First weeks in the Machu Picchu Town

After being 10 months in Urubamba I decided to have a little change and move to another town here in the Sacred Valley. I got a job teaching English in the hotels in the Machu Picchu Pueblo also called as Aguas Calientes. The first weeks have gone fast but I have to say that this is definitely the most isolated and rainiest place I ever lived in! But I'm still enjoying it. :)

The town of Aguas Calientes is build around the famous ruins and therefore the location is also in the middle of nowhere. There are no roads to this town as it’s surrounded by big mountains and the nature reminds more of a jungle than a valley. The only transportation to this town is by train unless you want to hike about 3 hours to the next town. Before moving here I thought Urubamba is small but now I know that I was wrong. In my new hometown it takes about 15 min to walk from one side to another and therefore there’s no need for cars.

My new job is to teach English to the workers of one hotel brand. The hotel is a five start hotel and the area of the hotel is bigger than the whole town! I only have 4 classes a day so therefore I also have a lot of free time. The people I've met are all very nice and I feel welcome to the hotel. I can also eat at the hotel every day and also take part of their tours. I've already done a bird watching tour, saw bears that the hotel also has in captivity but which are rescued from other places and took part of the excursion which the hotel organizes to the local children. With the children I had a change to visit a local Inca museum and visit Machu Picchu again. Even that it was my second time at Machu Picchu, the place is always so amazing that I probably will visit there again.

On my free time I've done hikes to the surrounding areas. I hiked to the mountain called Putucusi to where you need to climb hundreds of steep stairs but the view was definitely worth it! From this mountain you can see Machu Picchu as well and it doesn't cost you anything! It’s definitely my favorite place over here.Teaching in the hotel has been fun too and the students are lovely people. I already got another job offer from a local hostel so it seems that I will be settled down well to this town. J

Day trip to Valparaiso

When visiting Santiago one of the must visit places is a city nearby called Valparaiso. This is a harbor city which is also famous for a neighborhood on the hills where the houses are full of colors and paintings. What 's special about this place too are the lifts that people use to go to the top of the hills instead of walking up the stairs. In this city there's no need for a map and it’s better to get lost on the winy little alleys and admire the artist works on the streets.

Valparaiso is only one hour and half away from Santiago and it was easy to travel there by bus. After wondering around the city I wanted to visit also the next city called Viña del Mar which was only 20 minutes away by bus. In this city was also a beach and lying on the beach was the perfect ending for my day trip. 

New Year's Eve in Chile

I had planned to travel to Chile already a long time but finally I had the time and money to make the visit there. However, I only had a change to visit the capital city and the surroundings of it so I definitely have to go there again to see the other sides of Chile too.

That week I stayed at my friend Ari’s home who I knew from travels in Australia over 5 years ago so it was also great catching up with him after all those years. He had a nice apartment in a good location from where I could walk everywhere and that’s what I mostly did during that week – walked. I walked to the look-out hill, to the various green parks, to the massive shopping centers etc. That was a great way to see the best sights of the city.

In Chile it was much hotter than I was imaging so I also ended up spending a lot of time in the pools of Ari’s friends´ houses which was a nice contraction for all that walking. I also had a change to visit many parties with Ari and his friends and I met many nice Chileans who were really keen on practicing their English with me. I was really surprised how many Chileans speak such good English but that suit me perfectly as I couldn’t really understand much of the strong dialect of the Spanish they speak in Chile. Actually I never had heard such a funny accent of Spanish before and the way Chileans speak and what kind of slang they use made me smile. Every Chilean also kept telling me that they have the worst accent of Spanish in the world and I wanted to agree with them. J

(Cycling around the city)

The actual New Year’s Ever I spent together with Ari and his friends and family. I was supposed to have dinner with Ari’s family but as I’m really bad with directions I couldn’t find the right house so I missed the main dinner! Luckily I could join the others before the midnight so I didn’t have to welcome the New Year alone. There were not many traditions during that evening but as they do also in Spain some people eat the 12 grapes during the last 12 seconds of that year. Also what many Chileans believe is to wear yellow underwear during the New Year´s Eve as it will bring luck for the next year. Also if you wish to travel next year you should carry your suitcase and go around the main plaza. I don’t know how many times you should go around the plaza but I decided to skip this tradition anyways as I thought that I probably will travel next year in any case without doing the ritual.

(12 grapes to bring luck for the next year)

In Chile it’s not allowed to shoot fireworks at all so the only shows were done by the city itself. The fireworks were shot from a hill and the show was beautiful! We had a great spot witnessing the show from a balcony and you could also see the city in the horizon. Around one o’clock it was time to move to the actual party and me and Ari had bought tickets to a private pool party organized by one family in their garden. The surroundings were beautiful and the party well organized. There were 2 DJ’s, free snacks and a bar where you could order different cocktails, a pool and shisha pipes. It was a great party and the people were nice. We ended up staying at the party until the sunrise before it was time to get some sleep. New Year´s Eve in Chile was a great way to welcome the new year full of new adventures.

(My host Ari)

Christmas in Lima

This Christmas I had the opportunity to see how Peruvians or actually Limeaños celebrate Christmas. This was also my first time in Lima so I was looking forward finally to see the capital city full of contradictions. Planning my trip to Lima from Cusco surprised me again how big Peru is as the bus trip between these two cities lasts for 22 hours! In the end the trip wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, as most of the trip was during the night and the seats were comfortable and the movies shown along the way were entertaining enough.

I had heard many bad things about Lima so I wasn’t expecting a great city but actually I was positively surprised! Yes the traffic is really bad and it’s not the safest city to live but there are also many good things about Lima. First of all there is a beach what I had missed while living in the mountains. Also there are great shopping places, cinemas, good restaurants, fast internet etc. All those things that I don’t have while living in the countryside.

(The Plaza de Armas)

(Cebiche)

During my week I filled my days lying on the beach, shopping clothes, visiting sights, meeting new people and eating good food. I enjoyed the city life!

The actual Christmas we started to celebrate on the Christmas Eve and we prepared a big meal consisting of a turkey as a main dish, various salads and my traditional Finnish dishes. However, as a Peruvian habit, we had to wait to eat the dinner almost until the midnight and the whole dinner was done under half an hour! I was still finishing my plate as everyone else was ready to welcome the Christmas Day when the clock turned to midnight. The Christmas Day was welcomed with a toast of sparkling wine and the sky filled of fireworks. I’ve never seen that many fireworks in any other country than Peru! For me it felt like New Year’s Eve more than Christmas. However, it looked beautiful. After admiring the firework show it was time to change the gifts. Actually it was only children who got gifts and them also only one gift each. This was definitely something different to the Western countries where children often are spoiled with several gifts.

The overall experience in Lima was definitely positive and seeing the local way of spending Christmas was interesting too. After the busy week in Lima it was time for me to see how the Chileans spend their New Year's Eve…

Machu Picchu on a low budget

I had already spent half a year in Peru and I still hadn't visited the most famous ruins in the world even that they are located so close where I live. Therefore, I and another teacher Sabrina decided finally to make a visit there.

One reason why I hadn't visited Machu Picchu before was the ridiculously high prices for all the foreigners. That’s why I and Sabrina wanted to do the trip as cheap as possible. We started by taking a local bus to another town and of course this bus was full of people and we had to stand in the crowd for couple of hours. After that we had to find a lift yet to another town and again for budget reasons we ended up travelling in the back of a car boot! Oh that was a bumpy ride!

Luckily after half an hour we were at the point where our hike to the actual Machu Picchu town, Aguas Calientes, could start. The road was next to the train tracks and for our luck it started to rain but we were still excited about the whole trip so it didn't matter. Just before the sunset we finally got to the town and we found a cheap hostel and could relax for the night.

That evening we got an invitation from a local chef to eat in his restaurant and that meal was definitely the best meal I had had for months! Three course meal and drinks on top for free was a perfect reward from the whole day! After the meal we ended up to a local bar with our new friends and that was a fun night!

However, the next morning we had to wake up already at five to be early at Machu Picchu and climbing up hundreds of stairs with a hangover wasn't the easiest thing to do… But being so excited about seeing the ruins it didn't matter! Machu Picchu was amazing and everything what I was expecting it to be! We spent the whole day there wondering around ruins and discovering sights. It was a perfect day until we decided to go back to the town…

As soon as we got back to the town it started to rain really heavily. The electricity went off and we couldn't get any cash out from the cash machines. We didn't have enough cash to travel back home that night and we were stuck in the town! After couple of hours the rain stopped and the electricity came back but it was too late to hike and take the bus back so we had to pay the expensive touristic train back home. But that point we were just so tired from the whole trip so one and a half hour train trip on a luxury train was perfect choice to get back home. What an adventure! 

Hike to Chicon

In our school we decided to do a fundraising event together with 4 other teachers. The money was decided to be raised to a local school here in Urubamba and especially for art and theatre classes as those kind of subjects are not taught in a local college at all.

We started our trip at six in the morning and the first day we were hiking good seven hours only uphill. We all had our sleeping bags and other stuff to carry so it wasn’t easy at all to go up the mountain. Also the altitude was pretty noticeable and the higher we went the more severe was the headache.

Our stop that day was in a small cottage where were only hays on the floor and plastic on the windows to protect from the cold wind. And yes it was cold that night! As soon as the sun went down the temperature dropped down to zero and we only had a little fire place outside to give us light and prepare our dinner. However, being so tired from the hike, I slept like a baby in spite of the conditions.

Next morning we could leave most of our stuff to the cottage while we were climbing two more hours to the top. Our guide kept telling us that the glacier is just behind the next climb but no it wasn’t just behind the corner…Finally we made it to our goal and the views were absolutely breathtaking! However, the journey wasn’t over yet: we still had the whole way to go back down…

And going down wasn’t any easier than going up… My legs were killing me and the backbag was getting heavier and heavier… Also our guide decided to take a short cut and of course we got lost in the forest! The last couple of hours was definitely an adventure crossing a river many times and going under trees of many spikes. The sun was going down already and we thought that we will be stuck in the forest for another night but luckily we just made it on time back to the starting point just when it was getting dark.

That trip was definitely the hardest thing I ever have done but I’m glad I did it and at least I can say that I’ve climbed up to a mountain now!

Teaching continues in Peru...

My 4 months English teacher training went actually really fast and after the training I decided to stay here in Urubamba a bit longer and continue working as a paid teacher. Teaching in Peru has been really rewarding but definitely different than teaching back in Finland! Not only the language barrier is sometimes an obstacle but also the lack of basic writing and reading skills that unfortunately surprisingly many people have here..

What has been rewarding about teaching is definitely the motivated students! Because the locals in our school pay to learn English they are also really keen to study. In half a year I also feel that I have gained more skills in Spanish to also teach and explain things better to the students. Also the freedom in our school to plan my own lessons gives motivation to teach things that I am also interested in and that makes the lessons also more interesting for the students.

During this past six months I've settled down well to Peru and Urubamba and the town feels like a second home now. I also moved to another house a bit further from the town and now I live together with peruvian guys. The house is big and nice and we have a beautiful garden. 

(Our puppies Penke and Titan)

So I’ve promised to teach here at least until the end of February so until that Urubamba will be my home but after that new adventures might call again….