The Journey to Alalay - 3 countries in 4 Days

So, finally a new travel blog, sorry about the delay! The good news is that we've finally found somewhere that uploads photos quickly so we've added lots! I'm really feeling the pressure for this to be a good blog because of all the compliments so I hope my new career as a travel writer doesn't end now… So, we last wrote about our time in Cusco which already feels about a lifetime ago. We had planned to go from there, down to Puno and Lake Titicaca to cross the border into Bolivia and get ourselves to Santa Cruz where our first Project, Alalay is based. The problem was that life got in the way, like it does sometimes, and because of border problems and protests in Puno we had to take a different route. And so the next adventure began -5 long bus journeys, 3 whole countries and a new friend, followed over the next week….
Our first journey was from Cusco to Arequipa. Arequipa is called the White City because the whole city is built from White volcanic rock and from almost everywhere in the city you can see the three mighty snowcapped volcanoes - Pichu Pichu, El Misti and Chachani. We got an amazing deal on an overnight bus - 35soles each (about 8pounds) but arrived feeling pretty exhausted. After a sleep and a strawberry juice we were ready to go and we explored the city that day. It's a lovely place just to walk around and take in all the colonial architecture. We also went to the famous Santa Catalina Monastry which is like a citadel within the city. It's amazing, it's like a walled sanctuary which hasn't changed through the centuries. There are cobbled streets, small plazas that open up in front of you, the walls are all painted bright reds and blues which shine in the sun and there are orange trees, fountains and an amazing view of the entire city from the bell tower. We went at dusk so the little lights were just coming on. You can walk around all of the 'cells' of the nuns who lived there, where they have clay ovens, small (they looked hard!) beds and religious shrines. There was also an offering that a priest had made of his actual heart after he passed away which is kept in a wooden box… Both nights we chilled out on the roof terrace of our hostel (which was empty so we had it all to ourselves!) and watched the sunset over the city with the mountains in the background and the lights of the city slowly coming on. Arequipa was definitely our chill out time after our busy time in Cusco. The hostel was a funny one - it was completely dead and the owner, Freddie, was on the internet more than we were! But it was cheap and they let us use their drinks fridge to keep our food cool so we can't complain!

So after a bit of time chilling out we were ready to move on and southwards. We had to get ourselves over the border to Chile and then over to Bolivia, so Chile was our next stop. From Arequipa we got a bus down to Tacna which is in the very south of Peru. The travel guide says that it's a very long and dusty road to Tacna and they're not wrong. The whole of the very south of Peru and North of Chile are flat, desert landscapes. A bit of a change from Peru which is all mountains and volcanoes. But on this bus journey we met Helma, who bécame our new travel friend for the next few days, so the dusty road was worth it . Helma is from The Netherlands and she'd been volunteering for 6 months in Guatemala at a school. We all hit it off straight away and we're hoping to meet up again in Santa Cruz. So the three of us made it along the dusty road to Tacna and once we were there and after being hassled at the bus station about arranging a border crossing, we found a woman who could take us across the border to Chile for the small sum of 20soles each, about 5pounds. We joined the car with two ladies from Mexico and before we knew it we were in Chile which was all pretty painless. The main things that changed when we got to Chile was that we bécame millionaires and cars actually stop at crossings and let you across. The millionaire part was nice in theory but meant that our first meal cost us 22,490 chilean pesos. Don't ask me how much that is now but it's much less than it looks anyway! Arica is a small, flat coastal town in northern Chile with lots of good shopping (I managed to purchase some thermal leggings AND cotton wool, and yes to me that was a very good shopping day). With the help of the taxi driver we found a hostel in the very centre which was cheaper than the ones in our guide book. It was pretty basic but the three of us got a triple room for pretty cheap with breakfast included (more bread rolls and jam!). The first evening we had a meal at a place right on the beach and the sun set over the ocean which was gorgeous but then it turned VERY cold. It was on the way home from this meal that I discovered a new thing that really freaks me out which got weirder over the next few days. So, the dogs in Peru are just as you would imagine dogs to be, they hang around in houses or on the streets, they sniff, bark and do all the usual dog stuff. In Chile they are seriously like people. On the way back from the place on the beach that night a dog tagged along with us part of the way home and it felt like he was our escort, keeping us in line on the street and trying to make polite conversation. And no, we hadn't been drinking. Then the next day we saw dogs wandering around on their own but not really wandering - the dogs in Chile walk with a purpose. I'm not kidding. They march up to the crossing, wait for it to go green and then happily trot on their way to wherever they're going. This got worse in Bolivia when we got to La Paz and we saw a dog wearing a pair of jeans and a sweater. Seriously. We still have to get that photo from Helma but I'll upload it when we do!! Anyway, all of that aside, we spent a couple of lovely days in Arica with Helma. We went to a museum just outside of town where there were mummies from 8000BC and learned about the Inca and pre-Inca times in the north of Chile. There were baby, foetus mummies and a fisherman who had been buried with all his fishing tools. A lot of the communities in the foothills still exist today. There was a photo of a lady at a festival wearing lots of silver hairclips in her hair and it explained that the more hairclips a woman wears, the more available she is showing herself to be to the men there! The museum was on the sight of an olive mill and the equipment there was one of only four in the country. The Spanish introduced olive farming to Chile and it flourished because of the climate. A Chilean couple offered us a lift back to town from the museum so that was really nice and the next day we were heading to La Paz, Bolivia.

When we bought our bus tickets from Arica to La Paz we asked for a discount (of course!) and the guy told us that he couldn't because there was a massive party going on there. We thought this was just a story to get out of giving us a discount but when we got to La Paz we found out that we arrived the day before a huge fiesta! It's called El Gran Poder and celebrates the founding of the city with huge parades and celebrations. We arrived in La Paz at dusk and it literally takes your breath away - because of the high altitude but also just because of how vast and beautiful the cityscape is. We literally turned a corner after travelling for hours across low, flat landcsapes and got a view over the entire city of a billion specks of yellow and orangey lights spread all accross the mountains. In the day the mountains are filled with boxy orangey flat topped buildings that you can see as far as the eye can see. And in the middle of all of this snow capped mountains push their way through the middle of the city, as a backdrop. The next day was fiesta day and we got to the carnaval on the main street around lunch time. It was a great experience - the parade was made up of lots of different groups of traditional dancers in these amazing colourful, detailed, glittering costumes, brass bands, fireworks going off and people coming up and down selling things like candyfloss, beers, pasties and pizza! The sun would push out through the clouds and the costumes would just sparkle in the sun. There were costumes of cows, full flowing bright skirts, some Brazilian type skimpy outfits and loads more. The atmosphere was amazing as well - everyone was just celebrating and in a party mood. The guy selling saltenas (traditional type pasties with potato, egg, olives, meat), sold us some and then posed with the box on his head for a photo! To get to the parade we had to push under some plastic sheeting which they use to block off the street from the carnaval and pay a small fee to sit and watch and we were right at the front. The celebrations went on all day until midnight. We were so lucky to stumble across it and afterwards, we were having a beer in a pub nearby and we saw the parade on TV! It was televised across the whole country. It was one of my favourite days so far and we followed it up by a meal in a Dutch restaurant that we had found and Helma treated us to some bitterbollen which are round crispy balls with hot gooey meat in the middle! We totally overdosed on dairy that night with creamy risottos and milkshake but it was worth it!

And those were our last few days on the road for a while. Our week long journey finally brought us to Santa Cruz in Bolivia and we've been at our Project for 2 weeks already. After a hectic and very hot start (it was 30degrees plus when we arrived), we are now both much colder (its been grey and rainy for the last week and the thermal leggings are in use) but both loving it. We're both working with the youngest children who are between 5 - 9yrs. The village is about an hour away by bus from the city of Santa Cruz so we only get to the city and internet on the weekends. We've also discovered motorbike taxis and Wills is saying he wants a motorbike when we get home. He wasn't saying that after our first hair raising ride on one with both of our heavy rucksacks balanced on them as well!! But more details about the Project in the next blog…. Sending lots of love to you all and thank you for all the supportive messages xx