A little catch up

Hi guys. Again, you'll have to excuse my absence.  Due to financial issues and other variables out of my control I left Bolivia only a short month after arriving. It was great fun working in the adventure brew team which was a brewery/Hostel. I watched the first half of the world cup including an embarising but not unexpected performance by the English fellas. There was an annual parade where they close the main street, dance, play music and serve choripans (chorizo hot dogs) i met some cool people along the way too. I made a list of firsts and bests, some of which aren't for the faint hearted but the experiences both good and bad, must be shared.

Best rack of spareribs in my life!
First time sleeping with gloves, a hat and a bottle of boiling water
First time using a cushioned toilet seat
First time with seemingly endless daiahorea
First time in the boot of a taxi
First (and probably only) time in a "cocaine" bar
Blazing internet speeds of between 200b and 6kb/s (4 days to download GTA San Andreas)

After leaving I made my way back to the now familiar and awesome country of Peru where we arrived in Cusco and I had a amazingly warm welcome from my friends in the Cusco kokopelli. I was then hosted again by the lovely, friendly, generous and not to forget hilarious Sara Herredia (the mother of Romy). It was here that we began making plans to celebrate the beginning of my 22nd year on this rock floating through space. After being reunited with the wonderful Medora, a colleague from Paracas, we spent a few days catching up and then headed all together back to Lima but not before stopping off in Paracas on the way for a night of old time sakes and the award for the warmest welcome of all goes to Charlie(the dog)! Who jumped all over us and stayed with us all day! You've just got to love that pup. If you're reading this Charles, Good Boy!!!

Upon arrival in Lima we were greeted with warm and open arms for a second time into Chipy's house where we proceeded to celebrate my birthday. This was amazing and I couldn't have asked for anymore from these amazing people! A few days were then required for recovery and I set off on the 1,100+ Km journey north to the beach town of Máncora where I set up camp in a beautiful little campsite. I have to say this puts any campsite I've stayed in before to shame!

Sadly I've been in the country too long. This however is only from the Peruvian immigration officer's point of view and he gave me a complimentary 30 days to figure out what to do. This leaves me with two option, look for work here in Máncora and pay the 1$/day overstay cost or move on north to Ecuador.

A photoshere of the campsite can be found on my Google plus page here: https://plus.google.com/app/basic/118350531057161466312/posts?cbp=g5e4xztwd6bu&sview=11&cid=5&soc-app=115&soc-platform=1

A skiing experience without the skis

Today we ascended using the teleferico to El Alto which is on the very rim of the basin they call nuestra señora de La Paz. Nothing comes closer to the feel of a ski holiday than waking up early, forcing down some carbohydrates and putting on a combination of sun cream, a coat, gloves and sun glasses. On top of that you are herded through a turn style and cramed into a cable car (luckily we got one to ourselves)

We arrived at the top where a friend and I climbed ambitiously on to a precarious building ledge and proceeded to take some awesome shots for your viewing pleasure. Not before carefully shimmying back onto solid ground. I hope you enjoy!

Saying goodbye to Paracas

Finally my time in Paracas has come to an end its been my home for the majority of my time in south America and I loved it more than anything. I have a bag full of memories and a hand full of pictures. I could talk for hours about this place.

The people and the experiences have been priceless and I've put an assortment of pictures which wont even come close to summarising the time but will be at least a glimpse.

Here are links to my time lapses of the sunrise https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eMgESeldvE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

And sunset https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVMVHBsMlJM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Next stop the capital!

Lima

I arrived to Lima with two friends from Paracas Romy and Chipy. We went straight to Chipy's house where we were greeted with an amazingly presented spaghetti de carbonara which was nothing short of a delight. We then got ready and set off to a club to meet her friends and find out what Lima night life is about.
   On the following day after sending chipy off to Ecuador we set off to Romy's grand parent's house in La Molina which is a huge old house filled with churchy style framed paintings, Cucho the dog, a beautiful park and lovely people.

We spent a day in distrito de Barranco where we met up with some friends and went exploring. We were then taken to a secret location on a cliff side over looking the sea where we sat around drinking rum as people slowly appeared and sat and joined us. This was an unforgettable evening, sadly, there are no photos from that night is the secret location was not a very well lit one.

Romy and I spent a day walking g around Mira Flores which is the touristy district where I had the best smoothie ever! Which consisted of passion fruit strawberry and mango in just the right proportions to taste each flavour separately as well as the combination. We then took a walk down the stairs and sat and watched the surfers on la costa verde (green coast) and after watched a limeñian sunset. We then finished the night with a few beers at the kokopelli in Lima.

Over my two week stay I had the pleasure of eating a variety of Peruvian dishes cook by a real Peruvian grandma and in a real Peruvian house! This was a blessing. And on our final day we all went El centro in down town where we visited China town and got some authentic Chifa which is a Peruvian / Chinese and is considered a big part of the culture this was served with Inka Kola which is a bubblegum flavoured soda which baffles me as to how all the adults enjoy it, but I'm not one to question something so sacred to them. We then took a quick look at the cathedral and headed back to back our bags once again.