UK, Travelling and change of projectsss

So since last writing I’ve been back to England, returned back to Peru, travelled with my family and met up with the other volunteers again- whattttt. Really have no clue where to start this or what to say so I’ll start from the beginning.

Returning to England was crazy emotions for me, it didn’t click till I was landing back at Newcastle airport watching videos of my Peruvian babies what was really happening, and I kind of freaked since I really hadn’t prepared myself for it all happening so suddenly. After realising I was going to see my family again I got really nervous excited like a little child on Christmas eve, only to walk out the gate and see no one there. Puzzled I tried to connect to the internet on my ipod since I didn’t have a phone but the battery on the ipod had died, so I was just waiting. Around 20 minutes later I saw Mum and Dad coming over with tears in their eyes; the feeling of people caring about you to that extent is something I will never take for granted again! Joe and Lynz were there to surprise me but Dad let the cat out of the bag and said they were around the corner, it was so lovely to be back with them all again drinking tea and eating a banana, but so surreal that for once in my life I think I may have been lost for words hahaa.

The next week was filled with so many doctors appointments to find out what was wrong, leaving me on a waiting list to get a camera up my nose to see the damage. The date I was given for the camera was just before I was due to return back to Peru so I ended up going privately with the financial support of my family which I am so grateful for. They diagnosed me with all these big worded things so I’m going to break it down for you. My nose bone is a bit deformed and due to this my tissue has swelled up to protect it, meaning that the stuff that’s meant to come out your nose couldn’t, so it dripped down into the back of my throat instead. This leaves you with a feeling you’re always choking and blocked, almost unable to breathe, depending on how severe it is. They gave me stuff to sort it and a nose spray to make it all thinned but in the short term there wasn’t more that could be done, just learning ways to make it better.

It’s ridiculous that something as simple and relatively easily controlled as that could make you feel so bad.  Piece of advice, don’t bad mouth the NHS because until you’re in a situation where you don’t have it on your door step you don’t realise how bloody good it is.

So since I was starting to feel better I became slightly less of a social hermit and started seeing people. My family have been amazing, we’ve been over the immediate few but my Nephews, I don’t even have the words. I had missed the little munchkins so bloody much it was like a God-send, such a lucky Auntie. Plus my Sister, she has been amazing through the whole situation and it was so lovely being back with my girl again. Then all my Grandparents and Sheffield family too, it’s strange as it felt like nothing had changed since I left in that aspect which was such a homely feeling. Also my friends, this was complicated as loads of them were at Uni or I wasn’t feeling up to going out all the time, and it’s lovely knowing some of my closest friends who I haven’t really spoken with whilst I was away were there talking just like the old days.

There were some days at home that I was rather down as I couldn’t stop thinking about my Trujillo children and how things were never going to be the same without them! For someone who never used to cry this got me a lot, I would see photos the tias had posted and wished more than anything that I could have been there to share their memories, but I couldn’t even if I still was in Peru.

However I was so lucky to be home for Mums birthday, Bens birthday, and in some respects my own too. Such big family times like that are times when you do miss home, but being back in the UK, I didn’t have to, as with the support of everybody I got to be there and have those memories.

Anyway I’ll stop boring you with personal things and move onto travellingggggggggggggggg:

So my family had always planned to come and visit me at the start of March or late February, so that’s when I flew back out with them. The goodbyes in England weren’t anywhere near as bad as last time, partly as I had already done it once, and secondly as it was only for less than half the time we initially thought. The family were all flying premium class on the way over and Dad talked the man into giving me a free upgrade so I enjoyed the nice way of travelling for nothing, not bad since I was going to be sat next to a Peruvian man who appeared like he was going to hum the whole time hahahaa. 

On arrival to Lima we went to the luggage carousel, waited and waited, only to realise that our luggage didn’t make it, along with another half of the plane. This involved waiting in a huge queue, somehow ending up at the back because of me, to be told they didn’t really know when it was going to get there. Lovely way to start the trip. After a warm nights sleep we set off in Lima to try and find some new clothes to keep us going till the cases arrived, this proved difficult for dad as he is so tall and the Peruvian men are so short that nothing was long enough!! It was a shame as this wasn’t the way I would have like them to be introduced to Peru.

As a group we stood out like sore thumbs, people usually stare at me alone but a whole family, people were even taking photos, leading to arguments as I’m not a fan of that hahaa. Anyway the next day we moved onto TRUJILLO!!! I was so so so happy to be back where I had been living for 6 months, and with my family too, that just topped it all off. We got a taxi to the hotel (with no luggage still) and settled in before trying to ring more people about the cases when the phone rings. The man from reception tells me “The Sharif has arrived” which was hilarious- how very proper. So I rushed downstairs to see my gurl again and there she was! After 5 weeks apart it was nice to be reunited in our city. We spent 5 nights in Trujillo which I loved, but for Mum and Dad it meant a lot of time ringing people trying to find out where our luggage was, which is a shame being half way across the world and having such a laborious task. We took the family to all the local places we used to go to every weekend as it was amazing, I think they were very shocked to start with but seemed to love every place, even the mental markets with people constantly shouting “Gringos” meaning white people all the time.

Me and Amber went to see the aldea again and bloody hell, the feeling of being reunited with my kids was phenomal. Sadly for them they still hadn’t moved into the new aldea, however it is good as, if they had, I know fine well I wouldn’t want to leave. They hadn’t changed at all but they all looked so bored, they were coming to the end of their 3 month holidays and that’s usually when the volunteers are most useful keeping them busy, but that didn’t work this year, must have been very difficult for them all. 2 days later we took my family there too, we were introduced to the new Director who seemed very serious which is good, then we all went to see the kids who were all getting their hair cut ready to go back to school. The language barrier with the family was a bit of an issue but they seemed to make bonds with them in other ways. We had brought out hundreds of loom bands and they went CRAZY. It was adorable, they all sat around a giant table outside and were so happy to have something so small it made my heart melt. I think the kids loved the family after them bringing over something for them! Joe and little Fatima grew a bond which was so cute, shows that language doesn’t have to be such a big factor in certain circumstances.

The rest of the time there was spent visiting the Chan Chan ruins, Mum falling over (sober) and me thinking she had been attacked, getting our cases back with the help of the embassy finallllllllllllllyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! Then having our favourite food at the most amazing restaurant we found. We ended up eating there every night but one, so many games of Uno hahaaa.

It was quite a refreshing trip going back and seeing the kids but it wasn’t as sad leaving this time, probably as we were heading to Ollantaytambo. This involved flying to Lima, then Cuzco then getting a 2 hour bus to the prettiest little place I’ve been to yet in Peru. There was a little square with cute little restaurants all with open fire pizza cookers mmmm. After a cute night and a lovely night sleep all with a double bed each might I add, we got up very early and boarded the train for Machu Picchu. Mum and Dad really had gone all out and were taking one of the nicest ways to get there, something I wouldn’t have been able to afford to do if I was travelling there alone at the end of the year. It had a glass roof and you could just see all the mountains around you, felt like I was in a different world. Joe unfortunately ended up sitting opposite the most annoying American couple ever, they just couldn’t keep themselves off each other or chatting shit, why would you pay so much to see such beauty and not even make the most of the situation?? Crazy man. When we got there you had to get a half hour bus even higher, then do a half hour walk to the top. So proud of Mum for managing with her foot. At the top the views were breathtakingly beautiful, no photo can do justice to what we saw. The walk around the place was lovely but very very busy, even with alpacas blocking the paths. Me and Amber did an extra bit of the walk and of the steps down there was no side to them, basically if you fell you could probably die… we ended the day with a Peruvian buffet at the top which was well needed. We then headed back down, spending 3 hours in a bar playing uno watching the river, market shopping, getting another stunning train with hilarious entertainment, then a very sleepy meal before passing out. The day was incredible and I got to spend it with the best people, so lucky to have such an amazing family.

The next day we headed back up to Cuzco which is 3,400 metres above sea level, the altitude was definitely an issue. The place itself was beautiful but very touristy with people constantly trying to sell you stuff. The apartments we stayed in were something else, they don’t seem like they could be from Peru at all hahaaa. The days were very chilled but we went on a bus tour and saw the Cathedral in the centre, such a lovely place. We also tried Guinea Pig which I can finally say tasted horrible, not only was it served very visually, but the thing itself has hardly any meat on it, and the little bit it did have was painful to the taste buds, I wouldn’t say it is on my list to recommend to people. Everyone was a bit sick due to the altitude when we were there, but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t have some of the best days of my life there!!

The last part of the holiday was spent in Lima, after a big argument on my behalf with the apartment man, who had sent a tiny car for 5 of us, and suitcases, meaning Amber had to sit on my knee for the journey over, finally though, we could finally start enjoying it. Here we did 2 bus tours, oh how very  touristy hahaa. The one around Lima was amazing, we got to go into the Catacombs or however you spell them and see what it used to be like. The weather was lovely but not too hot so we spent a lot of time down by the sea eating and drinking at restaurants playing Uno, really enjoyed the company. Sadly Joe and Dad were both sick so we ended up spending a bit of time just chilling in the apartment buts that’s meant to be what part of your holiday is about, can’t say I didn’t enjoy a few films on Netflix here and there hahaaa.

I got a bit down towards the end of the holiday but I think that was just because I was leaving my family again after almost 7 weeks together including travelling and I wasn’t going back to the place I love, I had no clue what the place I was going to was going to be like. Looking back I wish I hadn’t had a sour mood at all but that can’t be changed, I’ve definitely become a more emotional person since leaving the UK 7 months ago. Thankfully I have the most amazing family who understood that, which I’m truly grateful for. So another sad goodbye at the airport to the 3 of them going our different ways, but nowhere near as bad as last time. I am so happy that they came out to see such an amazing country and I got to spent all that extra quality time with them, some of the best memories of my life.

Me and Amber got a flight up to Piura and were finally reunited with Danny and Laura, the other volunteers in Piura. This was so lovely and they had made a big sign which they had up waiting for us outside the airport, so so thoughtful. We had a big catch up over frozen maracuya juice which continued back at their aldea. The next day we went to El Mirador which is a big outdoor water park, even thought I didn’t see the water until I had left hahaha. We chilled in the sun, got lunch, then basically listened to the live band for the whole afternoon, before heading to the cinema to see Focus which was such a good film. It was so nice keeping busy as deep down I am homesick, I have spent so long with my family, I was worried that they would struggle once I came back, but in reality it’s the other way around. It hasn’t helped that we haven’t been able to get the bus to the new project due to the rain and won’t be able to go till tomorrow at the earliest, this is nearly a full week just being useless not having a clue what these kids are like, so not knowing what I have to look forward to. 
I know I will be fine as I have done this once so I can do it again, but going home really made me realise how amazing my family are and how much they do for me. Just the simple feeling of a hug or a small gesture of coming home with chocolate is really something we all take for granted and it’s taken me a long long time to realise that. I know once I’m at my project this will all be behind me as I will be so busy and be feeling so useful which is what I came here to do, but homesickness is a big thing and something I never thought I would have an issue with.

So since writing this over another week has passed and still no bus to the project due to the rains, and lack of any transport being able to move, meaning we have been crashing at the aldea in Piura the whole time. To fill the days we did a quick boarder run to Loja, Ecuador which was an amazing city, wish I got to spend more time there but it was so expensive as it was in dollars, and our money is not going too far, as we are having to spend on food and accommodation that we wouldn't have been had we managed to get to the new project.

But yeah due to the rain and other reasons, we are now moving to another project to join one of the volunteers in Lima as we do not know when the bus will run again. The place is on the outskirts of Lima so nothing like the centre but the project looks amazing. We cannot start there till the 6^th so have to wait another week, all out of our control and we're not happy about it. But yeah, I will give you more information nearer the time but a bit of exciting news one could say!

Sorry for the awfully long blog and the lack of photos, it should really be split up into 3 posts but too late now, maybe read it in small doses hahaha! All my love to everyone back home, all such amazing people!!