Albert Einstein once said "The measure of intelligence is the ability to change" By his definition, I have determined that I must be pretty darn intelligent! I have done a lot of changing in the last 4 years. Some of it thrust upon me unexpectedly. Some by choice. But in the end, all of it welcome. Today my world changes again. Just when I'd got the hang of this new life in Arequipa teaching English, I'm up and leaving it. Totally my choice to do it, ...

Thank goodness for breaks in between teaching months. This time it was a 6 day one - mucho gracias Easter! You didn't have to ask us twice to pack our bags and plan an adventure. The Nazca Lines were calling ….. What are they you ask? Just the most legendary and mysterious ancient UNESCO heritage site in the world! The 'lines' are a series of drawings (or glyphs), etched into the parched desert plateau of Nazca between 200 BC and 600 AD. They were c...

My love hate relationship with public transport: The journey to and from work every day is always an adventure. I take a 45-minute round trip to get to the school on a bus called 'Los Blancos'. Yes, the irony of the name is not lost on me (Los Blancos translates in English to 'the whites' ). It costs me 2 Soles, or $1 NZD, for the full trip and every day brings a new delight or a shock to my delicate and privileged eyes. Every bus has two people on it, a dr...

The real question is not if life exists after death, the real question is whether you are alive before death. Each day, on my way to work, I travel past a huge cemetery. It's always busy. Filled with people selling flowers and balloons, and grieving families paying their respects to their loved ones. The place fascinates me because for one; I've always been drawn to them and two; it's nothing like the cemeteries we have at home. So, when you find something i...

The Colca Canyon and the soaring Andean condor. Sounds impressive right? Well it was! I had wanted to go to this place from day one, but circumstances kept it just out of reach. Finally, the opportunity and timing was right for a mini adventure. Official tours run from Arequipa daily, but we chose to do it ourselves in the end. 160kms northwest of Arequipa is the little township of Chivay, the mid-way point in the Colca valley. Its roots date back to ...