Journal of a journey in South America-PART 2

The end is near...

2007-07-25T19:15:00.000-07:00

Final Destination: São Paulo. The biggest city in South America. Number 5 (some say nr. 3) on the list of biggest cities in the world. 20 million people. Wow...it is a frightening number. We have been warned by numerous people about it´s dangers. We probably won´t make a lot of photos because of that. We are only here for 2 days and we are staying with a very kind person we´ve met in Arraial d´Ajuda when he was there with his kids on holiday. I am using his computer to write this as we speak...But as we arrived, driving into the city, the skyline filled with skyscrapers, at the busterminal, we did not feel hostility, as we did not feel this at lots of places where we have been warned. Everything went smooth as can be again...Tomorrow evening we will get a tour around town. I can tell you more about the grandeur (in size) then.

Paratí

2007-07-25T19:08:00.000-07:00

After beautiful days at the big island we have one more stop before we get to our final destination. A very small coastal village with a very colonial atmosphere again. The center is on the Unesco list as many centers that I´ve seen, but still, each place does have its own charm. Very alike but still unique..The only thing which was a shame was the wheater. Raining cats and dogs...We stayed two days, hooked up with a Dutch girl, Nathalie, that we met on Ilha Grande and remembered from the beach in Trancoso, and tried to avoid the raindrops. Illustrations will be here soon as always. I´m getting slow at the end.... Forgive me..

Island in the stream..

2007-07-24T15:34:00.000-07:00

Ilha Grande.
An island aproximately 2 hours by bus from Rio and 2 hours by boat. We had nothing but extremely positive comments on this place. There are no cars, nor ATM machines over there..We did not know exactly what to expect. First things we saw; lots of palmtrees again, mountains covered with rainforest, amazing beaches (again), a lot of boats. There is one main street, a sandy one, with nothing but pousadas (motels). All decorated quite refined, nice restaurants and a cosey candle light ambience. We stayed 3 days, got a bit of sun because the weather was amazing. Boattrip, exploring bounty beaches, you know, that kind a thing ;-) Horrible, but someone has to do it.....
We were actualy lucky, the weather had been very bad before and we arrived just for the festive weekend, when they dance forro (a very simple but nice dance) on the square, eat food from little tents. I like the acarajé (a fried boll with big fresh shrimps and different kind of Brasilian sauces in it). We stayed up very late for the first time and also had a few too many drinks for the very first time. Nothing to be ashamed of, just a tipsy wiggly walk back to the pousada. Which is allowed, the last week....

City of God - Cidade de Deus

2007-07-19T14:16:00.000-07:00

Copacabana from sugerloaf he is watching...

favela and samba - right next to each other

a view to kill for

scared miriam on sugarloaf Embracing the city

Rio de Janeiro. The Carioca's (inhabitants of Rio) say: Deus e Brasilero - God is Brasilian. Probably because it is one of the best situated cities in the world. Who could have ever thought I would make it untill here. I, for one, did not. We arrived by night and we were lucky that we had a place to stay, because the Pan American games (Panamericana) are in Rio this year! These are the games that preceed the Olympics in a big city in an American (North, Middle or South) country. We had no idea :-)
Arriving by plane we were picked up by our taxi-driver, and he showed us a bit around in Copacabana, the most famous part of town. It is rather small...and not that noisy and loud as I expected. Amsterdam has much more people walking about, that hour of night..It looked nice, with the lights along the costline...And also in the daytime it amazed me as the days passed and we got to see more and more - All the songs about Rio are true, all the stories are true, it is truly a beautiful city. It has amazing beaches, it has rainforest (the biggest rainforest whitin a city), it has mountains with Christ watching your every step, it has numerous districts with each different aspects and nice specific features. It has a big lake in the middle of the town. We walked along the Copacabana beach, we walked on the famous Ipanema beachwalk. We went with a very old tram up the mountain to the "barrio Santa Teresa" where nowadays all the bohemians and artists live, a very nice part of town. You could see from the tram how the "favela's" (the slums) are built. There are special slum-tours even!! I found that weird but, they say, the money goes to the slums. I do not believe that that money really goes to the poor people, but instead it will go to the druglords, who own the slums...So no favela-tour for us. We even read about the fact that the beggars in Ipanema and Copacabana rent a place on these streets from the Rio-mob (2,000 Reales a month) and they rent babies so they get more money from the tourists that have no clue. I can not judge any of this, because I always had a roof and food, but it seems to horrible for words.
One day we got caught in a street fight! We were nicely walking along the beach, buying an ice-cream, when all of a sudden Ellen shouted, lets move, trouble...and people started to run, the police was hitting people with big sticks, coconuts were flying around. Ellen ran, I was pushed into the ice-stand by the owner, to keep me safe. The troublemakers were throwing coconuts at the police and to the police-van. Police in return drove with the van into the people and hit them over and over. It was quite scary...and then as sudden as it had started, it stopped. So we could still by the ice-cream.
We watched a football game in a bar, the final between Argentina and Brasil of all countries and we expected that hell would break loose with whatever outcome, but it was rather tame for such a football-mad country. I nearly shouted more than the people itself....Brasil won and it was too quiet for words...Used to the fame of winning I guess..
We went to Pão de A¢ucar (Sugarloaf), we went to the big Cordovaro, Christ the Redeemer Statue, which is 30m high and the arm width is 28m. It stands on a mountain in the middle of Rio, watching over the city. We saw the street where the Carnaval is celebrated in February. We saw the biggest football stadium in the world, Maracana. We did the lot and it was beautiful...

Me and us and happy traveling...

2007-07-17T15:48:00.000-07:00

Me in the house of Juli and Fabi in Floripa

Me on the beach in Trancoso
Us eating fresh piña

Me by sand dunes in Florianpolis

Us eating delicious desserts in Colonia del Sacramento

See, sun and fun...

2007-07-16T14:54:00.000-07:00

Time to go south again...After exotic Salvador, we had heard from a couple that we met along the way, Paul and Claire, that the villages of Arraial d´Ajuda and Transoco were nice to visit. Because we were flexibel in the sense that south can be reached through various routes, we had no problems going to beachvillages at all. We had some rain in Salvador (it was hot though 34C), so we did not mind seeing more sun.....And they were right about these towns. You do not get them more pittoresque then this. Safe environment, friendly people. The beaches are famous for their beauty and surprisingly they are not crowed and overloaded with people. It is low season, but still, when it is 28 C and you have some time to spare.....I have been surprised all the time by the low number of people anywhere we have been. Is that what living in Holland does? We stayed in a very basic but lovely hostel, Banana Republic, that was situated in the jungle. The whole cost-line of Brasil used to be just jungle, but those trees are fabricated into (our) garden-sets and other pieces of exclusive furniture... I have (and so does Ellen) over 25 mosquitoe-bites proving our stay in bushy places. The owner, Julio (on the photo with us), was ever so friendly and used to live a very recluse life after being a business man in Saõ Paulo. From a city of 11 million people to living 10 years on a farm by the sea. Two years completely by himself and 8 with 2 families that helped him work the farm. And now he has this hostel where he lives and still has the farm where he lives. There is almost always a story behind a person... We had a great and relaxing time over there and we felt like we needed it. Why.......RIO is next.......To be continued

I can gently smile..

2007-07-07T16:29:00.000-07:00

Salvador de Bahia, or Bahia de Salvador. That is were we have been already. I am a bit behind on the blog.
I have writers-block. I can't write anymore about where we are and what there is to do and how such and so. I am saturated with images, towns, places, beaches, nature, I simply can't take any more in. I can only say how I feel after all this time, crossing half a continent in changing climate circumstances, different timezones. And I feel fine, because I can smile about it all.
We are in Arraial d'Ajuda already for 4 days, today we went to Trancoso, and I just can't inhale it all, let alone tell you about it. Every inch of it was so nice and beautiful (you will see the photo's soon) and I haven't even started to share Salvador with you. I am lying in bed at night thinking what information to give this time. So here it is: http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvador I hope you can match the photo's with the text from wikipedia, that will be more accurate than my story anyway ;-)

Today in Trancoso, we bought some fresh ananas from an old woman who's skin looked like weathered leather. I took a photo of her and she gently touched my arm, and that touched me. This is how I feel.

In Brasil it is the first time that I do not speak the language, it is getting better every day, but still it makes me vulnerable, I realized. And more...Brazilian people do things different than we....things take longer, much much longer, especially in the north. They do not seem to understand me, neither do I know what they mean, but mostly we get there in the end. And I smile and they smile. It means patience all the time. And they are friendly, and they stay friendly. So, I am patient and I stay patient, and I smile. Even after a 2 hour conversation on the phone, trying to reserve a flight, I smile. Even if the drink was not how it was suppose to be, I smile. Because I feel fine with it. I can't really get annoyed because they stay friendly and extremely helpful. So I am grateful for them showing me patience, and smile again....Yes, this is how I feel, like smiling.

BB: Bonito and Brasilia

2007-07-07T15:38:00.000-07:00

Rise and shine, we have to move again. Next track is from the Pantanal to Bonito and after 2 days from Bonito to Brasilia by bus and from Brasilia to Salvador by plane. In Bonito we mainly relaxed, supposedly you can do some fantastic diving and see beautiful fish, but we just went to a park and a cave with stalagtites.

We stayed one day in Brasilia, the Capital, located in the central part of the country. Brasília is the Capital since 1960. Before that, Rio de Janeiro was. The city has been built in just a few years at the end of the fifty's by the initiative of an earlier president Juscelino Kubitschek. It was suppose to develop de economy in that area by being the new, neutral Capital of the country. Brasil, the country, still has enormous debts just because of this hastily built project. It has a population of about 2.3 million and is the seat of the main federal government: the president, the Brazilian Supreme Court and the Brazilian Parliamant. Brasília is listed as a World Heritage Site by Unesco. This probably has to do with the form, when seen from above, the city's shape resembles an airplane (the buildings are purposly built like this). I would list it as pretty ugly.
We have seen these architectual wonders from nearby and it felt like walking in space. I felt even smaller than I already am, surrounded by these futuristic buildings in 35º C temperature, big streets on the side like aisles (gangpaden) with rushing cars. No restaurants, no normal loudness of streetlife, nor anything else that you find everywhere in Brasil. Just heat, silence and rush...Moving on very quickly was no punishment.

Oh brother, Where art thou

2007-07-07T08:50:00.000-07:00

You were everywhere....

More Pantanal

2007-07-01T13:50:00.001-07:00

A racoon and a Kingfisher

After the useful information about the Pantanal I forgot to tell you what we did there...

We booked a tour that took us quite far into the Pantanal, and ended up in a sort of ecological farm. Very natural, electricity every now and then, in the middle of wetlands and homes to animals. We slept next to the tree where dozens of parrots nested (the blue ones from the previous post) and a family of alligators (also on photo previous post) right next to where our food was served (and theirs also if you were not careful). No, no worries, alligators are not that dangerous, only if very hungry. So in the 4 days that we were there, we walked through swamps where the water came untill the thighes (have to exagerate a tiny little bit, but it was still quite heavy and scarey, l was not sure about the leeches and other nasty things that would stick themselves on you, uninvited..). We went fishing for piranhas and we all caught a few, no photo here, because I did not like it that much, even a piranha feels a hook going through his eye-ball or lip..You had to be careful though taking them of the hook, their teeth really are no joke. But we ate them in the evening for dinner, so it was for a good cause. We went horseback riding, very beautiful in that environment, we saw deers running in front, monkeys in the trees, and birds were everywhere. You could not even turn your head for one bird or another one appeared ore somebody shouted toucan, toucan...I am very proud and happy that we had a chance to see all this...

Different species of a toucan

Swildlife

2007-06-29T18:04:00.000-07:00

Swamps and Wildlife = No, I know, this word does not exist. At least not untill I had been in the Pantanal.

The Pantanal is the world’s largest wetland area, a flat landscape, with gently sloping and meandering rivers. The region, Pantanal or Pântano (this name derives from the Portuguese word meaning “swamp” or “marsh”, covers about 150.000 square km. The Pantanal floods during the wet season, over 80% of the area, and nurturing the world's richest collection of waterplants. It is thought to be the world’s most dense flora and fauna ecosystem. In the dry season, which is now when we were there, you can see more wildlife in half a day than you can in a week in the Amazone. It is home to a known 3,500 species of plants, as well as over 650 birds, 400 species of fish, around 100 species of mammals, and 80 species of reptiles, including the caiman, a species closely related to the alligator, of which there are an estimated 10 million. Threatened species include the Jaguar, Caiman, Maned Wolf, Giant Otter, Giant Armadillo, Capybara and Brazilian Tapir next to a number of birds of which I can't recall the names. We have seen all of these animals exept for the Jaguar and the wolf. I did see monkey's (not like in the Apenheul) and ant-eaters and racoon's and.....well more than I have seen in my entire life I saw in those 4 days in the Wetlands. And none of them were tamed or domesticated. We saw them in their natural habitat and mostly as soon as they saw us they mostly fled to avoid us. Just some pictures of extra-ordinary wildlife. (Forgive me for the cow, but it lookes so nice)

High waters run steep..

2007-06-29T16:52:00.000-07:00

Experts as we are by this time on bustrips to where-ever, getting used to them is a quality you have to develop. I still do not sleep more than 3 hours ore less on nightbuses, and you really feel broken once you get of them. Anyway 14 hours of road-rocking from Floripa to Foz de Iguazú, the ultra famous waterfalls at the border of three countries, Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay are in sight. This is a place where there is nothing more to say than aaaahhhhh, wooow, noooo, pfffffffff

I know now what the fuzz is about Foz!

The photo's don't do the spectacular phenomany justice but I will let you have some fragments anyway. Maybe just the photo's that were taken from the Helicopter. Yes, the helicopter. I have been in a helicopter. A helicopter.....

Funny stuff...along the way

2007-06-29T13:15:00.000-07:00

Have you ever eaten squid fried earrings?
We did....yummy (In Uruguay)

This is what we saw a day or two after we have been in the dessert ( in Chili, seems ages ago). We did not share their wishes.....

If we were not rescued at the Peninsula Valdés we might have looked like this after some time......................

A bridge too far....

2007-06-19T16:47:00.000-07:00

Fabi and Juli

A last day with friends is hard, especially when you do not know if you will ever see them again. I don´t think I need to say more. It shows on the photo (me). Happy to be here and sad to leave. So...we stayed another day :-) Which gave us the opportunity to see a beautiful sunset and the stunning bridge that I do not feel like crossing yet. It is in fact a bridge too far....

For the record: We´ve had a marvellous time. I´m eternally grateful for the special time Juli and Fabi have given me (and Ellen) in this island that is not very known outside South-America. I am a bit emotional so I will let the photo´s do the talking.

Viva Florípa

2007-06-18T14:29:00.000-07:00

Foto´s of days exploring the whole island of Floripa with Juliano and Fabiana.

F = Friends, Fun, Fisherman and lots of Fish, Fish, Fish
L = Lucky (to be here)

O = Oysters, Oysters, Oysters

R = Really thankfull for the occasion

I = llha Santa Catharina, Intense feelings and Innerpeace (for having done this)

P = Palms and Praia, Praia, Praia*

A= All (of the above)

* = beach

Summertime, Samba, Sunshine, Sweet...Brassssíl

2007-06-15T08:48:00.000-07:00

14 hours from the border with Uruguay and already lushy green banana plantations, palm trees with fresh fruit leering at us. Florianápolis and its island, Ilha de Santa Catarina, Floripa for the insiders, is the place to be for Brasileros, Uruguyan and Argentinian tourists and for the lucky finder. I have a friend (Juliano), with whom I did the Inca trail in Peru, and he lives here. We became good friends in a very short time and he said that when he would get married I was invited to his wedding, which honoured me enormously. He told me then how beautiful his homeland is and I promised I would visit him one day, if not with the wedding. That day has come. Tomorrow we will meet again and he will show Ellen and me the whole island of which we´ve seen parts already and boy....he was not exagerating. (Yes, promise, photo´s very soon). You´ll see nothing but the best....

Paradise lost (and found)

2007-06-15T07:52:00.000-07:00

View from our cabaña

Oh yes, early in the morning arrival and not knowing that you have found paradise, have you ever been so lucky? We were....in Punta del Diablo. The plan was to leave the same evening again, but we ended up staying two days before we met Brasil. We found this lovely cottage and another tourist couple, Michelle and Ian, and we splitted the cottage with them. There was not another tourist in sight, only one place was open where they served the fish that they just caught (which was superfresh and delicious) and after 19.00 hours, the whole village was dark and deserted. No internet, no tourists. so we sat by the fire and drank some wine. It was amazingly quiet, laid-back. All the superlatives apply once again. Summer feeling started to. The weather was very nice and soft for us for once (the nights not counted), but then we had the fireplace. Ellen and I slept in front of the fireplace with the sound of the Atlantic Ocean softly swaying...

In the restaurant, with the locals of Punta del Diablo....

Montevidéo and moving on...

2007-06-09T15:18:00.000-07:00

After the nice time in Colonia we went to Montevidéo, capital of Uruguay. Inhabitants 1,4 million, which is almost half of the whole country (3,3 million). Montevidéo has nothing really special. A lot of beautiful buildings that have never been cleaned nor restored which gives the city a gloomy look. So no need to stay very long. We did eat very well there. The first evening we found this local place with bright tl-lights, not very cosey but with an incredible buffet. Delicious, so round tummies again..The next day we spended walking around on the markets, visited the great theatre of Solis, that was famous in the old days, and we ate fresh seafood in the Mercado del Puerto (market of the harbour).On saturday´s all the locals come out to eat there and it was a wild decor of people drinking and eating and having fun. Next day, wake up time 05.30 for the bus to Punta del Diablo...I wonder what that will be like..

Just nice mugshots

2007-06-09T10:39:00.000-07:00

Atacama dessert - slow down if not.............. the next picture is applicable

How to brighten the street in Valparaíso Cars in Bariloche from our hotel window

Mellow, mellower, mellowest: And then there was the other side...gentle Uruguay

2007-06-08T14:23:00.000-07:00

Just an hour over water....Colonial del Sacramento. We got of the catboat and sighed, because, yeah let me tell you why...it is quiet, it is lazy, sluggish, slow, languid, tardy, listless, laid-back and we love it! No worries about pickpockets, muggers, violence. It is friendly, kind, benevolent, good-natured, mild and so are the people. Time stood still here so we can take it easy also. We learn that a part of town is on the World Heritage list and so it should. Beautiful streets with even more beautiful houses and the most beautiful design and colours....cars of forgotten times, take a peek and sigh with us....

We did absolutely nothing but visit another town, Carmelo, sounds just as sweat and so it was. And we cycled along the beach. As I said; the word is MELLOW........

Bye Bye, Buenos Aires and Argentina

2007-06-05T14:46:00.000-07:00

Well so far for Buenos Aires...I do not how I feel with regard to this metropolis with it´s variety in every sense of the word. Maybe 13 million people is too much.. Maybe we were in the wrong hostal (far too noisy and too much backpackers), maybe it is not my cup of Mate(a)* read tea, eventhough I adore big cities always. I never got to appreciate the people that much in Argentina either. I thought them to be unfriendly quite often, even rude sometimes especially in BA. A woman has to be nice-looking in BA otherwise she´s uninteresting for men, so plastic fantastic eat your heart out. The fact that we got ill did not help either, so the ingredients maybe blurred my vision and feeling, because the last days we did enjoy the sun and the plaza in our neighbourhood in San Telmo. It only means I will have to go back one day to inspect again..Here are some last images of the city...
*Mate is the national non-alcoholic beverage that you see everybody drinking in the street from cups whilst carrying a mayor thermos (see photo). I guess since Che Geuvarra made it so famous....

Argentina is all about:

Tango and Milonga (another dance)

Mate

Plastic surgery, number one in the world at this moment

Che Guevarra

The beatles (beats me...why)

Shops and shopping

Steaks

Wine *

*In random order

Something different

2007-06-04T15:46:00.001-07:00

Today was our last day in Buenos Aires. I had planned to go to an orphanage here last week, but we got ill, quite ill I can say, stomachtrouble. (They should have left the Red Hot Chili Peppers singing and out of the salsa at dinner)..

Anyway, I went today to a childrens home, with children of parents with Aids/HIV with a girl that was in our hostal, Kirsten. It was a beautiful day after a few colder ones, and so was the shelter, beautiful. There were only 2 children at the time because of illness, the rest was in school, but after what I had seen in Peru and Ecuador this shelter looked like a home in heaven for children. A safe and very nice environment. I expected, maybe because it is such a big city, more discomfort or poorer circumstances, but thankfully it was really homey and cosey. We asked about the children, if they are ill or will get ill or from (very) sick parents and most are not ill yet, but some did loose their parents and most of them will in the near future. Eventhough they seem taken care of very well, I still want to mention the internet page for anyone that maybe interested for whatever reason: http://www.fundacioncor.org.ar
More on this subject when I get to Brasil..

It really takes two to tango

2007-06-03T14:25:00.000-07:00

For the comment I had about the following expression: I have not found out yet where this saying comes from, but I am still looking. Anyone who nows the answer is welcome to put a comment on the blog......

Freedom and the mothers of Plaza de Mayo (dwaze moeders)

2007-06-01T12:32:00.000-07:00

Every tuesday afternoon, since 30 years, the mothers of the Plaza de Mayo demonstrate on this plaza to ask for their grandchildren back. When it was still a dictatorship a lot of people dissapeared. So did a lot of woman. And sometimes these woman were pregnant and the children that were born in captivity were taken from them and given to rich families that support the system in those days. Most of the people that were prisoned in those days never returned. It has been an ongoing battle for the grandmothers to seek there grandchildren ....
One man came up to me on the plaza and started to talk about this period in time. He came to this plaza already for 30 years. He was looking for 3 grandchildren that should be in the age of 29. I did not dare to ask him if he lost his own children as well. But it was sad, even the sky was not blue, and the site of the grandmothers is very touchy. It is hard to imagine, when you are born in Europe in the last 50 years, how it most be to live in fear and without freedom..

Buenos Aires...and the sky is blue

2007-05-24T15:28:00.000-07:00

We are in Buenos Aires. Arrived with blasting sun and it is still shining. What a city...13 million people. Smog, skyscrapers, too many cars, you name it, the city has it. But also tango, streets like in Paris, coffee bars with pastry, markets, antiques shops, far too much to inhale. We love it...There are big contrasts though, but that's for later. We have nestled ourselves in the "barrio" San Telmo, where most of the tourist are probably. But it really is a nice place to be staying. There are a lot of antique- and handicraftshops, with millions of little things of everything you can't find anymore anywhere else. Here are some impressions.

We went to different "barrio's", as they have so many here and each one has its own specialities. The coloured photo's are of the district where Maradona was born and this you notice. They exploite a few touristic streets with amazing coloured houses, but it does not feel real, nor nice. The rest is poor and neglected, as often. And the advice is to stay out after dark...so we did.

We also went to the cemetary where "Eva Duarte Perón was burried. She died of cancer and did not live to see 34. That day is was the first day that is was cloudy and very, very, very cold. With the wind it felt like -10 or something, so an excellent day to visit a cemetary, but it really did me in...But it was a beautiful cemetary, in the Recolata quarter which is a very rich area. They came from the area where we are now but fled from yellow fever a century ago to this part. The gravestones where bigger than live, so very suitable for this area...

Valdés and mudtrouble

2007-05-24T15:27:00.000-07:00

So, whales or no whales. When we arrived in Peurto Madryn we rented a car, the first day with a very nice English couple, Lee and Imogen. The Valdés is all about nature and animals as you can see. It is a very large piece of land without people living on it, except for the rangers. So there we went, even after all the tours had been canceled because of heavy rainfall in the night (the roads are not too solid and we had been warned to check them-which we did) we decided to drive to Puerto Pirámides first (pictures are of this town), because the sun was peaking and with a no rain prediction in the pocket, all seemed well. In this very small town they have filmed a beautiful movie, "la puta y la ballena" (the whore and the whale) and we wanted to see the spot where it was made and at the same time the whales come a-shore to mate. The minute we stepped out of the car, Lee shouted, whale, whale and there it was. The perfect shape of the tale of a whale. And again, it came out of the water, and again. Unfortunately we were still a bit far from the bay and by the time we got there, we got to see the water fountain coming out of the blow-hole. So, there we stood, camera stand-by, and even they were still there, no more signs. So we headed up north to see what was up there. Promises of flocks of sealions and indeed we saw 5 lazing on the beach. When we went back to the same place, we saw fins in the water, probably from whales, but maybe it was an orca. (I have a photo which will be added). But again, just fins. So a tail, a fin and a lion or 5. Maybe more the next day, so we went very early in the morning -and saw this incredible sunrise- (so it promised to be another beautiful day so no worries about the roads) to different parts known for the whales to be seen, we hitted north and south, saw heaps of sealions, because a nice rangerwoman took us over the fence, but whaleswise it was all in vain. Whilst driving back, on this beautiful day, we got stuck in the mud with our car....which was a bit frightening. We had not seen more than 5 cars in total that day and the day before on the Peninsula. There is just 1 road and it is mostly empty, off-season. It was getting dark, I had no reach on my mobile phone, and we could not get it out of the mud. Angels do exist, because after trying for no more than 10 minutes (long, long minutes), and this is for real, a car showed up, and yeaaahhh, it was a fourwheel-drive. We were completey covered in mud, signaling him to stop. He pulled over, and pulled us out. It was rather funny though when we think about it(well, now we laugh about it), he had me pulling grass (I thought it was to put it behind the wheels for grip, by lack of stones, but it was for him to lay on, to stay clean from the mud). Picture us, car in the mud, us in the mud, me pulling gras like a madwoman, Ellen had no idea why and was painfully wondering what the hell I was doing with these long blades of grass...But finally we were really thankful and drove silently back to the hostel. End good all good. Buenos Aires next...

Interlude - Argentinian facts

2007-05-20T11:58:00.001-07:00

Size: 2.8 million sqaure kilometers (size of India)
Population: 39 Million
Famous for: Tango, Gauchos (we´ve hardly seen), football, Meat (big, big, big steaks)
Language: Spanish, Quechua in Andean northwest (native language)
Money: Argentinian Peso. 1 Euro is ± 4 Pesos.
Popular linguistic usage: barbáro (means cool), non por favor (they say it always after gracias)
ll = sj (pronunciation). This is only the case in Argentina (of Spanish speaking countries)
Time: CET (Central European Time) minus 4 hours.

If you have any questions, you can comment on my blog and I will be happy to reply.

Whales - to see or not to see?

2007-05-20T11:37:00.000-07:00

After a week in Ushuaia we had to move on. We took a plane, a nightbus and arrived at 07.15 in the morning in Puerto Madryn, a town just before the Peninsula Valdés. In December you can find many sorts of pinguins, orcas, all kind of whales, dolphins, sea-lions, seals and much more animals here. In May they have only seals and lookalikes, birds, a kind of dolphin, but.....maybe also suddern right whales. They have been spotted a view days ago, so we´re going to rent a car to observe the inner coastline of this peninsula. We have a very small chance but hey... who doesn´t try sees nothing. Temperature rised: 15º d. We can take one layer of clothes away. In a few days we´ll be in Buenos Aires where it will be warmer again and with the tango coming up I don't worry about temperatures anymore...You can witness soon wheather the big whale-tail has been within eye-sight.

Flora and Fauna in Ushuaia by boat and by train..

2007-05-16T13:23:00.000-07:00

Wednesday we went on a boat trip in the Beagle Channel (water under Ushuaia) to see some animals other than dogs. Seedogs (seals or sea-lions in fact ) this time it was, which is quite different though..By the island were we stopped some jumped in front of the boat and others lounged comfortable on the rock.Normally there are loads of pinguins in this aerea but in this time of year they move to Brazil or Australia. So we'll see them in Brazil in a week or three. It was a small trip, the water was calm, Ellen was very happy about this ;-). Next day it was time for the lowest train on the planet, which goes to a National Park (ofcourse). They should make the whole continent a National Park, it is that beautiful and it avoids confusion). We determined that it is also the slowest and hottest (with regard to the heat not looks, although it is a pretty train) on the planet. We walked in the park that had fairy-like features and fantasy movie moments. I felt like I was in Lord of the ring. We were completely alone. Wild horses coming out of the woods in lingering pace, like they were imaginary or unicorns. It was as if we weren't really there. Beautiful coloured woodpeckers wildly pecking away. I'm grateful..

Today we went with Huskies on a sled. This was a very short trip but very nice. There was not enough snow for the long tour which was a shame. I would have liked it longer. Here are some pictures...Tomorrow we fly to the next pitstop. A shorter stop but hopefully just as nice.

"The beginning of everything"

2007-05-13T15:47:00.000-07:00

At least that is how they like to call it here. "The end of the world, beginning of everything". How true this is I don't want to debate. I am pleased with the fact that we made it despite warnings of many backpackers that the cold would do us in. Softies...We arrived after a bustrack of 14 hours from Puerto Natales.
We found this peculiar but pleasant hostel a bit uphill, which gives us the opportunity to a marvellous frontal harbour view and a magnificient rear-view of the mountains covered in snow. It is a very pleasant town. However the people are not very friendly (Argentinians are known for their stuck-up attitude). I got myself in a nasty fight in an Internetcafé. I only changed a headphone from a computer and the owner acted like I just started worldwar III, and due to my reaction in an Italian manner, I have been banned from that store. This is another record, banned at the end of the world. It feels quite harsh I would like to add. Thank god they closed the very famous prison that we visited later that day, otherwise I would have seen it from behind bars. No, it is not all glamour, backpacking...As for this penitentiary, in 1902 they moved it from "isla de las estados" (an island just offshore, circumstances were too extreme) to Ushuaia, don´t think it changed much for the prisoners. (You can see how it looked on the photo´s). I am happy it is a museum now....

In the harbour they have lots of boats, working ones, black non-working ones and I´ll bet they all have a story to tell. It makes the look of the harbour a bit gloomey at times. There is a lot to tell about the town, how settlers first founded it whilst trying to convert the Yámana (the Indian species that lived here in the most southern part) after Spain already did it´s colonial "duty". But now, again it´s tourism that made it how it is. In the museum the Falkland war (Malvinas Islands) is heavily exposed. I think the Argentinians were very hurt in their pride. There are no flights to the Falkland Islands and they do not mention the name "Falkland", just Malvinas..So far for the history lesson. As to culture, yesterday evening we went out to witness how the cold does not kill the passion of the tango. In a large, bingolike restaurant hall, locals dressed up for the evening, showed their finest moves. Age nor size mattered. Legs swaying and curling in the air, faces with total concentration. Chest to chest, heads bowed forward, the key of the tango...It was a fine night...until we had to dance in our mountain-shoes and michelin (8 layers of clothes) outfit. I´ll wait for Buenos Aires...

Just Animals..along the way

2007-05-13T10:30:00.000-07:00

The dogs will walk with you along the way all the time. They have millions of them here, beautiful well kept dogs, but all outside. Birds in the harbour of Ushuaia

Just children..along the way

2007-05-12T15:24:00.000-07:00

Chili again...Torres del Paine

2007-05-11T16:01:00.000-07:00

Nearly forgot a day or two. This happens when you speed trough timezones, countries like a maniac. After El Calefate and its snow and ice-life, we thought it to be time to go to another beautyhit on this continent. Thank God we found one...in Chili though, Torres del Paine, which is well on the way to Ushuaia, so what better route than this. The city of Puerto Natales provided the enterence to this park that makes people gaze of it's good looks. So we crossed the border again to Chile. This little town depressed me completely. Hardly a hostal to be found that was still open, raining cats and dogs and deserted streets. But of course we found something after a question or two. We ware the only guests...Anyway next day in the park made up for everything. The tour was top of the bill. The park was everything they promised it would be. We saw an eagle, condors, foxes, guanaco's (cousin of the lama), sheep, cows (yes, I know, you see those also every day, but not in the mountains nor combined with condors). After the tour we wanted to move forward as quickly as possible. And so we did...

From Geyser to Glacier

2007-05-09T12:13:00.000-07:00

After a little détente here is some news again. We celebrated Ellen´s birthtday (3rd of May) in the evening with a bit of champagne. They even had fireworks especially voor Ellen and probably for the day of Bariloche also. Next day on the move again. Our flight had a delay of 8 hours so that day we spent mainly at the airport. We arrived late at night in El Calefate. Brrr....minus 2 :-) We found a hostal that was closed, but they opened again especially for us and after a while, the whole family moved in the hostal. Utterly cosey. Very friendly people, lots of babies and noise, so the earplugs do their duty. Next day, tourhopping to go to the
glacier, Perito Moreno (very famous). We took a tour

Me in front of the glacier. "The very famous Perito Moreno"

that included minitrekking on the glacier. Stunning........take a look.......yeah, that´s us walking up there. It is very easy to do and oh so beautiful

At the end we got whiskey literally on the rocks with chocolate for our good efforts. It was an experience to remember. The next we went on a boat trip to see the rest of the glaciers. The biggest one is 4 x as big as the city of Buenos Aires, Upsala glacier. Another amazing trip with views and nature scenes that one witnesses only in rare occassions. Big white blocks of ice with blue-ish colours with changing skylights each minute. The ice that you see is not really ice but compressed snow. Millions of years ago all this land was glacier, but it has decreased because of weather circumstances. There are more facts to come on the glaciers and the ice. And I will follow up soon on the rest of the stories because when I am writing this we are already in Ushuaia, the end of the world..I still can´t believe that I am here. It is only a week from Antartica by boat, thank God the season is over, they don´t go there anymore, otherwise...The urge to go would be too big maybe..Till next time

Last day in the Patagonian Capital

2007-05-03T15:19:00.000-07:00

Today is Ellen´s birthday. It is also the birthday of Bariloche. And therefore the sun came out. So time to go on a trip to see more of the environment. After breakfast in bed we went to the Teleferico Cerro Otto. Translation = going to a hill with a cable-railway. Once arrived, we could enjoy a beautiful view over the lake and Bariloche, as you can see..

Out there we walked for a while on the hill, till we discovered a lovely house on the edge, and it said: OPEN. Here we had pancakes with caramel inside by a fireplace (photo is a look-alike setting from 2 days ago). So much for getting in shape..But we walked it off again going up-hill. We needed the practise for the big mountains we will climb in the glacier area in the days to come. Tomorrow we are of to El Calefate. I am really looking forward to this, despite the temperatures.

As for the food over here. Really nice (Muy rico = heel lekker). Everything is made with care. How does it look?

We are on our way, as we speak, to get some dinner. Birthday cake with candles for dessert. I will sing Ellen a song......

Bariloche - Or is it Barichocolate?

2007-05-02T16:11:00.000-07:00

So here we are in small Switserland. Day 2 in Bariloche. I like it here. It is quite big and if it wasn´t for the language I would swear I was in Switserland. Never seen (nor ate for that matter) so much chocolate in my life. The shop-windows display neverending rows of the black (or white) delicacy. Whatever you can put into chocolate it´s in it. However you can garnish or decorate it, believe me, it´s done. (What you see is just a fragment of what they are doing to us with their provocative mega exhibitions of chocolate. Just wanted to let you know how much we suffer....). Everything else looks like Switserland too, lakes, big wooden lodges in the hills.

Anyway, we tried to walk and do some sportive things over here but until now we were out of luck. The 1 of May, everything was closed. (Only in Holland everybody works on that day). The next day and today it rained cats and dogs, so there are hardly any tours and busses seem so attractive when you´re walking.. Today we´ve been busy almost the whole day trying to reserve the bus to go south. But after a few tour-operaters they could finally tell us that the road (Route 40) is closed for the winter. So we are flying again. Friday, Argentina´s aircraft will fly us to El Calefate. In the vicinity of this town we can visit the biggest glacier of the world (Perito Moreno) and beautiful National Parks. So the records are on again. Here we will show ourselves from our best sporty sides. And we are getting near the end of the world pretty soon. That will be nice....

Out of Chile already....Argentina

2007-05-01T15:03:00.000-07:00

Where were we. In Pucón (Chile)..we stayed here only one day, it is a rather small but friendly touristic village. We walked on the beach by the lake and had a tour in the village. All very nice but we want to go to where the real cold is. We could have done hiking, rafting and more of those sportive things but it was raining so we will do these things in the coldest circumstances without the rain hopefully.

So we decided to move on to the South. We might still catch the roads intact if we hurry a bit. We move like Speedy Gonzalez but that is ok. We will relax later in the warmer regions. We took an alternative route to Bariloche, which is in Argentina. (See the flag..). Bless us for doing so, because the road to this place was of an amazing beauty. We are in a lake district now (as you can see on the pics), which has a lot of hills, as had this road to Bariloche. Automn colours of trees next to silent lakes. Wooden lodges and the smell of fireplaces being lit. Smoke coming from chimney´s. Another movie scene and we were lucky enough to be in it...Hope you enjoy it with us.

I would like to thank you already for all your sweet. Just so you know, it is very nice to read them when you are away!

Nice moments caught in Chile

2007-04-29T16:25:00.000-07:00

Little cat in the desert

Vicuna showing of his behind..

Woman selling lama meat in the Atacama desert

Sleepy dog in Valparaíso

How we got to Pucón - in the lake district of Chile

2007-04-29T07:40:00.000-07:00

Goodmorning Pucón, after a nerve-wracking transfer out of the desert (the taxi bus showed up half an hour late and that does not feel to good when they already have this mañana attitude) a flight back to Santiago, a taxi to the bus station and the nightbus to Pucón, we have used almost every means of transport there is to get to this destination. You loose track of time in this manner of traveling. Is that why people do this? Anyway, Pucón looks lovely, at 06.30 in the morning. Very green and lots of lakes. Cold though......I am a bit envious of the temperatures in my own country. I did not expect it to be this cold over here, to be honest. But we can always hit Argentina faster to climb up to where the sun will wait for us, if the weather gets to ugly....We might be climbing a Vulcano out here, or rent some bikes to get some excercise. Keep you posted about this. Enjoy Queens Day tomorrow for all you Dutchies.

Desert Storm

2007-04-28T09:24:00.000-07:00

Desert Storm

Me trying to look though and Ellen caught it on picture......

Ellen and me just before the sunset in the "Valle de la Luna"

This is our last day in the desert. We fly back to Santiago tonight. From there we´ll go to Pucón with the night bus. I have been quite ill these days which overshadowed the trips a little bit, but I still went, sniffing and snorting. Everything was really beatiful, especially the sunset in the Valle de la Luna, (Moonvalley). The colours changed every second and it took my breath away. Next day saltplanes and flamingo´s; i will not bother you with details of the flamingo´s we have spotted, because they all look the same to be honest except for some colour differences. But a beautiful and graceful bird it is and it does not really matter if has a Chilean nose or a Peruvian wing..

Me being very cold at the geysers
The next night we had to wake up 03.30 in the morning to go to the geysers del Tatio. This is a phenomenon that one cannot miss eventhough all the circumstances seem quite unattractive. Waking up at 03.30 in the morning in the dessert means extreme cold! The geysers are situated at 4.320 m above sea level, which means in automn -8 d C. We were wearing 9 layers of clothes to survive. I did not drop into a geyser hole, which was quite possible, 85 d C. Photo´s will be on site soon, like that can witness our drop dead gorgeous moments in the desert.

Bienvenido al desierto - Atacama

2007-04-25T09:50:00.000-07:00

From Santiago we took a flight into the desert in the north of Chile. Wake up call at 04.30 in the night...Horror but worth it. We are in San Pedro de Atacama now, which is a town that thrives solemly on tourism. It is like a very small Las Vegas, Indian style. Out of nothing they founded this tourist place with nothing else than hostels, bars, restaurants etc. Very small, the roads are not paved, sand and more sand, the buildings are small and white with roofs of clay. It is well done though, spotless for a sandbox and it looks a bit like a village made for a movie scene. They have looked good at what a tourist desires and provided for this. Well done. In places like this you will find a lot of backpackers that never seem to leave. In the evening it gets very cold but the restaurants have those big ovens with fire and it all looks very cosey. We are going to Valle de la Luna today, tomorrow we will see flamingos and saltplains. The last day here we have to wake up at 04.00 to see the geysers and it will be 10 degrees below 0. Why am I doing this, you wonder? I wonder too, but apparantly it is such a spectacle that one cannot miss...You have to watch out not to step on a geyser. At least that will be warm..too warm probably. Most of you know that my co-ordination lacks some balance at times. And right now I am a bit feverish as well so I hope I keep my footsoles in place.

Valparaiso - city of colours

2007-04-22T15:22:00.000-07:00

Writing from Valparaiso. The second day in Santiago did not blow us away either. The old part of town honored its name by being mainly old instead of authentic. The difference between up-town and down-town was sad to see. Man in the four wheel drive and man without legs.
We sent to sleep quite early and we hit another record in the night.(in Santiago still).There was an earthquake that made 6.2 on the Richter scale and we slept right through it. No worries, they told us that in Chile you have to start worrying when there aren´t any. As long as I sleep through it, I will not worry about anything :-)

Valparaiso is a small town by the ocean with a large industrial port. In earlier days the town thrived on its strategic position. Large ships in the harbour, quite impressive. If you look for more picturesque places you have to visit the "Cerro´s". The town has a few hills (cerro) and here you will find lovely buildings. The city has well presevered the colonial architecture as it has its interesting early industrial infrastructures, such as the numerous ‘elevators’ on the steep hillsides. They are used to get to the hills. So did we to reach this colourful part.

Well, we are going back to Santiago today to catch a plane in the middle of the night to go to the Atacama desert. We can do with a bit of warmth before the freezing cold of Pagatonië will do us in.
Geysers, flamingo´s, Moon valley coming up...

Santiago de Chili

2007-04-20T16:24:00.000-07:00

Grounded: we arrived safe and sound at destination number 1 (Amsterdam-Zürich-Sao Paulo-Santiago de Chili in 24 hours). It went well, I guess. They overfed us completely on the plane, we rolled out of the airport with our bags intact. Nothing lost or broken. The taxi was where it should be, hostal was for real, with every backpackers detail in place. We strolled through the city today, so deprived of sleep, that we ended up taking the same route twice in the subway without getting where we wanted to be, because we forgot what we had to do in the part of town we just left. It is not a very beautiful town so far. We did not see the touristic scenery yet, just from under the ground and that is not very special. However, we do know the part that we could have dismissed, very well and that counts for something. Tomorrow fresh new start going to the authentic part. After that Valparaìso, and the Atacama desert.
As for the records: There is no country in the world that counts 4500 km by length and is that small (not more than 200 km wide) at the same time. The Atacama is the driest desert on earth. And we are just starting...Keep counting

April 2007 - On the road again

2007-04-18T03:34:00.000-07:00

Trippin' again. After a year of absence a new trip has been planned and therefore this blog is "active" again. Hooray....I hope you will enjoy reading the stories. This time I will go with a friend, Ellen. We will visit the beautiful countries of Chili, Argentina, Uruguay and Brasil. As we were preparing ourselves by reading and googeling a lot, we found out that it will be all about extremities. Lowest city on the globe, lowest train on earth, highest this...largest that and more. So I will keep you informed about every geographic milestone. We are flying today, in fact..I have to leave as we speak, but I did not want to leave without a little note of the why and the where. We mainly go for nature and cultural purposes, learning tango in Buenos Aires and watching whales mating on the "Peninsula Valdes". But we will also visit a "Wereld Natuur Fonds" location in Brasil (Pantanal) and we will visit an orphanage in Brasil at the end of the journey. Here we will try to provide for whatever they need in a short time. This is what I can tell you all for now. I hope you will stay in touch in the meantime, I know I wil really enjoy reading your comments whilst being far away. XX M

Goodbye Children

2006-03-30T10:04:00.000-08:00

This particular blog is only to show the pictures of "my children" and me saying goodbye to them, a few days before leaving Ecuador and going back to Holland. I still miss them every day.

Junglefever

2006-03-15T01:59:00.000-08:00

Hello people, I'm back. In Holland however. I haven't been keeping up my stories for you to read but I've had other things on my mind and therefore found it difficult to concentrate on writing. . I hope you don't mind that I am writing from my safe office in Holland (and believe me, I know how to distinguish the fine lines between safe, safer and safest by now). Well, after my time in Ambato I decided to go to the Jungle for 4 days. It seemed a good idea at the time....Mmmm, but after a friendly struggle with a tame boa constrictor and a sleepover of at least 30 big cucarachas (cockroaches) and a black scorpion, not to mention the warnings from the guide (that lived much further down the road by the way, so I was completely alone) to watch out for snakes, tigers and bears, I was quite ready to go home (or anywhere else for that matter) again. Imagine spending the nights in a cabaña (a cabine without windows and a roof that's meters higher than were I wanted it to be - so open goal for all my more than two-legged friends). But home was not an option, in the middle of the rainforest, where there was no electricity, no people, no water....

However, it wasn't suffering the whole time, I've seen the heart of the rainforest, going through it with a machete, I have been swimming in waterfalls, I have been golddigging, making my own bracelets from the seeds of fruit. All and all it was very interesting, scarey and lonely. Even if you're very adventurous I wouldn't recommend a trip like this on your own ;-)

Don't worry, I'll be back

2006-03-03T09:06:00.000-08:00

Dear readers, I still have so many stories stored in my memory that are nog on this blog yet. But today is my last day in the Don Bosco project and I will have to say goodbye once again to a lot of people. I especially thread saying goodbye to the children. I've grown so fond of them. And as this evening also is my last evening in Ambato I don't want to spend it behind a computer. I want to share these last hours of this day with my family and later with Susanne and Markus, that became very dear friends by this time. Every time when you go away you leave a peace of your heart in beautiful and special places, with beautiful and special people....At least I do. Beautiful suffering I like to call this.

Anyway, tomorrow I will go to the Jungle (Amazone) for a couple of days.
Quite excited about this and a bit scared as well. Spiders and snakes...... After that I will fly back to Holland, so I don't know if I will have the time or opportunity to write or respond before I go back. There are still some subjects I'd like to share on this page for those who are interested. Conclusions of this wonderful trip. For example facts about Ecuador, the difference between Ecuador and Peru, cultural aspects, behaviour, aspects of every day live, differences between Europe and South-America, etc. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to put them as comments on my blog. They will be definitely answered.
See ye soon and take care everybody.

2006-03-02T08:49:00.000-08:00

Wednesday morning, walking through the park

A woman begging, a man without legs.

Buying a banana, a hungry face, a grabbing hand, giving away the banana,

Wednesday morning, walking through the park,

buying an apple, to give or to eat?

for how many apples and bananas can you buy

for the dispair to dissapear.

Couldn't I buy a whole park full of apples and bananas?

would that be enough, will it ever be enough?

For the hungry eyes and grabbing hands,

there are no more apples nor bananas

and there within lies the sadness.

Wednesday afternoon, working in the project,

a boy shouting, a girl crying,

giving away love and affection

the most precious parts one posseses.

It's still not enough, but together with the apples and bananas,

it adds up to something,

and there within lies the beauty,

And than... for one small moment,

it all makes sense again.

Beautiful Children....

2006-02-16T16:13:00.000-08:00

Children, children, what can you say more about them then that they are beautiful, innocent and not to blame...Look at them on the pictures with their open beautiful faces and their smiles. Who can see they have to bare so much pain and carry it within.......................................
Working almost 5 weeks now in the Don Bosco project I am really hung un them. It's not an easy job at all, I can tell you. But I feel so good with the boys and girls. In the beginning they had to get used to me ofcourse, they didn't ask me to help them with their homework only when I offered. But now when I come in the studyroom, a lot come running to me to hug and kiss me and tell me all kinds of stories, and show me their candy, their new playthings, their schoolwork, while they hang on one of my legs or tickle me. At my table are the most difficult boys and sometimes its almost impossible to maintain peace! They shout, hit each other, throw everything on the floor and in each others faces. Sometimes it's very funny as well. At 14.30 hours we always start with singing very holy songs about Maria, Jesus and God...and really they couldn´t care less, of course, but they have to sing and clap with the nons and us volunteers (Yes, me too, I know my share of holy Spanish now). And they hit eachother while singing how much God loves them and they have to love God, and then bang...., another slap in the face, lalalalala te quiero mi Dios, my Jesus, and then they start to sing really loud and funny to molest the nons, and hit each other some more and then the nons shout at them and they are silent for a minute or 2 and again the whole thing start from scratch........Complete chaos....every time again. Sometimes it's not so funny when they get really angry with one another and they fight really tough. But 5 minutes later they are friends again, sharing sweets and pencils. I have learned that it is almost impossible to teach them anything. For example, I have been working with this girl to get her to learn the table of 1 and 2. She is 10 years old and after 3 hours she still said that 1x0 = 10. They don't write their own language good, they show no interest in learning it themselves. I have chosen to make their homework for them now, after 3 weeks, because as I already explained, their lives exists out of moments and when I make the homework with them and finish it with and for them, their happiness is priceless in that moment. I have tried in the beginning to learn, explain and teach them Mathematics, English, words etc. The interest in the material is so little, there is no beginning nor end. As I found out that they will hardly learn anything or use what they have learned, I decided that it is better to give them their moments of happiness by me showing them how to do something, instead of teaching them by repeating and repeating. I just doesn't work. I rather give them these moments of happiness because I don't know if they will come back the next day (the abuse here is incredible) by being very sweet, understanding and cuddly. I know it's probably not very educative, but it feels much better to do it in this way. Hopefully it changed something somehow in their little innocent lives..... I do love them and hope the best for whatever future they have.....

Proposals on the bus to Cuenca and everywhere else for that matter...

2006-02-15T09:40:00.000-08:00

I realized after a weekend well spent in Cuenca, that eventhough I'm 34 years old, I will always stay a bit naive somehow. Last weekend I went to Cuenca, apparantly the most beautiful town of Ecuador. This is 8 hours to the south, by bus. I arrived friday night and found this very nice hostal/restaurant/bar. It's quite difficult to stay alone or without a companion in South-America when you're alone and in Cuenca this proved to be completely impossible. After 5 minutes sitting by myself I got invited to this party in a discotheque, a painter introduced himself and decided to tell me all about his life...and on and on..After an hour or so I got bored and looked a bit around and what do ye know....I saw Philippa, this Scottish girl I met in Cusco.....3000 km further, different country, again I'm meeting someone that I met before!! Wauw...don't know if you can understand how weird that is. Well, we went to a disco, with a bunch of her friends and I danced like Ginger did with Fred, and like Miriam does all the time. The painter (he came as well) obviously wanted a bit more than to paint that evening, but I suggested that painting would suite him (and especially me) much better. His companion then took a shot at me with his dancing abilities, quite good I must admit. Well, I had a very nice time and went home around 04.30 in the morning by cab. The taxidriver asked me if I wanted to be his friend (had to sit in the front), and if we knew eachother better we could get married. I politely declined and said that if I would change my mind I would contact him. In my hostal the guard (every hostal has a guard because it's very dangerous otherwise for the tourists) asked me if I wanted to smoke a cigarette with him (it's a horrible lonely job), so I decided to talk with him for a while, After 3 minutes he told me that he really liked me and that I had beautiful toe-nails with the painted colour. He found my red nails very provocative. I quickly told him that it wasn't red but some kind of pink, but the damage was done; if I wanted to be his girlfriend, he not only liked my nails but everything about me. After I again politely declined he told me that he had no toenails. I thanked him for that information and said that I was really tired and had to go to sleep. He walked me to my room while telling me how he lost his toenails and then I could go to sleep safely..I tried to understand all these funny things and these open man with their needs and I felt I was not bothered nor offended by their proposals at all because it was so funny and kind of sweet that I felt rather touched by how they behaved. Next day, same thing, while visiting the beautiful center of Cuenca (so many nice buildings)...I was offered farms by policeman, marriage by the waiter from the icecreamsalon and more and more... Don't worry, no ring on my finger..In the evening I went out with Philippa again to this very nice cafe with live Cuban music and...dancing, dancing and dancing...Next day had breakfast at T...no twelve with Philippa and a really enjoyed my weekend in Cuenca. I was good that I left on Sunday because after 1 weekend everybody knows how you are if you have been dancing like I have been dancing. Cuenca is really small in that way. On the bus once again I was invited friendship and probably a bit more, I had to change seats this time because he didn't stop. It became harrasing. Even when I changed to another seat, he followed me with notes and (yes, really) with his photo...This time I had to shout a bit : Deja me en paz = leave me alone. Which worked thank God.....After 8 hours of Ecuadorian busdriving I arrived exhausted at 1.30 in the the night in Ambato. Then you have to be really careful which cab you take, if it is a cab in fact....02.00 I was overthinking all these strange offers.......I understand it, but it's still strange, well they are ....South-American man. Goodnight.

The really tough stuff...

2006-02-13T09:38:00.000-08:00

Monday, week 3 in the project. Afternoon, helping with homework like every day. Nothing indicates that this day will end differently, for me that is. 16.00 ' o clock..a woman walks in with a boy, Leonardo, that I hadn't seen that day. He normally sits at my table with his brother. I didn't pay much attention at first to her conversation with another volunteer (woman from Ecuador). After I heard the words "hospital, and nearly dead" I couldn't help wanting to know what it was about. I wish I hadn't. The boy lifted his t-shirt and this moonlandscape on his back was available for everyone to see. Mutulated from the beginning till the end of his back. Aparantly his mother had thrown a pan with boiling water over him, without this being an accident. I froze, got nacious and felt really sick. It was the most awfull thing I've ever seen. What hit me the most was that nobody seemed to care much. The other children became a bit more agitated, but the volunteers and teachers didn't give it another thought....After the woman and boy left, everybody went on with their business as usual, like he had just shown his new shoes. I found myself in sort of a shock. I proceeded as well and finished helping this girl with cutting words with gi, ga, gu, gui, ge from a magazine (we also do this) but I lost myself in thinking of the boy. I saw the tears dripping on the white paper on the table with the cutted g-words. I pretended I had to go to the toilet and lost control..The pain he must have felt, not just from the burns, but from the act in itself. I don't want to judge, I don't know what happened, but his own mother...Later I tried to talk about it with the staff but they said that as horrible as it was I had to get used to this. And they went on with cutting little red hearts for Valentine's, the next day. So I started to cut little red hearts as well without feeling what I was doing, and my own heart told me that I should never get used to something like this. I don't ever want to think of this as something normal eventhough I know it happens all over the world. But seeing it from so close up is not the same as knowing. This tiny little body already mutulated for life, his big eyes on my faces while lifting his shirt. Just another monday in Ambato. Happy Valentine tomorrow...

Patience, contemplating and what else...yeah...more patience

2006-02-07T15:17:00.001-08:00

Pfff.....what a week and there will be more weeks like this to come. I'm having a bit of trouble in getting my act together. Meaning, nothing really changes here in the sense that you feel like something matters. How to explain this? Futurewise there are like no expectations for the children in the line of work I'm in for the moment. I'm not talking about myself, I'm talking about the children, their parents etc.
There are just moments. Everything consists out of moments. If you use these moments well, you might be able to create future. If not, they just stay moments. Nice moments, good moments, horrible moments......but just moments. Nothing more. Do we need more? I don't know the answer to that. I guess in Europe we do. Here, well if you survive a moment that, at times, is already something, a gift maybe. Life doesn't count that much here in the way that people are upset by death or illness as such. Did I know this, yes I did, but you never know your feelings and reactions towards experiences you didn't have before. So I'm allowing myself some time to inhale it all- Patience...
By the way, who wrote the beautiful anomynous comment on my Don Bosco piece? Answer provided on the phone this morning...My fantastic mother did!

Baños

2006-02-06T19:21:00.000-08:00

I went to Baños last weekend. Baños is a small town 45 minutes from Ambato, but it's like another world. Very small town, but very touristic. The same thing that happened in Peru happened to me again. I met the couple (from Austria - see photo) that work in the same project as I do in the streets of Baños. Normally I wanted to go to Cuenca, but decided to go to Baños. They were going to Puyo but eventually decided to go to Baños.....I think I have this angel on my shoulder that doesn't want me to spend my free time on my own..We went to visit the virgen on top of the mountain surrounding Baños. On every mountain top in South-America (slightly exagerating) you'll find either a Jesus or a virgen statue to watch over the village. Very impressive nature again. In the evening we had a lovely dinner (they know how to treat a tourist here :-) and went out in the night to this discotheque that could have easily passed as a sauna. It was so humid that the smell was almost unbearable. So we had to get really drunk to shut down all our smellorgans, but that didn't work. I had a lovely time, dancing with 22-year old boys. And Susanne and Markus are very nice company! Sunday evening we went back on the bus to be dutyful the next weekagain.......

Don Bosco

2006-02-03T14:58:00.000-08:00

Monday morning, 8.30 'o clock. Walking to Don Bosco (almost half an hour). I start working at 9.00 'o clock so I'm right on time.. I have no idea what will I'll be awaiting. At nine 'o clock I walked in the door and there was hardly anybody. Later some children arrived and I presented myself and they accepted me helping them with their homework. Joceleyn this lovely 8-year old girl seemed particulary fond of me and we got along real fine. Later at 12.00 we all went down to the kitchen (gaarkeuken). And this was from a complete different order....Al the children that work as bootblackers (schoenpoetsers) and other workers came to get food. I worked in the kitchen from 12.00 till 14.30 and at least 80 children came to get food. Heavy language, already adults with faces of a child, hard but beautiful features, hunger, pain but laughter too. Later after everybody had eaten, at 14.30 the children that came from school in the morning stay untill 17.30 hours in this project to do their homework. This is more or less the procedure : At 14.30 one of the nons comes down (not from heaven but,) from her office and we all have to pray and sing songs about Maria and Jesus. This is all quite new to me, but hé I know songs about Maria now in Spanish. It is rather funny at times, I can see myself singing these songs and it seems quite natural, like I've been doing this a lifetime already... Anyway, after this we (the volunteers) help with the homework of all of the children (about 55). This is quite a hard job, because there is no disciplin whatsoever, the children are shouting all the time, they don't really want to make their schoolwork. They hit each other, they pull the hair of the one setting next to them. They throw everything on the floor without picking it up, they fight and they fight hard. They steal each others things etc. I doesn't really bother me, I didn't expect real disciplined children, as I knew they are abused, hit, screamed at by alcoholic parents and by, god knows who....It's not an easy job but I like it. At the same time they are very sweet and very small also, to me and to each other. All kinds of behaviour will be shown. They hug and kiss me in the same time as they spit on somebody else. And it's all very natural. I was not apauled nor angry, nor suprised. Sometimes I have to shout or to get really angry as well, because there is just no other way. I know that nothing will change by helping, but that's never a reason not to help. I hope it doesn´t sound to hard, but the lives here won't change just because you decided to be this mother Teresa. Their ways are too different, they don't really wont or really need the help either in this way. Still, we have to, because we have everything and they don't. I doesn't affect me either that it is the way it is and that makes me able to help better than if I would feel sorry all the time or if I would feel proud. I don't. I'm there, I do what I can and that's all their is, nothing more, nothing less and that's just good enough. For now....I have been doing this for a week now and I'm quite tired but satisfied in the same time. I deserve a weekend out of Ambato. Going to Baños.....Tell you all about this later on. Comments on working with the children are very welcom !! If anybody has any other ideas, please do not hesitate....

Ambato

2006-02-02T10:41:00.000-08:00

Friday the 27th I arrived late at night in Ambato, a town two hours under Quito. De hours don't correspond with the milage. You can imagine that the roads here are not as well paved as in our "fancy Europe". So 30 kilometers is probably an hour of driving, in the mountains, that is. Anyway, I met my new family, who live about 30 minutes walking outside the centre of Ambato; la Señora Fanny, el Señor George and the daughter Soledad (29). First they stalled me in sort of a cellar below the house, very big but without windows and kind of smelly, and after my encounter with this very big spider I decided to ask for a room in the house. This seemed to be no problem, so now I'm safe from anything with more than 4 legs...The next day I had a meeting at 8.00 'o clock in the morning (on a saturday!) with the main sister (moeder overste - non) from the streetchildrens centre to which I will refer to as Don Bosco, because this is the name of the centre. She wasn't there but another non was and we went through my schedule and my tasks. Later I walked a bit in the center and Fanny and Soledad showed me around. Ambato is a town without any tourists therefore no late night sessions....Everything is dead after 22.00 hours. I don't know how I'll manage after Cusco but I will. Sunday we went to Puyo, a town near the rainforrest, so a bit warmer then it is here in the mountains. I really have traveled through all the temperaturezones this journey, seen all kinds of countrysides, from 12 degrees till 45 degrees, from cold and high mountains till hot and dry desserts, sometimes in one day and this is a very akward feeling. Puyo has a few nice sites but I'm not completely smitten by Ecuador yet. Maybe I'm still full of Peru which is an amazing country. But it was a nice day. The other daughter of the family lives here and we barbecued and laughed and I tried to settle in like before in Peru with the family. On the way back to Ambato we got this horrible news about the cousin dying in the car accident in Quito (previous message) and everybody was very upset and sad. Later that evening mother and daughter went to Quito for the funeral the next morning and at the same time there were like 15 members of the family who were visiting the family that night (had nothing to do with the accident), so it was a very strange and straining day, especially for the family. So I tried to console the daughter and helped a bit in the only way that you can when you just know somebody. By beeing understanding and helpfull. Well so far for that weekend....

Something completely different

2006-01-31T16:04:00.000-08:00

After having shared a lot of happy stories and adventures, I'd like to take the opportunity to enlighten for your information also the darker side of this continent. Some horrible facts:
- the same night (08-12-05) I arrived at the airport of Lima, a female Japanese tourist was murdered for money on the parkingplace where probably my taxi was waiting for me as well.
- a French lady (francoise) was robbed of her camera, all her money and more valuables, while they were holding a knife to her throat in Colombia, the Peruvian guide (Frank) in Lima was robbed of all his belongings in Bolivia, an Australian guy that a talked to on the beach was robbed of all his precious fotos, passport and everything else in Bolivia, today I heard that the Austrian couple (work in the same orphanage as I do) were robbed of everything as well in a bus coming from the market in Otavalo (Ecuador). I left out the million people that I don't know..................
- while I was in Cusco, three girls were raped in or around the discotheques that I frequented almost every night for the last three weeks. I even know the guy by face how commited one of these rapes (saw his face in the newspaper).
- a German guy was murdered in a cab in Cusco near the orphanage were I worked.
-every day the televison shows busaccidents and I'm not making this up, every time when I read it in the newspaper or see it on the tele, it happened in or around the town I just came from or that I am going to.....
- Sunday last, when I was visiting with my family from Ambato, (I live with them now for the coming 5 weeks) the town of Puyo, on the way back we got this telephone call that the cousin (daughter of the sister of the mam) had died in this horrible car accident in Quito. She was only 20 years old.

So people, considering the fact that I have been travelling nearly 2.800 km in the last few weeks and for my time in Cusco, I'm still safe and doing quite well. Don't let all this news keep you from travelling to this magnificient part of the world, neither did I tell you this to scare you or be more worried about me. Just know that my eyes are open at all times. I apalogize for the 10 days you didn't hear anything, I understand it might have troubled you a bit but queens don't just dissapear you know. Be sure I know what I'm doing. I know the dangers and loosing my camera was not one of them. You can't be more alert than I've been this whole trip. Furthermore I don't think my time has come yet. I still have so many things to do and the world hasn't had enough of me yet...By saying this, I don't mean any disrespect to all who suffered by loosing someone or something, or for any other reason in the story mentioned above. My thoughts and deepest sympathy are with you for your loss and your suffering.
Thank you all, to my readers, for watching me and for your support, for your lovely comments, for your warmth that I carry with me....I feel that it helpes me to keep safe on on this extravagent journey....with a lot of love from your friend Miriam

Last part of travelling in the time machine

2006-01-30T10:34:00.000-08:00

Where were we? In Trujillo by the beach. I remember this beautiful sunset while I was eating my ceviche (this is a beautiful seafood dish, raw! with lemon). Again I was accompanied by this Peruvian guy, that I didn't know :-) Very funny, they just come to sit at your table. I make sure that they know I'm not for the taken and then I don't mind their company. Like this, I learned a lot about the country, customs and their ways, their needs, sense of humor..everything. I know they probably want more if possible but I've always gained their respect and I had the funniest conversations. I a bustrip a few days ago, my neighbour told me that I was the first foreigner he ever talked to in his life! Imagine that..Well, I left Trujillo in the evening to take the night bus to Tumbes. From 21.30 - 06.00 in the morning. What a horror...All these sleepnoises + the busdriver decided that I had slept enough around 03.30 and turned the radio full blast..When I asked him if he could turn it down a bit he started to shout and scream, so the whole bus woke up...really, I decided better leave him in his misery and try to see the fun of it, which I did. When I arrived in Tumbes, this youngster (later on known as Leonardo) came up to me and told me that I had to be really careful in this busterminal because of the robberies. He was with his mother (Yolanda) and aunt (Maria de Pilar) and her son (Eric). They were from Quito, Ecuador and they invited me to drive with them to Quito instead of taking busses. So at 06.00 'o clock in the morning we went to the car that was parked just on the other side of the border in Ecuador. In the little town where we changed countries they sold just about anything. Somewhere in the middle of a shop was the border between Peru and Ecuador. In one half, you pay with Per.NeuvoSoles and in the other half you pay with hard cash, American Dollars that is..The temperature here was at this time in the morning already 35 degrees. We washed a bit by the car, like we knew eachother a long time. Brushing teeth together, standing almost in your underware...It felt after half an hour as if I been travelling with them for ages. Strange isnt'it. I had a lot of these encounters here. During the first minutes feeling so at ease that you don't have to work hard to make it work. Mostly it takes some work to make it work but here, I just had to be me...good enough. I really changed during this trip. I'm very relaxed, very cool about everything. They have this beautiful word for "cool" here. Chevere...and I heared it a lot lately, so I'm very "chevere". I don't try to make everybody happy anymore. They already are (okay or happy that is) and they seem to like it when I'm around. Makes me happy and smilish :-) It has probably always been like this, just had to come to South-America to discover how to be "chevere" to me!! Okay, back to the trip.....no sense in getting too arrogant and emotional, right..So we were with 5 in the car and we crossed the whole of Ecuador. I drove as well for a while in this beautiful part of the world. Then we missed a big road and found ourselves in this mountainenvironment (really not so chevere for me). It was getting dark and misty and high and cold and rainy and scarey....I drove on sense and feeling cause I didn't see anything anymore. After 4 hours, finally Quito was in sight..They asked me to stay with them untill I had to leave for Ambato. So I did.....Isn't that nice. Just like that. Without knowing me, fully trusting me. Next day I drove the ladies to all sort of appointments in Quito. Imagine that, Miriam in this big capital, driving around like a professional. It went really smooth, they laughed their heads of because of my driving style (most of you know what style that is), and my shouting at the other cars. It was like I've been living there for years...funny and cheerful day that was. In the night the showed me the Historic centre, which is amazing. 7 Corners with churches and a Basilic in the prettiest colours you've ever seen. Next day I had to leave for Ambato, so cheerio again. Maria del Pilar, the sister really cried a lot when I left and than of course, so did I. So many goodbyes, so many hearts feeling something.....So far for Quito...but the witch will return to this lovely family.

Choices - travelstories or children suffering?

2006-01-30T10:04:00.000-08:00

At this moment this page contains more stories of my traveladventures than my experiences in the orphanage in Cusco. This may seem a bit weird or of, because the main goal was to help the streetchildren and the orphans. I could have written endless stories of how I changed dipers of the youngest orphans, how I fed the baby and sang him to sleep. I could have dragged you through the motions of my playingactivities with the niños. Of me swinging with David. Or how Mathilde fel from the toboggan (glijbaan), consoling her, or eating oranges on the swingmill with the lot. I decided not to...I wouldn't come out the same as how it was for me. But to assure you, I have been with these children for more than a month and the moments with them were more precious than I can let you understand just by typing black letters on a white screen. This is not because you won't understand but because I don't know how to express these profound emotions from deep within. Maybe I just don't want to because they are mine and for this moment solely mine...
Today I started to work in Ambato in the orphanage. I'm on a break now, but I go back in the afternoon. I will tell you about this project later on, in a day or 2. Will finish the travelling stories first and I want to orientate. So, bare with me...

Travelling through time and comprehension

2006-01-28T16:55:00.000-08:00

Lima, Trujillo, Tumbes - FRONTERA ECUADOR - Quito.
Ladies and gents, the girl is back. I'm in Quito now, but I'll start from where I've been leaving you alone and that was in Lima. Lima is something that you don't really like at first but I guess it grows on ye. Just like a friend said. I found a backpackers hostal in Miraflores (which is by far the most touristic place in Lima), but you really don't want to wonder of on your own at night in a town called Lima...A girl from Israel, a guide from Peru (Huaraz) Frank and a guy from the States, Marco, were there. All together we went out that evening in Lima, full of live. At 02.00 hours no more music, no more live so we decided to go back to the hostal to drink some more in the lobby. It's a very easy, cool place to be, this hostal. Unfortunately, the supermarket didn't sell anymore beer (from 23.00-06.00) so we just drank weird booze from the fridge in the hostal. I ended up having this real profound conversation with Marco untill 04.30 in the morning (check out this wonderful page: http://bubbler.wordpress.com ) and then I did internet till 06.00. Time is of no importance so it seems. Next day I decided to relax one day in Lima before travelling more up north. Woke up 10.00 am, 4 hours of sleep, but it's frightening how good I feel. Walked by the beach, went to a commercial center that quite famous, icecream, coffee, sand, sun = fun. The temperature is like 30 here which is really nice. Miraflores is by the beach, but high up so you look down on the beach which is different and I like it a lot. I talked, while eating my icecream, with a Peruvian lady (she must have been around 80) who tried to convert me to some religion right there on that bench :-) I promised her that if I would find the time I would visit her church. Don't hate me for this, sometimes people feel better with white lies...When I went back to the hostal I realized I forgot where it was and I didn't have the name of the street, just the name of the hostal. Thankfully a passenger on a bycicle had all the time in the world to help me....That's something that amazes me still, untill now. Everywhere I've been and go, I haven't been able to be alone for that long. There was always somebody to help or to talk, to guide, to advice. Thank you for that. Well, with his help I found my hostal en we ate some fresh fruit. Later that evening (he had a car as well, very wel equipped in the transport area for Peruvians) he took me out to show me some more of Lima, which was very friendly. Next day, bus to Trujillo, said bye, bye again to my friends in the hostal and off I was again. In the bus I met two ladies (mum and daughter) from Costa Rica and we talked the whole trip. The mum was ever so nice and very warm, tender. I can hear and see a difference now between people from South and Middle America, so we talked about that. Later we went to the same hotel and this was a really good hotel for the first time. . Thank god that I didn't like Trujillo that much in the night. My book says about Trujillo that it has the most beautiful Plaza de Armas of Peru, which is absolute bullocks. There's nothing to do in Trujillo, after 22.00 = dead. So I slept early and like a queen. Next day went to visit something by the beach. Can't remember the name but it's a small fishersvillage. There are some beautiful ruines as well, but I knew that ruines again would ruine me....You can only take that much stones, can't you? I know, I'm bit of a culture barbare but hey, they really look the same and I've seen a lot of them....
So I went to this beachplace, which was really relaxing, talked with Peruvians, with an Australian guy, and hey, I saw a couple again that I saw in the orphanage in Cay-Cai, like a million years ago....I had the same experience in Arequipa, I saw this French lady (Francoise) again, that I met in Cusco....That's one the big mysteries of South America I guess. Meant to be? Coincidence? Who knows, but it's making you shiver and happy in the same time...I'me leaving you with this for now (I could say, to make you overthink this mysterie a bit, but really I have to go to the loo....). There's much more to follow soon....Ah, bought a camera, so hopefully fotos again soon....See ye

Leaving Cusco, entering Puno, lago Titicaca, Arequipa, Ica, Paracas, islas Bullestrias --Lima

2006-01-16T19:31:00.000-08:00

Sunday and Monday last I came back from visiting islands in the lake of Titicaca (this is the highest situated lake in the world). It's % Peruvian and 40% Bolivian. I decided not to go to Bolivia because this is just 1 day and it's just another town totally the other way that I have to go. So I have go come back some day to visit Bolivia and see it more than just 1 day. I arrived in Puno (a town by the Titicaca lake) the day before yesterday. I left Cusco 3.00 hours last saturday. I said goodbye to friends and to the children in the orphanage. I was horrible. The "mamita" cried, I cried, the children didn't understand but gathered in the small room to kiss me goodbye. Completely confused I went to pack my bag and Sandra and I decided to have a good farewell breakfast the next day. In the night we "celebrated" my going with some friends in various bars. It was a sweet farewell but one friend decided to go with me for a while on my travel which was very good news for me. The next day more crying when I had to say goodbye to Sandra. I left with my a Peruvian friend for Puno. We arrived in good shape arount 20.00 o'clock. Like al backpackers we found a hostal and went to check out the town. Next day we went to visit the islands on the lake Titicaca, which is so beautiful. We were in this small boat with other tourists from various countries. We slept on an island on the lake, an island with no lights in the evening, hardly electricity, very pure and simple. In the night we had to dress like the locals and we went dancing with the island people and Ricardo (my friend) turned out te be a very good dancer of these typical dances, so he taught me how to be an Indigena ;-) The people who live there are Indigenas and they speake a different language. Next day we visited ruines and other islands, the sun was shining and it was really lovely on the lake. Completely new to me. So worth visiting. Very quite and different from the other sings I've seen. Then we were of to Arequipa (the white city) which was also very nice. We spent 2 days here and visited as much as possible. The folowwing day Ricardo had to go back to Cusco and I had to move on to Ica-Paracas. With pain in my heart again we said goodbye at the bus terminal and we went our own way. I know, backpackers, this is the way to do it, but for me it's really hard. I had to travel for 12 hours on a bus, again on very small roads and this time completely alone. Apart from the bus leaving without me once (I had to go to the toilet) and me running behind the bus in this small village with all the townpeople shouting to the busdriver, everything went well. The countryside was once again beyond comprehension at certain points. I saw dessert, and dessert and mountainsites again, all in the same voyage. Arrived in Inca at 22.00 hours, tired, broken, a bit sad on my own, but I decided to go out alone. Found a very cheap hostal on the Plaza and had fun in the evening. Slept around 4.30 and had to leave for this small oasis (Huacachina) the next morning. As I'm used to not sleap to much I felt horribly good the next day. The trip was weird, but probably because oasises are weird, aren't they. In the middle of nowhere you encounter this wonderful green place that shows up behind very high dunes. After this I took another bus (collectivo, small local smelly bus) and arrived in Pisco. From there to Paracas, a small fishersvillage. Visited islands in the Pacific the next day, again a pleasure like . I'm like in this dream constantly, seeing incredible sights, experiencing unimagenary things. These islands provide housing for thousands of birds, seals and sealions. What a magnificient day again, in a speedboat, dolphins around us......please tell me that I'm not dreaming....And there was much more, I went to a national park as well but it's getting to much to explain. I will continue another day and I will make this blog more fun to read, because right now it's like a sommation of facts. I have to do it like this, because during traveling it's almost impossible to keep up with the experiences of every day, as I'm in the bus most of the time. Or doing incredible fun things. I'm in Lima now and had 1 day of rest so I could write a bit. Hope it's still informative and fun to read. I will make it nicer though....Just bare with me untill I'm in Ecuador. Bye for now, and I'll be back in a couple of days, but then from Ecuador......Be safe in the meanime. Love ye...

7, 8 and 9th day, Machu Picchu

2006-01-13T13:29:00.000-08:00

Second day...I slept beautifully, thank God. I shared a room with Sandra but I had no trouble sleeping at all. We woke up at 05.00 o' clock in the morning (yes, I know, It was me that had to wake up that early.) You can see on the pictures how that lookes...We had breakfast and then we started walking with our backpacks through bushes and we had to climb for about 2,5 hours. This was quite heavy, but since I slept really good I hardly felt tired and I enjoyed the climb. At the top we ate fresh fruit and thank God, Juliano had dental floss..he probably read my blog some days ago :-) It's really rare and exeptionnal to experience things like this funny little place up in the mountains with some animals, this beautiful little girl with the fresh fruit and natural toilets. I cherish these moments because it is not every day that you go through live in this manner. After this we kept on walking and walking. This day we have been walking for about 8 hours, we been in the back of a truck (which was really scary, because he was really driving on the egde of very high curves in the mountains), we ate in litt le villages, we saw again amazing nature scenes and I was just out of it, of joy. This changed a bit, later that day when we arrived to a road which was so high and small attached to the mountains (this was not in the bush anymore), with a horrific steep abyss that I lost my breath for a moment. My body started to tremble allover and they had to hold my from collapsing on the spot. Vertigo all the way. After sniffing some alcohol I slowly continued this way for 2 hours. I can't really explain how high it was (believe me when I say high, it's high). The guide held my hand almost all the way (thank you Hugo..) and I overcame my fear at the end. I was really proud of myself and later that evening we all drank to overcoming fears...the drinking went on for some hours and we didn't go to bed untill 02.30 I guess. It was in a little village Santa Teresa, and at one point in the night all the lights of the town went on the blink (uitvallen). We were with three other Peruvian guys that we encountered during the first and the second day. They kept ordering beer and we drank Pisco sour (the national alcoholic beverage of Peru), and with no lights, just some candles it was really special again...I knew the next morning wouldn't become me, nor the others for that matter, because we all got a bit drunk..
07.00 hours third day. Oh, surprisingly no headache, but really tired from the night before, we pulled ourselves together to get trough the next day...wich was not so easy. First we passes some bridges (not too solid), and with the river heavily flowing underneath I firmly decided not to be scared and waggled over the bridge with newfound courage :-) Then we arrived at this river that we had to cross by cable...Yes, I loved it, sitting in this small box, people pulling on the rope to get you to the other side. Adventure all the way. Later we kept on walking by the river and it was a lovely day again. We also bathed (the day before), in hot naturale medicinale waters, we walked on edges, we saw parrots, and so much more, I can't describe it all. In the evening we arrived in this completely touristic village just Agua Calientes which is the stop before Machu Picchu. Here also we couldn't not leave the booze alone, but we didn't stay up that late because....next day: Machu Picchu..
This experience I can't describe. We left the next morning around 6.30 hours in heavy rain. We had to climb a very beautiful road for 1.45 hours. You can't do this without stopping every 10 minutes, due to various reasons. You loose youre breathe while climbing at this altitude, and secondly, the scenery is so surreal that you have to pinch yourself when you look around. You walk totally abandoned (well just us three) in the clouds and you see the mountains through the clouds, which is so very mysterious and magical that it's like you're in one of Shakespeare plays, a dramatic scenery mixed with your emotions in a very moist atmosphere. When we arrived at the end, which is the beginning of Machu Picchy, there is this very touristic place, totally misplaced after this quiet and lonely trip up. Here we went in the magic surroundings of M.P. Slowly the sun came out, with still these enormous clouds ambrazing the mountains, A little later I was witness to the clouds slowly making their way to another world, while I was in this ancient other world. I couldn't believe what I saw, neither can I write it down. So I leave you with your own imagination to picture this. It was and is by far the heaviest and most impressive experience I ever had, naturewise. Photos will be provided soon.

Today by the way, is my last day in Cusco, tomorrow I'm leaving for Puno, and islands in the lake of Titicaca and to Copacabana a town in Bolivia. Yes, my adventures haven't ended yet. I think they've just begun. Bit sad I am, leaving a lot of friends behinde...well, enough said about this.Hope you still enjoy reading my blog. See ye...

Waaaaauwhhhhhhh - day 1- biking (6 enero)

2006-01-11T16:58:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm back in town. I don't know how to describe what I've seen. I wanted to write a little bit every day about the trip, because eventhough we were almost in the middle of nowhere there was always this little place with internet. It's quite interesting that they in every street at least 4 little offices with computers and they are always full. Nobody owns a computer here...But I decided not to write because I wanted these 4 days to be as clean from westernity (this is a new word) as could be. It was absolutely amazing. I haven't seen anything like this in my life. The first day on the mountainbike was spectacular in every sense. I never been on a mountainbike before so I had no idea if I could do it. First we went with the bus (08.00 in the morning) to a little village at 4350 m altitud (Cusco is 3330). There we took the mountainbike and cyceled through a landscape that was more or less junglish. Can you imagine me at 4350 m high going down the mountainroads full with curves and stones to approximatively 2500 m with a unimaginable speed. This all alone for 5 hours long. I was with a guide (Hugo) and a Brazilian man (Juliano), (Sandra took the bus, doesn't like bikes) but I was faster all the time. I'm always quite agressive while sporting. I've seen sites high up there standing on the edge and looking down, my eyes following the road that's curving down. It was breathtaking. I never imagened the beauty of it. It was surreal. I didn't even believe it was me there on that road, in that moment with all that beauty. Sometimes we cycled together for a while and then I drove of again. It rained, there was sun, we cycled through rivers, we past by little villages and children waved when we passed by. I felt overwhelmed by all this beauty and didn't know how to filter it in my mind. So I just inhaled it all. I didn't know where we were, what time it was, day, date. Free of charge. The guys were fabulous with me. I had a flat tire and they fixed everything and were very galant. After the four days we became real friends, because you share something very special. You eat together, brush your teeth together. They see you without your make-up, in you underware. For me that really good as an experience. We went out together after the trip. Juliano became like a brother to me. I'm invited to his wedding in Brazil when he gets married. Tomorrow I will tell you more about the rest of the trip, this was just day 1. After 5 hours of biking (and stopping every now and than to check plants and ruïnes on the way) we ended up in this little village of Santa Maria. Here it was like 39 degrees Celcius. Totally change of temperture. We slept in a family house without warm water and the village was without asfalt roads, hardly any lights in the night. I think you know these kinds of villages. TL-light in the small restaurants, rice and chicken and a bottle of Cuscena (beer), that I really started to like, especially the dark kind. Only local peole, lots of dogs barking in the night. We went to sleep like babies, with acking bikingbodies but feeling fullfilled as never before. More tomorrow....

Machu Picchu

2006-01-05T15:20:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow morning I'm going to M.P. with Sandra. 4 days of nature and sports. We're not taking the ancient and very touristic route, but a new and alternative route. First day is on a mountainbike descending the mountains. 2nd day climbing for 8 hours....wow, 3rd (waking up at 05.00 hours in the morning) day also climbing for like 6 hours, 4th day also waking up at 5 to watch the sunset over Machu Picchu. I think it's going to be an unforgetable experience and therefore I don't need a camera. Always look on the bright side of life. Much better. Well people wish me luck because it's going te be a enormous strain on the body and we'll suffer like fools. But, hey, it's not for nothing...In 5 days you will know if I survived. I already lost 4 kilo here, I think after Machy Picchu even Twiggy can't compete :-) If you don't know who Twiggy was, look up the 60ies in the United Kingdom. Bye for now.

Forgotten details

2006-01-03T16:24:00.000-08:00

I forgot to mention that I moved last Friday from the family house to the centre of Cusco. My family was going to travel to Arequipa for a short holliday (a town south in Peru), so I couldn't stay with them anymore. It's nice to experience both sides, living with a family and living on your own in a hostal. I have much more freedom now, but I don't know if this is a good thing :-) And as Sandra also left her little house in the orphanage to stay with me in a cheap hostal we have been going out a lot...We still work there, it's just that our eyes are smaller each day...But as I'm leaving soon we feel the need to enjoy all the time we have left in Cusco together. We really get along very well. We laugh a lot. It makes me forget the loss of my camera. It's not the camera, it's the 300 photos I lost. Well, such is life...
Today in the orphanage I really felt close to the children. It doesn't really matter if I come or if I don't, but they seem really happy to see me each day and that's good enough. It scares me a bit because I'm leaving soon and I hate saying goodbye. Most of you know I'm "quite" sensitive in this area, and I hope saying goodbye and leaving Cusco won't be too hard. When you travel alone you meet so many interesting and different people and it's really hard knowing that you won't see, most of them ever again. It keeps me awake at night..
Well, before I get to sentimental....to be continued. I think we will go out again tonight to forget this sorrow. I don't know yet what I'm going to do for the photos. I don't feel like buying a very expensive camera again, but I do want to make nice photo's to put on this weblog. We'll see.

It is cold en raining

2005-12-28T13:14:00.000-08:00

Brrr...last few days the weather changed. It is raining all the time and it's cold. When it's raining here it takes forever for things to get dry again. I been working in the mornings in the orphanage. The children are getting accustomed to me, and I'm starting to feel a lot for them as well. The other day, I had to tend to 10 children in the house, as Martha (the Mamita) had to leave for a couple of hours. So I found myself with a baby of 2 months and 9 other childres till the age of 15. I think it went quite well. Only twice I had to stop everybody from hitting each other. Changed some dipers, played some games and we all had fun. For the rest a lot has happened. Last saturday (Last day of the year) I went alone to some ruïnes above Cusco. Very beautiful, I've been walking for 4 hours and I saw a lot of nice things. I can´t show the pictures of this nore of the last week, because my camera got stolen. New Year's passed very well in the beginning. Me and Sandra bought a bottle of champaign and we drank it on the Plaza der Armas. Cusco is known for a very festive ending so the world had decided to come to Cusco. The whole Plaza was filled with people from allover the world. It was amazing. So at 24.00 hours there was a lot fireworks, very beatiful. Everybody was drinking a lot. We kissed hundreds of people for the NewYear. Later we went to a house of a Peruvian friend to celebrate some more but everybody was really drunk and it was a bit weird so we left to find some other Peruvian friends in a discotheque. There somebody fell on me and I think at that time my camera got stolen. So that's a real bummer. Been to the police, have to buy anoter camera, cause Friday we are going to Macchu Picchu and you can't go there without a camera! So I was feeling a bit low yesterday, but it's only a camera and like 100 foto's ;-( C'est la vie. Hope to be able to show pictures again soon....

Last three days

2005-12-26T18:14:00.000-08:00

Saturday afternoon, I went with Sandra (on the picture) to te market in town to buy some presents. I'm feeling brand new and I'm happy to be "up and running" for Christmas. We bought lots of gifts for the family and we deserved some hot chocolate (which everybody drinks here with Navidad).. If you look through the window you can see how busy it is outside. It was amazing. Little stands everywhere, incense (wierook) on the whole market which gave the whole place a magic atmosphere. I've never seen anything like this before. Natives (Indigenas) selling everything possible. We had fun in bargaining on the market. But later we felt bad for all the children we've seen without shoes and the dirt on their faces, just like on television, but now within reach.... Later we went our own way and I celebrated Christmas with the family (9 people). At 24 hours we ate the Turkey and more food and it was very lovely. Jokes, games, presents......we went to bed around 03.00 hours. This time I really slept like a baby and the next day I slept till 12.00. And if you know me, this is rare. Sunday evening I met my friends from Apeldoorn and later we went to eat with a bunch of friends in a good restaurant. It was a very nice weekend. Feeling good instead of sick changes everything.
Next monday morning 09.00 hours I went with a group of all nationalities to a childrens home in Cay Cai, a little village in the mountains. All the gifts were taken here, because there are much more needy children. After 1 hour in the bus we arrived in this town without real streets. There were a lot of children. We played some games, they sang us the Cai-Cay song, they danced a traditional dance and then they got all their presents. Later, when the children were gone, while waiting hours for the bus, we played football and Peruvian ballgames on a square in this village. A very different but beautiful Boxing Day (2e kerstdag).. (Fotos will follow of these children, have to upload them). To be continued.....

Some fotos

2005-12-24T10:53:00.000-08:00

Miriam, not ill yet in Cusco town
another foto of the orpanage.
foto of the musicians on the plaza.
foto of the Peruvian dance in the theatre

Another week in Cusco

2005-12-24T09:53:00.000-08:00

Well, after a very good first week, the second week couldn't have been worse. That's why no messages on this blog for a week. So proud I was not getting ill nor suffering from soroche (altitude sickness)....but after my climbing trip, I found myself waking up that sunday night with stomack aches and feeling weak and dizzy. In the morning I wanted to wake up to phone to the orphanage that I couldn't come. Luz (the mother and lady of the house) asked me how I was feeling, I wanted to reply, to sit down and.....fainted, twice in a row. Total panic in the house, but I had medicaments (salt against dehydration and other stuff). Stayed in bed for two days, didn't sleep the third night, still went to work half a day, fourth or fifth night I hardly could bare the cramps in my stomach, it was like Worldwar III in there, felt very queezy friday, but there was this happening in the orphanage for the children and I wanted to attend so I woke up anyway. And I'm glad I did, because it was a real treat for the eye. All those children in their best clothes was very touchy. There was candy and toys and Santa Claus and special treats and music........Only, I forgot my camera so I can's show the fotos yet. But others will send me some to publish here later. Bless all the volunteers. There was this Dutch girl (Marloes) and she raised money on her webpage and with this money she bought new shoes for all the children in the orphanage. This was a real good idea. Later when everybody was happy and satisfied and the children were tired, I went to town and brought the 10 kilos of toys I still had to a family. They have a project in a little town (Cay-cay), also an orphanage. In this area there are hardly any volunteers and the children are more needy then in Cusco-town. So Monday we are going with a group of 8 people to visit this place and to celebrate Navidad (Christmas) with them and then the children will get the toys. But I think it's a very good idea to raise money and to buy here whatever is needed. I will do the same in Ecuador. I have been offered already some money by a company before leaving, and I will use that money to buy stuff as well as soon as I get it. You couldn't believe how happy the kids were with the shoes. The things I bought already (and were given to me, special thanks to Margot and Lara) will be very welcome as well. But if anybody wants to donate something please email me for details. So, this celebration made me feel much better. Later in the evening were I brought the bag of toys, in the house of the family there were some salsa lessons as well, and I met new people, which was very welcome to me. Later we went to La Muse, a very nice bar and I met some friends that I've already been out with once before. And I started to feel better and better, so I even went dancing in Mythology, the place to be here in Cusco, together with Mama Africa. Going out is like everywhere in the world, same music, more salsa, same alcohol, same motives ;-) if you catch my drift. Oh, one very bizar thing happened. Wednesday (I think), whenk I wanted to go to town, to change a bit of air, because I felt so horrible, I was in town with Mariana, and in the center I thought I saw some friends from Apeldoorn. Oh, god, I'm starting to hallucinate now I thought, but I really was Ellen and Anne-Maarten from Apeldoorn.....That's like amazingly bizar. We are going to hook up soon to have a drink or some food. I really look forward to seeing them. Can you believe it, in Peru, in that minute, is not like you meet in Arnhem or Utrecht.....
Another interesting fact; after I left the nightclub to find a taxi I found the center of Peru filled with Indigenas. They were all sleeping in the streets and blocking the roads. It is very common with Christmas that all the Indigenas come from the mountains and from whereever to get free meals and hot chocolate and bread. But it's a bizar scenery, all those people with blankets and baby's in the streets. The foto I made is not very clear but I hope you can get an idea of what I've seen. Later today I'm going with Sandra (my french friend) to town to buy a few gifts for the family and it is nice for Christmas to meet friends. Because I do miss you all!! Tonight they (Peruvians) celebrate Christmas night at 24 hours. We will eat turkey in the middle of the night and it will be a special and new experience. First I thougt I would be better to celebrate with my new tourist friends, but I can see them Sunday and more. This is something that I won't experience soon again. So Peruvian turkey it is..now I will add some fotos of the scenery and some other fotos of a night when I went out and some singers on the streets sang for us. Oh, and one night this past week, I went with Sandra to a theatre for the benefit of the orphanage and they showed Peruvian ancient dances. It was wonderfull to see. It was in the theatre Municipal of Cusco and there were only like 5 tourists (all volunteers). Bye the way, there are so many Dutch people here supposedly. I haven't met that many, but they have already special signs, with text like, no need to learn Spanish here, everybody speaks Dutch, or Dutch Cusco...Well, I haven't found out why, but I will and I will let you know. For now, it is impossible for me to wish everybody separatly through email a very good and special Christmas, so I will use this site to send you my Love and warmest Christmas greetings. A lot of you are doing wonderfull things (Paris, Switzerland, Tenerife and more). But where ever you are I hope you enjoy what you do and I wish you all a wonderful time. Be healthy, be good, but mostly be nice. I love you all, miss you all and speak to you soon. FELIZ NAVIDAD Y UN BESO DE MIRIAM PARA TODOS.

Climbing

2005-12-17T12:57:00.000-08:00

Sunday 20.00 hours. Today I visited the market of Pisac which is quite famous and big with a new friend, Sandra from Paris who works with me in the orphanage. . As this place is also in the mountains the road to the market was, not to say the least, quite scary for me, as I am really afraid of heights. But the road was really geourgeous and the market was really nice. They sell all kind of Peruvian specialties like handmade clothes of Alpaca wool (an alpaca is a kind of Lama) in all colours, hats, silver, bags, beer that's made of mais. In earlier days when hygiene was not so highly estimated the woman would chew the mais and spit it in a bowl. The beer would be made of this, but this is all in the past now. After this we went to visit the ruins of the Inca's. From the valley you couldn't see exactly how high this was and I thought it would take like 20 min. of walking. We found ourselves walking 2 hours uphill (and I really mean uphill) and by every step we were absolutly exhausted (it is 3400 m high so you can't really breathe al that well). But the view at the top was magnificent, over the sacred valley of the Inca's, with the ruins beside us. Later we found out that hardly anybody climbs this route. All the tourists take a taxi to the top and then they descend the route we have been climbing ;-) So I was very proud of us. I was like a prewalk to Macchu Picchu. Then we took a taxi to some small villages in the valley. The countryside is so beautiful. It's like a completely different world. We ate something in a village where there were no tourists at all. I fighted a bit with the taxi driver and then we went back to Cusco. All and all this was a lovely day. I will sleep like a baby tonight...

Working, setteling and some facts about Peru

2005-12-17T12:23:00.000-08:00

After one week of work I can say that I'm setteling in. I look forward to see the children every day and they seem to get used to me. I brought some gifts to them and we have been playing the whole morning, as you can see. After "working" I go to my Spanish lessons in the centre of Cusco where I first have some coffee and juices. There is a system in the week and I feel at home. I know more people now, I've been going out, my Spanish is improving and I learn facts&figures about South-America and Peru in particular. Time to share this with my readers... Did you know that hardly anybody smokes here? Not that this makes any difference for your health, 10 minutes in town will have the same effect on your lungs as one packet of cigarettes I supose. I'll have to detox in Davos (Switserland) after this trip to get clean inside. Oh, and almost everybody is a taxidriver here. 80% of the cars that you see on the streets are taxis. It really doesn't matter if you have a driverslicense or not (in my opinion). Next to Tunis this is the worst "style" of driving I have ever seen. It is sheer survival out there on the streets, but it makes my laugh all the time. Peruvian people are not fat. I hardly seen anybody with overweight. Life here is (for foreigners) incredibly cheap. For example, one hour of Internet costs 1 NuevaSol and that is like 0,25 eurocents. A coffee costs 4 NSoles (1 Euro) and this is in the centre, where everything is 3x as expensive as in the rest of the town. For example we ate a big sandwich on the street in a village today and this costed like 1 NSol. Well so far for the fact. One piece of advice. If you ever eat a fresh papaya, bring dental floss. I could have knitted socks with the threads hanging from my teeth..

After 5 days Cusco

2005-12-14T17:08:00.000-08:00

It is as if I have been a lifetime here already. Today was the first day that I started to work in the orphanage. I will spare you the details of the difficulties I encountered trying to be placed in this orphanage. Appointments without anybody attending but me, so no result. Calling for appointments and being replaced 6x in one day. Yesterday I already went to another project just to see how it was. But there were more volunteers than children. Today in the orphanage I was shown around on the premises. They have like 7 buildings and each buildings places 8 or 9 children. They are being looked after by one woman (mami). Most of them are abandoned children or children of addicted parent. In the house where I worked there is this baby of two months that was found on the street. I have been tending to two children today, Marcia (3sh) and David (2sh). I went to play with them the whole morning, like that the "Mami" could do other things. I have no idea if it's of any use what I'm doing but the "Mami" expressed a lot of gratitude which made me even more uncomfortable. I hope it make's some difference. I did teach the little ones how to catch a bal and we laughed a lot, especially when I fell from the stairs ;-) Foto's will be added soon.
Yesterday I went out with some other students and volunteers. More about this another day.

Cusco

2005-12-11T12:03:00.000-08:00

I arrived in Cusco yesterday morning. The youngest daughter of the family that I´m staying with picked me up from the airport. She´s very sweet as is the the rest of the family. Later that day we went to the center of Cusco and it´s lovely. Very small and ancient. I did see a lot of poverty yet, mostly the "Indigenas", the name of the natives which ancestors were Indian. As soon as I find out how to post photos I will include them in the message. I went to the school to introduce myself. Tomorrow I will hear in the morning where and at what time I will be working. Because they had many volunteers already in the "niños de calle" project, I asked for something that was less popular. And in an orphanage a bit further there are less volunteers, so I guess that´s more useful. So I hope they will place me there tomorrow. Today there were elections for the congress of Cusco, and as the family that I live with is politically very active, we went to the elections, so I got a good view of how those things go in Cusco. Verry funny detail, after voting they paint your finger very pink, like that you can´t vote more than once :-) Yesterday I decorated the christmas tree with Mariana (the youngest daughter of 22). They celebrate Christmas even more like us, in their own way. With small things and less money than the west, they make it just as cosey and sweet. I do miss Holland a bit but as I start working and learning Spanish tomorrow the days will pass quickly. Keep you posted about the orphanage.

First day in Peru - Lima

2005-12-09T18:01:00.000-08:00

After a very, very long trip from Amsterdam-Madrid-Lima I finally arrived tired but safe at 23.00 hours Peruvian time at my lovely hostal "Mami Panchita" (www.mamipanchita.com) in Lima. It was a very chaotic, during more than 26 hours, trip in every sense. But no harm done, all the lugage arrived and still in one piece. Today (9th December) I explored Lima with its 10 million inhabitants. It has beautiful sites (Plaza Mayor and Miraflores) also because of its position, slightly descending into the Pacific, and it is obvious that the government is trying to keep the touristic spots clean at all times, but I stepped out of the obvious and I saw very poor circumstances. The smell of the exhaust(pipe)gases of the cars is almost insupportable. This, the slums and the clouds gave this metropolis a sad and grey cover at times. But the people are very friendly and in the first three hours of my stay I was in the proud possesion of no less than 5 telephone numbers and emailaddresses. And all this for free. Imagine at the end of the day ;-) Tomorrow the 10th I´ll fly to Cusco where I will start working on Monday. So another early start....

Last days in Holland

2005-12-05T07:46:00.000-08:00

As thursday the 8th of December is coming nearer and nearer, I'm feeling more and more restless. I try to read as much as I can about Peru and Ecuador to make myself familiar with the countries. More important, I have obtained through friends and by buying them, a lot of gifts for the children and I'm very happy with these items. I just hope I can carry and bring them all. Furthermore I have had contact with the organisation in Ecuador as well and my contactperson told me about the children and they need all the support they can get. The organisation can be visited on the internet as well (www.ecuevp.com). Maybe it's nice to have a peek to see what they do. I can say that it really needs a whole lot of paperwork and preparation but then you're off to something so wonderful, that it's been worth every grey hair on my head.

Preparing

2005-11-24T13:28:00.000-08:00

As the days pass, I feel that time is pressing. There are so many things to think of, so many items not to forget. But I'm becoming a real backpacker now, who would have thougt that!
After a few weeks of nightmares including waking up in the middle of a strangulation by an anaconda, or a tumble down from the top of the Andes my mind has eased down a bit.
I have been informed about my whereabouts in Cusco. I will stay with a local family for four weeks. So they will be my family for that period. On the website of the contactperson for the volunteerwork in Peru (which is probably a Dutch man www.spanishschoolperu.com) you can see how lovely the town is.
I will work with children in the age from 5-10 in the town itself. After working, in the late afternoon, I will follow Spanish lessons to improve my communication skills.
So it all looks very beautiful and safe. So no worries here anymore. Preparation for moving forward.

Introduction

2005-11-24T07:20:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone. What do ye now, it worked! The girl can blog.This will be my webpage for the coming three months. It might look a bit simple but I hope it's readable for the interested. My name is Miriam Ferraro and I am going to travel to South-America for various reasons. Main reason is to volunteer in a streetchildrens home (ninos de calle) in Cusco (Peru) and in an orphanage in Ambato (Ecuador). After working in Peru I will have to travel to Ecuador and I hope to be able to see a lot of Peruvian life and later about Ecuadorian life. While doing this I will try to post many messages about this exciting trip but mainly I will share my experiences about working with the children.
Hope you will enjoy reading it. There is a possibility to comment on this page. Feel free to do this.
I would like to thank the ones who have made this possible for me by their support in whatever way. Muchas gracias !!