Cusco days are done

I've finally said good-bye to my adopted home of Cusco and am now in the airport in Lima about to board my flight in an hour's time to connect to London via Amsterdam. I will be staying in London, with my good friend Pippa, who I met travelling about 4 years ago when we both were on an active, adrenaline fuelled holiday in Turkey. The last time we met was in London 6 months before I left, but we still keep in contact via Skype, emails, Facebook - so looking forward to catching up with her again.

The last couple of weeks were spent having lunches/dinners/nights out saying good-bye to the good friends I have made in Cusco over the last 20 months of coming and going!  Some people have asked me if I will return again - maybe one day in the future, but being in Cusco 6 times; I think I've done and seen all I needed to, so naturally for me, it was my time to move on.

I spent a couple of days chilling out and having fun and lots of laughs with a good friend in the stunning Sacred Valley and taking in the amazing scenery one last time; which sometimes reminded me of rural Ireland.  My last night was spent with my wee Peruvian friend, Marilia, and her family, who were celebrating her fathers birthday. Wow- what an amazing night and what a headache the next day. These Peruvians know how to party. Most Peruvian families are very close and celebrate birthdays all day and into the wee small hours of the night singing, dancing, eating and drinking. Family to them, is not just immediate family, but cousins, aunts, uncles and more. It is tradition to be with everyone - they all look after each other here from the cradle to the grave - so nice! It was a great way to end my last night in Peru. 

I also got to eat cuy (guinea-pig) - yeah, you know the nice, fluffy pets that children have at home. Here, they eat them - minus the fluff, fur and cuteness. Jaysus, when they are skinned and cooked, they look like rats. I was asked to eat a bit, so trying...ok, pretending to be tough, I said yes. Oh my God, I thought I was going to throw up - the animal isn't presented to you in nice slices on a plate. It is presented to you in full with the body looking like it is stuck in rigormortis! It was lifted by the tail and given to me. Ok, so you hold the head - with the 2 front teeth sticking out and the claws hanging off it, and just bite. So, I took a bite and that was the end of it. In my head it was a rat and didn't smell that nice too. I did watch a relative of Marilia's devour another wee guinea pig by pulling it apart, leaving just the head, which he threw to the side when finished.....niceeee!

I've met so many good friends here on my 6 times living here and know I will keep in contact with some of them. I suppose I already do with some of the ones I met the first time I was in Cusco - and I've already met up with some of them again, when I/they have been travelling on different occasions.  Travelling is great - these people have a habit of wandering back in and out of your life on various occasions opening your mind to different ideas and perspectives - changing the way you look at things I suppose! 

Next for me after arriving in London is to leave again the following day with a flight out of Heathrow, heading towards SE Asia with a few hours wait in Dubai. OMG, I can't wait to say I've been in Dubai, even though I technically haven't sitting in an airport. I've always wanted to go there; but as I'm not rich enough this time for it, I'll maybe get another time when I have the money to do so. After Dubai, I will arrive in the 'Land of Smiles', not only for its natural beauty - beaches, history, scooter motorbikes (Hermie my bike, I'm comin to get you again!) but also for the amazing and friendly people there with their great culture and the smells and sounds of SE Asia.

My plans?! Well, you know me, nothing is ever set in stone as my mind changes so frequently, I just go with the flow. I will stay in Thailand for a month and then I hope to go to Java, Indonesia and then Cambodia and Laos (as I didn't manage to get there the last time). I have a return flight booked for London at the start of May as my money will have run dry by then. I have also told my school that I will return to teaching for the next academic year. But, if I can use my TEFL qualification and find a bit of paid work to keep me going, I intend to stick around SE Asia and make the most of my last few months of travel and freedom before returning to St Nicholas' in August.

Ok, time to go - my flight boards in 15 minutes. Time for the next 4 more days of sitting on my arse, stomach filling with wind and no doubt complete constipation by the time I arrive in Thailand, oh and jetlag...I can't wait. But Peru - it has been amazing. However, now I am ready for the next and final chapter of my crazy travels - I wonder what that will hold for me?