P E R U

I miss you

B U C K . U P

Rocking my Huaraz garms today. Supposedly today is thee most miserable day of the year, a January mid-month Monday. Fuck it, take off the duvet you've been wearing all day, put on a hat and leave the house.

Inspired by the beautiful people of Huaraz in Peru. A small cold town high up in the Andes. However these people could not be more different from the grey weather. Traditional dress is always brightly coloured, full skirts, knitted leggings, lace and silk shirts and bright knitted cardigans. To top it off these women use bright peruvian patterned blankets tied around their torsos to carry food, herbs, children and even baby animals.

Last but not least is the Huaraz hat. These tall hats are decorated with a length of hand stitched ribbon. They should be worn on the top of the head at an angle. This particular hat is identified with the traditional Huaraz dress and can be found no where else.

H U A R A Z

I´m out of breath from walking up the stairs, the only sign of how high up we are in the Andes and I´m thankful I´ve managed to escape any other signs of altitude sickness.

We took a long 8 hour bus journey yesterday up through the Andes yesterday on snaking winding roads. The scenery was incredible. We passed tiny stone houses where famalies tended to their land and their livestock. Old women dressed in traditional Highland dress sat at their doorsteps with broad brimmed hats and colourful blankets used to carry food or childresn strapped to their backs. The bus went through Ancash which is particularly beautiful.

We are now about to eat breakfast in our gorgeous hostel, definitely the nicest one I´ve stayed in Peru so far, called Olaza´s in Huaraz. It´s almost 7am and in an hour we will be pilling into a combi bus to go to a lake further north and higher up still. The lake takes about 3 hours to walk around and apparently we will meet women tending to alpachas and their young. Later we are going to the markets which I am overly excited about. I am desperate to buy some traditional Peruvian Highland wear, not the tourist nonsence we find in the markets all over Lima. I have been very restrained up until now, knowing that I want to get the most out of the markets here and also to pay the people directly who are the real deal. Women on the street with bags of knitwear sitting knitting more. Each one finished placed in the bag for locals to buy.

Last night Issy, Megan and I made ratatoullie and baked sweet potatos with cheese. It was so nice to cook together and feed all seven Platform2 troops. We sat and ate altogether round a huge log fire and finished the vening with hot chocolate from Cusco. The leftovers will make two large pizzas for tonights dinner followed by more hot chocolate round the fire. I have wireless here so I am going to download some Christmas songs on to my iPod.

Hopefully we´ll feel more Christmassy. It doesn´t feel like Christmas at all here but the cold weather in Huaraz and shopping for presents is certainly helping.

Tomorrow morning we are getting a taxi to Rataquenua, the highest point in Huaraz, that over looks the village and the mountains. Apparently you get spectacular panoramoic views. It´s making me sick with anger that I lost my camera. I have kept my eyes open for the same model but keep finding cheaper Lumix models that I don´t want. A hard lesson to learn.

U P D A T E

I'd started to get a slight muscle strain in my lower back, stomach and groin. The x-rays showed that instead of my back being straight it bends slightly to my left side. The doctor said that this was not a new injury and that I probably damaged it years ago or I was born with it. I'm pretty sure it's the result of years if carrying around bags on my left arm. You've all witnessed me and my IKEA bag specials on the tube home from work. I blame the oversized bag trend. Those basards should have come with a health warning. Anyway I'm no longer allowed to mix cement and my spade has been replaced with a paintbrush.

Second hand clothes here are amazing. Literally large shed style markets with no roofs that double up as peoples living rooms on the side of busy, dirty streets full of forgotten clothes. Usually a family are sat in the middle on stools eating chicken and rice and drinking chicha (a drink made of purple corn).

There is one stall I have bceome quite attached to as the family who live there enchant me. The clothes are so cheap I feel I´m stealing however I make a point of always trying to buy something when I pass by.

Tonight is our first Peruvian dance class. From what we have seen at previous fiestas we are all rather nervous. Lots of grinding and hittng each other with balloons. We shall see.

ப எ ர உ

So here are a few images from my first two months in Peru.

Barranco dog walking

The view from my front door. Lomas, Ventanilla.

The view from our hostel in Ica.

Huacachina, the lagoon where we stayed, sand boarded and got food poisoning.