goodbye huaraz!

I’m about to leave Huaraz, and I can’t believe how fast time has gone by. I saw, experienced and learned so much, that I don’t know how to summarize it. I can’t even remember how I saw things a couple months ago, because so many things have just gotten natural to me now. For me that’s a fluent process, and so I can’t imagine that most of my friends have no idea of the life that I’ve been living here. Not only the school, in which I was working, but also the culture and the daily routine in Huaraz have influenced my experiences here. I remember how, quite a long time ago, so many things were completely new and weird for me. For example that you buy bread by the price. Or that you “don’t trow of paper on the toilet” (in Julia’s words). There are still things that I don’t understand or that I’m not used to, but sometimes I really feel like I’ve been living in Peru for a while. I know where to buy what, have an overview about the area and also my Spanish is good enough to survive. Only my Salsa-dancing still needs some practicing. And even though I have to get out of Huaraz from time to time, I know I’m gonna miss it.

In a few days I will exchange my house to a life, where I’ll constantly be moving and living out of a backpack. On one hand I really can’t wait to “hit the road” and on the other hand I have to admit that I’m a little nervous about it. I just know that it’s exhausting to be travelling all the time and I guess I also shouldn’t forget that South America isn’t the same as Europe. But I think after being here for a couple months I’m not all that ill-prepared and I’m looking forward to all the things and places I will see and experience.

All I know now though, is that I’ll be heading south, and spend New Year’s in Cusco.

paracas, peru

As it’s starting to get summer here now, we followed the invitation of a friend to go camping to Paracas for a weekend.
School ended on Wednesday, after a workshop day and two parties, and so Kato and I went to Lima on Thursday night. We arrived early in the morning, and went then to get breakfast close to a friend’s house. Unfortunately the McDonald’s only opened at 8, so we had some time to kill, which we spent hanging around in the parking lot between all our stuff.
After breakfast we woke Miguel up, so we could leave our bags at his house and spend the day in Miraflores and Barranco. Miguel decided to come with us, and our first stop was the Chocolate museum in Miraflores – some friends had  told me about it, and we all agreed that it’s a must-see.  It is a very small, cute museum, and you get a free tour where they give you some infos about cocoa and the process of making chocolate. But the best part was definitely the little museum shop and all the free samples you get to try.
After that we separated, and Kato and I did a little bit of shopping, before we took a bus to Barranco, another nice part of Lima which is also a little quieter.
There we went to the beach, ate our lunch, and waited for Miguel to get off from work. He picked us up, we had dinner together at his house, and even though we were more than tired, we went to this cool bar again, where I’d already been once before.
There we met some other people, and also Maria and her boyfriend had arrived in Lima by then.
On the next day we had to get up very early, and then left straight for Paracas, which is a 3-4 hour drive.
Paracas is a little town, not only in the desert but also in a bay. It has lots of nice and expensive houses and most of them are just used for vacations. Close to Paracas is the entrance to the “National Reserve of Paracas”, where we went to set up our camp – off the road, right at the beach and in the middle of the desert. We were quite a bunch of people, and after we put up out tents and stuff, we started with our “windsurfing lessons”. Some of the girls there were not only pretty good windsurfers themselves, but also teachers. In the beginning I didn’t really want to try, since I’d never been on a surfboard before, but I convinced myself to try it and I was really glad I did. It was a lot easier than I expected it to be, and a lot of fun. Unfortunately the wind got pretty strong early in the afternoon, and so no one really felt like going into the water anymore. So we just hung out at the beach, went back to Paracas to the store, and in the evening we grilled.
Still, I was very tired, so I didn’t stay up too late and went to my “bed” in the back of Miguel’s car soon.
In the morning I woke up early, because the car felt like an oven, and went for a little walk along the water. It looked like a great day, and it was really hot. We went swimming, and windsurfing again, and I just spend all the time in the sun (which paid back with a nice, little sunburn). This day the windsurfing was a little harder because we had a bigger sail and the wind was stronger, and so it was really exhausting. But I was still happy we got the opportunity to try it J
We packed our stuff in the afternoon, and before we left for Lima, Ale and Miguel took us to another bay, way off road through the desert. It was an amazing spot, and we just sat there and enjoyed the view for a while, while some of the guys got on their surfboards again and did some “wave-windsurfing” – looks pretty awesome.
But then it was time to go back, and after dropping Maria and her boyfriend off in Paracas, we started out journey back to Lima.
There we had pizza, watched a movie and spent one more night at Miguel’s house, before I went back to Huaraz on Monday and Kato left for Cusco.

trujillo, peru

Because of our engagement and our hard work AUFWIND (the organization I work for in the school) told us that they would pay for a small trip for our teachers and us volunteers. We had a hard time deciding where to go and especially when, but after all we found a weekend where everybody was free and went to Trujillo, a city on the coast of Peru.
After a little stress at the busstation because our teachers showed up late and last minute before the bus left, we went on a night ride to the west, from the mountains again back to sea level.
We arrived in Trujillo at 4 am, and then took a taxi to our hostel, which was a little outside in Huanchaco, and there Maria and I went to sleep for a couple more hours while the teachers already took off to the beach and downtown Trujillo.
After an amazing breakfast and a little discussion about where to meet, Maria and I went to downtown as well where we all met up again and started a tour to see some of the sights around Trujillo (there are LOTS of ruins).  We had our own “private taxi”, which brought us to all the places and there we always had a guide. First we went to the “Huaca de la Luna”, a temple built by the Moche culture in the desert. I really liked it, even though I didn’t understand everything because our guided tour was all in Spanish. But the ruins were impressive and there was a lot of art, which I though was really cool. After that we went to have lunch in Trujillo (so much food!) before taking off again to other ruins. This time we went to the more famous ruins of Chan Chan, by the the Chimu culture. The original city of Chan Chan is huge, and a lot of it is still not excavated. So we only went to a temple, and one of the palaces where the “kings” were buried. Just this one palace was so big, that I had a really hard time believing that it was only one out of 10. It was also pretty impressive, but the whole sightseeing-thing started to get exhausting and understanding the Spanish got harder. That’s why I was kind of happy when the tour was over – even though that didn’t mean that our day was over, because we still had to go “shoe-shopping”. Our teachers told us that shoes are cheap in Trujillo because they are made there, but we were not prepared for what was awaiting us. Isles and isles full of little “cabins” full of shoes – it was overwhelming, and after a while we couldn’t see the shoes anymore. But I found a really nice pair, which was the goal, and after Maria found something too, we tried to get out of there and back to the hostel as fast as possible. We asked around for the right bus to Huanchaco, and back at the hostel we enjoyed having a quiet evening with some good dinner (waffles with chocolate and fresh fruits, mhhhh!) before passing out after this long day.
On the next day I woke up very early – but I actually enjoyed it, because I could have some time for myself on the rooftop reading my book before everybody else got up. We all had breakfast together (the food at the hostel was really good, and this day I dared to have fish for breakfast, which I did not regret), and then a long meeting about work. But after that we finally went to the beach, which was just right next to the hostel. There were quite a lot of people, but we found a nice spot, hung out there, went swimming and I enjoyed being on the coast. Our teachers also got some fishing rods and Madeley really caught a fish (which found a sad ending in a little plastic bag) – they were really excited about getting out of Huaraz and being in a bigger city and on the beach.
For lunch we went back to the hostel, then back to the beach again. But this time we just walked around and looked at the famous “caballitos”, some traditional little boats made out of reed.
Then we split up again, because the teachers wanted to buy some more shoes (I couldn’t believe it because each of them already got back to the hostel with a huge bag of shoes the night before) and Maria and I felt more like hanging out at some nice place (so we found a McDonalds with a nice view over the main square haha). We already had our backpacks with us, so we could go straight to the bus after that, because it was already time to go back to Huaraz.
So we spent another night on a bus, before arriving up at 3000m again early in the morning.

lima x2

Daniel and Andre had been talking about going to Lima for a while, but they never fixed a date and kept changing their plans. But it was kinda clear that I would go with them, just for a couple days to get out of Huaraz, see something different and give Lima a second chance.
And then one Sunday afternoon, I just got a text that they would leave in about 30 minutes. I was just starting to make lunch and was a little surprised and not prepared for a departure so soon. But I somehow managed to cook, eat and pack my things within half an hour and off we went.
We were going by car  and the hours passed by quickly – it took us only 5 hours to get to Lima, but 1 ½ hours to get through Lima to the part of Miraflores, where Daniel had an apartment in which I stayed the next few days. It was already getting dark when we arrived, so we didn’t do much more that day except sitting on the rooftop and chatting.
The next day we slept in, and I didn’t really have a plan what to do. But I knew that the beach was close, and in early afternoon Daniel dropped me off there. It was so nice to see the ocean after being in the mountains for so long, and I enjoyed just walking around there for a while. The view from the beach in Miraflores (the Costa Verde) is very nice and you can see lots of paragliders above you and surfers down in the waves in front of you.  Later I went back up into the direction of the apartment, but I also spent some time walking around there. It was right next to Kennedy Park, a nice park with lots of stores and restaurant around it – it was such a different atmosphere than in Huaraz!
When I got back to the apartment I found out that the guys had started drinking, and Andre was doing pretty good in getting drunk pretty fast. I just had a few drinks so I was fine, but we ended up having a little drive around Miraflores in Andre’s huge car, which was quite an adventure, especially when he tried to park it in his condition.
Later at night some friends picked me up, and we went to another part of the city, Barranco, where we walked around a little bit and ended up going to a really nice bar. The decoration was fancy, and I enjoyed that a lot, since there’s not much art and decoration in Huaraz. I also tried Maracuja Sour (a drink with Pisco and, obviously, maracuja) for the first time, and found out that I really like it. I had a very good time hanging out with Miguel and Taya there, and it felt good not only to get out of Huaraz, but also being around other people for once in a while.
The day after that we also slept in (which really surprised me, because compared to Huaraz Lima is very loud and busy), and then Daniel and I drove around for a while. Since it was already more than time for lunch, we didn’t go back to the house, but went directly to a mall on a cliff to have lunch there. After that I spent some time reading and writing on the rooftop, and enjoying my vacation.
The only thing that was a little difficult for me was that I didn’t have a key and didn’t really know the area, so I depended on Daniel, who is a person with his plans changing all the time.
That night though, we went out again and, after getting some cheesecake, we went to the beach and walked around there. There was also a little pier, from where you could hear some dolphins chatter. Surprisingly it was a nice night, even though it was still pretty cold and you’re never really able to see the sky in Lima because of the smog that covers the sky. But just being able to see, hear and smell the ocean made up for that J
The next day I was by myself most of the time, not really knowing what to do. So I went to the beach again, and after that ended up finding a cool park above the sea, which reminded me a little of the Parque Gaudi in Barcelona (I was so enjoying all the artsy stuff here!). After a while, Miguel picked me up from there and we went to his house. There we had Mac’n’Cheese and Chicha Morada (a Peruvian drink made out of purple/black corn) and watched a movie, before I went back to the apartment.
On my last day in Lima, even though I didn’t know it was my last day back then, I went to the Parque Kennedy to figure out what to do and when to go back to Huaraz – the time in Lima just had passed by, without me even knowing what I was doing a lot of the time (I really spent a lot of time just hanging out on the rooftop, or walking around the beach, the park or once also a big Feria Artesana). And since I’d been there for almost a week, I decided to go back on Saturday night the latest. But there was a slight chance that Daniel and Andre would go back too, so I waited for them to make up their minds. That took a while, but at least we spent that day in another part of Lima so I could see some more of the city. We went to the center, had Chifa (chinese-peruvian food) there for lunch and then we drove up a hill, from where you have an amazing view over the city (you’d be able to see even more, if there wasn’t so much pollution…). On our way back we stopped at one of the parks in Miraflores that are above the ocean and watched the paragliders for a while. And I was happy that I finally got to see something else than the area around the apartment J 
In the late afternoon the guys decided that they would go back to Huaraz too, and were first talking about going back that same night. That didn’t happen though, because they also decided to have a party (which costed me one of my shoes, because some drunk person had the great idea to throw it off the rooftop). But surprisingly we really left on Saturday in the morning, and I was kinda looking forward of going back to Huaraz and being more independent again, even though Lima was a nice change of scene  and I liked it a lot better than the first time I was there. I had just been more used to Peru already at that time, and also got to see a very different part of the city, which makes a big difference because the contrasts are huge. It really is incredible how big this city is, and how many parts it has that all are a little bit like their own city.

Back in Huaraz I was happy to have my own house and kitchen and room again, but I was already planning on going back to Lima with Maria some time in November to visit friends.
I had spent a week in Huaraz, gone to school, partied, and also did some hiking, when it was time for Daniel and Andre to leave Huaraz again, but this time for a longer time. On a rainy Sunday we all said our goodbyes, since we knew that we probably won’t see them again. And two days later I got a call that Daniel changed his flight to Canada and was still in Lima – Maria and I were already thinking about going to Lima this week, because we had a lot of school stuff planned for November, and so I decided to go to Lima again, even though I’d just been there. I took a bus over night the same day where I made that decision, and the day I arrived I spent at Daniel’s place again because he was leaving that night – it was hard to believe that this time saying goodbye would be real, because he had changed his plans so many times.
But waking up the next morning, I was all by myself and I was going to enjoy that day just like that. So I got some good breakfast and then went down to the beach and sat there for a while. Later I met up with Miguel to bring my backpack to his place, and together we went to pick up Maria from the bus. It felt good having her in Lima too, and I was really looking forward to the next days because it would again be a whole different Lima-experience. But that night we just stayed in, had Mac’n’Cheese again, and watched a movie.
In the morning on the next day, Maria and I went running for a little bit, and then I showed her around the area where I’d always hung out when I was in Lima the last time. On our way back we took a different route, and of course we managed it to get lost – so instead of being away for an hour, it took us two hours to get back to Miguel’s house and by that time I was already starving and couldn’t wait to have breakfast. After that little adventure and a good breakfast we took the Metro (a bus that has it’s own line on the “Expresa”, and is so independent from the else terrible traffic) an went to the center of Lima.
There everything looks very European, because many of big buildings are still from the colonial times. We went through a park, passed the Contemporary Art Museum of Lima, and then met Ale (another friend) during her lunchbreak. Together we went to one of the big plazas in the center and had lunch at the very same Chifa place I had been two weeks earlier. After that Ale had go back to work and we met up with our friend Kato at the Plaza the Armas – from there Miguel continued being our guide and showed us around the center – the big central market, Chinatown, some more parks and also museums, and after it had gotten dark we went to a waterpark. That was just a park where you could walk around through lit up waterfountains – a nice ending for a quite long day. On the bus back to Miguel’s house we got stuck in traffic (what a surprise!) and I almost fell asleep because I was so exhausted. But that night we still also had to get to Ale’s house since we would stay there for the rest of the weekend.
On Saturday we all slept in, and then enjoyed the luxury of a nice hot shower, and a delicious breakfast that included peanut butter. In the morning I also used the chance of a good internet to skype with my family, and after that Ale took us up on the hill in her neighborhood from where we had a great view over the endless city of Lima and the crazy big houses in the area.
For the afternoon, Maria and I first wanted to go to Barranco, a part of Lima that we had heard of to be very nice and that I had only seen at night before. But, as it happens a lot here, plans changed and we ended up going to the house of a friend of Ale’s, where we started drinking early in the afternoon and then went to the Ex-Alumnos Party of their school. The funny thing was, that that was THE German school in Lima – so everybody there could (more or less) speak German, and we didn’t stand out as gringas at all. There was also German food, like Brezeln and Schwarzwälderkirschtorte,  mixed with Peruvian music and drinking habits. We had a lot of Pisco, danced, and by 8pm we felt like we had partied enough (we already started to get sober again, and I couldn’t even smell Coca Cola anymore) and called a taxi to go back home. There we found the perfect way to end the day and watched a movie, before going to bed – so we managed it to combine a crazy party and a comfy movie night in one day/night.
On our last day in Lima we really wanted to go to Barranco, and so we got up a little earlier and after getting our bustickets for the night, we went there. We met up with Kato again and then just walked around. I liked Barranco a lot more than Miraflores – it has a lot of really nice houses and cool bars/restaurants, and is a little more quiet and not as commercial and touristic as Miraflores.
Since it was a nice day, and you were actually able to see the sun through the clouds, we also went down to the beach and Maria and I went swimming, which was really cool. After that we decided to get some lunch and Ale took us to an amazing restaurant, where we even had to wait to get a table because it was so busy. But the food was delicious, and the decoration of the place was something quite worth seeing.
Before going back home, we decided to go shopping for a little bit, and so went to Miraflores and spent some time just around where Daniel’s apartment was. Then we went back to Ale’s house and everybody got some time for themselves, which Kato and I used to drive up the hill (I was so glad it was a quiet neighborhood with nearly no traffic, otherwise I probably would have crashed the car) in the neighborhood again to see the sunset from up there. But since we got lost a couple times we got there when it was already dark – which was probably even more amazing than the sunset anyways.
After getting back, we had dinner together, and then packed our stuff and called a taxi to take us to the bus station. And, as a nice last adventure, we almost got robbed just two blocks away from the bus. We were waiting at a red light, when suddenly a man came up to the taxi, opened the door on my side and tried to pull me out. While that, another man tried to open the door on the other side, and all three of us were just screaming. Luckily I managed to close the door and the guys didn’t take anything – but that was definitely a little scary and from now on I’ll never forget to lock the door in a car again.
After getting on the bus, we all went to sleep, as far as that’s possible on a bus, and started out journey back to Huaraz where we arrived at 5am the next day.

laguna churup, peru

Having a four-day weekend again, we decided to cross off another point from our To-Do-List and go to the Laguna Churup. Lucky as we are, we got up early in the morning and could already see that it was a foggy day again. But still we left the house to go look for the bus that would take us up to the trail, and surprisingly we found it immediately. There were already some tourists on it, but also lots of locals – the bus was more than stuffed, and still there were more people getting on.
After a more or less comfortable bus ride and a little bit of confusion, we ended up getting off right at the beginning of the trail instead of a little further down as we originally intended. But that was okay, and otherwise we would have missed the local, coming by on his donkey and greeting und friendly.
On the bus were also a French couple and a girl from the States, with who we decided to start the hike. We couldn’t see anything because of the fog, and in the beginning the trail was pretty steep and, due to that and the altitude, very exhausting. A few times we also weren’t sure where to go because the trail would divide and we couldn’t see where each of them went.
From time to time we could hear some water, and after a while we got to a river where the trail divide again. Since the park ranger told us to go left at the river, we did, and it was definitely a good decision (I don’t even wanna know how the right trail would have been in that weather). By then it was drizzling quite a bit and had also gotten pretty cold. But soon we reached some bigger rocks with ropes, and we knew that we had now reached the “climbing part”. The first part was anything but easy because the rocks were wet and really slippery. Each of us almost fell, but it was a little adventure and I liked it J And after that first, difficult part we made a little break to have some water and cookies. There were two more climbing parts, which were a little easier, and after that the trail got kind of lost – but somehow we found the right way and soon we could already see the sign of the lake. But no lake. We knew we were there, but we were only able to see what was about two meters in front of us, so we could only guess that there was a lake. We kept walking along some rocks for a bit, and then sat down a little above the “lake” to have lunch. The big rocks did look kind of cool in the fog, but we still were a little disappointed that we couldn’t see the lake at all.
And then, suddenly, after about ten minutes the fog cleared up and we could see the water – it was so beautiful, so clear and blue and much bigger than we were expecting it to be. Also watching the fog rolling out over the lake was just an amazing view, and we got up to take some pictures and walk around a little more, because we knew it wouldn’t last long. Everything looked so different with less fog that we almost didn’t recognize the rocks that we walked along to our lunch spot. But after a short while the fog really rolled in again, and it was way too cold to sit down somewhere, so we started our way back.
By then a bunch of other people had gotten to the lake, and on our way back down we walked together with a Spanish couple and their guide for a while. The climbing parts were even more difficult going down, and it was kind of cool to have a guide with us for them. It was also amazing to see how easily he got down the parts, where we had difficulties and almost slipped.
The way back down went by fast, and it was cool because we were able to see a little bit of the view that we missed on our way up. And since we were really early, we also stopped at some point close to the end and sat down for a while.
At the end of the trail, we kept walking down to get to a little village where we knew it would be easy to find a bus back to Huaraz. It was a trail too, and after some walking, and some confusion about where we should go, we reached some houses. We didn’t know if that was the village we were trying to find, so we asked someone – and that guy happened to be able to take us down to Huaraz for the same price as the colectivo would have been. So we got into the car, and soon we picked up some other people – we ended up being the three of us plus another guy plus two women who sat in the trunk. But the driver was very nice, and since it had just started to rain we were happy to stay dry in the car.
He dropped us off close to our house, and when we got back we were surprised how early it still was.
For me it was a really great day, and this was definitely the hike I enjoyed the most! We already decided to go again on a nicer day, and I can’t wait for that J

laguna 69, peru

This week, again, we only had very little school. So we decided to go for a hike, since we haven’t done many yet and time is just flying by.
Through our friend from the hostel we booked a bus that would take us to the Laguna 69, one of the most visited lakes in the area. The bus picked us up at our house at 6.30 in the morning and off we went. The bus ride was quite long, a little over 3 hours. First we went up north through a few other towns, and then the way took us up on an unpaved road to the east. We entered the Huascaran National Park, and kept going for another while. The weather was terribly foggy - we passed another one of the best known lakes, the Laguna Llanganuco, but all we could see was white fog and mist.
At the beginning of the trail the bus dropped us off, and a guide from another tour explained us the route and when we should be back. So we were on ourselves now, but everybody told us that the trail was obvious and impossible to miss.
Maria and I met a couple from the states, and with them we started the hike, and kept meeting them every once in a while through the whole tour.
The trail first took us through grasslands with a river flowing through it, and after a while it started to get rocky and it led us upwards. Most of the time we couldn’t see much because of the fog, and sometimes the landscape reminded us of some horror movie. One time we almost got lost, because cows had trampled a little trail through some grasses and it was more visible than the real trail, because for that one we had to cross another river.
We passed another lake, just seeing that there was some water next to us, and we started to get a little worried that the fog would be that bad at our destination too. And also we started to get tired, because we just kept going up and up, and were already at an altitude of over 4000m. We knew we should be there soon, but we didn’t really know when. We were already pretty exhausted, when we met the first people coming back from the lake – and they told us that it was only ten more minutes, and also that the weather wasn’t that bad up there. Our energies came back, and the first glance at the turquoise water was just amazing. The color almost seemed unreal, and the lake was surrounded by snow covered mountains, peeking out of the fog. It was cold, but that didn’t influence our enjoyment for the view – it really looked like the pictures on the post cards, and even way better.
We were the first ones of our group, so we knew we didn’t have to rush to go back. The first thing we did was to sit down and eat – and then we took tons of pictures, hoping that at least some of them would catch the beautiful scenery.
After about an hour we started our way back down, which was (obviously) a lot easier and faster than going up. Again we walked right through the fog, sometimes not seeing more than what was 10m in front of us. It took us an hour less to go down, and again we were the first ones. Waiting in the bus, I already fell asleep – but when we started driving that was just impossible. It felt like the road was way worse than before, and we could not sit still, but were being shook around for over an hour before we finally reached a “real street” again. I fell asleep again and when I woke up we were already close to Huaraz, it had gotten dark and was raining like hell.
We were tired and it was cold, but back at the house we had some tea and food, and were glad we spent the day out in nature. Also we could cross something from our long list of things we still have to do here. And now we know why almost every tourist goes to the Laguna 69 – it was definitely worth it J

pt. 3

There’s daily life, and like in Austria there are always things happening during that. It is never just the same every day, and especially here there are lots of events and holidays (even though we don’t really attend many of them).
Last week we had a big party at our school. It was “Children’s Day”, and of course there were no classes. But nevertheless we went to school, even earlier than usual, because we were supposed to prepare fruit salad (that was sponsored by our organization) for all the kids. So Maria and I, and our two English teachers sat in the classroom and cut fruits for hours – you need a lot of fruits if you want to make 200 kids happy. Outside everybody was waiting since the whole party would start with that fruit salad. It was quite some work, but we had fun and the fruits were delicious! When we finished there was a short speech about AUFWIND and then we served the fruit salad. After that our “work” was over and we could enjoy the party. Everybody was gathered on chairs in the yard, there was a clown, music and all kinds of snacks and drinks were given out to the children (we also helped with that, and so I learned how to serve 15 cups of chicha morada at once). There was a lot of dancing (it’s amazing how even the young Peruvians can dance already) and it was just a big, crazy party. It was definitely one of the moments where I just felt happy to be able to be here, and experience this country and its people.
In the afternoon we had a little adventure, which was to change the gas bottle that runs our stove. We just wanted to cook and enjoy our free afternoon, when the stove just stopped working and we realized we were out of gas. Julia was still in Lima, so we were by ourselves and those gas bottles are kind of suspicious to me. We called her, and asked what to do, and talking on the phone in Spanish is something I really don’t like to do. But then we decided to try our best, and find a place where they sell those bottles – how to change it was another story. But we got lucky, and besides that everybody laughed at the two gringas trying to buy gas, everything turned out to be easy. The guy from the store took us back to our house, in a minivan full of gas (not scary at all) and changed the bottle for us. I’m really glad I didn’t have to touch that thing, and that our adventure had a good ending, including some delicious broccoli soup after we were able to use the stove again.

That weekend we had a long weekend because of some holiday and whenever we have time like that we try to use at least one day kind of “productive”. Since on Saturday we had a lot to do for work and were kinda stressed out because there was a lot going on we had to deal with, we went out at night. Our Argentinian couchsurfer was also here for another night, but he didn’t come with us.
And like it usually is after going out in Peru, Sunday ended up as being a really lazy, sleepy day. Only in the afternoon we went to get some hangover food (French fries, piccarones, and a strawberry milkshake) and went a little restaurant to hang out with our couchsurfer, who had just watched an important Argentinian soccer game. Later I went to the hostel, because one of my friends had just gotten back from Lima and it’s been a while since I’d been there (usually I hang out there quite a lot).
But on Monday we had planned to go hiking, and we actually got up early and took a colectivo to that small village, where I started my hike the first time too. The weather was perfect, which is something that doesn’t happen very often anymore since rain season has started and it usually rains every day in the afternoon, and it gets more and more, so nights and mornings are rainy too.
Anyway, on that day there was no single cloud in the sky, and we were happy to have some time we could use to go up into the mountains. After a while we reached the entrance of the Huascaran National Park and from there on it was supposed to be only 1 ½ hours more to a nice lake. We got up pretty high in altitude, and walking got more and more exhausting – and after more than two hours there was still no sign of the lake. We were exhausted, and not knowing how much further we had to walk didn’t make it better. But after a while we finally reached a little house, and a sign pointing out a small path up to the lake. We were so glad we finally got there (we were about to turn around..) and the lake, though it was small, was really pretty. The water had a unique color of some milky-turquoise and right behind it was a snowy mountain reaching up into the sky. Exhausted as we were, we first sat down and ate our lunch. The we went to the little sign that gave information about the lake and the altitude – kind of proud we realized that we got up higher than Austria’s highest mountain, and even for Peru 4,500 m are not that bad. But you could definitely feel the altitude – the air was thin and it got cold. When we were about to leave and go back to Huaraz, we ran into some friends from Lima that were spending their long weekend here and with who we already went out and played a huge game of Jenga (the one who loses has to drink a shot of coca liquor) a few days before. They had just gotten to the lake, and were here with their car and some food. So we decided to stay a little longer, since they could also take us back and we wouldn’t have to walk another 5 hours. We played a game, and started to cook until it got really cold, and rain and hail were starting to fall. Our attempt to build a shelter wasn’t too successful, and so we decided to go to the little house and see if we could go in. The keeper of the house was very nice, and let us come in and finish our cooking in his kitchen. We ate, and then realized that it was time to go back. Even though everybody was cold, and we had to sit tight in the back of the car, it was a great day and we had lots of fun.

The rest of the week was quiet, and there wasn’t even really much to do at school because the village where the school is was celebrating its anniversary and only a few kids came to school. So on Wednesday we gave up teaching 5 children after 20 minutes and on Friday we put two classes together because there were only so few students.
On the weekend we for once did something else than only going out, because we were invited for a “late brunch” by Maria’s Spanish teacher. We had chips and guacamole, and some Apfelstrudel (this time it already turned out better than last time) and it was nice to be around some girls instead of hanging out with guys all the time. So we had a really nice evening.
But still, I’m hanging out at the hostel a lot, and it’s fun to talk to all different kinds of people from all over the world. We can also borrow books there, which makes me a happy person – so when I’m at home I got something to do besides writing and drawing and sleeping. But it’s actually really nice to have those quiet days too, like today, where it’s been raining pretty much all day and I’m just sitting in my bed with a cup of tea and some music. It’s great when you have nothing else to do, and the stress at work also got a little better.
Good life! J

chacas, peru

Just for a two-day-vacation, and to see something different, I got up early and went to the bus station to go to Chacas. I was the only gringa, and I felt a little nervous, because I knew that we had to go through mountain roads and Peruvian buses are pretty rusty. It also didn’t calm me down that we had to put down our fingerprints before entering the bus.
And it turned out that my feeling was right. After a little while the bus stopped in the middle of the road and they had to fix something at the tire. But then we went on and after a while I lost my anxiety.
We went up serpentines, on one side the Huascaran and on the other side other snow-capped peaks.
And then, in a turn, the bus suddenly stopped. And then it started to roll down backwards, the breaks not working.
I already saw the bus falling down, but the driver managed to turn it and so we “only” crashed backwards into a wall. Everybody was scared and we got off the bus as fast as possible.
We were in the middle of nowhere, no phone service, not far from the Olympic pass but we didn’t know how far exactly it was. And it was cold, all that happened at an altitude of about 4,500 m.
The drivers started to work on the bus, but there was no way I would get on that vehicle again. Fortunately some other people shared this opinion and we decided to start walking – the view was amazing, there was nothing but the highest mountains of Peru. Some cars came by, but most of them were already full.
After about an hour, a guy from Lima and I found room in the trunk of a car, together with a third person. It was definitely not the most comfortable way to travel, but I by now I could already laugh about the whole situation and it was better than walking for another 4 hours. And we did arrive safely in the little town of Chacas, paying our new driver as it is the habit in Peru for a ride.
When I got to Chacas, I didn’t know what to do at first, and I didn’t see the guy from Argentina anywhere. But the town has a really nice main square, so I sat down and ate, and after that I walked around a little. After a while I ran into the Argentinian guy by accident and together we broght my stuff to the hostel.
The rest of the day I didn’t do much. We went to eat at a small restaurant – in Peru there are many options for a really cheap lunch menu. You get soup (I don’t because it usually has chicken in it) and then a huge portion of some meat or fish and rice and potatoes. Other than that I just walked around, read or drew, and after watching the sunset I had some good Peruvian chocolate cake.
Chacas is a very pretty but also quiet town, and people here seem to have no worries. But they’re also not used to gringos, and I don’t think they cared much.
But still, just what I needed to get out of Huaraz and relax for a little bit.
I only spent one night in Chacas before going back home, and I was quite nervous when entering the bus and going back on the mountain roads. But I made it back safely!

pt. 2 - huaraz, peru

When I arrived in Huaraz, I was the only AUFWIND-Volunteer.
On my second day, I was still feeling terrible because of the altitude and the long journey, but two of the teachers already took me to a school event in Wilcawain, another 500m up.
I had no idea what to do, and I didn’t understand much Spanish at that time. But the teachers talked to the coordinator of the school and told me that classes would start next week – so I had a few days to settle, which I really needed.
Those first days were quiet, but Julia started to show me around Huaraz. We went to the market on the street, the supermarket, the main square, the Feria Artesana and some other places. Most things are in walking distance from the house, but in the beginning every meter was exhausting for me and I had to drink a lot of coca tea to make my headache go away. And in Huaraz too, eventhough it’s a lot smaller than Lima, impressions are endless.
The moment when the sun goes down behind the mountains.
The Peruvian women, very many of them wearing traditional Peruvian clothing, doing their laundry at the riverside.
The food you can buy on the street – only a few things are vegetarian, but there’s just so much I still don’t know.
The market, where you can buy anything from fruits, vegetables, meat over clothing to housewares, and that is always colorful and full of people (in the beginning, every time I went to the market I forgot what I wanted to buy because there’s just so much).
The traffic, chaotic and loud, but still much better than in Lima.
The fiestas, parades and shoots that take place every weekend, and on some weekdays too.
The main street, full of stores and people.
The many dogs on street, all different kinds you can imagine.
The bars, drunk people and salsa music on weekend nights.
So – it’s a lot. And it took me while to get used to all of it.
Most people here are poor, and you can see that especially when you go a little out of the city, to the small villages in the mountains. Many things are very traditional and basic, for example agriculture. Animals are used as working animals, and so you see lots of donkeys and cows, but also sheep and pigs. Clothes are all washed by hand, many roads are unpaved, and water is cold. There a lots of little stores (tiendas) and usually people just live in the back of the sales room, behind a door. Also many people sell their own vegetables and fruits on the streets (usually only women) and they carry incredible weights in their colorful cloths.

After about a week, Patrick came back and now I wasn’t alone with Julia anymore and also had someone to talk to. That wasn’t good for my Spanish because I learned a lot with Julia, but it was also good to be able to have a normal conversation.
We got along very well, and since we kinda have our own house (Julia just comes by sometimes and we eat or drink wine together) we were independent and Patrick explained to me some other important things in Huaraz. We cooked a lot, watched movies (bought on the street, for 2,50 Soles), walked around and most of the time we went to bed early.
The house we live in is small, but we have everything we need. Two bedrooms, a kitchen/living room, a bathroom and a rooftop where we have a cage for our cuys and a couch. The stove is a gas stove, and the bottle full of gas is right next to it. We always have to turn the bottle off after cooking because otherwise that nice smell of gas fills the kitchen pretty fast. The best thing is probably our mixer – super old and retro orange, and perfect for making soups or banana milk shakes. We also have a TV, which we don’t really use, with a few Peruvian channels where they show weird game shows, and sometimes also movies in Spanish. We have no heater, so sometimes I gets pretty cold in the house and warm socks are definitely needed. The shower works, but you have to be lucky to have warm and a lot of water (I’m so glad I cut my dreads!) and also in the kitchen there is no hot water. The water we drink, we have to cook first (in a nice, whistling teapot). So I got used to drinking warm water, because we always have to consider our “water cooking times” in our day planning which we still forget sometimes.
It’s basic, there’s no dishwasher or fridge or a big mirror – but you get used to things like that fast.
Julia is not here most of the time, and so it really is kinda my first own house, which is pretty cool.

When I had my first day in class I was happy that Patrick was still here. It was a couple days later than originally planned (things like that are just normal here, plans change) and I didn’t know what to expect, since I’d never done anything like this before.  So I was quite nervous to stand in front of a Spanish-speaking bunch of kids and teach. But there are some things you just have to do, to learn that they’re not as scary as they seem at first. The AUFWIND-teachers organized a meeting with all the other teachers of the school and we arranged the schedules for the English classes.
Then we had our first class – in this one I was mostly quiet and watched, but the next time we went to school, I already dared to teach a little myself.
The school is something you would never see in Austria. A small, cold building with 3 classrooms and a “room” for the teachers (it really is just a place with two desks, surrounded by some closets which separate it from the hallway). The rest of the classes are outside, surrounding a little yard and you can’t even really call them rooms. Walls and roofs are made of wood and corrugated metal, they don’t have a floor and between wall and roof is a hole through which you can see the sun shining (or in future, probably it will be a nice entrance for some rain). There is no electricity in the classrooms nor do we have running tap water – there is a little creek behind one of the classrooms. There are no computers, TV’s or anything like that. The kids come from poor families and most of them only have basic school utensils – a booklet, a pencil, maybe some color pencils too, and some of them have to walk for over an hour to get to school.
We teach 6 different grades, and of each are two classes (but most of them are together). And the way it works, is that the teachers prepare class and do the main part of explaining – we volunteers help them, practice pronunciation, draw and write on the board. When the kids have to do something themselves we all walk through class, help them or answer questions if they don’t know what to do. All this was very new for me, especially being called “profesóra” and correcting their work, but now I’m already pretty used to it.
Teaching is exhausting, but it’s fun and now the kids got used to me being in class too (in the beginning they were always talking about me, which wasn’t very helpful for my self-confidence) and when I come in the morning they are happy to see me and come over to give me a hug.
They are amazingly cute, willing to learn, and some of them are really smart. With “our” teachers I get along very well too, and I really like what I’m doing.

But it took a while until everything started to go as smooth and regularly as it does now (if you can ever call something in Peruvian life regularly). In my first couple weeks I was sick a lot and my weeks were chaotic because of that.  It’s also not a very good feeling when you have fever for two days and don’t really know why and what would help. I lost a lot of weight and my body got weak – and every time I started to feel better I got sick again. There were days where I felt good, but in the beginning they were rare – I always had something. Also I had to organize a lot for the school (that’s the disadvantage of working for a small organization – you don’t just work for it, you kind of are the organization), still many things were new to me and not having a rhythm is exhausting.
But on the good days I went to explore with Patrick (or by myself), and I didn’t even notice how many things started to get normal to me.
For example the busride to the school in a full colectivo on a bumpy, unpaved road. Or doing my laundry by hand with cold water and only sometimes having a hot shower with more than a few drops of water. After about two weeks we were together in Huaraz, Patrick left because he was going back to Austria. Julia was in Lima too, and so I had the house for myself for a few days (in which I was sick).
But at school we had regular classes by now, just interrupted by the many fiestas that take place all the time (people here really like to celebrate) and I was at a point where I felt like I was now living my other, Peruvian life, far away from Austria. I was used to many things here (of course there’s still a lot that’s new to me), my Spanish got better, I knew the streets I needed, knew which Internet station was best to go to and I stopped caring about people staring at me and calling me “gringa” – I just felt like now I had really arrived in my new home.
When Maria, the new volunteer, came with Julia all these things got even clearer to me because now I was the one showing her around and explaining some Peruvian specialties.
In the beginning living with her was totally different that living with Patrick, but after a few days we got used to each other, and now everything is working out pretty good. We got a second key so we can come and go without depending on each other, but we also spend a lot of time together. Cooking works great, we always have new ideas about what to make and we also had some good Kaiserschmarrn and Apfelstrudel already (which isn’t the easiest thing to make without scales, but we’re masters by now).
My life here has also gotten pretty busy – school, and also work in the afternoon, writing emails and reports, shopping, cooking, cleaning, friends, and so on.
We also go out quite a lot, with two Peruvians who I met through a swiss girl who was working in a hotel here in my first weeks. They are fun, and they also speak English. Here people drink a lot, and the music in the “discotecas” is very different – it’s probably very funny when gringos try to dance to salsa music.
When we don’t go out to party, we go out to eat or just hang out at the hostel, which belongs to the family of one of my friends and is very nice.
There were weeks where I really didn’t have much time to relax, which is exhausting but also good because that way I don’t have much time to think about Austria. I like being here, and Huaraz really feels like home now.

On one of my free days, I decided to get out of the city and go hiking for a little bit. I didn’t really have a plan where I was going , so I just took a (full) colectivo to a small village I already knew, and started walking from there. I hardly saw any people, all that was around me were mountains, the sun and the sounds I made. The landscape was gorgeous and I really enjoyed having this day for myself.
A few days later, we had a couchsurfer from Argentina stay at our place for two days – we showed him around a little bit (feels weird to show someone around in a city where everybody thinks you’re a tourist yourself) and on Sunday afternoon Maria and I made Apfelstrudel and also had another friend and Julia come over to eat – Austrian food with international guests, and since there was almost nothing left I guess they liked it.
The next day the couchsurfer left for Chacas, a small village on the other side of the Cordillera Blanca, and I decided to go there too, just a day later.

pt. 1 - lima

Now I’ll finally try to write a summary of my time in Peru, the first five weeks I’ve been living here. That’s not an easy thing to do, but I’ll try my best to give an impression of how life is here and what I’ve been doing.

When I left Austria at the end of August, I only knew that I was going to go to Lima first. But I didn’t know where I would stay, and I had no idea of how Lima was and what I’d have to expect.
Fortunately, when I was waiting for my connecting flight in Panama City, it turned out that Julia (AUFWIND’s “mama peruana”) could pick me up at the airport and that I could stay at her house in Lima before we would go to Huaraz together.
So after I got my luggage and went through immigration (I was glad everything went well), I was happy to find her waiting at the airport and we took a taxi to her house. My first impression of Lima was incredible – first you have to negotiate about the price of the taxi, and then we drove on a gigantic, dusty street with huge holes in it, everybody in old cars where you would think that they fall apart every second. And they drive like crazy, honk all the time and it’s just like the stronger one wins. I was tired and overwhelmed, had no idea where we were going and Julia kept talking to me in Spanish.
When we got to the house, I went to sleep (which I did a lot in the following days) and after a while Patrick, the other volunteer, arrived in Lima too. Luckily his Spanish was better than mine and he knew Julia because he’d been here for two months already. Together with Julia we had a big dinner – she’s a great cook and plates are always stuffed with food, but I don’t think she’s too happy about me being a vegetarian.
I also managed to go to an “internet station” (thanks to Patrick haha) – a mostly dark place with a bunch of computers where you pay per half an hour. In Peru they are at every corner and you always see kids playing games because only few people have a computer or internet at home.

On my second day in Lima I already went to my first Peruvian fiesta. I could barely get out of bed, but I’m glad I didn’t miss it, because it’s quite different than in Austria (I don’t know what isn’t).
It was the baptism of a son off some relatives of Julia. After church we went to a place they rented (it was a rather rich family) – I felt like the decoration was totally out of place compared to what’s going on on the streets. We waited until everybody was here and I thought then we would finally eat (it was getting quite late). But no, now only people started to do speeches and I didn’t understand a word. Only some snacks were given to us and when they were finally done with the speeches every woman (yes, me too) had to dance with the baptized baby (yes, in front of everybody that was there) and pictures were taken in every family and non-family constellation possible.
More snacks and beer, and everybody started dancing. Every table got bottles of beer, but for drinking there is only one glass. One person drinks, and then the next and so on. And the music was a very interesting mix between Peruvian rythms and Gangnam Style.
The actual dinner came a few hours later and, how could it be different, it was cuy (guinea pig). A whole one, on a plate next to potatoes – definitely a thing you have to get used to.

The next days in Lima were calm, I didn’t do very much because I was tired and every time I left the house I came back exhausted. Like taking a bus to a place – you wait at the side of the street and the first challenge is to find out which bus is the right one. Destinations are yelled by the conductor and written on the side of the bus, but you have to be fast. The bus stops wherever people want to get on or off, and they can’t be stuffed enough. In Lima it can also happen that people try to sell sweets or other things on the bus, or play music. The streets are crazy, big, loud and dusty and just looking out the window and seeing the poor neighbourhoods full of people, and then suddenly skyscrapers of American companies or nicer neighbourhoods with restaurants and tourists overwhelmed me with impressions.

Everything was new, everything was different, and I didn't know anything.
Patrick left for Cusco after two days, so I was alone with Julia and my little knowledge of the Spanish language. But it’s the best way to learn, and in those days I my Spanish got a lot better. It’s still pretty basic, but compared to how it was when I arrived it’s great ;)

But still, I was happy when we left for Huaraz after four days in Lima – it was just enough for the beginning.
We took a bus, one of the cheap one’s that are used by locals, and started our eight-hour-journey up into the Andes. The bus was a little rusty and sometimes I was scared it wouldn’t make it, but the scenery is amazing. First along the coast, then to the east, through villages and cities and a lot of farmland. And then up, mountain roads, only small villages with few houses, animals on the streets, long distances with no houses and a whole different vegetation.

Huaraz is at an altitude of a little over 3000m, and you can feel that. When we arrived, I was tired, had a headache and felt like my whole body was aching. But from the first moment I kinda liked the city, maybe also because it’s a lot smaller than Lima and not as crazy. We could walk from the bus to the house, which has a nice little courtyard and a roof-deck with a great view, especially at sunset. Julia showed me the house, which is very basic but enough to live, and my room is nice too.
Since the sun was already going down when we arrived, it was time to go to bed for me, filled with the curiosity of how everything here would be like.

More will be on here soon

lima, peru

After 25 hours of travelling I finally arrived in Lima this afternoon. Mama Julia picked me up at the airport and I^am staying at her house here. Since she only speaks Spanish so I think I will learn fast. Still can´t believe i´m here. I´ts all different, so many impressions and I haven't realized I'm here, in Peru, so far away from Austria. WOW :)


I think it will take a while until I´m able to write about Lima - so many impressions at once!