Lou en peru: July 2006

La tarde de te con los terribles

Ma amiga Han esta embarazada de nueve meses- Estupendo! Afternoon tea in Piccadilly with the lovely terribles for Debs birthday. The art deco interior was immaculate. I felt like we were in 1930's downtown Chicago. the gangster molls...

Carta de colores para la pintura

As well as all this 21st century communications malarky, I also want to get back to my creative roots the old fashioned way! As Mr Donald Winnicott said in 1971, "creativity belongs to being alive". He may well have a point. Nicole gave me these lovely watercolours- colours in spanish sound great: rojo indio, ocre amarillo, azul de prusia y tierra de sombra tostada.

Tengo mucha suerte!

Oh, the joys of dial up, only taken me 5 hours to upload this photo this morning! I think the initial excitement of 'blogging' could wear off quite quickly.. this is a beautiful card Rebecca gave me of Kokopelli, the lucky figure from Native American cultures. I also picked up a photo of Amy Johnson to inspire me on my travels- the first woman to fly solo from Britain to Australia in 1930. Liking the goggles!

'Los Intimates'

Teofilo Cubillas, probably Peru's greatest futbol player, played for Alianza Lima in the La Victoria District. Their great rivals are Universitario de Deportes, known as La U. Where as Alianza are known as 'los intimates' or 'la blanquiazules', La U's are known as 'merengues'- I think there's only one club for me here...! Pabs would be very happy with the shirt, the latino america baggies!

I really want to go to a match- futbol, the peruvian way.. http://youtube.com/watch?v=TGxq5lyNn5A

1821

Today is Independence Day in Peru.

Don Jose de San Martin proclaimed the independence of Peru on July 28, 1821.

La Cordillera Blanca

Apparently, in la Cordillera Blanca (the white mountain range) there are over 50 snow-capped peaks! And, I'm apparently embracing a tough fitness regime to get in shape for a 4 day trek...!?

'La Blanquirroja'!

Viva el Peru

83 days to go...

Very excited. I've sorted out my spanish lessons in Cusco, now need to crack on with the Lima parte and think about photographers.

I'm breathing, sleeping espana tapes. In moments of blind panic about the trip I can't recall a single spanish word. My worst fear is not being able to understand a word anybody says to me.