A very quick update! Monday 23rd

Hi everyboddyyyy! I only have a couple of minutes of internet left tonight, but I just thought I would post a quick update of what I've been up to over the last couple of days, and what I have on this week! Yesterday was our day off, Sunday, and I finally had the relaxing day that I've been meaning to have for weeks! Sunday here is pancake day, and we had massive fat pancakes with dulce dede leche and bananas for breakfast. After that I spent the rest of the day having a nap, reading my book in a hammock, playing cards with people, and I even had a little visit from some capuchin monkeys as I was making jungle jewellery. n the evening we had dinner and then watched Taken 3 on the big projector. It was a pretty damn good Sunday. Today I spent the day working in the biogarden where we grow all of our fruit, vegetables and herbs. It was an awesome day because I spent it all in the sun hacking down dead plants with a machete and digging in the mud collecting worms to put in the compost (which, for anyone who knew me as a child, is A dream activity). For the rest of the week I'll be going out in the jungle checking our butterfly traps, going on a night walk to look for snakes and mammals and stuff, catching butterflies in the jungle with a net, and working on camp duty, helping out in the kitchen and washing sheets in the river. On Wednesday night we're making sangria and having a big leavingparty as some of he staff and interns are leaving on Thursday. So it's looking like a good week ahead and I'm looking forward to going out on some of the projects that I haven't been on yet! Hope everyone back home is well, EMAIL OF OR FACEBOOK ME UPDAAAATES!!!! Lots of love to everyone and missing you all xxx

I finally have internet!! Friday 20th

Hello everyone! I finally have enough internet time to write a quick update! sorry it's been so long- we only get internet and electricity a couple of nights a week and you have to sign up for it, so it's been difficult to find the time! I'm having the most amazing time here, and it's all been so crazy and surreal! I don't have the time or energy or memory to Recap everything from the last weeK in full, so I'll just try my best to summarise. Our journey to the jungle was amazing, we stopped in some awesome little towns and villages, tried lots of local foods, drove on tiny roads through breathtaking mountains, got stuck between two landslides for 4 hours and had to carry all of our things plus months of supplies across a waterfall to get on a new bus; stayed in a beautiful little lodge with huge Windows overlooking a massive river right below us, got up at the crack of dawn to see peru's national birds, and finally took an amazing boat journey through the mountains to finally arrive at the mlc. Arriving here was surreal and overwhelming- there was a group of 20 university students that had just arrived along with the 15 or so other interns and staff members, so it was loud and busy but Lso fun and so welcoming- we quickly learned lots of valuable lessons about life at the mlc, like you must always tuck your mosquito net Over your whole bed unless you want to sleep with the cockroaches; you'll get sweaty, smelly and Bitten all day no matter what you do so learn to embrace it; life here is totally open and communal and everyone chips in to help with whatever they can; days in the jungle will be tough, sweaty, tiring and muddy, but amazing and fun if you throw yourself into it. The mlc itself it is so beautiful- we sleep in beautiful huts, have amazing gardens overlooking the river, lookouts hidden in the jungle with amazing views and the jungle surrounding us- we regularly get monkeys, Armadillos, snakeskes frogs and tarantulas hanging around the camp, and I've seen so many amazing things in the jungle. I've been measuring trees, counting butterflies, catching frogs, swimming in coves in the jungle, having paint and water fights and trekking ALOT. The people here are great aswell- everyone is so funny and friendly and open, and I've definitely made some friends for life already. The students left this morning so camp Seems very quiet today, but the relaxed atmosphere is really nice and it will be nice to get closer to some of the people I haven't spent much time with yet. Anyway my internet time is running out so I'll have to end it there, but hopefully next ttime I'll have a bit more of a specific update. Anyway I'm fine, very tired but having an incredible time, and missing everyone at home very much much! Send me emails with updates please!! Lots of love to everyone xxx

I cuddled a baby alpaca!! Tuesday 10th

Buenos dias!! Today has been by far my best day yet in Cusco, definitely a day I'll always remember! I woke up nice and early for orientation day luckily feeling a lot better than last night, and got my stuff together that I'll be leaving in Cusco at the crees office, then all the volunteers met downstairs to get the bus to the office. There's 7 of us volunteers all together, and we're already getting on and making fun of each other, so I can tell it's going to be a good few months! At the office we had coffee and biscuits and met all of the crees office staff and Louise and Tabby who work at the MLC, so they'll be with us on our journey in tomorrow, and they're just the coolest. Anyway we sorted out all of our documents and stuff like that and then had a little presentation about crees and what they're doing and what we can expect to see while we're there- I can't wait to handle some cool frogs and snakes! After that we all took a walk up some VERY steep hills in the boiling sun and saw some amazing views of all of cusco and the mountains behind, and carried on up, walking through little side streets with lots of cool shops and stalls. And then....I saw it....across the street, a lady holding her baby alpaca in her arms! So like the embarrasembarrassing tourist I am, I ran over to ask to take a picture of him, and she just handed him over to me!! Oh my god he was so soft and fluffy and cute, it was hard to hand him back (picture on FB)! After our walk Louise and Tabby took us to a little restaurant near our hostel and I had some amazing Dragon fruit juice and the best minestrone soup I've ever had (apparently the Peruvians are known for good soup, but I didn't know this). After lunch we took a walk to this massive indoor market that has EVERYTHING- I saw some crazy things that I've never seen before, lots of gross animal carcasses and stuff like that, but lots of amazing fruit and jewellery and clothes as well. We stopped at a massive fruit stall and tried all kinds of amazing fruit that I've never heard of before, I wish I could remember the names but it was all so good! I tried a teeny tiny banana that tasted like perfume, but it was so cute I didn't even care. Anyway I've just been out to get the last few things I need for the jungle and we're having a rest now before dinner tonight- I'm determined to try guinea pig and a proper pisco sour, so I may have to try and sway our restaurant choice! Tomorrow morning we're meeting at 6:30 to start our journey into the jungle- it sounds like it's going to be incredible! We're driving through the Andes stopping at some little towns and Inca ruins, and spending the night at a place called Paradise something in the cloud forest, where they have a bunch of hummingbird feeders that are swarming with hummingbirds, so I just can't wait to see all of that! I won't have internet during the journey and apparently the internet at the MLC really is infrequent and temperamental, so I'll do my best to update whenever I can, but it'll probably be pretty sporadic from now on :( Hope everyone is well back home, i miss you all, feel free to email me and let me know what's happening with you, I'd love to hear from people! Xxx

New arrivals! Monday 9th

Hola everyone! Again, not much to report from today, sorry!! The good thing about today is that some of the other volunteers arrived at the hostel! Friieennddss yay! I went out for breakfast earlyish this morning because I got woken up by noisy people at 7 and couldn't get back to sleep, grr. It was pretty rainy today and I kneww the other volunteers were arriving at some point, so I decided to hang around the hostel and try and be around when they got here, which I was so that was good! Four people arrived this afternoon, they're all really nice and friendly so far and I had some good chats with a few of them this evening- definitely people I can get on with there and I'm excited to get to know everyone! We're still waiting on one more, but he may have already arrived at some point this evening for all I know! Tomorrow we're meeting at 9 for our trip to the crees office and orientation day which I'm excited about because I'll get to see everyone who I'll be spending the next few months with and find out more about the next few days and our journey into the jungle! This evening everyone was pretty jet lagged and feeling bad from the altitude so it was only me and one other volunteer, David, for dinner. We went to a little Peruvian restaurant just down the road and I had an amazing quinoa salad because I was craving vegetables. David has done all kinds of jungle/biology related stuff and just recently bought a piece of jungle in Belize, so he had plenty of interesting stories to tell, but I started to feel sooo sick towards the end of dinner so I'm back at the hostel now and luckily feeling a bit better! I still can't believe I'll be in the jungle in a few days, its still soo surreal!! Xxx

Alpaca pizza and llama ice cream - Sunday 8th

Hello! Hope everyone is doing well back home and not missing me too much (mum and dad, I'm looking at you!). I'm afraid I don't have anything too interesting to report from today so I'll try and keep this short rather than rambling alot like yesterday! I slept pretty well last night, I watched a movie in bed and fell asleep by about 11, and got up at 10 this morning, so I feel a lot more rested and not too jet lagged today! The weather today was amazing, so sunnybu but breezy so it was perfect! I decided to explore a little further than I did yesterday and try and get most of my shopping for the jungle done , so I headed out to some markets and the pharmacy and stuff and got pretty much everything I need. The markets here are so colourful and they have loads of cool alpaca and llama themed stuff, and lots of jumpers and ponchos- I got a really cool bag with a llama on it to to keep in the crees office with all the stuff I don't need in the jungle. After lots of walking and shopping, I was really hungry and I wanted something Peruvian but I was also in the mood for a nicer restaurant rather than street food type stuff, so I went to a nice Peruvian grill type restaurant just off the main square and had a cusqueña beer and an alpaca pepperoni pizza (ok so not really that Peruvian, but I was super hungry and they didn't have guinea pig on the menu, and it was AMAZING, maybe the best pizza I've ever had!). Anyway I spent the rest of the afternoon shopping and wondering wandering around taking photos and I had a coffee in a little cafe on a balcony and took lots of pictures of people like the creep I am, so it was a lovely day all in all. Oh and I saw a woman sharing an ice cream with her baby llama, which pretty much made my day! At the moment I'm just relaxing in the living room at the hostel, I might watch a movie in a bit then head out for some dinner. The guy that picked me up from the airport said there was going to be another volunteer arriving ttoday, but I haven't seen anyone around the hostel yet, so fingers crossed they'll surface soon! Going to have to wash my hair tonight which I'm crying on the inside about because it means the end of my nice straight hair, and hello frizzy jungle hair :( Ok so that wasn't really as short as I was planning but oh well! I'm still trying to figure out how to get pictures on here but for the moment I'll put some of my mobile pictures up on Facebook! Only two more days left in civilisation, aaaahhh!!! Xxx

Saturday 7th - I made it to Peru!!

Hello everybody! I made it to Peru! This is actually a miraculous thing, because I spent yesterday morning having a last minute tooth extraction, the whole of yesterday and last night sprinting through airports, nearly missing flights and nearly being picked up by rogue taxi drivers who knew my full name. But I'm here, I'm safe and I'm very very tired! I got collected from Cusco airport this morning by a very friendly crees staff member who brought me to my hostel and gave me some good information and advice about cusco, along with a crees t-shirt and welcome pack, which has got me soo excited to get to the jungle in a few days! I have my own room in the hostel with a tv, bathroom etc which is really nice, so I had a nice long nap when I arrived, showered, then headed out this afternoon to explore. The main square and Sol avenue (a big street where all the banks, big shops etc are) are just 2 mins down the road- I felt very safe walking around by myself, and I genuinely haven't felt so happy or excited in ages as I was when I was just wandering around looking at all these amazing things! It's very very surreal to be here and to be so far from home and completely by myself! It's so beautiful here though and I've seen some magical and hilariously Peruvian things already (women walking around with baby Llamas on their backs etc) which I'll attach pictures of! The weather was amazing this afternoon, it was sunny but cool and not at all humid, but then as I was having lunch in Starbucks (disappointing I know, but tbf it was the only cafe I could find in a good location for people watching) thunder and lightning started and by the time I left it was pouring with rain, as it is now! So I'm back at the hostel now eavesdropping on a group that are having a welcome talk in the next room- I haven't really felt many negative effects of the altitude so far, other than when I've been sitting down for a while like right now, I kind of feel like I'm bobbing up and down on a boat, which is weird. That may just be tiredness though for all I know. Anyway I realise that this has been a long yet quite boring update, so I shall attach some pictures and sign off now! Love and miss everyone back home! If you wanna get in touch I'll be able to get on Facebook until Tuesday, or just comment on here or email me at emmahope.may@hotmail.com xxx

Ps- having a hard time uploading photos tonight, so I'll try again tomorrow during the day when there'll be less people using the WiFi!

Pps- thank you so much to everyone who sent messages before I left yesterday and so sorry for not replying, I was so stressed out! But love and miss you all!

Wednesday Feb 4th

Hello everyone! This is the blog I'm going to try and update with news and photos as often as possible while I'm in Peru! I'm not sure how easily I'll be able to upload photos, or how often I'll get to update on here, but I'll do my best for anyone who might be interested in seeing what I'm getting up to! Em xxx