Florence, Duncan n Noah's idyllic house

leaving BA arriving in London

The theme for my trip thus far centers around giving far too much money (unwillingly) to taxi drivers ...
Leaving Buenos Aires I got a stressed oled taxi driver who didn't seem to think going to the airport was something he should know how to do. He asked me " should i go on the 6 highway?" which of course I had absolutely no idea about. It got worse when the highways were shut due to strikes... which meant we had to go down alternative routes which the taxi driver wasn't sure about. He stopped 4 times to ask directions which didn't give me much confidence. In the side streets I saw people driving horse and carts carrying fridges rather than tourists... with petrol prices the way they are it could be a future trend. They don't allow horse and carts on the freeway (closed 'cause of the strike anyway!). Eventually 1 1/2 hours later (I thought it would take 45 min) arrived at the airport with not much time to spare. Made it on to the plane and flew to London via Sao Paulo (brazil) which I had no idea we were doing. Spent an hour in the plane at the airport in Brazil while they loaded on a new crew and passangers... was pretty impressive flying in. It's huge!!!! I think the city has a population of 28 million or something like that.
Arrived in London feeling rather sleep deprived. Unfortunately had got wires crossed with Dan's cousin Duncan and Flo so they weren't there to meet me. With help from Helen and Ed I managed to get their number and made my way to their house by cab. Florence had told me the fare should be no more the 30 pounds... but I got charged 80!!! Cried the whole way to Florences which upset the poor cab driver who gave me tissues at the end. I have "cab" trauma now so it doesn't take much to upset me...
Got to Florence, Duncan and Noahs fairy tale house from 1750s. It's gorgeous! Slept then woke up and went for a walk through the idyllic historic town and drank Pims and champagne all afternoon. Think it's helped the taxi trauma...

flamenco dancing in buenos aires

In Buenos Aires shared an apartment with Mrs Dr Lovely Sharma (sitar) and Janet.
We went to two milongas (tango social dances) whilst in BA. It was beautiful to watch passionate young and the "young at heart" old couples dance. Janet, Anya (music therapist from Darwin) and I got asked to dance by very short older men.
Was amusing and fun and only a little bit creepy!
Went to La Boca (the mouth) a gorgeous colourful town by the harbour. Tango dancing, live music and markets- just my cup of tea!

Speaking of tea... the argintinians generally don't seem to "get" tea. At the conference they poured hot water into a cup added milk then plopped a tea bag on top... very distressing. Luckily there was a tea shop with wi-fi just down the road from our place where I could order Lapsang Sounchong and Earl Grey...

tango clip

tango in buenos aires

World congress, pooches n trees

Our presentation went super well with fantastic and enthusiastic turn out. After our presentation a woman from Jessica Kingsley publishers asked if we'd be interested in writing a book. YAY! Oh yes please we said. There goes my idea that after the conference we could relax...

Buenos Aires is beautiful. It's winter and chilli but fresh and lovely. The people are elegant with great posture and style!!!

Still haven't made it to a milonga... perhaps tonight!

Buenos Aires, cabs, thieves and police

My first hour in Buenos Aires saw me get fleeced by a young, hip cabbie...

Got a taxi from the airport and ended up getting a taxt that had just been in a crash tht kept stalling driven by a young grungy muso type taxi driver. Being gullible and stuped when he charged be 370 pesetas ($120) I commented that it was super expensive but paid. As I didn't have enough money in my wallet I went ot my secret cash stash but he keenly observed. When he dropped me at the apartment he "forgot" to get out my laptop taking out my backpack put shutting the door leaving laptop inside. I made a big point of getting lap top out luckily...
Later I found out I should have paid 70 pesetas ($22) for the trip from another cabbie who was super indignant I'd been charged so much. He insisted I should go to the police or at least threaten to go to the police and demand my money back...
The next morning I went to pay the deposit for the apartment and my secret stash of money ($600 US) was gone.... so did go to the police. Oh gullible and naive Ann.... The first police officer woman was a total cow saying " you mean you let him put his hand in your pocket?" and then told me I was at the wrong police station and needed to go to another station 17 blocks away. The station I went to was 2 blocks from where it happened...

The next police station was much more helpful. Felt like an "experiential travel" experience of Buenos Aires. Was quite fun making a statement in Spanish... took ages and he wrote a 3 page report. Asked if I wanted to go to another police station to identify the cab driver... but as it was optional I decided I'd had enough adventure and said no. The police are seriously under resourced. They all shared one old printer which was running out of ink and kept jamming. Half of the official police transcripts were illegible!

I still have my passport & laptop and am not too attached to money so I'm not to distressed... makes a good travel story!

more cusco llama shots

Machu Picchu, mountains and festival parades

Machu Picchu was misty and marvellous. We did the early morning 5am rise to get there early enough to climb the peak of Huana Picchu- the moon palace on the morning of a pretty full moon:)

They only let 400 "fit and healthy" people climb it a day.

The climb was steep and although the altitude was 1000m lower than Cusco we were still panting an awful lot. We took 3 1/2 hours rather than the recommended 2 hours but were still might proud of our achievement! The climb was steep and included climbing through two small caves and up log ladders. It was misty when we started which added to the romance and excitement. The mist cleared as we got to the top which is a precarious rock n ruins on top of the world! Very beautiful. Janet's coped especially well as she can get vertigo. Also made friends with some llamas (well they didn't really make any reciprocal effort). The one with the love heart birth mark on its cheek was pretty sweet!

On the train trip back from Machu Picchu got a special festival dance and fashion show by the crew. Very cool although the breath taking scenery was pretty special too. The train follows the river the whole way- looks like fantastic rapids for kayaking but no-one is doing it so perhaps is a little too dangerous. Think they may have pirahuanas too... When we got back to Cusco we tried to find Dahna and Johnno who happened to be in town the same day as us. Sadly we kept missing each other- but in the search I met a beautiful instrument maker who builds charangos, harps, guitars, mandolins and badurions (not sure of the spelling). I was pretty keen to buy a bandurion (you know me... I need it...) and that night at our restuarant a local Quecha muso came and played one and sang. Sadly he didn't have any cases so didn't buy one but have got his email address just in case he can post one...

Now I'm sitting in Santiago Chile looking out from my hotel to the airport where I fly out tomorrow to Buenos Aires at 6am. Lucky it's just a 5 min walk!

Cusco &The Sacred Valley

Janet and I have been staying in the exceptionally beautiful, historic and high altitude placed town ( 3326m) of Cusco. The first day I suffered from altitude sickness, felt dizzy, bloated and naseous and had to stop and rest after walking. Took our altitude sickness tablets we got from the travel doctor in the Gong and drank Coca tea but still felt wobbly. The following day felt much better but had a tingling sensation through my fingers and toes... not enough oxygen getting through.

Went on a guided tour of parts of the Sacred Valley starting with the Incu ruins at Pisac where we had our first taste of climbing Inca stairs, and more stairs, and still more stairs. The Incas used llamas as their main form of transport to carry things and llamas like stairs. Despite having an incredible knowledge of astronomy, agriculture and architecture they hadn't worked out how to use the wheel... We saw our first Intihuatana (ceremonial platform for tying the sun to the earth) and incredible water channels which filter water as they manouver down the mountain. It's possible to stem the flow of water by running your finger across it and then start the flow by touching the middle of it. Super clever! They also had baths of stone with hand grips so you could emerse your whole body and showers.

We got taken to a local Quechua craft market where they showed us how they spin, dye and weave alpaca wool to make incredibly beautiful textiles and soft jumpers. They grate up a root that looks like ginger, as a soap and also a shampoo. Wonder if it grows in Australia? To dye the wool different colours they use the flesh of a cactus (red- can also be used as lipstick- lasts 24 hours or a 1000 kisses we were told), beatles (blue), leaves (green) and salt and lemon juice as fixers. They have natural salt deposits in the mountains which could easily be mistaken from a distance for snow covered mountains which they also have plenty of.

Then went to Ollantaytambo for more Inca step climing to see a massive Inca fortress and temple which is apparently is architecturally superior to Machu Picchu and the best example of Inca city planning. They quarried their giant rocks 6 km away on the other side of the valley with a river running through which doesn't seem like good planning to me since they were using man power to carry them (with help of llama rope and logs). I read that the Inca chiefs believed it was important to keep their subjects busy so if there was nothing else to do he'd get them to move a mountain from one spot to another... suspect there was a pretty big case of beaurocracy going on with the chiefs not doing much of the heavy lifting!

Last stop of the tour was Chinchero were we were harangued by kids selling us postacrds and trinkets. Also got to see an amazing church built on Inca ruins- it was incredibly ornate- lots of gold everywhere and saints dressed as local llama herders.

Next post... Machu Picchu :)

Lima, Peru

Despite warnings from the guide book I got severely ripped off with my first Taxi fare. He charged be $35 US and took me to the wrong hotel. Coming back (with Maria Luisa organising it) cost me $11 and I got taken to the right place (the air port). Otherwise had a fantastic time being hosted by Maria Luisa and her beautiful family. Nicole, her 10 year old daughter, taught me how to make colourful Crepe flowers. Hope to make this a regular craft activity when I get home! In trade I brought a book which shows how to draw Australian animals so Seabastion (6 years) spent the whole of my stay drawing kangaroos, possums, lizards and crocs.

Got to visit the Christiania school (secondary school for girls many of whom couldn't afford school otherwise) down the road that is financially supported by Norway. Caroline (my dad's cousin) has played a huge part in this. 15 years or so ago Caroline went to the school and met Maria Luisa's dad who was working there. Since then she's played a huge part in the life of the school and Maria Luisa's family. Caroline and Maria Luisa and fam, two years ago bought a house and corner shop a block from the sea with huge high ceilings. It's historically protected which makes necessary renovations hard. I got Caroline's huge room with a lounge, complete with Norwegian Donald Duck comics :)

Lima gets covered with a smoggy haze at this time of year, but the greyness of the sky is contrasted by the fantastic colours of the buildings. Maria Luisa took me sightseeing around Lima. First stop was the Inca market where I got to buy a charango! Have been travelling without an instrument til then so was very excited to have a stringed instrument in our hands. Then watched the changing of the guard at the presidents palace. Took a bus trip up the top of a mountain following the stations of the cross to St Cristobal... eventually! Had to circle the town square 10 times til the bus was full. De ja vu! At the top had amazing views of the whole of Lima. Bought an "Isaac Cola" at the top that sparayed everywhere when I opened it. Two cats enjoyed having the ultimate city views..as cats do.

The following day there was the celebration of Independence in Chorillo where I was staying. 10 year old Nicol was my guide and we sat for several hours as little 2-3 years olds marched past, dressed up as significant historical figures in Perus liberation... like the slave trade! Seeing the little boy paraded along as a slave with other little boys as armed guards made me laugh and cry at the same time! Many of the little historical figures (representing the army, motor taxis, colonials, doctors and nurses etc) weren't to happy about having to march down the street. Many had snotty noses and tears rolling down their cheeks. I saw one little boy in the parade see his mum and bolt! He did not rejoin the parade. Altought I felt sorry for the kids I also felt sorry for the female teachers who marched wearing high heels! The MC kept repeating the words of Maria Montesaurri - Todo por el amor... Nada por la fuerza (everything for love, nothing for force) and also talking about Gandhi. It was profound and made me realise how fresh the impact the political unrest (and disappearances) has on people and their passion for peace.

I've found the Peruvians to be a very kind, gentle and strong people- feel very privileged to be here.