oh my goodnss! this place is beautiful! We took of to arequipa for 3 days to see a icemummy of a sacrificed child during the inki times, her name was wyona, pretty cool to see how well preserved she was but you cold only really see her head, the body was basically a block of ice. Amasing find though. reasons for wanting to be an archeologist are making themselved known again. imagine making that find? it would be awesome,scary and awesome. requipa is a richer part of peru and it was like walking thruogh beverley hills or something, i however like cuzco better, much cuter!
so back to colca canyon, it is a geological paradise! beautiful moutainranges, condors( with wings outstretched they are 3m long) and amasing views. Afer hiking downhill for 7 hours ( and walking like a granny incase you'd fall down the mountain, i feel quiet a bit :P), we had a stop for lunch and arrived at a tiny motel paradise right in the middle of the mountain ranges with pools and huts to sleep in. was really gorgeous, the next day we were to hike uphill for like 3 hours, we however choose a donkey and thank goodness for that, that climb would have killed me :P the view was just amasing!
PS: colca canyon is the second deepest canyon in the world.
http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/01/18/4f/3a/colca-canyon-condors.jpg
Wednesday, 21 July 2010
Friday, 9 July 2010
The wonderful gift od grattitude
This past few days that i have been sick, i have been able to be home and relax. This has proved to be a great blessing to me. I have had time to reflect on life a little more and actually calm down, feeling content with whatever life gives me. I have been away from home and familiar territory for a while and been sick here but have recived som cmuh love and help. The cook here makes me a special tea with differing things in it to help me(hadnt even asked for it, he just made me a cup and gave it to me, takes a while to prepare too) and it helps :P The doctor was really nice and helpful, came home to where i live and check up on me and is coming back tomorrow to see if everything has gone ok. he really showed concern, been a long time since i felt that cared for by a doctor :P Also my tandum partner has been wanting me to keep from getting sick so be bought me a scarf, and took me to the places that offered the cheapest medicin (hard to nkow in this place). in spanish class my teacher is really concerned :P and everytime i coughed(pretty outdrawn coughs) eveeryboy is class turns around bc they think im about to die. haha. I guess i would be a bit freaked out to but i aint termonally ill:P I am happy for this experience of being in a country where i feel all bevildered, it makes me both appreciate and also see all the small things that make a difference. Things done not out of duty but out of the wonderful gift of caring.
i have also watched avatar for the first time togniht. it gave me many thoughts. Being here in peru kindof feels like that other world of the avatars, its a life that is different to mine and i wil have to leave it soon and go back to my reality, made me think that i just want to give this place my all and also embrace it while i can. Enjoy every moment of laughter, of food, of service, of learning spanish(i really enjoy that, our teacher is so funny too, such a charmer), hearing lovely accents from all over the place, wonderful adventures, wonderful ppl that i am so greatful god gave me the oppertunity to meet. Living in this house feels like one big happy family where everybody likes everybody and it's jsut such a nice atmosphere, you really learn to love them. My roomie is studying to be a doctor and she heard my breathing and then sounded really excited. "cold i please listen to your lungs with the stefaskope!?" (i really cant remember how to spell that right now:P). so cute, glad to ave a doctor in the room, quiet a few actually :P giving me tips and stuff. I always seem to be surrounded by them for some reason, maybe i will get really sick later on? haha
Part of the reason why i feel this great grattitute is also that i have been wanting to focus on gods love and been praying to feel it and right now i feel it and it is amasing and i want to hold on to it as long as i can.
anyway. i really need to try and sleep now, was just way to happy to go directly to bed, been remarkly awake even if i havn't slept more than 2hours the night before. :P strange.
anyway..goodnight
i have also watched avatar for the first time togniht. it gave me many thoughts. Being here in peru kindof feels like that other world of the avatars, its a life that is different to mine and i wil have to leave it soon and go back to my reality, made me think that i just want to give this place my all and also embrace it while i can. Enjoy every moment of laughter, of food, of service, of learning spanish(i really enjoy that, our teacher is so funny too, such a charmer), hearing lovely accents from all over the place, wonderful adventures, wonderful ppl that i am so greatful god gave me the oppertunity to meet. Living in this house feels like one big happy family where everybody likes everybody and it's jsut such a nice atmosphere, you really learn to love them. My roomie is studying to be a doctor and she heard my breathing and then sounded really excited. "cold i please listen to your lungs with the stefaskope!?" (i really cant remember how to spell that right now:P). so cute, glad to ave a doctor in the room, quiet a few actually :P giving me tips and stuff. I always seem to be surrounded by them for some reason, maybe i will get really sick later on? haha
Part of the reason why i feel this great grattitute is also that i have been wanting to focus on gods love and been praying to feel it and right now i feel it and it is amasing and i want to hold on to it as long as i can.
anyway. i really need to try and sleep now, was just way to happy to go directly to bed, been remarkly awake even if i havn't slept more than 2hours the night before. :P strange.
anyway..goodnight
Monday, 5 July 2010
Aussies!
yupp, another aussie moved into the house enabling me to sue the words jelly, jam, too right, sweet as and so forth without seeming like a weirdo amongst all the americans :P i´m so happy!!! :D i jsut love the aussies, there way of free expression and kindness, humblesness, their joking about, their hoenstly, i dont know, i cant really explain more more than that they are aussies :P the other volutneers inthe house are really cool so i do love it here. I think i´ve managed to loose some wait as they give us model sized portions of food :P feeeeling good.
anyway. i was at chruch this weekend and it was really nice. the guy that translated for me last week told me he had been on his mission his english was really good, sounded like he had been a member for a long time, then this sunday his mum got the holy ghost...so what was cool, knowingf the story behind it. it was really nice meeting and i got translation from a older man who had served his mission in spain (there were like 30 americans tourists there this sunday:P), but i do think i am the only permanent gringo for a while. they ppl are really nice though, got offered to follow with a family to bolivia for a few days, kindof tempted :P its a busride away.
anyway.....i´ve started meeting my tandom, its really cool to finally jsut meet some regular locals. He is really nice and his english is really good, i am impressed by all locals that speak a bit of english bc ther are not many, which i guess is helpful to my spanish.
the school i work at now has such cute kids and well planned workers, very appreciated and seldomly found within the volunteeer field. one of the little girls keeps correctinbg my spanish when i saty something wrong. very helpful and so cute :P
anyway......talk another time!
hugs
anyway. i was at chruch this weekend and it was really nice. the guy that translated for me last week told me he had been on his mission his english was really good, sounded like he had been a member for a long time, then this sunday his mum got the holy ghost...so what was cool, knowingf the story behind it. it was really nice meeting and i got translation from a older man who had served his mission in spain (there were like 30 americans tourists there this sunday:P), but i do think i am the only permanent gringo for a while. they ppl are really nice though, got offered to follow with a family to bolivia for a few days, kindof tempted :P its a busride away.
anyway.....i´ve started meeting my tandom, its really cool to finally jsut meet some regular locals. He is really nice and his english is really good, i am impressed by all locals that speak a bit of english bc ther are not many, which i guess is helpful to my spanish.
the school i work at now has such cute kids and well planned workers, very appreciated and seldomly found within the volunteeer field. one of the little girls keeps correctinbg my spanish when i saty something wrong. very helpful and so cute :P
anyway......talk another time!
hugs
Wednesday, 30 June 2010
General updates
Soo...here i am again, with nothing new this time except for my own thoughts. I visted a new place to do volunteering today. I will be working at a daycare centre with younger kids between 2-5 now instead, while i learn more spainsh. Working with the older ones was too hard, they wanted me to teach them computers and i survived using google translate but you cant teach with only that :P but god bless google translate for getting me thruogh that day.
I look forward to playing with the little kids now though, they were realllly cute. Have only doen like three days of volunteer work o far bc it keeps being holidays, the popes day, cuzco day, inti rymi. always festivities! Beeen out clubbing twice an they are filled with other travelers and they have such great music, like from the 90ies. i felt like i was in australia again, stuff that pop music :P soooo nice! I bought a flute and am trying to learn how to play, making a little bit of progress :P the shopkeeper sent me into a trance while he was playing so i could not resist buying it :P This weekend we are doing horse back riding in the mountains and learing some salsa!
I also foud my way to church and they are really nice here but they dont understand much english but it felt good being there. i am planning to to to lima with them all on a temple trip. yay! they are also having plans to go to ariquipa so i have a feeeling tht i can do my travelling a little cheaper. simple blessings of being a meber of the church :P
anyway...gotta go!!!! talk soon...miss you guys
I look forward to playing with the little kids now though, they were realllly cute. Have only doen like three days of volunteer work o far bc it keeps being holidays, the popes day, cuzco day, inti rymi. always festivities! Beeen out clubbing twice an they are filled with other travelers and they have such great music, like from the 90ies. i felt like i was in australia again, stuff that pop music :P soooo nice! I bought a flute and am trying to learn how to play, making a little bit of progress :P the shopkeeper sent me into a trance while he was playing so i could not resist buying it :P This weekend we are doing horse back riding in the mountains and learing some salsa!
I also foud my way to church and they are really nice here but they dont understand much english but it felt good being there. i am planning to to to lima with them all on a temple trip. yay! they are also having plans to go to ariquipa so i have a feeeling tht i can do my travelling a little cheaper. simple blessings of being a meber of the church :P
anyway...gotta go!!!! talk soon...miss you guys
Tuesday, 29 June 2010
cuzco history!
this weekend we were out at sacred valley and doing a cuzco tour. there is sooooo mcuh to see, this being the headcity of the inkas! i however am begeninig to dislike the spanish for destroying such a wonderful culture. its intresting though. we visited the first catholic church that was built here and they showed several pictures of how the spanish catholics tried uniting the existing inkan religion with the new one of christ. In a picture of the last supper they are serving guinnipig (which is a festive delight here) and in that same paiting judas face is actually pictured as the king of spain that took over central and south america. His face is turned away from christ and he is secretly hiding money in his hand, pretending to be nice while he takes over the country.
The cross that was first shown to the inkans during their first meet between the spanish and inkans during the15th century is still in this cathedral, so there are slightly mixed emoitions about that is that cross is also what brought down the inkans. the spanish showed the power of their god with this cross and the bible but the inkans took a hold of that cross and felt nothing and thought that their god was more powerful. so basically then the spanish took over. kindof sad, they wern´t given a chance.
IN the same cathedral they also they have a christ that is black and they depict pictures of mary with a peruvian face with symbols from the inkin relgion.
It takes forever to upload pictures on here so i will save that for another time but it was incredible! the inkas had such a developed system of building that was more like puzzle pieces interlocking rather that slabs of rock being glued to one another. We had such good tourguides so i am in love with the history of this place. but pictires sooon....
take care!
The cross that was first shown to the inkans during their first meet between the spanish and inkans during the15th century is still in this cathedral, so there are slightly mixed emoitions about that is that cross is also what brought down the inkans. the spanish showed the power of their god with this cross and the bible but the inkans took a hold of that cross and felt nothing and thought that their god was more powerful. so basically then the spanish took over. kindof sad, they wern´t given a chance.
IN the same cathedral they also they have a christ that is black and they depict pictures of mary with a peruvian face with symbols from the inkin relgion.
It takes forever to upload pictures on here so i will save that for another time but it was incredible! the inkas had such a developed system of building that was more like puzzle pieces interlocking rather that slabs of rock being glued to one another. We had such good tourguides so i am in love with the history of this place. but pictires sooon....
take care!
Inti Rymi- celebration of the sun
peruvians celbrate everything and have festivals all the time, iäve seen a few but on the 21 june every year peruans celebrate a inkan tradation of celbrating the sun, its filed with festivites with perades, dancing, offering a llama (:( fake though) to the gods for the gift of the sun. This was really cool, i will show you and just shut up :P
it was reaaaaaaallly hot though , we were sitting up on top of a moutain for like an hour waiting for the festivites to start, i'm blistering now and feel like i have lepracy :P really hoping i don't get cancer...but awelll...sunscreen people sunscreen!
here we are on top of that hilll looking down at the sacrificial alter.
it was reaaaaaaallly hot though , we were sitting up on top of a moutain for like an hour waiting for the festivites to start, i'm blistering now and feel like i have lepracy :P really hoping i don't get cancer...but awelll...sunscreen people sunscreen!
here we are on top of that hilll looking down at the sacrificial alter.
During festivites they always bring out their mummies to celbrate with them.
the first ceremony priasing the sun.
Busses and toilets
yes, sounds like an awesome title for an entry doesn't it :P but hear me out. Alright....heres a little secret to the simple blessings we have in life that you must say goodbye to when entering the bellybutton of the world, Cuzco(yes, apparently that is what they refer to it as), One of these blessings is being able to stand up straight on a buss (you tall men from Sweden have no chance to keep that comfort, sorry), busses are what they refer to as cambi's, what we would call a large family car, now take that car and try squeazing like 30 ppl in there, vala! you have a cuzcanian buss :).
Now toilets, one of these secret comforts for us westerners is the abilty to flush the toilet after 6pm, sorry folks, you'll have to wait till the morning :) another is being able to put toilet paper in the toilet, forget that, you have a bin beside that all that goes into. A pro though is that they clean the toilets regerly, like once an hour instead.....so they are pretty clean. and they are not holes in the ground (only in some poor places). peace out ;)
Now toilets, one of these secret comforts for us westerners is the abilty to flush the toilet after 6pm, sorry folks, you'll have to wait till the morning :) another is being able to put toilet paper in the toilet, forget that, you have a bin beside that all that goes into. A pro though is that they clean the toilets regerly, like once an hour instead.....so they are pretty clean. and they are not holes in the ground (only in some poor places). peace out ;)
Tuesday, 22 June 2010
daily life in cuzco
SOoo... i i realied i have failed to inform you of what everyday life is like here. In cuzco and in peru in general they have tons on fastfood places serving just chicken! pojo. they love it. Taxis cost like s/2.50 to anywhere(that is like 9kr). musical festicvals all the time and everywhere. hardly anybody speaks english and they have tons of markets everywehre selling the same things, gets knidof boring but i love my markets anyway :P and its always a bit of a trip to get to a good bergain for something you want. normal stores for clothes and such are not as cheap as i thought, they cost about the same as in sweden, suprisingly :)
one must beware of ones goods, my bankcard went missing yesterday and i have no idea if i was pickpocketed or just left the cvard in the teller...anyway..be careful. A another volunteer in the house also got slightly beat up on his way home last last night, they took his wallet and cards, happened just outside our port. So don´t travel alone at night!
what daily life for me means for the next two months is a huge breakfast with fruitsallad, cereal, eggs, pancakes and bread at 7am each day, follows by two hours of spanish lessons and then volunteering up in the mounttains for 3 odd hours teaching english. then i will come home to a delicious dinner! we have cooks working around the clock for us and doing our washing and cleaing our rooms, feels a little odd but i can definatley not complain :P Somewhere inbetween i will be meeting up with a true blue peruan and we will practce spanish and english with oner another....ppl call this system a dating program, not sure i agree..haha.
then travelling on the weekends...next two weeks me and my roommate will be exploring cuzco and the sacred valley. talk soon but i will not be online much bc my schedule will be pretty filled up. keep me updated on your lifes aswell.
one must beware of ones goods, my bankcard went missing yesterday and i have no idea if i was pickpocketed or just left the cvard in the teller...anyway..be careful. A another volunteer in the house also got slightly beat up on his way home last last night, they took his wallet and cards, happened just outside our port. So don´t travel alone at night!
what daily life for me means for the next two months is a huge breakfast with fruitsallad, cereal, eggs, pancakes and bread at 7am each day, follows by two hours of spanish lessons and then volunteering up in the mounttains for 3 odd hours teaching english. then i will come home to a delicious dinner! we have cooks working around the clock for us and doing our washing and cleaing our rooms, feels a little odd but i can definatley not complain :P Somewhere inbetween i will be meeting up with a true blue peruan and we will practce spanish and english with oner another....ppl call this system a dating program, not sure i agree..haha.
then travelling on the weekends...next two weeks me and my roommate will be exploring cuzco and the sacred valley. talk soon but i will not be online much bc my schedule will be pretty filled up. keep me updated on your lifes aswell.
lake Tittikaka and it`s aftermath
howdy ppl! i am back from the lake and into a somewhat normal cilivilisation not so filled with ppl wearing giant bright coloured skirts, living on floating islands in the middle of nowhere. Enjoying the sweet mercy of a shower once more and hearing music from pretty musicians as they prepare for tomorrows carnival. Cuzco day!!! Art students have made giant pappermache skulptures, they really go out wearing thousands of their tradational comstumes, shall be interesting!
but anyway.....Lake Tittikaka....really pretty, endless sunny days with eaqually cold winds, travelling on boats made out of reeds. so pretty! It's a large lake with about 4 different islands in it, that bourderes both Peru and Bolivia. We walked up one of the islands and it was 4500m high.....higher than Cuzco! cuzco is 3000m and Machu pichu is 2500m :) needless to say i cound feel the alltitude kick in and found it pretty hard to breath, i had 3 nosebleeds within 20hours after coming back down from the mountain. pretty viws....pictures as soon as i can get them up.
later that same night we arrived at the island we were to sleep over at, we stayed wtih a hostfamily who gave us traditional clothes that we were to go party in up at the plaza a little nearby. needless to say i looked more like a dieing darth vader wearing the black clothes over my head against my pale face with no make up :P it was a great experience but i wasa little let down. ther ewqere no lamas!!!!! the search for them continues, at least i nkow of their exsistance in macchu pichu.
Anyhow when arriving back i felt pretty dizzy, like ther was oceanwaves in my head and got a slight fever. Over now though. thank goodness. enjoy life ppl with everything it has to offer you!
http://www.inkas.com/tours/jpg_files/jpg_photos/titicaca/titicaca_uros_boatman.jpg
but anyway.....Lake Tittikaka....really pretty, endless sunny days with eaqually cold winds, travelling on boats made out of reeds. so pretty! It's a large lake with about 4 different islands in it, that bourderes both Peru and Bolivia. We walked up one of the islands and it was 4500m high.....higher than Cuzco! cuzco is 3000m and Machu pichu is 2500m :) needless to say i cound feel the alltitude kick in and found it pretty hard to breath, i had 3 nosebleeds within 20hours after coming back down from the mountain. pretty viws....pictures as soon as i can get them up.
later that same night we arrived at the island we were to sleep over at, we stayed wtih a hostfamily who gave us traditional clothes that we were to go party in up at the plaza a little nearby. needless to say i looked more like a dieing darth vader wearing the black clothes over my head against my pale face with no make up :P it was a great experience but i wasa little let down. ther ewqere no lamas!!!!! the search for them continues, at least i nkow of their exsistance in macchu pichu.
Anyhow when arriving back i felt pretty dizzy, like ther was oceanwaves in my head and got a slight fever. Over now though. thank goodness. enjoy life ppl with everything it has to offer you!
http://www.inkas.com/tours/jpg_files/jpg_photos/titicaca/titicaca_uros_boatman.jpg
Friday, 18 June 2010
howdy everybody!!!! here is my attempt to actually use the blogg i created a year ago. Life is great here in Cuzco except for the lack of hotwater, don´t ever underestimate the happiness a hotshower can bring you! ;)
it´s freezing at night but lamablankets keep you so warm! So far, in three days there hasd been a strike, a feista and i have visted my placments today. I will be working at an all girls catholic school, the girls are so cute but i do not understand what they are saying! hahaha. I start on monday, the place is way out in the middle of nowhere, high up in the mountains. got shown how to get there today but i have no idea how that is going to go so wish me luck! ;) i will teaching them how to use the computer and to speak english, depending on how that is, i am considering taking a toefl course enabling me to teach english anywhere in the world. just seems fun to teach from level zero were you can´t even teach from another languge. but anyway......i am going to go meet some cute 2-5year olds now and then heading of to lake tittikaka tonight.....saw it from above on the plane, it is huge!!! take care!!!
it´s freezing at night but lamablankets keep you so warm! So far, in three days there hasd been a strike, a feista and i have visted my placments today. I will be working at an all girls catholic school, the girls are so cute but i do not understand what they are saying! hahaha. I start on monday, the place is way out in the middle of nowhere, high up in the mountains. got shown how to get there today but i have no idea how that is going to go so wish me luck! ;) i will teaching them how to use the computer and to speak english, depending on how that is, i am considering taking a toefl course enabling me to teach english anywhere in the world. just seems fun to teach from level zero were you can´t even teach from another languge. but anyway......i am going to go meet some cute 2-5year olds now and then heading of to lake tittikaka tonight.....saw it from above on the plane, it is huge!!! take care!!!
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