Next step: CELTA Ecuador

Extreme Language College

Half a year teaching English in Arequipa seems to have gone by really quickly. Thursday 29th March marks my last day as a teacher at Extreme language college.

When I was first offered the job I must admit I was nervous. Not knowing anything about Peru or the city we were going to, we had many concerns. I had joined ESL forums and websites and it was the horror stories that other teachers had shared that stood out the most. The least of my worries was that it was going to be the first class I had ever taught.

San Pablo University

Luckily I chose one of the better language institutions in Arequipa. Here I have gained experience in all ages and levels of learners and made my mark, I hope, teaching English (Yorkshire!). My colleagues, who have always been friendly and supportive, and my students, who have on the most part been enthusiastic learners, will be missed.

My next step will be to start a CELTA (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) course in Ecuador. This is an intense 5 week course of 170 hours, which is a week longer than the usual 120 hour 4 week course.

I found this image on Google to give you a glimpse!

The course is set on a beach on the Ecuadorian coast between the small fishing village of Manglaralto and a popular surfing beach called Montanita. Sophie and I will be living on the beach, just a stones throw away from the pacific ocean, in rustic style beach huts called cabanas. We have been told the cabana will come with en suite facilities but we have been informed it will be basic.

I already have a TEFL qualification but have decided to do this course, and choose Ecuador in particular to do it, for a number of reasons:

1. CELTA is more respected and recognisable all over the world since it is awarded by Cambridge ESOL, part of the University of Cambridge. There are institutions in countries around the world, especially ones I would like to teach in, that only accept teachers with CELTA. 
2. I feel it will show employers that I am serious about my trade. I see it as the next step in my professional development. I enjoy what I do and want to be the best I can be.
3. This course in particular is 5 weeks rather than 4 weeks, so I feel like I am getting value for money and the stress of an intensive course seems more manageable.
4. The course works out cheaper than it would do in England. Also included in the price is accommodation and food. Plus we'll be living on a beach!
5. We were travelling through Ecuador anyway, so why not make the stay an educational one.

We are both really looking forward to moving on to Ecuador. It's going to be sad to say goodbye to a place we've called home for the last seven months but we both feel like we are ready for the next phase of our journey around South America. 

We leave Arequipa on Friday 30th March on a week long travel up to Ecuador with some interesting stops along the way. You'll have to wait to read about them in our next blog :)

Thanks for reading,

Tom

Guinea Pig & Salsa Dancing

Tom and I have lived in Arequipa for almost 7 months now.  It's strange to think, that in less than 2 weeks time we will have left what has been our home and where we have settled into daily life.

Aside from the usual routines of work and volunteering, we have spent much of March doing all of the things that we haven't had chance to, but really want to do, before leaving Arequipa.

We have sampled some interesting food.  First was anticuchos, otherwise known as beef hearts.  These were slightly fatty, but rather tasty, marinated in a delicious sauce.  Second was cuy (guinea pig).  Served whole, the skin was very crispy, like pork crackling.  The flesh underneath tasted a little like chicken, although there wasn't much of it.  We ate some of the organs too, but drew a line at eating the brain!  Thirdly, we have eaten adobo, a soup which is traditionally eaten on a Sunday morning.  The consistency of the soup is quite thin, and is not spicy but does have a warmth to it.  It contains what can only be described as a pork chop.  It sounds bizarre that this would be eaten for breakfast on a Sunday, but it is delicious, and also a good hangover cure.

We visited Museo Santuarios Andinos, which is famous for holding the preserved frozen body of a young girl who was sacrificed to the gods, named Juanita.  She is also known as the Inca Ice Maiden or Lady of Ampato.  She was sacrificed during the 1400's and would have been aged between 11 and 14 years old.  Her body was preserved in the ice near the peak of the Ampato mountain for around 500 years, before the volcano erupted and her body was subsequently discovered.  It is amazing that much of her skin and organs have remained intact.  Children were chosen at birth, for sacrifice during their lives.  If the Incas felt that a sacrifice to the gods was needed, the most intelligent children, usually from wealthy families, would be selected.  They would have trekked for days, in cold temperatures, to the top of the mountain, before a ritualistic ceremony took place, ending in the death of the child.

Something else on our list of things to do, is to take salsa classes.  So, we booked in for 2 week sessions, our final class this evening.  We have learnt steps from 2 styles, Bachata and On 1.  It has been a lot of fun, complicated at times and certainly requires a lot of energy.

We will be interested to see what our final days in Arequipa bring, before boarding the bus on the next leg of our journey on 30th March.

A la playa

There is a prestigious sports and social club in Arequipa, 'Club Internacional'.  In additon to numerous swimming pools, tennis courts, football courts, restaurants, general areas for socialising and enjoying the sun (when it's not rainy season), they also organise outings.  Our landlord, Juan, has been a member there for 40 years.

At the weekend, some of the club members organised a trip to Mollendo, on the coast, and Juan invited us to go. After the cooler temperatures and incessant rain and flooding in Arequipa, we jumped at the chance to lie on a beach and soak in some sunshine.

At 5am on Sunday morning, Juan, Tom and I walked to Club Internacional to meet the others and to catch the bus.  This being Peru, the bus was late of course, but by 6.30am we were on our way.  The journey took around 2 hours and during that time we learnt about Juan, who up to this point we knew little about, except that he has an excellent singing voice and loves to blast out opera music during the early hours of the morning.

Juan Guillermo Carpio Muñoz is a well-known writer in Arequipa, specialising mainly in writing about the history of his country.  He also taught at one of the universities in the city for 30 years, but eventually gave it up for a life of leisure and writing.  Who would have thought our landlord would turn out to be a local celebrity! 

When we arrived at Mejia beach, the air was hot and slightly humid, the few light clouds clearing to reveal blue sky.  From there, we took a 4km walk along the sand, the cold Pacific Ocean intermittently sweeping across our bare feet as we walked.  Being a sports and social club, the others ran or jogged, but we were content to stroll.


At the end of the 4km, we were provided with water and a delicious piece of carrot cake, in celebration of Juan's friend's birthday.  Juan then led us to the main road where we hailed a taxi to ride into Mollendo centre.

What should have been a short journey ended up being longer, as we were pulled over by the police and our driver reprimanded for carrying 7 passengers when he only had a licence to carry 5.  It was very cramped in there, with a little girl sat on her mother's knee and me squashed against the roof sat on Tom's knee, wedged against Juan.  The driver got back into the car and continued to drive, so whether he paid the policeman off or not, we don't know.

Once in Mollendo, Juan showed us some sights of interest and then took us to the local market for lunch.  Here, one could really immerse in true Peruvian culture.  We lunched on pescado frito (fried fish) and rice, washed down with a glass of chicha de maíz morado.  I find the plates of food here somewhat overfacing, and Tom even does not always eat everything.  So we were astounded to watch Juan not only clear his plate, but then order and devour another whole serving of pescado frito and rice.

By that time, the 3 of us were hot, full and tired so we took a bus back to Mejia beach to meet the other club members, and lay in the hot sun, relaxing, for the remainder of the afternoon, before taking the bus home.

When we arrived back in Arequipa we could see that the effects of the rain had not ceased.  The road over Puente Grau into the city centre was closed and the traffic diverted.  We paused on the bridge, to look down at the río Chili, amazed by the masses of water flowing over onto the road.

Rainy Season in Arequipa

Well, the sunshine has left us for a while.  January and February are summer months in Arequipa, however this time of year is also rainy season.  For the rest of the year there is nothing but clear blue skies, so I suppose for this reason that is why the city is not equipped to cope with heavy rainfall.

The endless days of blue sky have been replaced with fluffy white clouds, turning darker as the day progresses.  By late afternoon, it starts to pour with rain.  There are no drains on the roads, so the water just flows like a river down the streets.  The flood risk of being a pedestrian is incredibly high.  Vehicles speed by, drenching folk on the pavements.  People leap across the roads, trying to avoid obtaining wet feet and ankles.

Another hazard as a pedestrian are umbrellas.  Peruvian people are of a lower average height, and as such the spikes on their umbrellas are exactly at face height for myself and Tom.  I have nearly lost an eye on a couple of occasions.

No sunshine also equals no hot water, as the water in our apartment is solar heated.  Washing one's hair in cold water is not a pleasant experience!  It also poses a problem for washing and drying clothes, as we are missing the modern luxuries of a washing machine and tumble dryer, meaning I wash everything by hand, as many people do here.

Whilst we were surprised at how modern certain parts of Arequipa are, the rainy season has reminded us of differences between here and home, in terms of how our infrastructure is built differently to handle wet weather conditions.  We are also lucky to have hot water at any time of the day, every day, something I will never take for granted again.

5 Months Later...

It's almost the end of January and almost the end of our fifth month in Arequipa.  After the initial excitement of arriving in Peru, getting started with our own projects; Tom's teaching and my volunteering, then the experience of spending Christmas and New Year in a different country away from our families, this is the first month where I feel like I am finally settled into a routine.

I have concluded working at the school and orphanage for Traveller Not Tourist.  However, I have been working on a couple of side projects for them, including a pen pal scheme between Flora Tristan school and a primary school in Middlesbrough, UK.  I have also now taken on the role of Accountant for their sister charity in the UK, Pachawawas.  I was never really going to escape the world of finance, was I!  I am still volunteering at Manantiales and am really enjoying my time there.  On the days that I am there, I work with Marisol and Miriam, the two lovely Peruvian ladies who work there full time, and another volunteer, a lady from Canada.  After time spent playing with the children and giving them their morning fruit juice, it's bath time!  Some of the little ones love it, others hate it.  By the time we have got the babies dried, with fresh nappies and clean clothes and nicely brushed hair, it's usually time for lunch.  After which, it's sleep time.  I never imagined myself singing a baby to sleep, and those of you who know me very well will know that I am a terrible singer, however it seems to soothe them and send them to sleep.

Tom and I are still continuing our Spanish lessons twice a week and are into a routine with that now as well.  Our teacher, Cindy, is lovely and thanks to her our Spanish is improving, even if Tom did ask for '6 Thursdays' instead of '6 eggs' at the corner shop. 

We don't eat out as much as we did in the beginning and are in the habit of cooking for ourselves now.  It's strange trying to prepare the same meals as back home, because some of the ingredients either aren't the same or are just not available.  I did find Lea & Perrins in the supermarket though, which I was very excited about.

Something I haven't written about, but I guess is fairly significant for travellers to South America, is What Happens When You Get Ill.  Not the cheeriest thing to talk about, but I wouldn't be painting the full picture of life travelling in Peru if I didn't mention it.  The very nice Dr. Alan, whom Tom and I have seen 3 times between us, told me that foreigners just aren't accustomed to the types of viruses and bacteria in this continent.  So, some advice for anyone travelling in South America - if you become ill, don't wait for it to pass, see a doctor! 

I can hardly believe that we have been here for almost 5 months and are more than halfway through our time in Peru.  Now that we are settled and into a routine with life, I sometimes forget where I am.  I can be walking around Arequipa and I will suddenly stop and think, 'Wow, I'm in a beautiful city in South America, in the lovely sunshine, thousands of miles from home'.

Trekking in Colca Canyon

As part of our Christmas holidays, Tom and I decided to undertake a 3 day trek in Colca Canyon.  I know what you're thinking, the words 'Sophie' and 'trek' don't belong in the same sentence, but neverthless I thought I would give it a go.

Our guide, Marcos, picked us up at 3am on Tuesday morning.  We then travelled for 3 hours by bus to the canyon, where on arrival we were fed a breakfast of bread, jam and coca tea.  It was a cloudy morning, but warm.

It is difficult to put into words what a geological marvel Colca Canyon is.  It is so vast, with rocky, uneven landscape, dry stony land interspersed with areas of green, thriving plant life.  Running through the bottom of the canyon is Rio Colca, the Colca River.

There are two main communities within Colca Canyon, named Chivay and Cabanaconde.  Historically there is some rivalry and tension between the two, and different native languages are spoken, as well as Spanish.  Our trek began in Chivay.  Aside from Marcos, there were 5 of us in our group, a German couple and an Italian man.  As we set off walking, Marcos told us about the condors, which are native to the canyon.  They are enormous birds, who can fly at 50km an hour and have a wingspan of 2 metres.  At first we didn't see any as it was so cloudy, but as the morning progressed and the sky cleared, we were lucky enough to see one.

We trekked downhill, which sounds easy, but I can assure you it wasn't!  The ground was rocky and incredibly uneven and steep in parts.  The path wound around and around as we descended.  The sky cleared and as midday approached, the burning sun made the walk even more challenging.  After around 4 hours, we reached the river, where we crossed over.  My legs were like jelly and my calves were throbbing.  I hoped that it was time for a rest, but it was not to be so.  We then trekked uphill for around half an hour, where we eventually arrived at an eatery nestled in the plant life in the mountainside.

After a delicious lunch of soup, followed by fried meat and onions with rice, chips and half an avocado, I managed to squeeze in a 10 minute nap before we continued our trek.

The remainder of the day's trek took around an hour, deeper amongst the trees and plants.  Marcos educated us about the different plants within the canyon, including one called 'old man's beard', which is a fine stringy plant, a bit like hair, which the local people use as part of their Christmas decorations.

We eventually arrived at our hostel, which was very basic.  Our room had no proper floor and contained only a bed and a wooden chair.  After a delicious evening meal of soup, followed by alpaca steak, rice, chips, avocado and tomato, we sank into bed underneath the thick woollen blankets, and slept, at times disturbed by the rain hammering on the tin roof.

In the morning, we breakfasted on pancakes with manjar blanca, a type of caramel very popular in Peru, and sliced bananas, washed down with a cup of coca tea.  We then departed for our second day of trekking, again downhill.

Marcos told us some more about the plants in the canyon.  There is one where the top layer can be peeled off, it is a strong papery layer, and many of the local people use it as a cigarette paper.  Under that first layer, if water is rubbed into the plant, it produces a lather and can be used as soap.  We also learnt about another plant which contains a thick, white, poisonous substance that can cause a very nasty rash on the skin and is fatal if ingested.

Despite having paused many times to survey my surroundings on the first day, I still could not believe how incredible Colca Canyon is and what a fantastic view one has, wherever you happen to be observing from.  Looking around, I could see the deep crevices within the mountainside, the waterfall cascading down against the rocks, into the swirling river below.

We trekked for 3 hours before reaching the river, where we crossed and then were once again required to climb uphill a short way.  We walked along the mountainside, into greener and greener areas.  Coming to a set of cobbled steps, we wound our way along, eventually entering a lush, green paradise, with palm trees and flowers surrounding a tranquil pool, against the backdrop of the canyon.  We had arrived at the oasis! 

I ached and felt like I wouldn't be able to move for some time.  Tom took my boots and socks off for me, we changed into our swimwear and lay on the grass beside the pool, sipping a cold beer.  We lunched on soup (again!) and fried vegetables, rice and avocado, then lay beside the pool again.  However, an ominous looking grey cloud was gradually approaching, and in the distance we could hear the rumbling of thunder.  Just as we made it into our accommodation, a small hut built from concrete and bamboo, the rain began to fall.  Lying in our hut, listening to the thunderstorm outside, we fell asleep, exhausted.

In the evening, we feasted on yet more soup, spaghetti bolognese and chocolate mousse.  We had certainly been well fuelled for our trekking.  Then an early night, in preparation for a 5am start in the morning.

Those of you who know me very well will probably be surprised that I managed to trek as much as I did.  By the third and final day, I ached in muscles that I didn't even know I had.  The final trek was uphill, to the top of the mountain, and I just couldn't face it.  Tom and the rest of our group departed the oasis just as the sun was rising, and an hour later I followed, travelling by mule.  At first I was a bit nervous, having never ridden a mule or a horse, and the path was very rocky and steep in parts.  However I soon relaxed and for the first time was able to properly absorb the view.  My mula bonita grew tired towards the end, pausing some moments to rest, but she served me well.

When I arrived at the top, Tom was already there.  Without me to slow him down, he had climbed to the top in just over 2 hours.  I was very proud of him.

Walking along a path through some fields, we came to Cabanaconde, where we breakfasted on scrambled eggs, bread and coca tea.  After viewing the plaza, the bus collected us and drove us to the aguas calientes (hot springs).  Here there are 6 pools of differing temperatures, set within the canyon.  Relaxing into the pools, one of which was 38 degrees celsius, we felt our aching muscles begin to ease.  After a traditional Peruvian buffet lunch, we boarded the bus home, soon falling asleep on the way.

It has been one day since we returned to Arequipa, and I am still so tired and aching all over.  A 3 day walk in amazing surroundings may not sound like such hard work for some people, but for someone as un-outdoorsy as me, it felt like an achievement.

Merry Christmas

It's Christmas Eve, the sun is shining and it's 21 degrees in Arequipa. I finished teaching on Thursday and don't have to go back until January 3rd and after 3 months of solid teaching it is a well deserved rest.

Christmas in Arequipa is very different to Christmas where I'm from and to try and find out a bit more about Christmas here I produced a lesson plan about cultural differences between England and Peru.

Christmas Day is the day of rest for the people of Arequipa. Christmas Eve is the day for celebrating. For many the day begins with cleaning the house, which seems sensible as this is what we would do in England if family were coming round, however the reasons for cleaning the house are more symbolic here. You have to remember that Peru is a very Catholic country and the true meaning of Christmas is still focused on the birth of Jesus, and the reason for cleaning the house is to welcome Jesus into the home.

After the house is clean and tidy it is time that many will start to put up their decorations, adopting the Christmas tree, which has become common in all parts of the world, and also focusing mainly on the nativity. The nativity is extremely important in people's homes and, if a family has the space, a whole room may be devoted to it.

Festivities start at about 9pm around the nativity scene. Here families will talk about the messages of Jesus and about other massages of good will whilst enjoying hot chocolate and panettone. At 12am the sky lights up with fireworks and champagne is toasted to welcome Christmas. After the fireworks have finished everybody will start to exchange gifts from under the Christmas tree. Once finished, everybody will sit down to a large Christmas dinner of turkey with all the trimmings of common vegetables in Peru.

Peruvians never take a holiday and if there is money to be made they will work. Since Christmas is the only time they take off it is common for drinking and dancing to continue until the early hours of the morning until, most probably the time that many people in England would start getting up to start the day. The reason for staying up so long is that it is the only time of year that a family will get to spend together enjoying each other's company.

I hope that I have given you a little insight into some of the traditions of the people of Arequipa. Sophie and I are missing our families very much. Instead of deciding to have the traditional Christmas we have opted for some meals that we love such as a fry up for breakfast, "toad in t'hole" for our main meal with loads of gravy and curry for our evening meal.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Tom and Sophie