London bound

And so, for those of you who still remember who I am, I am finally about to embark on my journey back to England (shock horror, it cant be true?!). Despite the morning drizzle here in San Fran, i will try to bring back some Californian sunshine. Home, here i come!

old friends, new lives, same smiles

And so here I am at my final stop in California before returning to London, catching up with old friends some still in the East Bay and Berkeley and some who have moved into the city.Sailing in Berkeley Marina

Having a bbq and chilling at Ali's new place in Berkeley
Hanging out in Costco with Olivia (some things never change!)With Hannah, post dinner, trying to take a nice in-car photo (just for old time sake)
Reunited with my partner in every crime, Olivia, who let me crash on her very comfortable couch in her cosy Russian Hill apartment.

let´s take bob to the beach

Final few days in Peru spent at the beachside town of Huanchaco, catching some rays, playing in the waves, surfing and listening to a nice bit of bob at la playa. We stayed at a little haven called Naylamp, right on the beachfront which had a really tranquil campsite complete with hammocks, chocolate cake and the odd tortuga moping around, ideal.Sawyer with our little friend the tortuga!We got overly excited by the recycling of kitchen scraps!La playa, in all its glory. Each day we would find a relatively uncrowded area only to be slowly engulfed and surrounded by Peruvian families, very entertaining.

Sunset, sunrise, sunset, sunrise......

There was even a carnival complete with decorative floats (including wave woman above), brazilian dancers and an interesting set of Simpson characters in the parade.

After daily visits to the local market and cooking for ourselves everyday (supplemented by a few beach snacks) we decided to splash out on the last day and go for dinner. Our plan of having lots of the Peruvian famous Ceviche failed when most places were shut so we settled for a little hole in the wall place which had great 2soles (50p) veggie burgers, complete with mostaza, ketchup y aji picante (peruvian spicey sauce) yum!

me and my bros

Dedicated to my two guardian angels Tim and Sawyer, fellow wwoofers from Tunuyan who i travelled up through Bolivia and Peru with...fun times boys!

A celebratory ´drink´ after bumping into Tim in the street in Copacabana...well we thought it was beer but it turned out to be a malt energy drink inconveniently labelled with a beer brand! We eventually found real alcoholic beverages a little later, thankfully.

Day spent wandering around Lima, searching for the China town market region and trying to escape the loud hustling bustling city streets. Here we are at the main plaza, lovely.

Breakfast stop...Boys : "I want pastries"

Nati contemplating getting one croissant, Boys : "Let´s get 5....each..."

I didn´t have anyting to do with this photo...hence no comment...Sawyer.

Machu what now, omg the llama

Not much to say really, absolutely incredible ruins at the incan city of Machu Picchu. After arriving first thing in the morning the whole site was engulfed with mist and cloud but gradually the sun began to rise and the mist mostly cleared giving us perfect vision of the whole ancient lost city.Much time was also spent fussing over the cutest little llama happily wandering around and providing endless entertainment to the surrounding tourists...CUTE!

No sun on the isla del sol

Views of Lake Titicaca from Isla del Sol, a short boat journey across from Copacabana on the mainland. Unfortunately there was so sun in sight when we arrived but we still enjoyed exploring the little island and visiting some of the ruins on the North side.

Sorata...ooo llama

After spending a few days in the crazy capital of La Paz and satisfying our shopping desires for Andean crafts and textiles we quickly moved on to the lovely tranquilo town of Sorata set within lush farming vegetation and rolling hills with the imposing snow covered Llampu mountain in the background. Here we did a day hike out to La Gruta de San Pedro, a large cave with lots of bats and underground river resembling the Styx from the underworld where the lovely Ricardo steered us along on a little pedalo boat (5 bolivianos well spent!)
Friendly faces along the way...

palta sandwich...where´s the sal?

Arriving in Villazon after crossing the border at La Quica on the argentinian side. Culture shock number 1.
Views of varied antiplano whilst on a tour of the Salares in Uyuni. Unfortunately i was ill with a stomach infection for most of the trip but still managed to see some of the amazing sights when i wasnt passed out in the back on the 4x4.

Even covered with water the salt flats were incredible to experience with amazing reflections

indigenous inspiration

¨To play an instrument, to sing or to dance structures a way through which to live as well as a way to conceive and make sense of the world and society¨

Fine words from the museo de arte indigena in Sucre, Bolivia.

Making chai and love in Nirvana

This is me Nadedge (chief chai chica) and Fay in our homely little chai bar. Below are a just a few tokens of life at the festival as seen from inside and outside of the chai bar!

Making chai, coffee, tea and hot water for Mate, very important activities in the chai bar, as well as maintaining a constant supply of snacks and sweet breads were also readily available for purchase. Tenemos miel si quieres!

Drum lesson in the peaceful surroundings of the chillout stage zone where the chai bar was conveniently located. Great for quick dancing breaks during our shifts. In addition to this much fun was had dancing whilst inside the chai bar.

Muchos amigos de Chai. A happy haven for people to come and rest their danced out main stage feet and chat to the lovely welcoming chai chicas. We had lots of friends.
Psychedelic colours from the main floor. The stages were constructed of all natural materials like wood and bamboo and decorated with lots of stones, bones, hand crafted decorations and statuettes.

Bar friends, we had friends in all the right places!They made great refreshing smoothies as well as serving artesan beers for post work drinkies.
Firedancing from the opening ceremony of the festival. Everyone has a talent.
The chillout zone stage set in amongst the trees, next to the river and complete with hammocks and chill areas and a great line-up of performers.
A little walk along the river took you to the ´beach´ an area of the river where you could swim and which had a little sandy bank to take a siesta in the shade. Ideal when you needed a break!
We always encouraged dancing and spontaneous playfulness at the chai bar!

my arm smells of goat

Yesterday me and Fay, another wwoofer used our free day to take a trip to the close by Tunuyan landmark of Manzano Historico. We did quite a bit of hiking but also made use of friendly passes by to hitch hike back to the pueblo when we got a bit tired and realised we definitely didnt have enough time to make it back in time for the bus! While back in town, we also bumped into some other wwoofers who had moved on. A spanish couple, Tony and Lia and their cute little naked baby daughter L´Arrel (which means root in Catalan) who are now working at a farm with goats and using the milk to make dulce de leche. We went to see the farm and Tony showed us how to milk which a rather interesting experience and reminded me of the SATC episode when Samantha sprays herself in the face with cow milk haha Anyways tomorrow I am off to another farm close by before Fay and I venture on towards Mendoza where we are going to be volunteering at festival in the mountains called Nirvana. It is focusing on permaculture, sustainable living, natural food, yoga, reiki etc as well as having a large array of music acts ranging from electronic to sci trance to chillout. It is set in a peaceful location in the mountains of Cordoba and is hoping to be a no-trace festival by encouraging people to take all their rubbish, bring plates and glasses (to eliminate throw away utensils), not use any soaps/shampoos (biodegradable and friendly products will be available there), as well as composting toilets. Needless to say i am rather excited! I think we will be working in the restaurant while we are there and maybe also in the Smoothie & Chai Bar, pretty ideal one might say. I´ll let you know how it goes!

¿Porque no?

So here are some photos from where i am currently wwoofing! I have spent most of my time working on this casa de barro, mostly working on the interior walls, which are now nearly all complete with their final layer of a rich clay colour natural paint mix. I have had a great time here in Tunuyan. I spent Christmas with the other volunteers at the next door farm Huerta de Vida where we had a mexican feast including mole, eggnog and sugar biscuits! New years was a big dinner celebration with all the community here where a big table full of family, friends and wwoofers enjoyed a feast of homemade goodness. Ramon, a friend of Jorge and Azu stayed with us at Madre Tierra for a few days and we helped him cook up a great stew of sweetcorn, pumkpin, tomato salsa, garlic, onion and multiple spices called something like Humito, a traditional Inca hotpot! We cooked it up in a huge pan on a parilla afuera and it was perfect for a slightly chilly cloudy day.