Salvador

Got to Salvador last night. I had no idea where to go to cause the school forgot to email me the address of my homestay so I ended up in a hostel, had too many caipirinha´s while chatting to some French guys. Today I had my first classes and I was put in a class with two other girls who have had classes of Portuguese for the last few weeks. It was tough but I think I should be fine. Today I also moved to my host family where I think I will stay for a week and then change to a Pousada, for social reasons. Unfortunately I haven´t yet met anyone to go out with at night so I guess I will just stay in and study. Hmmm. Doesn´t sound very appealing but hey, that is why I am here.

It is hot and I am sweating my ass off. I think soon, when it cools down a bit I will head to the beach for some study time there.

Até logo!

Peruvian travels

For about the last 10 days Annelies and me have been taking our group of Belgians around Peru. First we went to Lake Titicaca to visit the reed islands and to stay with local people on one of the islands. It was a great experience as usual, trying to have conversations with the ´mama´ of the house and going out at night with our mama to the local dancing hall, all dressed up in local skirts and shawls. OK, a bit touristy but still fun.
Being on about 3800m for a few days was quite hard on some people and even climbing a small hill seemed like an expedition. It was a good place to get used to the altitude however and arriving in Cusco we all were fine again and ready for the Inca trail.
The previous 4 days we were hiking and just like the last time it was a beautiful hike. My fitness proved to be great so climbing all the passes was a piece of cake and arriving and Machu Picchu I did still have the energy to climb Wayna Picchu, the mountain that stands behind Machu Picchu and is on all classic photo´s of the site.
Unfortunately the weather sucked and except for the few moments that the sun came through we had cloudy weather and a lot of rain. It did give the whole hike a bit of a mysterious athmosphere and I took some great pictures, not of views but of the clouds. Because of all this rain and thus wet shoes and feet for a while - I think some fungus started growing in my shoes. Really annoying I can tell you! I will need some good Brasilian weather soon to be able to wash them in order to get rid of it!

Most of the time the group is great but unfortunately yesterday I got into a discussion with some of the group members which did bring down the fun for a bit. Really unfortunate. Although everyone is having a great trip I hope that this won´t bring up bad stuff during the next few days but it should´t.

Today is a free day for everyone. I´ll be going shopping for more Peruvian hats cause I started to really love them. Tomorrow we´ll fly to the Amazon for two nights and then back to Lima where the group will depart. Then I´ll get ready for Brasil!!!

Now I have to go meet some people so if I have the time I´ll gat online later today to post some pictures of the last 10 days in Peru.