Feeling the Height in Huaraz

Ok, so it's 1pm and I'm sitting at the desk writing this in my p.j.'s back at my friend Jose's place in Lima. Lazy? Yep, and I'm lapping it up today!

So where have I been over the last week that has led me to hanging out in my p.j's for most of today... one word Huaraz! (pronounced more like Wahraz)

Huaraz is a medium sized town found up in the Mountains north of Lima. Funnily enough it's actually warmer than Lima! Probably due to the fact that completely unlike Lima it has few clouds hanging over it - particularly at this time of the year.

So I arrived bright and early (7am) on the bus into the Huaraz last week. Hopped in a taxi and was taken to Caroline Lodging. I was warmly greeted told to put my bags in the dorm and head up to the roof-top balcony for breakfast at 8am. Hot Coca tea, bread rolls with melted cheese and bread and jam in the warm sun on the balcony meeting new people. It was a great way to start my adventures there.

There is so much to see and do round Huaraz that I decided to hit the ground running. So I enquired about a tour I could do that day and next thing I know I'm sitting on a bus pretty much next to the same french girls I had met at breakfast that morning (that's serendipity for ya!) headed out to see the temples at Chavin.

Laguna Querococha - Huaraz

Pre-Inca the Chavin temple is dated to have been built about 900 B.C. and has strong feline themes in the iconography. Particularly the Jaguar and the anaconda. The tour took us on a 4 hour bus ride stopping briefly at Lake Querococha then onto the Chavin township where we had lunch and were shown the museum. Unfortunately the guide didn't speak any English and seemed very passionate about his subject! Fortunately for me though my lovely french friends slipped me bits and pieces of translation and I was able to read the little plaques which explained some of the exhibits in English - so I wandered off looking at those much to the annoyance of the guide I think who kept kinda yelling at people to gather round him.

Temple at Chavin - Huaraz

After enduring his passionate talk for sometime we finally made it to the temple - which was well worth the wait. Other than Stone Henge it's the first temple I've ever been to so was kinda special for me.

As these things go the temple had unfortunately been partially buried under an avalanche in 1970 that destroyed some parts of it but remarkably the main building in the complex is still fairly intact and we were able to wonder around inside. There was an awesome Obelisk inside called Tello (named after Archeologist Julio C Tello).

Bumping our way back into Huaraz township we arrived back quite late at night - 7pm so me, the two french girls and an American couple we had made friends with went for dinner at a lovely Thai restaurant they had found in town.... It's always interesting seeing other countries take on other national foods! At any rate it was nice having something a little different than the usual versions of rice and potatoes for dinner.

The next day the 5 of us found ourselves crammed into a cab bumping our way up another dirt road to the start of the Lake Churup walk. Starting the climb I suddenly started to notice the slight effects of altitude sickness. Breathing was a little more difficult but having experienced asthma my whole life it didn't bother me so much, the headache and jaw ache that formed when I cracked my neck though did. Fortunately my friends had more experience with altitude and gave me good advice i.e. take it really slowly, at my own pace. Heeding their advice and stopping every few minutes or so, as we climbed to catch my breath, and doing a little bit of BodyTalk on myself soon made all the difference and I was fine.

Man what a walk for my first day trip though! We made it up into the mountains where I thought our walk finished but nope. I suddenly found myself at the bottom of what was effectively a small cliff. Seeing no one around and noticing what looked like a path I realised that the others who were ahead of us had gone that way and it was obviously the way to go. So taking it step by step I climbed - having to use ropes embedded into the rock by hooks for some rather hairy parts. The good news is as you're sitting here reading this you know I survived the experience!

Laguna Churup - Huaraz

Finally seeing the lake appear out of the rocks and greenery was a welcome sight! I made one more last effort to climb up another rock to join my friends and we sat and enjoyed a hard earned lunch.

Montaña dog! - with my French friends Bridget and Sandy

 Funnily enough we were suddenly joined by a dog! All of us were wondering where he had come from and how on earth he had got up there with us. After a while we started making our way back down and it soon became obvious that the dog must have climbed the mountain following the people trekking their way up in the hopes of getting some food, for as we gingerly made our way down the steep rocks clinging to the ropes the dog would disappear and suddenly appear on the rocks below us looking up expectantly!

The car ride back to Huaraz was slightly more uncomfortable as although us 4 girls in the back were all fairly small in size I think the combination of being crammed up against the door and aching muscles from the hike made the bumpy road seem that much worse.

This night the french girls took us to a Gringo cafe where I elatedly found they had more than just Cammomile, Anis and Coca tea on the menu! We sat and chatted while I melted into my Moroccan Mint Tea...

The girls also took us to a restaurant that seemed to be a bit of a local secret as although it was big there seemed to be more locals there than gringos. Always a good sign! We also found the menu very large and was also in English - a big help! I had another language learning experience here though. Having ordered a mushroom and asparagus tortilla I was surprised to find a thick omelet placed in front of me! Language lesson number # 20 - tortilla in Peru means big omelet. Not that I was complaining though. After the days hike I think I needed all that protein so I happily woofed it down.

I tried to have an early night that night as I had a very early start the next day...

6am and I'm sitting down in reception with my plastic bag full of clothes and day pack strapped to my back waiting expectantly for the tour van to arrive. Another long drive and another long bumpy road but a route that goes much higher up into the mountains!

Stopping at a little township in the middle of nowhere we disembark. We're handed a small plastic bag each with sandwiches, fruit, biscuits and chocolate while the donkeys are loaded up. While waiting a guy on a motorcycle pulls up and walks into the store. Coming back out with a bit of bread with nothing on it he stands by his bike gnawing on it so I asked if he had been in Tarapoto. Looking blank for a minute he asked me where that was. I replied up on the edge of the Amazon. I was wondering if he was a the same guy my American friend Michael had told me about who he'd met travelling through the area. Turns out it wasn't him as this guy had ridden his motorcycle all the way from Canada! Across the U.S. and was on his way down to Argentina! He told me how he wished he had started out with the same feeling/knowledge that he had now as he had started out feeling a little like he was on holiday so had been treating himself quite a bit, but now that he was in South America he was having to be more frugal in order to make things stretch til his final destination. My day pack was full of snacks so I ended up sharing most of my lunch with him. The smile on his face at having something other than bread to eat was awesome.

As times gone on I've discovered that riding a motorcycle across South America is actually a lot more common than I first thought! There are several people I've encountered who are doing the same or similar and who know of others who have done the same. My thoughts always drift back to the movie 'Motorcycle Diaries' when I encounter them and I can't help but wonder how many people that movie inspired to do the same.

The first day of the trek was pretty easy. Our little group of 9 fell naturally into little sub groups who walked together at varying speeds, and we meandered our way through some little villages handing out lollies that my new Israeli friend Eran had to some of the local kids.

On arrival at camp we were promptly given hot mugs of water for tea, and to our extremely happy surprise bowls of steaming soup, then a dish of rice, potatoes, veges, chicken and some awesome yummy tomatoe sauce type stuff that I wish I knew the recipe for!

There were only 3 girls at the camp - me and two Israeli girls so the 3 of us had to share a tent together. The first night was interesting. The sleeping bags were pretty good. Could withstand about -7 degrees but it was cold and the thin foam pad we had for bedding provided only just enough to keep us off the ground. I was very lucky as Eran had asked for two sleeping bags and had brought a Polar Fleece liner with him. He gave me the liner to use and I was so happy he did - particularly on the 2nd night!

Cresting the montaña - Punta Union pass

The 2nd day was the hardest. We meandered our way along a path, which started to climb up into the mountains. As the day wore on we ended up high up in the mountains walking up basically just solid bits of rock. Fortunately there was no rain but the wind was starting to make things cold. Finally cresting we slipped through the pass at the top and found ourselves on the other side of the mountain. The view was absolutely magic and made it all worth it!

During the trek down I felt something tweek in my knee and had to take it real slow. Fortunately I had a stick that I had been using for most of the trek so I was able to use that to support myself, but there was definitely a little bit of pain starting to develop. I was so happy once we reached the camp.

That night we slept in a valley that was still quite high up and tended to channel wind. It gets dark quite early everywhere in Peru - between 5 and 6pm the suns starts going down, and it was cold so we basically all just crept into our sleeping bags with layers of clothes as soon as it got dark.

The following day we did a little trek up to a lookout and then would be starting our descent. Unfortunately although not bad my knee was starting to hurt a little more. I was lucky though as my friend Eran is a doctor in training and has a knee problem as well. He had anti-inflammatory pills and gave me some.

I took it slow during the rest of the trek. I think I was going a little too slow for the guides liking though and at one stage found him standing in front of me on the back of a horse indicating I was to ride for a while.

So I got to do a little horse trekking during the journey as well... must admit it was hairy going over some of the rocks though, which there were a lot of. I alternated that day doing a bit of walking and riding on the horse for 2 different spurts. I really admire the horses and donkeys who do those treks. They have to navigate some rather difficult paths as well as carrying the gear or riders.

The guide had a little surprise install for us that day. As I walked through the valley I saw a little hut. Not unusual as there are little national park huts dotted every so often along the trek. But then I realised that everyone from our group was sitting out side the hut drinking cerveza (beer)! Yep that's right. Some guy had decided it'd be quite profitable to setup a little snack bar out in the middle of the mountains. I think he was quite right in his thinking as well as none of the guys minded paying about 20 Soles for 1 beer!

Camp was a welcome site again that day and a little warmer now too as we were starting to get lower down. To our surprise that night we were treated to fried bread with cheese rolled in the middle and avocado dip upon arrival. Oh so good! They have such awesome avocados here. They're all just perfectly ripe!

The next day me and the Israeli girls woke up to find our faces puffy. It seems getting a puffy face and ankles/feet is a common occurrence with the altitude but it felt quite weird. Fortunately it only tends to happen in the morning. I trekked pretty much the whole of the last day (well 2 hour walk) on my own being last with my slow pace but was pretty happy with that as I was able to fully concentrate on where I was stepping. The trek was easy that day but there were still quite a few stoney impasses I had to carefully navigate.

The first sign of civilization was the pipes of the water works that fed off the river I had been following. Coming up the path I found one of the porters waiting for me. He looked confused though and indicated that there was someone else - me amigo - that should have been with me. I was confused and indicated that I thought everyone was in front of me. It turns out my friend Eran had turned back to make sure I was alright but must have taken the wrong path! Fortunately 20 minutes in he figured that if he hadn't found me by then he must have missed me and so headed back. He came down the path about 15 minutes after I had sat down with the others.

Back in town I gratefully melted into the hot shower, the shampoo gray - full of dust, washing the grime away.

Church of San Francisco

A restful day the next day then another overnight bus back to Lima. It's amazing how quickly you can pass 8 hours driving when it's on an overnight bus. We were actually half an hour early getting back into Lima so I sat and read until me amigo Jose arrived to pick me up.

After a yummy breakfast of bread rolls, egg and avocado (curiously no one seems to eat loaf bread here - it's always rolls) we went to the Church of San Francisco to visit the famous catacombs. It's full of art and mysterious passageways, an awesome old library and as the guide kept pointing out proudly fine, sturdy architecture that has withstood many strong earthquakes - it's definitely worth visiting.

Santa Rosa Procession

That day was actually a holiday for Liman's as it was a celebration of Santa Rosa. Saint Rose was a seventeenth century patron saint of Lima named Isabel Flores of Oliva. Apparently she felt a great religious vocation and dedicated herself to being a laywoman, without belonging to any religious order in particular. She spent her life caring for the sick and her good nature earned her fame even while she was alive. People often visit the Santa Rosa church here dropping letters into her well seeking health and happiness.

We were fortunate to stumble across the parade happening downtown, which was basically a procession holding a big statue of the saint followed by a big brass band. Really interesting to see another countries celebrations.

Pachacamac Ruins - Lima

The day ended with Jose and I wandering the ruins of Pachacamac (meaning Earth-Maker) which are about 20 minutes out of the city in the desert. Most of the main buildings were built in 800-1450 C.E. (Common Era) shortly before the arrival and conquest of the Inca Empire. Interestingly it has some of the best examples of preserved fabrics and painted pottery from their time because of the environment there. It's desert so it's dry and doesn't really rain (only kind of mists). It occurred to me that Lima is kind of like a city lost in Limbo. Nothing seems to change. The weather seems like it's always the same - overcast (although I'm told it does change for 3 months of the year), it's mainly sand - so not much grows. It just kind of exists in a non-space.

They say Pachacamac was primarily used as a religious site and then when the Inca took them into their empire it became an important administration centre.

That pretty much brings us up-to-date. Tomorrow I fly up to Cuzco for my last 10 days in Peru, which is exciting. It's a much loved area by everyone and I'm looking forward to basing myself in a neat little place retreat I've been told about in the Sacred Valley - by Pisac.

The adventure is not over yet!










 

Hola from Peru!

Been a long time since I blogged... a couple of years now but I´m off on another adventure so it´s time to start again!

So many of you know that I am travelling in Peru at the moment. What you might not know is that the main reason I flew all the way here was to see a Shaman. Yes, it is a long way to come just for a healing but I heard so many first hand accounts about how wonderful it is and I really felt the journey itself to and around Peru was just as important for me to do as was seeing the Shaman himself.

I questioned myself many, many times as to whether I was making the right choice coming here with timing and everything. I even considered jumping off the plane in Auckland and just heading home instead but something inside me told me I had to do this. So my adventure began in a small city on the border of the Amazon Jungle - Tarapoto.

Arriving at the airport at 10:45pm I looked around for the person who was supposed to meet me. After wandering around for a bit and realising no one was there I was grateful I had written down in my book all the contact details. One problem though... I had no change for the phone! Fortunately after meandering around a bit more I found a air hostess who knew enough Ingles for me to explain my predicament and was kind enough to call them from the office for me and let them know I was there. 10 minutes later Carlos and his son showed up in a moto-taxi and rescued me. It turned out Carlos had been locked out of his email account so although he knew I was arriving that day he didn´t know what time!

A moto-taxi is a motor bike with a little 3 seater cart attached to the back. It´s a primary form of transport in Tarapoto and quite fun! This is a video that my friend Michael took during one of our moto-taxi rides...

After an exhilarating 10 minute ride into town we pulled up on the dirt road next to a massive crater that looked like a half finished gutter. Leaping over this canyon I found myself outside the front door of Carlos´s house. Made primarily from concrete with lots of indoor-outdoor flow. Once inside I was warmly greeted by Carlos´s sister Laura and two American´s who were staying there. Erin - from Texas but studying in Lima and Michael who is from Idaho but has been living in Peru the last few months and is planning to move to Tarapoto.

Having not really had time to study much Spanish before I left I was feeling very much out of my depth but everyone quickly made me feel at ease, explaining their own very recent experiences from the retreat and what to expect. That night I stayed in a hotel around the corner - falling gratefully into bed.

The next day Carlos and Laura took us all to one of the many water falls in the area. We splashed around in the depths along with all the locals getting some reprieve from the heat. Fortunately Tarapoto isn´t quite as hot and humid as the jungle was in Malaysia so I was presently surprised but it still gets rather warm from about mid-day.

The next day I was told only to drink some juice in the morning and not to eat anything. They piled me and my luggage into a moto-taxi and we were off whizzing down the road out towards the retreat.

Walking up the track I suddenly found myself standing outside a meeting house. This was to be my home for the next 2 weeks...

I won´t go into too much detail as I the experience is best explained in person but save to say for the next 2 weeks I would be living off a diet of the following ingredients per meal (breakfast, lunch and dinner):

raw cabbage, carrot, cucumber, boiled potate, egg, lentils and rice. Sometimes Quinoa, sometimes corn and on the odd occasion lettuce. Oh and as a treat sometimes fresh coconut (oh so good!). No spices or herbs of any kind. All just plain food.

I was treated with various roots that had varying reactions. All pretty much aimed at cleaning out my system... so you can imagine the reactions. Carlos and his brother Juan took good care of me though.

This happened the week before while Michael was on the retreat but apparently during the night one night one of the dogs that run wild in the area fell into the out house. He was howling and howling and Carlos and the guys had to fish him out. The little escapade... and the smell earned the dog the name Banyo - meaning toilet.

By the end of the two weeks I was glad to be leaving the retreat. It had been nice being in utter seclusion watching the various critters of the forest but the time did drag a little and I was looked forward to a meal with something other the above mentioned.

Coming back to town was a weird feeling but I was lucky in that Michael was still there and we wondered around town sorting out various things and doing some last minute shopping.

I wasn´t due to leave Tarapoto for another week but Michael was headed to Lima to stay with a friend and I decided I´d like to go with him rather than stick around. So with a last minute scramble I managed to get on the same flight as him leaving late in the evening on Friday.

During our last evening there just before our flight Carlos took us for a last minute wonder into town to a roadside cart where a senor gave us a shot of something not so nice tasting but that is supposed to be good for us, and mixed us an interesting warm drink of various plants that was more pleasant. It had spirulina in it as well as a touch of Inka Cola (a bright yellow fizzy drink much like creaming soda) and many other interesting syrups, powders and liquids. It was somewhat sad farewelling Carlos and his family as they had been so lovely and welcoming.

Half asleep we arrived in Lima. After a bit more wondering around the airport trying to find Juan and Maria we finally managed to scout them out in the crowd. They bundled us into their car and off we went. Constantly chatting we drove round the city until we found a place to eat and could sit down and properly fill them in on our experiences with the shamans.

Over this last weekend Juan and Maria have been the consummate hosts. They have taken us all around the city showing us various sites and filling us in with Juan´s wealth of knowledge about the city. Food is also a passion of theirs and they know of so many lovely places to eat - I´ve eaten so much food I think I´m going to pop!

Lima is a funny city. It´s so big a sprawly and you do have to take due caution when in big bustling public areas like downtown but it´s not unfriendly and there´s lots to see. The weather is quite strange. Lima is actually in the desert and is a coastal city. The water is very cold because it has arctic currents but the humidity level is very high. 99% I think Juan said. The result is for about 9 months of the year there is a cloud that hangs over the city. It doesn´t really rain but the water content in the air does get heavier creating that misty rain effect. Absolutely the worst kind of weather for curly hair! It´s also quite cold. Not freezing but not warm. Definitely not t-shirt weather. It´s made me realise I need a few more woolies before heading into the mountains! So going to do a little bit of shopping over the next few days to stock up.

Today Michael went on a mission to try sort out the paper work he needs in order to live in Peru so I took the chance to catch up on all my electronic stuff. I´m planning to do a tour to Pachacamac - a pyramid outside of the city possibly tomorrow or later this week. Then come Friday I´ll be jumping on a bus for a 8 hour journey to Huaraz, which is north of here and more mountainous. It will be the first place where I stay in a hostal so will be a new and interesting experience. My friend Erin talked of going there so hopefully we will travel together. Will see how everything unfolds....

New Horizons

Hello again - it's been ages since I last wrote and a lot has happened.

Mum and dad came for a visit in last October and I spent a lovely week catching up with them and visiting Cornwall, while Robin went up to Scotland to another Hippo Lodge Reunion. We managed to see a variety of things including a visit to the several of the quaint villages (like St. Ives), the Minack theatre - which is set into the side of a cliff over looking the ocean and the Eden project (loads of plants and eco-minded stuff - very cool). It was a lovely trip and I'm so glad I was able to see that area (thank you mum and dad!)

After that I had a change in employment. The guys I was working for found someone permanent to take on so I was off work a few days. Fortunately it didn't last long though as I had two agencies scrambling to find me work (so nice to feel appreciated) and I shortly found myself working at a Letting Agency not far from our house. I took over from another temp girl there who was about to leave for Australia. I was with them for about a month and a half...

Our time in England was really lovely and we met some really lovely people (who we will miss!) but for both Robin and I our hearts were not really there, and in our individual ways we longed for a change. Things hadn't gone quite as we planned and it was a bit of an emotional time over the last couple of months but we finally came to the conclusion that it was time to leave.

Robin's love for his adopted country was calling him back to NZ, where as I was not ready to come home just yet. Robin had his old job to go back to in Nelson for the summer so he has returned to NZ. I decided to come to Australia for a little while to visit family and to meet up with my friend Steph on the Gold Coast to live and work for a little bit. I arrived on Saturday night and am currently spending some time with my brother and sister-in-law in Sydney having some much needed catch up time. You're never bored in this house with 2 dogs and 3 cats to keep you entertained!

Not sure exactly how everything is going to go but I'm feeling good about it all. It feels good to be living my dreams even though I'm not sure exactly where they're taking me... guess that's the beauty of life. We have to dare to make decisions (to take risks) in order to feel we have really lived life.

Fun & Games

Well summer is nearly coming to an end - but we're still making the most of it!

Life has been going along as per-usual, still doing the same things - but I just wanted to write a little blurb about our recent trips away.

At the end of July we went up to London again for another visit. Lillian and John kindly had us to stay again and we all went to see the London Dungeon together, which was really interesting and fun. We also got to see the Camden markets, which was hippy heaven for us! There's also a really fascinating store there called Cyber Dog - as the name suggests it is quite sci-fi but clubbing fashion style with all sorts of nifty and outrageous outfits and toys. All I brought from there was a flashy bouncy ball but it was an amazing place just to go and see (if you're into that kind of thing - that is). We had a lovley time and loved seeing Lillian and John again (note: 2 has recently become 3 - Lillian has just had her little baby girl Roma this week! We're very much looking forward to meeting her in person sometime soon - hopefully.)

We also caught up with an old work mate of mind who is living here now as well. Olivia and Ben - it was really nice catching up over dinner and finding out how they've been settling in here. My only regret is I completely got to get a photo of us all!

We just got back last week from a week away up Gloucester way. We visited Robin's mum and step-dad Paul for a few days - went to see Paul's art exhibition, which was lovely/very inspiring and got to go see Tommy Emanual play (if you've not heard of him seriously check him out on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp12twDAu_E He is quite possibly the best guitar player in the world!).

Then we gathered some camping equipment together and went up to Herefordshire to attend the Big Chill festival. We were both so glad we made the effort to go. It was 4 days of a smorgasboard of music, art and performances of all sorts. So much so that we didn't even see any gigs in about 2 or 3 of the tents because we were so busy looking at everything else. We had an amazing time and even got involved in one of Spencer Tunick's photo shoots... (I'll leave you to ponder/look into what that was ;-) ). I've just collaborated all our photos/vids from the festival into a short film, which you can check out below. Thought it would be a nice way of sharing the experience of the festival with you.

So here we are back home again - and I must say it's nice to have a quiet weekend home catching up on stuff. Life is good and it looks like mum and dad will be here in a couple of weeks for a holiday so am looking forward to catching up with them as well.

As always much love to you all - and I'll keep you posted! *mwah!*

Sitting pretty

Hello - just a little update today.

Life has been jugging along nicely here. We've had some very nice sunny days and spent one of the hottest at Bournemouth Beach the other weekend (yes England does have beaches!). There were lots of people there but we found a nice little spot and set ourselves up. We were there with our flatmate Francois and a friend of ours Laura. The water was cold but it was actually nice because it was a very hot day.

England has been crazy with World Cup Fever of late so Francios had his little transitor radio with him so he could tune into the football game (England was playing that day). There were several interested people half listening to it surrounding us and every now and again you'd here a roar of a approval or dissapproval from a nearby pub. They lost however, so there were a lot of dissapointed Brits wandering around that afternoon. We had a lovely time though sunning ourselves and investigating the pier which had a crazy lighthouse slide thing and a carnival. Was a lovely day.

We also, had the most amazing experience at Stone Henge. It was summer solstice recently and the inspiration hit that we should go and spend it at Stone Henge. It is the only time of the year when they actually allow people into the stone circle so it was our only opportunity to actually be up close and touch the stones. It was a crazy but fun night. There were about 20,000 people there (less than last year apparently - there were 36,000 there last year), a random mixture of druids, Morris dancers, musicians and some very intoxicated peopel on various substances. There was no formal line up of entertainment of any sort. Just the steady rythm of the drummers beating their drums all night long and the clacking of sticks and jingling of bells when the Morris dancers performed their dances in the twilight and at dawn. The night went by quite quickly and although we didn't actually get to see the sun break the horizon (due to a smattering of cloud on it) we were touched by it's rays as we started to depart. It certainly was a special occasion and a night to remember.

We've been on other little outings as well. We meet up with Robin's sister Sally and her family in the New Forest a little while ago and spent the afternoon hanging out and playing with Sally, Mark and our nieces. Our friend's Paul and Jo have also taken us to hidden castle ruins and other interesting places, so even though we've been working we've still been having little adventures. We've got more to come as we're planning another trip to London this weekend and are possibly going to a festival in August - so there are more stories and photos to come!

Until then - love and light to you all xo

Summer time - Excellent!

Thought it was about time I added an update! Think it was still winter when I last wrote so it definitely has been quite a while....

After we left Robin's dad's place we lived in Winchester for a little while. It's a lovely little town with a little river winding through it and the moors (which I delighted in wondering through) but to be honest not terribly lively. We stayed there for a little while looking for work and even lived in a flat (a shared flat with no lounge or even any place to sit in the kitchen - but awesome internet speed!), but we quickly decided that Southampton would be a more interesting place to live so we moved here instead.

Robin has been doing work for an employment agency doing various labouring type jobs around and about this end of the UK. Aside from coming home reeking of whatever he's been doing that day, he always has something interesting to say about the work and seems to be enjoying it :)

It took me a little while to find some work but I eventually got some as well - funnily enough it's working for an employment agency doing admin work. It's been good steady work so keeps me busy, they're pretty cool people to work for and it's nice to have money coming in again so all is well :) Not sure how much longer I have the position for as it's only temp work but I'm looking forward to whatever is coming next. I have to admit I do like the nature or temping in that you don't stay in one place for too long - so there's little chance of getting bored or dis-enchanted too easily.

Robin took off up north with his dad to do the Coast-to-Coast walk not so long ago, which is somewhere up near the boarder of Scotland. He was gone for about 2 weeks and came back much browner and very happy. I took the opportunity to spend more time with our new flat mate Fraciane. We faced the masses over the long weekend in town to do a smidge of shopping, went to see the Moscow circus and started doing Belly Dancing lessons, which we've been loving. I also caught up with one of the local BodyTalker's Jackie and had a great time having dinner and hanging out with her.

The flat we're living in is really lovely. It's a lovely old Victorian house with a huge kitchen, garden and conservatory. It's also right in Southampton city so it is easy to get everywhere and we have access to everything we need virtually right around the corner. We live with 2 other guys - a hair dresser, a librarian - and a 3rd whom does something quite technical I haven't quite had the chance to understand properly yet. He also has a cat who is just getting acquainted with us and her new house - so we're quite stoked as we've missed having animals around. Although to be fair the neighbours chickens, the family or squirrels on the other neighbours roof and the various birds, frogs and dragon flies inhabiting our garden have been quite entertaining.

Some of the things we've been up to include staying at a place called Welsh Bicknor, which is right by the border of Wales with some travel friends of Robin's. Was a really fun weekend involving walks and exploration of some castle and cathedral ruins.

We took the train to Salisbury one day a few weeks back. The inspiration for the trip had come from a book I had randomly picked up during our trip in Australia. In Byron bay we were in a charity shop looking for something to read and I found a rather large novel written using the history of Britian right from pre-historic times to the modern era. Thinking it fitting considering where our journey was taking us I brought the book and Robin and I both read 'Sarum' during the rest of our trip. The story centred around Salisbury and involved the ruins of Sarum and a cathedral there - hence our interest in checking it out. We had a great day wondering around the town and out to the site of the ruins then back down to the cathedral. We're both admittedly not much into history (as it's been taught) but we were both quite blown away by the cathedral in Salisbury. It had a much more loving atmosphere than the one we went to in Gloucester and we were lucky to be there at the same time as the national youth choir who were practising for their performance that night, so we had the benefit of experiencing the amazing accoustics of the building as well. I was also very intrigued by some of the tombs, which had some fascinating symbolism on them. We also really appreciated the skill of the masons who carved the entire story of genesis as a motif around one particular room in the cathedral.

We spent one of the hotest sunniest weekends we've had lounging in our backyard - having drinks, nibbles and listening to music with a couple of friends for my birthday. My first summer birthday -and I LOVED it! Wish the weather was like that for my birthday in NZ! Was so nice being able to plan an outdoor event for it. Perhaps I'll put off celebrating my birthday until summer time in NZ when we're home... hm.. there's a thought...

We also took a trip to London for the long weekend recently and caught up with some old friends of mine - Lillian and John. It was awesome seeing them (some home away from home in a way), especially at this very special time of preparing for their new baby girl to arrive into the world... it's a little scary that my close friends are starting to have babies - but I guess we are all coming of that age now (why is it that the realisation you are growing up seems so sudden sometimes?).

We didn't get to do all the touristy things because we were only there for the weekend and being a long weekend EVERYONE else was there as well - so instead of spending over an hour queueing to get into places like Madame Tussauds we opted to just wonder around London, do the London Eye and River Cruise instead. Was a little cloudy but we did get some sun on the Sunday and had a very enjoyable evening at the show 'Stomp', some fabulous mexican food at a restaurant we stumbled across, and even squeezed in an evening wandering around 'Ripley's -Believe it or Not' museum (which was open late for the weekend).

We had a fabulous time hanging out with Lillian and John, and I'm looking forward to going back during a time when it's not quite so crazy with tourists to explore more and do the other main stream stuff.

...but for now I am nestled on our couch in our brightly decorated little study looking out over the neighbours garden at the chickens fossicking around in his backyard; hearing the conversation of the birds and the trees whispering their secrets, feeling content -full of the yummy goodness of the summer fruits and veges we've been eating, centred and relaxed in the warmth of the day...

....it is a good place to be right now :)

Winter Wonderland

You may have heard or you may not, but according to the news Britain is currently experiencing the coldest temperatures for 30 years (man we got timing!).... and it's fabulous! :)

Not only have I been welcomed so warmly by Robin's family but I've got a winter wonderland to play in! It has kept us at Robin's dad's place in Cirencester longer than anticipated but that has certainly not stopped us from enjoying ourselves...

So - how did 2009 end? .... with a big party!

Since we arrived in early December we have spent our time mainly reading and going on outings into Gloucester, Cheltenham and Cirencester. Spending some time with Robin's mum and her partner Paul, and time with Robin's dad Ron and his partner Jenny, not to mention the family celebrations!

Robin's sister Sally got married to Mark on the first snowy day in Banbury. A little chilly but a beautiful wedding and my first introduction to the rest of Robin's family! With dinner, a harpist who followed us from venue to venue enveloping us with her delicate tones and dancing the cold was soon forgotten.

The next few days saw me become an instant aunty to Isabelle, Sophie, Eve and Loren. Baby sitting was an energetic experience and considering I've never changed a diaper in my life I was relieved to find that Robin knows how to!

Even though we had a lot of fun with the girls we were relieved to return to the quiet sanctuary in the country that is Robin's dad's place. We've spent the last few weeks here ambling through the country side, having christmas dinner at the quaint local country pub with Ron and his friends and playing in the snow.

We saw in the new year back at a golf club in Banbury - celebrating also the marriage of Sally and Mark at their wedding reception (which was held a few days after the wedding itself). True to the nature of England there was ample pints of ale - and a good amount of dancing! The evening was made complete with the arrival of Robin's good friend Mark (and his partner Ruthie), who filled me in with some of the mischief stories of their childhood together.

I had my first tabogganing and snow man making experience a few days ago. It's so funny experiencing this from my own perspective. It's kind of like this should all feel kind of strange and foreign to me, yet it doesn't. I'm putting it down to the power of television having programmed me over the years of my life so far that christmas is supposed to be white and snowy, and when it's white and snowy then you naturally go out tabogganing and make snow men! Analysis aside - it was fun (who says age means anything!)

So here I am sitting on the couch in the warm looking out the window at the snow covered houses contemplating life...

I was thinking of our trip round Malaysia the other day and one of my favourite memories that I have of the place I realised I failed to mention in our blog! It is a simple memory but I thought it might be nice to share...

While we were in the Cameron Highlands I had to run back to our backpackers to try and secure a booking we were making for the next part of our trip. As a was jogging down the street and slowed to a fast walk I found myself walking towards/past a group of 3 or 4 Malay/Muslim girls who were sitting on the back of a ute. They all smiled shyly at me and I smiled back at them on the way past. It was just a really lovely moment because up until then it seemed that the Muslim woman were... not cold but kind of blank or guarded (hard to describe it was just a subtle impression). So it was lovely to have that moment - like a mutual curiousity and recognition that we are both human (p.s. I've added a few photos to my previous posts that I had floating around, including the snake temple photos and my photo with 1965 Miss Malaysia Beauty Queen, so if you've not seen them yet and would like to check the older posts).

It's really nice to have this time to contemplate... we watched Zeitgeist and Addendum with Robin's dad a few nights ago. It was really good watching them again and it re-inflamed my hope and passion for humanity, the world and our future. If you've no idea what I'm talking about and want to find out more please take a look at the 'Films' tab on this (my netvibes site). You will find a copy of both films which you can watch live from the internet. These documentaries are designed to be spread far and wide for all to see so if you are as inspired by them as I am please do spread the word to watch them!

Right now I am feeling really happy. Life is so good - and I am so fortunate to have so many wonderful people in my life (yes, that means you) and awesome experiences. I feel I am very much in a place of peace and that everything is in perfect order right now. Obviously we're not meant to go anywhere just yet, and we are content to enjoy ourselves here until the time is right for us to move on to our next adventure whatever that may be.

Dear friend, family member or random reader please try and remember that you have the power at any given moment to be in a space (or mood) that you choose. No one can ever take that away from you - you have more power than you realise and that power is always inside of you. Remember to love yourself first. Speak to yourself as if you were speaking to a dear friend or loved one and I promise you it will invoke good feelings that will radiate throughout your life. No matter where you are or what is going on there is no need to struggle - play around with your own thoughts until you find a thought that helps you feel better. Contemplate these better feeling thoughts for a little bit until you start to find that twinkling of inspiration again. Remember life is but a journey - it is not the destination that matters but the voyage itself so enjoy life... is that not why you are here?

Love and light to you all xo