weather too and the streets were heaving. Just walking down the street you couldn’t go at normal pace because there were so many people, it was like one giant queue. As for the World Famous Camden Market I must admit it wasn’t what I expected, I was expecting cool unique hippy stalls, when in actual fact a lot of it was just standard clothes and jewellery you could find more or less anywhere. Although there was the odd stall that caught my eye, such as the guy selling clocks made out of old alcohol bottles.

There’s a canal that goes right through the middle of the town, with bars and grass on either side and there were people sat chilling in the sun.

And there were real punks hanging out on street corners. Proper punks in ripped tartan and leather, not your moody-fourteen-year-old that passes as a punk these days.

We also went to Oxford Street, had our budget picnic lunch under the Marble Arch and went in one of the most prestigious shops in London… Primark!!! Now I love shopping, but Primark, in London, on a Saturday afternoon is my idea of hell. It was chaos, as if a bomb had gone off and scattered all the clothes and shoes all other the place in no particular order. As Laura battled through the blood thirsty crowds of immigrant families fighting for the last size 12, I took refuge with the 15 desolate abandoned husbands at the top of the escalator. I hugged my knees to my chest and held tight waiting for my friend, all the while praying that no one would come and try and rip the clothes off my back mistaking me for an unloved shop mannequin!

We survived the ordeal and rewarded ourselves with happy hour cocktails back in Camden in a fantastic bar called Bar 55. It was packed (2-4-1 cocktails obviously being popular) – full of a young crowd, chosing from the 150 cocktails on the menu. We ordered some berry smoothy type drinks with gin and vodka in and squeezed on to the edge of a seat, intruding ever so slightly on a group of youngsters on a night out. Great bar, the music was rock and indie and the bar staff were entirely male ;) Me and Laura amused ourselves by playing “Who’s got the best bum in the bar” (girls first, then guys) and by staring lovingly at the barman with curly hair and good wrist action (for shaking the cocktail mixers, obviously).

3 cocktails later we caught the train back to Hatfield, then collapsed into bed!

Hatfield (Hertfordshire)

From Leamington I went to Hatfield, Hertfordshire, to visit my fellow bum pinching blagger Laura Clayton.

The journey down was long and complicated, I had 3 changes, two of which in London. The underground is hard!! It’s much more difficult to master than the one in Madrid. It’s all colour coordinated, but they don’t make it easy for you. With their 3 shades of red and 4 shades of purple that all look the same!! I ended up on the burgundy line when I should have been on the maroon line!?! Anyway, somehow I managed to get on the right train, at the right time, and got to Hatfield just in time to meet Laura coming out of work.

Now I don’t know what it is with Laura, but when we’re together we somehow manage to get away with murder and end up getting everything for free. Like when I went to visit her in Southampton and we got free drinks and VIP all night by pretending we worked on Babestation! (Slightly embarrassed to admit that but it was funny at the time) So I shouldn’t really have been surprised when within 5 minutes of being in her company I managed to blag myself a cup of tea and a bus ticket without having enough money!!

We spent a couple of hours chilling in her room catching up on the 7 months we haven’t seen each other, then went to the shop to buy supper and booze. As we were both on a tight budget we opted for possibly the cheapest meal imaginable: noodles 40p; Lambrini £1.60; bag of Haribo £1!!

After our romantic fine dining we headed out to a club. We actually waited at the bus stop for about 20minutes before consulting the timetable and realising that it wasn’t going to come. Which was unfortunate as I’d gotten ready in a rush and was planning to do my make up on the bus!! In the end, we got a taxi and arrived at Forum, the local student club.

Within seconds of joining the queue we made friends; A group of Essex lads! We were chatting away when I remembered I had no make up on and suddenly felt ever so self conscious. They called me Catherine, because apparently I look like Catherine Zita Jones (when I have a bare face??!!).

Cut a long story short, we spent the night with our new friends, who were lovely, funny and paid for my double G&T’s all night long. The DJ was absolutely amazing and put out some incredible bootlegs, and the club was huge, studenty and unpretencious. Win.

Saturday we went to London (see separate blog) and Sunday we had a lazy day watching films, managing to leave the house briefly to munch some Nando’s chicken and look around the local shopping centre called the Galeria.

I finally made it home to Manchester after an exciting week visiting my wonderful friends here there and everywhere. And I’m still amazed by the fact that you can get from London to Manchester is 2 hours, good old Richard Branson.

Home sweet home… for one week, then it’s The Big One; Peru!!!

Let Loose in Leamington

As you may have gathered from the previous two posts, I'm on the move. As usual :) I've decided to do a wee tour of England (and Wales) visiting friends before I disappear off to the other side of the world. And this week I'm in Royal Leamington Spa, home to the river Leam, the Royal Baths and most importantly, Jenny Edwards.

Jen's at work during the day, I've just been chilling and we've been doing nice things together in the evening. She even dragged me along to Aquaerobics the other day on the premise of going in the sauna!!! I've been playing wifey and cooking her tea, and trying to feed her up because she's tiny.

Yesterday I got a bit bored of my own company and decided to go make some random friends (it's what I do best afterall). So I went to the pub. Alone. I know it's not exactly the done thing for a young lady to do but it doesn't really phase me. I ordered a Chardonay and got chatting to my first random friend, Rob, the barman. We hit it off because he'd been travelling and he was actually a very nice guy. I also met Pete, a middle aged unemployed alcoholic (standard stereotype found in every pub in the world) Aid, Pete's accomplice and Richard an old man who tried teaching me how to do the cryptic crossword (he failed, I'm dim). I was already quite tipsy at 4 o'clock when Jen texted me asking me if I fancied going for a run when she got home from work. (You can guess what my answer was.)

Instead of jogging we went back to the pub to see my new friends and to do the quiz. Much more my cup of tea. We even did fairly well (by our standards, and with a little help...) and we got nicely drunk, which isn't in the least surprising really considering I started at 3!

Jen's been here 9 months, I've been here a couple of days and I know all the bar staff and half of the regulars by name.

Stratford-Upon-Avon

On Monday Jen, Ken and the Meat Heads (aka me and Stacey) went to Stratford-Upon-Avon to visit Shakespeare. What a lovely place. I'm glad we went, I've probably seen more places in France than I have in England so it's nice to see somewhere in my own country. Some of my hertitage!

We saw Shakespeare's birth place, some old house, although we didn't go in. And we had a picnic by the river Avon, and then a stoll in the sun. It's ever so pretty, little barge boats and quaint bridges over the river.

It's your typical old English town, full of pensioners and asian tourists, tudor-style houses and little tea rooms. We went very English and had afternoon tea in the nicest cafe ever! Three little tea pots, three jugs of milk, three cups and saucers and three HUGE pieces of cake. And my two best friends.

Stratford-Upon-Avon... thumbs up!

Cardiff

So on Thursday 24th March I headed down to Cardiff for the 3rd anual FQB-Nantes Reunion. I went to see my favourite Welshies (+Tom, honorary fille) who I lived with all that time ago in Nantes (2008/2009). One of the best things about our get togethers is realising what good friends I have; when you haven't seen each other for over a year, and you can still get on and chat away as if you've never been apart. Cue warm happy feeling.

I arrived early afternoon on the Thursday and was met at the station by Anna. We had afternoon tea and scones in a quaint little tea shop is a pretty little village. The only slight mishap was somehow sealing my sunglasses into their case and not being able to get them out. I was flummoxed. Had to cut them out in an emergancy rescue operation. After tea we went out in Cardiff to a bar where it was quids night. Yes, drink for a quid!! God bless you Cardiff!! Now Cardiff nightlife is actually rather brilliant, it's like Manchester was about 3 years ago before I got too old and bitter to enjoy it! Highlights from the evening include harrassing a handsome yet ridiculously young bar man because he looked like Justin Beber, and watching a small fight break out because of a small man overcompensating for his lack of height. If men get small man syndrone I think I must have tall woman syndrone, because I'm a cocky little get most of the time. Excellent night.

On Friday me and Anna had a lazy morning drinking (yet more) tea. Imagine my confusion sat there in my pyjamas, watching Jeremy Kyle with a brew, when a strange let herself into the hous and launch into a full blown conversation with me... in Welsh!! I wasn't sure if it was the hangover affecting my judgement or whether she was actually speaking jibberish. I actually learnt some Welsh during my trip! Caru ti means 'I love you', and teesho paned means 'do you want a brew', so basically I the two most important phrases to survive down there. Anyway, once recover we went for a walk and an ice cream around Cardiff Bay and I met Anna's boyfriend (I approve). The weather was gorgous and it was a lovely way to spend the afternoon.

Friday evening we were joined by two other filles - Hannah and Elliw!! So it was a real reunion and we all had lots of catching up to do... over several bottles of wine, some sloe gin and a bottle of vodka!!! It was quite an eventful night actually. We ended up in a club called Oceana, which seems to be all over the south of England but I dont know of any up north. It's good, different rooms with different music. I wonder if it's a franchise... I may open one in Manchester! I met several randoms during the course of the night but two stick out in my mind:

The American/Korean Condom Tycoon who was about my age but had just inherited a latex company in Korea and gave me some free samples (much to my amusement the morning after upon finding them in my handbag!)

The rich 18 year old who, thanks to my charm and wit, bought me and ALL my friends a mojito. I don't like to brag or anything but I think going to the bar for my own drink and coming back with 7 mojitos and an enthusiastic 18 year old earns me a couple of cool points... no?

Anyway we danced and drank til they kicked us out at 3. THEN the night got even more random. We had acquired a following of boys from Portsmouth who were up for the football (England played Wales on the Saturday) and they followed us about looking for another watering hole. Unable to find one we hailed a taxi and were about to head home, however, thanks to the spontaneous decision of a crazy Welshy named Catrin, we ended up going to the Portsmouth boys' house. Only they weren't in the taxi with us. So we got there before them. And knocked on the door... Waking up their housemates... at 3.30am. Fun. Whatsmore, we couldn't remember the names of the boys we'd met, so we spent several minutes persuading these strangers that we had met their friends, who had invited us round!! They eventually let us in (due to aforementioned wit and charm) and we basically ransacked their house, drank their booze and played on their pool table. Eventually the guys we met came home, and we played strip poker. Although it wasn't really strip poker as there was only one guy taking his clothes off. I'm too good a poker player to go all in on a 5 and an 8 just for the want to be naked in a room of strangers.

Anyway, moral of the story is that we got home to Anna's house at 6.30 and I had to be up at 8 to catch my train!! I never normally sleep on the train but I did on Saturday morning! I ate a huge pasty and then dozed off. Kept waking myself up by snoring. Slightly embarrassing!

Next reunion is scheduled in for December. Love you guys!!!!

Vuelta a Madrid

Just got back from a week in Madrid. Going back for the first time in since I lived there in 2009 – was great! Felt like I’d never left. Saw my friends, where I used to live, where I used to drink… I’d like to go back to live there again one day. And even better than just seeing all my Spanish friends; Melissa my fake Mexican showed up, Christopher and Markus where there, and even Lauren came on a business trip. Nice. Got very drunk showing everyone the joys of free tapas (just HAD to order a pint of sangria everytime) and also had a rather disturbing experience of Spanish hash. I got high and went under because Javi was singing “English man in New York” by Sting. It freaked me out. And put me off smoking illegal substances for quite a long time. In hindsight its pretty funny but at the time it wasn’t, I was scared!! It was also quite a linguistic challenge for me, having spent 6 months in France my Spanish was extremely rusty, and at the start of the week I was speaking French to Christopher and Markus and Spanish to Javi and everyone else, and interpreting between the two. Lots of fun, at the end of the week I didn’t know what language I was speaking in! Found it reassuring though that I could still understand everything that was said to me in Spanish, and that I could just about talk more or less well in Spanish.

So now I’m home and I’ve only got three weeks to go before Peru!! How scary. I know its going to go really fast, and the fact that I’m actually away for 2 weeks out of the 3!! Oh… Almost everything is booked and sorted now though, I’ve got myself a couch in Lima, and I’ve booked my trek to Machu Picchu. It wasn’t the traditional trek that I wanted to do, that was booked up, but it’s a less known less travelled trek that sounds really good, passes through Inca villages and even includes a visit to natural hot springs! Yipee!

My fund raising is going well too, hoping to have about £400 when I go, which I’m donating to the orphanage!

So…. Next stop: Cardiff – Leamington Spa – Hertfordshire and then back to Madrid!

This Shit Just Got Real

I booked my flight to Peru!

I really am going travelling around South America. On my own! Booked my flight yesterday. I decided to go with Iberia, even though it was the more expensive option. My reason being that I'm 6ft1 and it's a 12 hour flight so I'm gona want some goddamn leg room. I leave on the 13th April - less than 6 weeks away!! OMG. This dream that I've held since my early teens is rapidly becoming a reality. Which is both equally exciting and terrifying. I haven't got much else to do now, sort some accomodation out, get a few more vaccinations... pack! WAAAAH!!!!!

Turning 23

Yesterday was my birthday! I've made it to the grand old age of 23. I celebrated by eating Marks and Spencers chocolate cake for breakfast, dinner and tea, and then by drinking several glasses of wine with Sarah Jones, who also had her birthday yesterday.

I also had one of three rabies vaccinations. It hurts, not only physically but emotionally as it cost £50!!! Great. This bloody trip is costing me so much it'll be a wonder if I manage to get there in the end! I've already spent £100 on vaccinations and I've got at least another 6 to go! I've spent hundreds on my 'kit' and medical supplies... But I'm not complaining, it's making me really excited!

I went on the wii fit the other day and it told me my new wii age was 23! I was so chuffed! It was 47 at Christmas! Guess my running around France has paid off afterall.

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes :) and finally in the wise words of Coolio...

I'm 23 now, but will I live to see 24, the way things are going I dont know...!! ;)