Saturday, December 20, 2003
Sunday, November 30, 2003
North America November 2003
Safe Arrival
It's almost midday on Tuesday and Layla and I just got to Savannah after a fantastic time in Atlanta. I am really enjoying myself here in the USA although the time seems to be really flying.
I was up before 4 am last Saturday for the rail journey to Gatwick airport. When we arrived at the station the screen said the first train was 6.52 whereas my ticket said 6.22. Well the good news was that the 6.22 was in fact running but the bad news was that it was late! With only 11 minutes between connections at Reading I knew I would miss the second train but was not too worried having allowed loads of extra time for such delays.
I still arrived at the airport in plenty of time and found my way easily to check in. I enjoyed myself looking around the shops at the airport until it was time to board. Once on the plane I was delighted to find that not only did I have a window seat but there were no seats in front of me as I was near one of the exits so there was plenty of leg room. The plane took off about 25 minutes late but we more than recouped this lost time arriving about 15 minutes early at the other end. Although a 9-hour flight it wasn't too tedious. The food served was excellent and we were served drinks at regular intervals. Each person had a TV video set-up with several channels to choose from although I did not bother much with this, preferring to listen to Andean music through headphones as I usually do when travelling. I managed to sleep for 2 or 3 hours during the middle of the flight which enabled me to stay awake when I arrived and cope with the 5 hour time difference without any problem.
Arrival in Atlanta was a slow process to get through procedures. They have a re-check-in service of luggage there which meant putting the suitcase onto a conveyor belt and then queuing for ages to go through all that business of going through X-ray machines followed by a train ride to collect luggage at a far distance point. This took about one and a half hours and when I got off the train and was looking for baggage claim that was when Layla called out to me and we were so delighted to see each other again. In no time we had collected my case and were in the car and on our way.
I was really impressed with the warm weather. Our pilot had promised us 30 degrees centigrade during that day and even exiting the airport near 6 pm it was still 26 degrees. After the cold in recent weeks back home this was much appreciated.
We then had an 84 mile drive out of Atlanta until we reached the foothills of the Appalachian mountains as we were spending that first night with Layla's friend Jerry. It was just starting to get dark as we drove out of the city and the city skyline looked really impressive with the lights, tall skyscrapers etc. I was especially impressed with the huge interstate highways going off in all directions. We were on a 5 lane highway (5 lanes each side of the road) but Layla said that 8 lane highways weren't uncommon!
We had so much to talk about that 84 miles did not seem that long. It was fully dark when we approached our destination, going off the interstate highway onto a lesser road and then a bit farther on onto an unpaved road and then we actually drove through a forest, across a cow pasture and back into the forest to arrive at Jerry's house.
I was enchanted with Jerry's lovely house in the woods and even more so when I got inside. I really fell in love with everything about that house, especially the hippy decor and beautiful artefacts from many countries of the world. Jerry had cooked for us and in no time we were enjoying baked salmon, broccoli, sugar snap peas and an excellent salad out on his veranda overlooking the river. It was too dark to see anything then but you could hear the water rushing past and I was dying to see it all next day. We enjoyed our meal with some excellent Argentinean red wine.
A little later we went back inside and Jerry cooked up a batch of real American brownies for us which we enjoyed with Ben and Jerry's New York fudge ice-cream while they were still warm. All the while chatting and listening to music. I was very impressed with his CD player which was loaded with 200 CDs, any of which could be played at the touch of a button, beautiful new age music with Andean or Indian or far eastern influences. A little later Jerry lit the woodstove and it was so cosy and snug, a perfect way to spend my first evening in America. The night before Layla had performed at a Halloween event and she put on her beautiful costume for us complete with mask and did a belly-dance. Finally it was time to sleep and I was given the bedroom high up in the apex of the roof and was asleep in no time as it had been a very long time. Getting up at 4 am, and finally going to bed at 11 pm plus the 5 extra hours meant I had been awake about 24 hours!
Despite it being such a long day I was awake next morning at 4.30 and managed to doze for another hour and then got up. After my shower I was reading in bed and listening to my music on headphones until the others stirred around 7.30. Then Jerry made us salmon omelettes and toast which we enjoyed out on the veranda and I was enchanted with the views. You could see the Chattacooche river from two sides of the house and after that delicious breakfast with fresh ground coffee and more ice-cream in it as he had run out of milk we went outside and walked down to the river through the trees just about 20 metres from the house. The sun was already shining real warm, the sky a bright blue and with the autumn colours of the trees, the river water rushing over boulders and huge stones it was such a breathtakingly pretty sight. We took a few photos and then Jerry decided to take us out for a drive so I could see a bit more of the area. We drove through an area called Sautee Nacoochee and could see the Indian mounds. I was enchanted that all the places had kept their Indian names but very sad hearing a little of the history of the place, how this was one of the last places where the Indians were driven from their lands.
Finally at 12 noon it was time to go as we had the drive back to Atlanta for our first Andean event of the holiday. We were going to the CD launch party of the Andean band Vientos del Pueblo's first CD being held at Sweet Devil Moon, a Peruvian tapas bar.
We got there just after 2 and had the most magical time. Vientos del Pueblo had 7 musicians in the band and played really beautiful traditional Andean music using on all my favourite instruments, including two ladies playing guitar. We decided to eat some tapas first and enjoyed a delicious king prawn chowder, coriander chicken and rice, adobo marinated pork along with some Mexican beer. Then after tasting Layla's margarita I went on to drink those but very carefully, knowing that tequila can be a mean drink if one isn't used to it.
Vientos del Pueblo played several sets throughout the afternoon, as well as some of their musician friends doing short sets in between. Lots of people came to the party, food was laid on later and the whole thing was mostly outdoors in the hot sunshine. We have since seen our photos which came out beautifully, the autumn colours of the trees behind the band as they played. Over 100 CDs were sold during the event and I later listened to mine in bed. Later in the afternoon Layla's friends LeAnn and Lucy arrived and it was lovely to meet them - we would be staying at LeAnn's house that night. When the launch party ended, LeAnn and Lucy went across the street to another Latino restaurant to eat but we stayed on an extra half an hour or so talking to the musicians before joining them. Then we sat outside Billy Goat's restaurant with Lucy and LeAnn and ordered some snacks to keep them company. Then after that we said our goodbyes to Lucy and went back with LeAnn to her house nearby.
I was really enchanted with her lovely house and the beautiful welcome she gave us, meeting her friendly tortoiseshell cat and felt really at home there. By 11 pm we were all ready to sleep and like the previous night I was asleep straightaway, only to find myself waking up yet again at 4 the following morning! But after taking a shower I was happy to relax with my book and Andean music through headphones until the others got up. Obviously with these early morning risings this is my way of getting jetlag. I can cope with the long days but my body still thinks in British time in the mornings!
Seeing LeAnn's house in daylight was even more enchanting. In the front of the house there is a huge ancient tree which appears to shelter the whole house and gives the impression it is watching over it and protecting all within. In the back garden was another ancient tree with a swing and I needed no second bidding when LeAnn invited me to take a ride on it! After excellent fresh coffee with hazelnuts in it we drove to a nearby coffee shop for breakfast as from there LeAnn would go straight to work. I really enjoyed my first American breakfast which are even more substantial than our own. Afterwards we said our goodbyes to LeAnn and we had the rest of the day until the evening show to explore Atlanta.
It was another really hot day with clear blue skies (I overheard someone later saying it was 82 degrees whatever that is in centigrade) and after dropping our films in for developing we drove to East Lake and took the Marta train. They have a kind of subway train system, one going from East to West and the other from North to South and I was eager to take a ride on it. We got off downtown and then walked a while including through a park, plus into the underground area which is the old Atlanta and full of unusual little shops. I felt slightly uneasy in the park which was full of black people who stared at us openly. Layla had already told me back in England that there in Georgia the black and white people don't integrate like they do in England which probably accounted for my uneasiness, although when I voiced these fears Layla said I had nothing to worry about in daylight. I loved listening to them talk, that lovely Southern drawl in their accents, and we spoke to some of them when they initiated conversation with us.
Our plan that day was to visit the Westin tower on Peachtree Avenue and we decided to head in that direction first. Layla was slightly worried that I would be afraid as we went up in the glass lift outside the tall building but it turned out that she was the one who was scared with me excitedly looking out and exclaiming at the sensation as we swiftly ascended. The bar on the top was closed until 4 pm so we decided to take lunch in the restaurant. This way instead of paying 7.5 dollars each just to go up in the lift we would be putting that money towards lunch. I loved that ride to the top - one felt that it would keep going even when it ran out of building! The Sundial Restaurant is atop the Westin tower - 723 feet up which is about 220 metres high and 188 ft (57 mm in diameter and the best part is that this restaurant revolves around the building so that the view is constantly changing. And you can take a look at it online yourself by visiting www.thesundialrestaurant.com.
We sat opposite each other at the table so we both had an unrestricted view which was really amazing and took a few photos. We decided to have one of the special cocktails which at 15 dollars each were quite expensive but you got to keep the glass which was huge, about 70% of a litre with a picture on the front. We both chose the same drink with an ice-cream base, kahlua and other stuff, and for lunch chose excellent seared chicken with creamy mash, spinach and tomato salsa. I enjoyed myself so much up there that I never wanted to leave! The view was so incredibly amazing and Layla pointed out all the main landmarks. The whole city is really modern with many tall buildings and skyscrapers interspersed with parks and when building the city they kept all the trees except in the downtown area and even there, there are a few. The suburbs in the distance were almost invisible due to all the trees. The whole city is a very wealthy one, completely rebuilt after the Civil War.
Coming down in the lift was equally as impressive and we both decided to go there again for lunch when we return to Atlanta for my flight home. We then walked to Centennial Park, a special park built at the time of the Olympics in 1996. At this time of the day it was so hot that we could not walk too far so we decided to get the train back to the car. Layla said that such unseasonably hot weather was quite unusual in November so I felt really lucky.
Back at the car we drove to a place called Little Five Points to look at the shops, an area full of really quaint and unusual shops, including a Native American Indian gift-shop with Robert Mirabel's music playing as we went inside. Everything in that shop was incredibly beautiful but very very expensive. I fell in love with a necklace but needless to say did not buy it when I learned the price was 225 dollars!
We decided later to go to Billy Goat's restaurant for our meal before going to the show and were really disappointed to find it was closed on Mondays! Luckily the Peruvian restaurant was open and we went there instead. We both ordered plates of spicy garlicky king prawns plus the king prawn chowder which we enjoyed outside until we realised we had an odd mosquito for company and went back inside (too late not to get bitten on the leg though!). We would have liked to have invited LeAnn to eat with us except that she was still at work until gone 7, the reason she could not come with us to the show that night.
We drove to a place called Knights of Columbus for the show - a belly-dance show, the star of which was Delilah, one of the most famous belly-dancers in the world. Inside Layla greeted old friends and introduced me to them and we looked at the lovely costumes on sale and I was almost tempted to buy one of the CDs because of the unusual instruments except they were quite expensive at 18 dollars each! Just before the show started we were delighted when Jerry arrived, neither of us dreaming he would drive those 84 miles just for the evening but he did, even though since we had left him he had been working hard on building a new room extension onto his house. Luckily there was an empty seat next to the two we had reserved at the front so we could sit together. The show was brilliant and began with a flamenco dancer who danced through 4 songs, the music supplied by two musicians on eastern instruments and a Spanish guy on flamenco guitar. This was followed by belly-dancers each dancing a different style, culminating in Delilah's passion filled exotic performance at the end. The music was really beautiful, the guys playing various different instruments. Despite being so thrilled with the show, I was also having to fight to stay awake as by this time all those long days were catching up with me and at times it was a struggle to keep my eyes open! Afterwards we stayed about a further half an hour chatting to various people before saying our goodbyes and driving back to LeAnn's for another night. Our original plan had been to drive about an hour out of Atlanta in the direction of Savannah and stay at the Trade Winds motel, but LeAnn had persuaded us earlier in the day to spend another night at her house instead which we did.
When we got there we were given her beautiful welcome again, our beds turned down waiting for us and I was asleep within seconds of my head hitting the pillow. We knew we had an early start next day and I was afraid to rely on me waking at 4 am again so we set an alarm for 5. As it happened I awoke at ten past four and decided to take my shower and even though I did this silently, the others were awake without me having to wake them. We had coffee together and we showed LeAnn our photos and she even gave us cups to take more coffee with us. We thanked her profusely for her lovely hospitality when we left and I will definitely be keeping in touch with her by email.
It was still dark but leaving at just after 6 we were able to get out of town before encountering any real traffic but as we drove out on the interstate I was amazed at the amount of traffic going in the opposite direction, commuters from outside the city on their way to work. After about an hour and a half we stopped at a Waffle House for breakfast and just that distance out from Atlanta I was amazed at the warm balminess of the weather even though it was a hazier day and not bright sunshine like the previous day. We had to put our coats on in the Waffle House though because they keep the air conditioning turned up so high.
Yet again I was impressed with another American breakfast. I just adore the Scrambled Eggs here which are made with butter and cheese and this comes with hash browns, bacon, toast and a delicious cinnamon flavoured raisin bread upon which you spread apple butter. Yummee, really delicious! Both days Layla enjoyed something called grits with her breakfast but I did not fancy it as it looked something like porridge - yuk! This is something typically Southern she said. We only stopped once more on the way to Savannah, to buy root beers which is a non-alcoholic drink which tastes almost medicinal as if they use eucalyptus roots and it's a really unusual taste. Even just stopping in a garage to buy these, polystyrene cups full of crushed ice were provided along with the bottles - not the measly one or two ice cubes you get if you ask for ice back home!
Finally at 11-15 we drove into Savannah which looks a really beautiful place with ancient buildings and everywhere enormous ancient oak trees laden with moss which hangs down. With the really tropical feeling balmy air I know I am going to love it here. Layla's house is beautiful and spacious and the first thing we did was put on the new CDs she got for me and I am enjoying Andean Nation latest CD called 'Skies of Tarabuco', Andes Cosmos, Fusion Andina's first Andean symphony etc and loving every beautiful note as I write you this long email! Layla has gone to teach a dance class and will be back soon and then we are heading out to Tybee island, to have lunch at a seafood place on the beach and then relax on the beach a while, although we will only have a few hours there as she has to be at the Casbah restaurant by 6 pm, the Moroccan restaurant where she dances most evenings. I am going too and will probably eat there later but early on will wander around River Street where the shops will still be open. Tomorrow Layla's Ecuadorian friends Tumi, Rene and Miguel are arriving and we plan to visit the beach again, weather permitting. These musicians play in the Andean band Andes Cosmos and I am looking forward to meeting them. I love their band's music and know there are one or two albums of theirs that I have not got and will probably buy them. I was also delighted to note in one of the tape covers in the car that it is possible to buy Otavalomanta's CDs from them and there are two that I want more than anything!
Palmetto Bugs!
It's Thursday morning and later today I will be flying to Dallas for a stay of 4 days. I was lucky to get a bargain priced flight from a standby sale to enable me to make this inter-state visit. I will be staying with my Bolivian friend Jacco and by pure luck this coming weekend I will not only be able to see his band Vision Andina in performance but also Wayanay Inka who are brilliant; I have all their CDs. I am really looking forward to both performances as well as seeing Jacco of course! I last saw him when he came to England for 2 weeks holiday in summer of 2001.
I am continuing to enjoy my first visit in the US. The wonderful weather has continued and we went to the beach both yesterday and the day before. Tuesday was a pretty hectic day with the early start, the long drive to Savannah from Atlanta but we did manage to squeeze in a couple of hours at the beach - first a late lunch at the North Beach Grill and then just over an hour relaxing right on the sea's edge enjoying the sound of the surf and the sea birds. Which is when I fell in love with the boat tailed grackles - these have an unusual tail feather and are very elegant looking with beady eyes and very curious and friendly. The males are an iridescent black colour and the females are iridescent brown. They are so cute. There were a whole host of other sea birds - skimmers, ordinary sea gulls, sandpipers, but I was really charmed by the boat tailed grackles which are also indigenous to South America but go by another name there.
Yesterday we spent the afternoon at the beach - with lunch at the North Beach Grill again and then we drove to the other side of the island, South Beach, and set ourselves up there. We had to move twice as the tide was coming in and the third time made ourselves comfortable above the water line. I had saved chips and most of my bread roll from lunch in the hopes of seeing some boat tailed grackles and eventually some did appear and I had fun feeding them. I regretted not holding some of the food back later though because a female grackle with only one leg appeared a little later and I managed to coax her quite close to me and to my delight she stayed with me a good part of the afternoon, hopping around my chair and coming close enough that I could have reached out and touched her. I am convinced that if I had had food she would have come onto my hand to get it. When she eventually disappeared a couple of hours later I felt quite bereft!
We stayed on the beach until it was almost dark. It was practically deserted on South Beach apart from the odd person walking by and a guy in a flying contraption up in the sky. We actually saw him take off later from our beach, by arranging the parachute part behind him and then running with a little engine running until he went airborne.
We drove home (about 15 miles) and then got busy as we were having friends over for a meal in the evening, having got all the ingredients the night before after Layla finished work at the Casbah. Layla's job was to set the table and make the salads and I got busy cooking. Tracy and Michelle arrived just before 8 pm and we had a lovely evening, listening to Andean music, enjoying the food and wine. Later in the evening Michelle gave me a reading with the tarot cards which was very illuminating and interesting because she got my situation and life in the present exactly right, even down to the Andean factor.
Which reminds me I forgot to tell you about Tuesday night. I went with Layla to the Casbah as she was working that evening. I watched her first show and then went out with the idea of eating later. I discarded my first idea of visiting the shops because there were not many people about and the inevitable crowds of men loitering on corners. This put me right off walking alone so I went into the library of the Savannah College of Art and Design instead where I was able to sign in as a visitor and spend a couple of hours on one of their computers. When I got back the restaurant was pretty crowded but I managed to get a table with a good view of Layla's dancing and was in time to watch her do the sword dance. I really enjoyed the meal, having chosen lamb and vegetable cous-cous, which I livened up with harissa sauce.
I don't know if I mentioned it before but all the houses here have little creatures in them! By this I mean palmetto bugs which are a type of large flat cockroach who normally live in the palm trees outside but come indoors when the weather turns cooler. I managed to avoid seeing one for a while by Layla turning on the lights and giving me the all clear each time we went into the house. But just before our guests arrived I was ironing the camisole I wanted to wear today when I saw one appear right beside me. I managed to get up without too much of a panic and back away and Layla came to the rescue to kill it. Boy what a mess that makes! She was telling the girls about it at dinner and they said that was nothing - that to see one flying towards you was really scary. I quivered with fright at the mere idea of those wings buzzing, especially when Tracy told me about one that flew straight towards her and landed on her forehead and it was so big it took up her whole forehead, with her screaming for someone to get it off! I think if that happened to me I would have a heart attack and die right on the spot! I'm sleeping on a futon quite near to the ground and was worried in case one climbed up in the night! I might not have slept so easily that first night had I known they could fly! By the way I have got used to the different time zone now and the past couple of mornings did not wake until 7 am. There is a 2 hour time difference between here and Texas but hopefully that will be easier to get used to than a 5 hour difference.
I haven't seen much of Savannah yet, us having chosen to spend our time on the beach due to the unseasonably hot weather, but when I return after the weekend we will have time to still do all the touristy things, like a carriage ride around the oldest part of town, all the shops, maybe dinner on a paddle steamer etc. Most of Layla's work next week is in the daytime, teaching dance classes or modelling and her evenings will be clear. It was really unfortunate that she could not come with me to Dallas due to these daytime commitments but unfortunately there is no one who can model instead of her and all this forms part of her regular work. At the Casbah things are more flexible as she can book other dancers to dance instead of her, which she did in order to have last night free. Upon her return at lunchtime today she will drive me to the airport.
Greetings From Dallas.
You are probably wondering why it took so long to write a message from here. The reason is that since I landed in Dallas on Thursday evening it has been a whirlwind of activity.
As you know I left Savannah last Thursday on the 2 pm flight, changing planes at Atlanta. There was a 2 hour wait between flights which meant I did not arrive at Dallas Fort Worth until around 6.20. When Layla dropped me off at Savannah airport I purposely did not eat anything thinking something would be served on board but no. The flight to Atlanta was one hour and all we got served was a small packet of pretzels and a drink. The next flight was 2 hours and I was starving by this time and felt sure we would be given something more substantial - but again no - all we got was 2 mini packets of pretzels and a drink!!!
When I arrived at the carousel to collect my suitcase, Jacco was already there waiting for me and in no time we were on our way. Our first stop was the studio as he had another meeting before he could go home. This wasn't the studio he normally works at but another one which he had designed and built from scratch and once there he showed me around and I was really impressed. Then while he had that last meeting I was given a beer and a magazine to read and I sat in whilst the meeting took place. I realised then that he would be working all day on Monday, having been unable to get that day off. The meeting was about the training session he would be giving on how to operate the sound equipment in the studio. This had to be done on Monday (today) because Jacco leaves for Bolivia on Thursday. I was just glad he had been able to get Friday off and although he would be busy on Saturday and Sunday at Dallas International Festival I would be there too enjoying all the music and dance from around the world. Jacco is something of a workaholic, working long hours at the studio, on average from 8 in the morning until 10 or 11 at night, plus he is caught up in various music projects, manages his band Vision Andina and other things and life for him is always spent on the run.
After the studio we drove to a Venezuelan restaurant for something to eat. Unfortunately we arrived late enough to miss the performance by his friend Carlos on Venezuelan harp but Carlos said he would be performing at Monica's the following night and urged us to come and hear him then instead. We then drove to Jacco's home and spent the remainder of the evening watching a video of him performing last July at a Pena in Bolivia with Ernesto Cavour, Fernando Jiminez, and Juan Carlos Cordero. We also listened to Vision Andina's latest CD which was also recorded in Bolivia with some of these famous musicians. 100 of these have been produced in its spontaneous form and will be sold with all proceeds going to the first of a series of projects he is involved in, raising funds for Bolivian orphanages. He gave me one of the CDs and the video, and I will be taking a few of the CDs with me to England to sell them for him there. The CD will be re-mastered in the spring and properly released then and I am going to do a CD cover to replace the existing one. So if there is anyone out there who would like one of these limited edition spontaneous editions of the CD the price is 10 pounds or 15 dollars and are obtainable though me. Every penny will go to the Bolivian orphans as each musician donated his time without any fee. I have heard the CD three times now and it is absolutely brilliant, an excellent performance by top class musicians. The song selections on it are absolutely wonderful too.
The next morning Jacco went out to a local bakery and bought croissants and crusty French bread and also came back with 2 takeaway containers containing typical Texas sausages and Huevos Mexicanos - a delicious scrambled egg concoction with peppers, onions, etc, accompanied by a hot vegetable salsa - really delicious. After breakfast I showed him a lot of useful shortcuts and tips in both Quark Xpress and Photoshop programmes. This evolved from the fact that the printers had not got the colours right on the current CD cover of Anthology which he had produced himself. I showed him how to ensure this never happened again and answered all his questions about things that puzzled him in both programmes, as well as showing him a few useful shortcuts and how to fade out colour pictures etc. After this I had time to check my email before his friends arrived, a couple of other people who are involved in the Bolivian Orphanages project. Lunch was also a meeting to go over their suggestions on how best to film the benefit performance in La Paz next Saturday. If anyone sees this in time, this concert is taking place at Auditorio Colegio de Avogados in La Paz and will feature other bands as well as Jacco playing with Ernesto Cavour, Fernando Jiminez and Juan Carlos Cordero. Juan Carlos is working very closely with Jacco organising everything at the Bolivian end. A film crew are going with them and on the Friday will be a big party for the children at the biggest of the orphanages benefiting from their efforts. The benefit concert on Saturday is the first of a series of them and will involve Jacco going to Bolivia to perform in these concerts at least 3 times a year. Look out for the story about this first one on my website in a few weeks time, complete with pictures of the children and performers.
I did not realise until we got outside the house that the weather here in Dallas was nowhere near as good as it had been in Savannah. It was pouring with rain! I asked Jacco if he had an umbrella or anything and he produced one of the rain ponchos purchased when in Edinburgh in 2001 which was perfect to put on and keep out the rain. We drove to the Green Chilli, an Asian noodles and grill bar, where we enjoyed an excellent lunch. I chose a delicious chicken and Asian vegetable soup with noodles which was enormous and a meal on its own.
After the meal we said goodbye to his friends as the next job was to return home and collect and load his car with everything needed for his booth at the international festival the following day. Arriving at St Marks school (a posh private school here in Dallas), we found the table allocated to Bolivia and set things up as far as possible in readiness for the following day. Jacco's lady friend Noreen arrived at this point as she would be managing the booth both days, Saturday and Sunday. The whole place was a hive of activity with people getting their booths ready.
After that was done it was time to eat dinner so the three of us went to an Argentinian restaurant which also served food from other South American countries including Peru and Bolivia. I ended up choosing a huge Guatemalan seafood soup which was the best soup I have ever tasted. There was some live music performed there too, a guy singing romantic songs, also a friend of Jacco's. After the meal we went to Monica's - another restaurant - where it was possible to just order drinks and we enjoyed the live music there which was a funky jazz fusion - two guys on bongos and drums and Carlos on his Venezuelan harp. I just loved their style of music and would have bought a CD had one been available. Our last stop before going home was to 2 supermarkets - the first one to buy some CD-Rs and the second a food market as I wanted to cook lunch on Sunday for all the members of Vision Andina who would be doing their rehearsal at Jacco's house in the morning. Then back home afterwards I went through Jacco's CD collection which is when I realised he had some great stuff that I would never find in Europe and made a little pile of the most elusive ones so that I could hopefully make a start the following day.
Saturday and Sunday were very busy, taken up with the Dallas International Music Festival. I helped him load all the stuff in his car again and take it to St Mark's and carry it to the booth. As we carried it in we passed Wayanay Inka who were setting up under a tented awning outside and I knew I would be there at the first opportunity! At the booth I helped Jacco and Noreen who had arrived before us set up the remainder of the items, including several beautiful ponchos and the CDs for sale. Then I left them to it and headed straight over to Wayanay Inka as I was dying to hear them play live. I was delighted to discover they had a new CD produced in 2003 called 'Andean World' which I immediately bought. The band consisted of two of the four original Wayanay Inka band, plus Miguel who normally plays with Vision Andina, plus one of the brothers selling CDs. Jacco said this band often splits into two and go off doing different things. Without the full complement of original musicians they did not sound as good as they would otherwise have done, but I was still thrilled to be listening to the live music of what is one of my favourite bands by whom I have around 5 CDs in my collection. I spent all morning and part of the afternoon listening to them, going off in between sets to see the rest of the festival which was unbelievably impressive. In addition to booths of most of the countries of the world, there were also two stages in two different large buildings, one devoted to dances in costume by many countries around the world, and the other devoted to music shows by bands from various countries. I enjoyed watching some of the dance shows, visiting all the booths and bought handmade jewellery from two of them, also a leaflet of Guatemalan recipes from another. I had dressed warmly for the day but being outside so much I felt cold after a while. It was misty and overcast and there was a really cold wind blowing so I ended up borrowing one of the ponchos from our booth and wearing that to keep warm. It was also fun to try out the food from some of the stalls - choosing Argentinian empanadas and jorajas, Hungarian apple strudel and Indian samosas. Then at 3 pm it started pouring with rain and did not look as though it would let up all day. I knew Wayanay Inka wouldn't be playing in conditions like that so returned to the booth to ask Jacco if he could drop me back to the house so that I could start on the CDs and he said okay. He dropped me off, saying to make myself at home and make coffee or eat whatever I wanted and that he would return later in the evening. I knew this would be several hours hence as he also had to deliver a car load of boxes of medicines, toys and clothing to one of the employees of American Airlines, to be distributed among the members also going to Bolivia on Thursday using the main bulk of each traveller's luggage allowance. American Airlines are the main sponsor for this new project of Jacco's. This guy lived an hour out of Dallas so the plan was for Jacco to leave Noreen in charge of the booth while he delivered everything and for him to return in time to help her pack everything up for the night. He said he would pick up takeaway food and bring it home for us on his return and I happily got to work on the CD copying, listening to some beautiful music at the same time and the time simply flew. I had planned to write this email then but got so caught up in the copying process that time ran out and Jacco returned. After eating I did as much preparation as I could for the following day's lunch and Jacco watched TV with Andean music playing at the same time. I also prepared a flyer for him which he would get photocopied the next day - advertising Vision Andina's performance at 4 pm, which would be handed out at the booth.
Yesterday was a brilliant day and the weather was better too - warm and quite sunny. The band arrived about 10 am, by which time I had the cooking of a Peruvian lunch well under way. Jacco tuned all the instruments ready for the arrival of his fellow musicians and then dashed out to get the flyer photocopied by which time they were arriving and it was great to meet the other musicians of Vision Andina. I spent the morning dashing from kitchen to computer to copy a few more CDs and back again to supervise the cooking, plus taking photos as the band rehearsed - they sounded so good I knew that listening to their show on stage that afternoon would be the highlight of my whole trip to Dallas. When they finished we all sat down to eat lunch which we enjoyed with a bottle of red wine, and it was great to see them tucking in and enjoying the food. Jacco who hardly ever eats at home and mainly eats out even asked for the recipe and said he would start cooking at home sometimes. After lunch we set off for the festival again and I helped them carry instruments to the backstage area and then went off to see everything again, my first stop being to Wayanay Inka to listen to their performance. The remainder of that day revolved around their shows until about quarter to four when I went to the main stage area and got myself a front row seat ready for Vision Andina's show. A Caribbean music show was just finishing and then a Mexican folkloric dance troop entertained us while Vision Andina set up their instruments. Noreen arrived just as the show was about to start and there followed an hour of pure heaven. The 10 songs they had decided to play were about the most beautiful Bolivian songs of all time and the seating area was packed with people watching. I was especially entranced when right at the beginning Jacco welcomed the people who had come to see them, first mentioning me from England. I thought that a wonderful gesture on his part. Hearing Vision Andina live on stage for the very first time was definitely definitely the highlight of the whole Dallas visit.
Back at the booth afterwards it was time to start packing everything up and I helped Noreen with this and Jacco joined us soon afterward once the instruments were in the car. Then he had to drive Juan back to his car which had been left parked outside his house and I went with Noreen to her house, with Jacco to join us later. Noreen said the plan then was to go to a party on a ranch about an hour outside Dallas, but that Pedro had already left and no one knew the address where the party was to be held apart from him.
Back at Noreen's house she produced coffee and snacks and then got on the phone to try and track someone down who knew the address, all of which yielded nothing, until Jacco phoned and said that Pedro and Francisco were performing at an Arabic restaurant called Sands and for us to meet him there. When we arrived Jacco was sitting at a table with another Bolivian and two ladies and upon our arrival Jacco decided we would eat there and listen to the musicians play. The two of them sounded really good too, Francisco singing and playing the guitar and Pedro playing flute or panpipes. The food was excellent and we were all drinking iced tea which is a great favourite here in USA. Somehow tea drunk ice-cold through a glass full of crushed ice tastes much better than the hot variety, especially by the time I had added a few cubes of sugar. I ended up drinking three of these during the evening and enjoying the music of Pedro and Francisco. Unfortunately by the time they finished at 10 pm, no one wanted to still go to the party at the ranch as it would have been too late an evening. Jacco had too much preparation to do at home ready for the studio session today, and Pedro and Francisco had day jobs to go to also. So we said our goodbyes and returned to the house where I was able to help Jacco by desktop publishing all the material he needed for the students at the studio today.
This morning he was up at 6 and on his way to the studio by 7 and he will be home again about 6 pm tonight. I am writing this email now and will then finish the CDs, take a shower etc, in time for Noreen's arrival at 2 pm when we are then going on a drive around Dallas to see some of the posh sights. We drove through some of the posh end of town at night where the most incredible houses are set on huge lots, all among lovely trees and it will be nice to see these places in daylight. I am really impressed with Dallas as a city - it all looks so modern and clean - residential areas in wide avenues with lovely trees. Noreen told me that city officials check every house in the city and if any garden is found with the grass on the lawn a few inches high they are heavily fined. I especially like the fact that at intersecting streets you can see the street name high above as you approach and even the road numbers in small print underneath indicating the road numbers to the left and right. This means you can see well in advance as you approach the traffic lights the name of the next street instead of waiting until you turn the corner and then hope to find a street name sign as you turn which is what you have to do back home.
After a driving tour of the posh end of town she is going to show me some of Dallas's nicest shops until we meet up with Jacco around 6 and then the plan for my last evening is for the three of us to go up a really high tower like the one in Atlanta, this one topped by a ball of flashing lights inside of which is a restaurant and bar and a place for dancing. I am really looking forward to that although we won't be staying late. We have to leave the house at 4 tomorrow morning for my flight back to Savannah which departs at 5.50 and this time the two flights are pretty close together and I sure hope I can find my way to the second flight in the time in what is a really enormous airport at Atlanta. I will arrive in Savannah at 10.25 where Layla will be at the airport to meet me and take me into town so that I can start exploring there while she teaches her class and she will rejoin me there afterwards. I sure hope the weather is nice and warm like it was before I came here.
I will probably send two more emails after this one, the next one covering the days in Savannah up until Friday when we leave for Atlanta - then the last one covering the weekend in Atlanta, the journey home, culminating with Sunday in London following my arrival, when I hope to visit Eddy and Rosa at El Inca, see Jorge and his new wife Viviana at Canary Wharf and finally Aquiles at some point in the afternoon before the journey back to Bath by train - where I will arrive late and return to work on Monday morning!
After that the next Andean event to look forward to is Quimantu in concert with John Williams on Sunday 30th November, unless any of my friends in Peruvian bands such as Dante or Chan Chan decide to visit Bath one weekend soon.
Last Hello From Savannah.
It's Thursday morning and I am taking the opportunity to write whilst Layla is working. She comes back at 12 noon and we have lots of touristy things planned for this afternoon in Savannah. It looks like another warm sunny day outside, apart from a breeze blowing.
My last day in Dallas was thoroughly enjoyable. Noreen came for me at 2 pm and we drove first to Lakeside to look at the huge houses which faced on to Turtle Creek. We crossed the bridge looking for turtles in the water but unfortunately some dredging work was going on nearby which probably scared them all away. It was a lovely spot with various beautiful geese and ducks and we took some photos.
After that we drove to Spanish Village, a large square of shops in a very wealthy area. The shops were designer names such as Christian Dior and it was interesting to window shop. Then Noreen treated us to lunch at Celebrity, a shop specialising in catered meals but also had a few tables outside for people to enjoy their special sandwiches or cakes. As we were eating I was delighted to see that grackles live in Texas too, albeit slightly smaller ones than in Georgia, and I had fun feeding them.
After lunch we drove out to a huge shopping mall and looked around the shops there. I fell in love with a slim-line CD player which worked on the Bose wave principle and was a bargain compared to what it would have cost back home. I may have even been tempted to buy it had I not already bought a CD clock radio in Dallas. There would not have been room for both in my flight baggage on the long haul homeward.
We were looking for dresses for Jacco to take for his sister in La Paz and as Noreen is the same size as her she was able to try things on. She insisted on buying me a present as we did this which I thought was very sweet of her. Of the tops I tried on I chose a lovely cross-over one in black and silver which fit me perfectly - the others were too small, there being nothing larger than British size 16 which is 14 here. Finally Noreen chose four outfits for purchase for Jacco to choose between, as the shop would take anything back within a month of purchase. Also whilst shopping I bought a transformer to convert 110 volt items to 220, not realising at the time of buying the CD clock radio that it would only work on 110 volts. In fact, not even realising until then that the voltage wasn't the same as back home.
We arrived back at the house with enough time for me to change and each had a small glass of wine before Jacco's arrival. Noreen suggested a place to go and eat but Jacco, knowing how much I had enjoyed sea food here in Savannah, said No that he knew a much better place, a Mexican restaurant specialising in sea food dishes, and that we would eat there and then go to the tower.
The restaurant was lovely and had so many lovely things on the menu it was difficult to choose. Jacco chose a plate of appetisers for us to share whilst deciding and I eventually decided on a mixed platter of jumbo shrimps and mixed sea food in the most divine sauce with baked potato and salad and chose iced tea to accompany it, having really got partial to this popular American drink. I never thought I would see the day that I would be drinking tea having disliked it as a drink all my life, but sweetened and in a glass full of crushed ice with several slices of fresh lime in it, it is really delicious. I could happily drink this instead of wine and will do when I start my diet back home.
After the restaurant we drove to the tower, driving through the downtown area in the process which was interesting to see. It is in the downtown area that all the skyscrapers are - out from the centre it is completely different with wide avenues. When we arrived at the tower we gave up the car to the valet service and entered the hotel and had the lovely experience of going up in a glass lift again and seeing Dallas laid out before us. At the top we entered the bar and were sitting right against the glass window like in Atlanta and I was completely mesmerised by the wonderful view, which like in Atlanta kept changing as it rotated also. We weren't quite so high up as we were in Atlanta but higher again was the disco in the flashing ball which we didn't visit. I chose a wonderful concoction called Chocolatini made with kahlua, white chocolate liqueur, vodka and cream covered in thick dark chocolate flakes which was incredible, Noreen and Jacco choosing brandy alexander and marguarita. We stayed enjoying the views for about an hour and took a few photos until returning to ground level in that incredible lift, and then reclaiming the car from valet service (10 dollars for that privilege).
By the time we got back home it was 12.15 so while Noreen modelled the dresses I made my bed up and said my goodnights knowing I had to be awake 3 hours later. Luckily all my packing had been done much earlier in the day before Noreen arrived.
I was awake bang on 3.30 intending to call Jacco at 3.45 but before I could do so, I could hear he was up and already having a shower, and by the time he was ready so was I and we left the house about 4.20 for the drive to the airport, about half an hour distant. At the airport Jacco waited with me while I checked in to make sure I did not have any problems and then walked me down to departures where we said goodbye, with me wishing him a safe and happy flight to Bolivia just two days later.
By the time I reached the departure gate it was only moments before I could board the plane and I was very happy to sink into my window seat, intending to sleep the 2 hours to Atlanta, but as usual could not resist watching take-off and seeing Dallas get further and further away below. It reminded me of the previous night from the tower, all lit up as it was still dark, but once the plane arrived above the clouds one could see the sunrise which looked very pretty. After that I closed my eyes and dozed lightly all the way to Atlanta where I enjoyed another perfect landing. Luckily the plane landed in time as I only had half an hour between flights to reach the departure gate of the connecting flight to Savannah, knowing from the outward journey that it was a very long way in that enormous airport. This involved a long walk, then a train ride to the next concourse and then another long walk and when I arrived boarding was already in progress. Again it was quite a small plane for the Atlanta-Savannah flight but a pleasant trip nonetheless, with me dozing most of the way. But I arrived in Savannah feeling quite refreshed and was outside waiting for Layla by 10.40 and she arrived a few moments later and we were back at the house by 11 am. She went off to teach then saying she would return at 1 o'clock and suggested the beach which I was very happy about as it was another glorious day. By the time I left Dallas the weather there had also improved and 80 was promised on the day I left and it was probably close to that on Monday, and it was warm enough to go without a cardigan on Sunday. It was only on Friday and Saturday that it was so rainy and cold and in fact the weather there is as diverse and temperamental as it is back home in England, never knowing from one day to the next how it will be.
When Layla returned we made straight to the beach as planned - along with her friend who had also decided to join us. We headed straight for South Beach which enjoys the afternoon and evening sun the longest and were soon ensconced on the sand and enjoying the sunshine. Layla and Tracy went off walking and I was content to doze off again in the sunshine until they returned. I woke up when they returned and enjoyed what I thought would be my last day at the beach until 5.30 when it was getting dark. We then headed round to the North side and the North Beach grill where we had decided to eat dinner. All three of us chose the Shrimp Creole and enjoyed a couple of margaritas each too. That dish was absolutely divine and I am sure going to miss those delicious shrimps which are huge and really meaty ones and different than the varieties available back home. The puddings sounded delicious too and I chose blueberry cobbler with ice-cream which was sensational. Tracy and Layla enjoyed their white chocolate and key lime pie also.
Yesterday was another lovely day too. Layla returned at 12 noon again and although the plan was to sightsee around Savannah we changed our minds and went to the beach again as it was such a hot day, at least in the 80s. Arriving at the North Beach grill first we decided to get our food as take-away and took this and two large iced sweet teas with us and drove to South Beach where we could see the tide was going out and parked ourselves right on the water's edge, a perfect spot to enjoy the food, surrounded by sea birds including grackles and having fun trying to feed the grackles without the bigger sea birds grabbing everything. Those grackles are such cute and intrepid birds - it was like a game of strategy between them and the sea gulls and they won out in the end because they were brave enough to walk right up and take food from our hands, whilst the big birds hung back. Then after all the grackles and sea gulls went away the little sandpipers came scurrying along cleaning up what few crumbs were left.
It was so hot that Layla went into the sea to swim but I was happy just relaxing in the sun, listening to the peaceful sound of the gentle surf and reading my book. We stayed almost 3 hours but left earlier as Layla wanted to get back to Savannah in daylight so that I could see something of the town. Once we had accomplished this we did a quick dash home to wash the sand off our feet and change into something warmer and then drove into the main part of town which I had not yet seen. We parked and climbed down steps into River Street, the street cobbled with the same stones that had been used as ballast in the ships in years gone by. River Street was beautiful with the wide river going right through the town and at one end the huge bridge - crossing it takes you into South Carolina which is something we might have done had I been here longer and if we could have fitted it in around Layla's work commitments.
We then did some sightseeing of the shops as I was getting worried not having bought any presents and only 2 days left to do it in. In the next couple of hours I managed to buy all the gifts I intended taking home for people and then we went to a restaurant and sat outside on the upstairs balcony with a good view of the river. A couple of enormous ships went past while we were there - really huge ones which was amazing to see, such huge vessels going straight through the town like that. There was a guitarist and singer entertaining the diners and it was very pleasant even though we could feel the mosquitoes biting us! I chose shrimp again, this time buffalo shrimp (buffalo meaning the fiery sauce on them) and Layla chose flounder and we shared a pecan pie afterwards. Outside afterwards we walked by the river but when Layla pointed out the palmetto bugs I beat a hasty retreat back to the main street, not wanting to see any of them fly. As long as I can forget the fact that they can fly I can just about tolerate the risk of encountering them in the house.
This morning I am covered in mosquito bites all over my neck, some on my face and my feet and ankles are covered in bites, including all up my legs until my knees, even though I was wearing a long skirt, but it isn't too unbearable. I have known worse back in Europe, e.g. France and Spain. It is not much worse than gnat bites back home. Well maybe a bit worse as it has caused my ankles to swell which coupled with the long flight home this weekend will cause some discomfort for a few days.
This afternoon we are sightseeing around Savannah again, this time to see the beautiful squares. Savannah is a city laid out into pretty squares and we are going to see them by driving and then go to lunch. Then the plan is a river boat ride on either the Georgia Queen or Savannah Queen, huge paddle steamer boats. The dinner cruises are quite expensive at 39 dollars per head but we might have done it had it fitted in around Layla's work commitments which unfortunately it doesn't. Instead we are taking the 15 dollar one hour cruise at 2 pm, and then immediately afterwards taking a carriage ride around old Savannah. We have to be back here for Layla's dance class at 7 pm which continues until 8.30 in which I am going to participate too, to get some ideas for the exercise regime I plan to make part of my daily routine at home once I get started on my diet.
We have all day tomorrow here in Savannah too as the plan is to leave for Atlanta very early on Saturday morning. Jerry is working both Friday and Saturday evenings which put paid to the possibility of spending tomorrow night there. As long as we leave by 9 am we will have time to reach the Westin Tower on Peach Street in time for lunch and enjoy one of those huge cocktails and the spectacular views. In case any of you want to take a look at the Sun Dial Restaurant at the top of the Westin tower the website address is www.sundialrestaurant.com.
The End of the Holiday!
I'm starting this on Sunday having arrived safely back in London and will complete the last bit tomorrow. I had a good flight home which only took 7 hours in this direction, landing at Gatwick at 7.20 this morning. From there I took the Gatwick Express into Victoria, stowed my case and am at present at Charing Cross (where I knew I could find an internet cafe) and from here I am off to see my friends Eddy and Rosa at El Inca cafe.
My last couple of days in Savannah were very enjoyable with the warm sunny weather lasting apart from a cooler breeze setting in. We had a lovely time on Thursday - first going on a one hour cruise on the Georgia Queen paddle steamer. When the boat set off up river we were seated at the front of the boat but could not stay there long as we were almost blown overboard by the breeze! Coming back later the difference was incredible as we were sheltered from the breeze and sitting in a suntrap. Amazingly on board near us were people from Wales and Swindon which makes one realise what a small world we live in at times.
After leaving the boat we headed into town as our next plan was a carriage ride around the old part of Savannah. We detoured through one of the candy stores offering free samples of Savannah's famous pralines though. These are really delicious but really expensive at 15 dollars per pound. Just buying one each of these cost us 5 dollars.
We had to wait half an hour before going on the carriage ride so passed the time eating ice-cream and looking at paintings in an art gallery. The actual carriage ride was lovely and lasted nearly an hour, taking in the most historical places and a tour guide talking continuously telling us the history of the city.
After that we returned home as Layla had a dance class for two people at 7 pm until 8.30 but as it happened both students cancelled at the last minute, so Layla offered to do a dance class just for me. For the next hour we did a lot of slow movements to some Hindu music which is often used in yoga. We purposely kept the exercises light and airy so that I would not pull any muscles - what with the long journey home ahead of me. Afterwards we were quite hungry so went to an Indian restaurant nearby for supper.
On Friday we had arranged to meet her friend Michelle at the coffee shop they go to frequently in the mornings. We enjoyed several cups of coffee and cranberry scones and afterwards went for a walk around a beautiful park nearby. We returned home so that Layla could get organised for her classes that day, and then she dropped me in town so that I could spend my last afternoon sightseeing, and she would pick me up in the same place three hours later.
I went into a Spanish tapas bar for lunch and then looked at some shops and bought a few things. I also managed to find the square which had a famous Indian chief buried there, and paid my respects at his grave. Then at 4 pm we returned home as Layla's friend Tumi was due to arrive any minute, as he usually stays at her house when playing in Savannah. In fact we got there just 10 minutes before him, even stopping on the way so that I could get a few things to cook that evening. Layla had to go to work at 6 at the Casbah so I listened to music (Andean of course!) with Tumi all evening and he told me lots about Ecuador which has really fired up my interest to go there one day. Later I cooked a Peruvian dish for supper, saving some for Layla for when she returned from work.
The next morning we had an early start as Tumi would be selling Ecuadorian crafts and playing music at a huge flea-market outside of town as by this time we had decided to go with him so that I could hear him play, instead of the early start to Atlanta previously planned, and we would be continuing direct to Atlanta from there without returning home. As it was just him, he would be playing panpipes in accompaniment to his CDs, as his fellow band members were at another flea market in Colombia that weekend.
We left about 8 o'clock as we had 15 miles to travel and all vendors had to be there by 9 o'clock. I enjoyed browsing round at the flea market spending quite a bit of time in the livestock sections. There was one big shed completely devoted to puppies of all different breeds and I especially fell in love with a blue eyed Siberian husky puppy who was on sale at 400 dollars. I also had a lot of fun in the bird house with had lots of parrots, most very friendly and used to people. Layla took a couple of photos of me holding a beautiful Cockatoo whilst we were in there.
Then at 11 o'clock we said our goodbyes to Tumi and set off for the long drive to Atlanta. After an hour and a half of driving we stopped at a Waffle House for breakfast, and then continued to Atlanta airport which took a further 3 hours, the airport being on our side of Atlanta and thus avoiding possible delays in the city.
There I checked in early, which is a double check-in procedure since September 11th. After checking in and getting my boarding pass I had to then go to the screening centre where all luggage is checked by machine. I sure hope that none of my undeveloped films were in the suitcase as a notice warned they would be destroyed by the machine. I could only hope they were in my hand baggage as I knew that somewhere were 2 undeveloped films in addition to the almost completed one in my camera. Several of the cases were being opened and checked and I was hoping they would not do that with mine, having done a war-dance on it at Layla's to get it zipped closed! Fortunately they didn't open it but the guy lifting it onto the trolley going to the plane gasped at the weight!
Then we went to a cafe for coffee and sandwiches before Layla and I said our goodbyes. I spent about half an hour looking in the gift shops and then headed for the train as my plane would be leaving from the most far distant concourse. I had a fair wait until boarding was in progress and it was great to finally sink into my seat - a window seat which is always my preference - and a gap between me and another lady in the same row. The flight home was good - British Airways look after their passengers so beautifully - but I was unable to sleep more than about an hour. I ended up listening to Andean music all the way home and reading for a while. Each passenger had a TV screen in the back of the headrest of the passenger in front, with films throughout the flight but the best two films I had already seen at the cinema (Homicide Cop and Pirates of the Caribbean). I will continue this email tomorrow as it is going to be a pretty late breakfast at El Inca unless I get going!
Well unfortunately I was unable to see Eddy and Rosa when I arrived at El Inca as they had gone shopping. Serves me right for wanting to surprise them instead of letting them know. I waited 40 minutes in case they returned and in the end left a note for them, as I had to get across to Canary Wharf next to meet Jorge and Viviana. Before reaching Oval station Jorge phoned and confirmed they would be waiting for me in the tube station at Canary Wharf.
When we met it was lovely to meet his wife Viviana for the first time who had returned from Peru with him in August. We went to their home first so that they could show it to me and then picking up their wedding photos to look at over lunch we all set off by bus to a favourite restaurant of theirs. When we got off the bus I realised we were in Bethnal Green and very close to where another friend Claire lives. We had lunch at Nando's which I think is Portuguese, where they specialise in barbecued marinated chicken which was so delicious that we ended up placing our order again after we had finished and enjoyed a second portion! It was great to see their wedding photos. They could not have got married in a more wonderful place - at Huanchaco, the beach I so fell in love with whilst in Trujillo earlier this year.
Finally as we made our way back to their home it was beginning to get dark and I was struggling to stay awake on the bus and still had a few hours of travel before I would get home. I said goodbye to Viviana and Jorge accompanied me to the tube station - with me admiring the scenery as we walked. Canary wharf is very modern looking with pools and fountain and two large shopping malls to be explored at some future visit. I will see them again just before Christmas as I have invited them to Bath for a few days when Jorge has holiday from both work and studies.
From there I had to return to Victoria and pick up my case and thereafter it was quite a struggle being lumbered with that, plus another pull along bag plus a backpack full of things. The wheels on the suitcase were damaged during the outward flight which meant they did not roll properly and it took all my strength to drag it along. Fortunately there are plenty of gentlemen about because as soon as I attempted to get all my things down stairs to the tube trains, someone appeared and carried the heavy case down for me.
Once at Paddington my intention was to ask if I could change my two separate tickets into one direct journey to Bath, but I noticed there was a train already on the platform so decided to take a chance and get on it. The worst that could happen would be having to get off at Reading and taking another train. Again I was lucky that a kind man helped me with the heavy case, even carrying it through a whole packed carriage until I could find a seat where I could keep watch on the case during the ride home. The next two hours was an almighty struggle to stay awake as by this time I was really tired, having only had a couple of hours sleep in the past 36 hours. I finally arrived in Bath at 8 pm where Colin met me at the station, returning to his house first so that we could have a cup of coffee and exchange news and then I drove home and even managed to unpack before finally sinking into bed and a good night's sleep. Today I am back at work. Well that's it I guess until the next holiday or weekend away. The next holiday adventure will be Peru and Bolivia in summer of 2004.
It's almost midday on Tuesday and Layla and I just got to Savannah after a fantastic time in Atlanta. I am really enjoying myself here in the USA although the time seems to be really flying.
I was up before 4 am last Saturday for the rail journey to Gatwick airport. When we arrived at the station the screen said the first train was 6.52 whereas my ticket said 6.22. Well the good news was that the 6.22 was in fact running but the bad news was that it was late! With only 11 minutes between connections at Reading I knew I would miss the second train but was not too worried having allowed loads of extra time for such delays.
I still arrived at the airport in plenty of time and found my way easily to check in. I enjoyed myself looking around the shops at the airport until it was time to board. Once on the plane I was delighted to find that not only did I have a window seat but there were no seats in front of me as I was near one of the exits so there was plenty of leg room. The plane took off about 25 minutes late but we more than recouped this lost time arriving about 15 minutes early at the other end. Although a 9-hour flight it wasn't too tedious. The food served was excellent and we were served drinks at regular intervals. Each person had a TV video set-up with several channels to choose from although I did not bother much with this, preferring to listen to Andean music through headphones as I usually do when travelling. I managed to sleep for 2 or 3 hours during the middle of the flight which enabled me to stay awake when I arrived and cope with the 5 hour time difference without any problem.
Arrival in Atlanta was a slow process to get through procedures. They have a re-check-in service of luggage there which meant putting the suitcase onto a conveyor belt and then queuing for ages to go through all that business of going through X-ray machines followed by a train ride to collect luggage at a far distance point. This took about one and a half hours and when I got off the train and was looking for baggage claim that was when Layla called out to me and we were so delighted to see each other again. In no time we had collected my case and were in the car and on our way.
I was really impressed with the warm weather. Our pilot had promised us 30 degrees centigrade during that day and even exiting the airport near 6 pm it was still 26 degrees. After the cold in recent weeks back home this was much appreciated.
We then had an 84 mile drive out of Atlanta until we reached the foothills of the Appalachian mountains as we were spending that first night with Layla's friend Jerry. It was just starting to get dark as we drove out of the city and the city skyline looked really impressive with the lights, tall skyscrapers etc. I was especially impressed with the huge interstate highways going off in all directions. We were on a 5 lane highway (5 lanes each side of the road) but Layla said that 8 lane highways weren't uncommon!
We had so much to talk about that 84 miles did not seem that long. It was fully dark when we approached our destination, going off the interstate highway onto a lesser road and then a bit farther on onto an unpaved road and then we actually drove through a forest, across a cow pasture and back into the forest to arrive at Jerry's house.
I was enchanted with Jerry's lovely house in the woods and even more so when I got inside. I really fell in love with everything about that house, especially the hippy decor and beautiful artefacts from many countries of the world. Jerry had cooked for us and in no time we were enjoying baked salmon, broccoli, sugar snap peas and an excellent salad out on his veranda overlooking the river. It was too dark to see anything then but you could hear the water rushing past and I was dying to see it all next day. We enjoyed our meal with some excellent Argentinean red wine.
A little later we went back inside and Jerry cooked up a batch of real American brownies for us which we enjoyed with Ben and Jerry's New York fudge ice-cream while they were still warm. All the while chatting and listening to music. I was very impressed with his CD player which was loaded with 200 CDs, any of which could be played at the touch of a button, beautiful new age music with Andean or Indian or far eastern influences. A little later Jerry lit the woodstove and it was so cosy and snug, a perfect way to spend my first evening in America. The night before Layla had performed at a Halloween event and she put on her beautiful costume for us complete with mask and did a belly-dance. Finally it was time to sleep and I was given the bedroom high up in the apex of the roof and was asleep in no time as it had been a very long time. Getting up at 4 am, and finally going to bed at 11 pm plus the 5 extra hours meant I had been awake about 24 hours!
Despite it being such a long day I was awake next morning at 4.30 and managed to doze for another hour and then got up. After my shower I was reading in bed and listening to my music on headphones until the others stirred around 7.30. Then Jerry made us salmon omelettes and toast which we enjoyed out on the veranda and I was enchanted with the views. You could see the Chattacooche river from two sides of the house and after that delicious breakfast with fresh ground coffee and more ice-cream in it as he had run out of milk we went outside and walked down to the river through the trees just about 20 metres from the house. The sun was already shining real warm, the sky a bright blue and with the autumn colours of the trees, the river water rushing over boulders and huge stones it was such a breathtakingly pretty sight. We took a few photos and then Jerry decided to take us out for a drive so I could see a bit more of the area. We drove through an area called Sautee Nacoochee and could see the Indian mounds. I was enchanted that all the places had kept their Indian names but very sad hearing a little of the history of the place, how this was one of the last places where the Indians were driven from their lands.
Finally at 12 noon it was time to go as we had the drive back to Atlanta for our first Andean event of the holiday. We were going to the CD launch party of the Andean band Vientos del Pueblo's first CD being held at Sweet Devil Moon, a Peruvian tapas bar.
We got there just after 2 and had the most magical time. Vientos del Pueblo had 7 musicians in the band and played really beautiful traditional Andean music using on all my favourite instruments, including two ladies playing guitar. We decided to eat some tapas first and enjoyed a delicious king prawn chowder, coriander chicken and rice, adobo marinated pork along with some Mexican beer. Then after tasting Layla's margarita I went on to drink those but very carefully, knowing that tequila can be a mean drink if one isn't used to it.
Vientos del Pueblo played several sets throughout the afternoon, as well as some of their musician friends doing short sets in between. Lots of people came to the party, food was laid on later and the whole thing was mostly outdoors in the hot sunshine. We have since seen our photos which came out beautifully, the autumn colours of the trees behind the band as they played. Over 100 CDs were sold during the event and I later listened to mine in bed. Later in the afternoon Layla's friends LeAnn and Lucy arrived and it was lovely to meet them - we would be staying at LeAnn's house that night. When the launch party ended, LeAnn and Lucy went across the street to another Latino restaurant to eat but we stayed on an extra half an hour or so talking to the musicians before joining them. Then we sat outside Billy Goat's restaurant with Lucy and LeAnn and ordered some snacks to keep them company. Then after that we said our goodbyes to Lucy and went back with LeAnn to her house nearby.
I was really enchanted with her lovely house and the beautiful welcome she gave us, meeting her friendly tortoiseshell cat and felt really at home there. By 11 pm we were all ready to sleep and like the previous night I was asleep straightaway, only to find myself waking up yet again at 4 the following morning! But after taking a shower I was happy to relax with my book and Andean music through headphones until the others got up. Obviously with these early morning risings this is my way of getting jetlag. I can cope with the long days but my body still thinks in British time in the mornings!
Seeing LeAnn's house in daylight was even more enchanting. In the front of the house there is a huge ancient tree which appears to shelter the whole house and gives the impression it is watching over it and protecting all within. In the back garden was another ancient tree with a swing and I needed no second bidding when LeAnn invited me to take a ride on it! After excellent fresh coffee with hazelnuts in it we drove to a nearby coffee shop for breakfast as from there LeAnn would go straight to work. I really enjoyed my first American breakfast which are even more substantial than our own. Afterwards we said our goodbyes to LeAnn and we had the rest of the day until the evening show to explore Atlanta.
It was another really hot day with clear blue skies (I overheard someone later saying it was 82 degrees whatever that is in centigrade) and after dropping our films in for developing we drove to East Lake and took the Marta train. They have a kind of subway train system, one going from East to West and the other from North to South and I was eager to take a ride on it. We got off downtown and then walked a while including through a park, plus into the underground area which is the old Atlanta and full of unusual little shops. I felt slightly uneasy in the park which was full of black people who stared at us openly. Layla had already told me back in England that there in Georgia the black and white people don't integrate like they do in England which probably accounted for my uneasiness, although when I voiced these fears Layla said I had nothing to worry about in daylight. I loved listening to them talk, that lovely Southern drawl in their accents, and we spoke to some of them when they initiated conversation with us.
Our plan that day was to visit the Westin tower on Peachtree Avenue and we decided to head in that direction first. Layla was slightly worried that I would be afraid as we went up in the glass lift outside the tall building but it turned out that she was the one who was scared with me excitedly looking out and exclaiming at the sensation as we swiftly ascended. The bar on the top was closed until 4 pm so we decided to take lunch in the restaurant. This way instead of paying 7.5 dollars each just to go up in the lift we would be putting that money towards lunch. I loved that ride to the top - one felt that it would keep going even when it ran out of building! The Sundial Restaurant is atop the Westin tower - 723 feet up which is about 220 metres high and 188 ft (57 mm in diameter and the best part is that this restaurant revolves around the building so that the view is constantly changing. And you can take a look at it online yourself by visiting www.thesundialrestaurant.com.
We sat opposite each other at the table so we both had an unrestricted view which was really amazing and took a few photos. We decided to have one of the special cocktails which at 15 dollars each were quite expensive but you got to keep the glass which was huge, about 70% of a litre with a picture on the front. We both chose the same drink with an ice-cream base, kahlua and other stuff, and for lunch chose excellent seared chicken with creamy mash, spinach and tomato salsa. I enjoyed myself so much up there that I never wanted to leave! The view was so incredibly amazing and Layla pointed out all the main landmarks. The whole city is really modern with many tall buildings and skyscrapers interspersed with parks and when building the city they kept all the trees except in the downtown area and even there, there are a few. The suburbs in the distance were almost invisible due to all the trees. The whole city is a very wealthy one, completely rebuilt after the Civil War.
Coming down in the lift was equally as impressive and we both decided to go there again for lunch when we return to Atlanta for my flight home. We then walked to Centennial Park, a special park built at the time of the Olympics in 1996. At this time of the day it was so hot that we could not walk too far so we decided to get the train back to the car. Layla said that such unseasonably hot weather was quite unusual in November so I felt really lucky.
Back at the car we drove to a place called Little Five Points to look at the shops, an area full of really quaint and unusual shops, including a Native American Indian gift-shop with Robert Mirabel's music playing as we went inside. Everything in that shop was incredibly beautiful but very very expensive. I fell in love with a necklace but needless to say did not buy it when I learned the price was 225 dollars!
We decided later to go to Billy Goat's restaurant for our meal before going to the show and were really disappointed to find it was closed on Mondays! Luckily the Peruvian restaurant was open and we went there instead. We both ordered plates of spicy garlicky king prawns plus the king prawn chowder which we enjoyed outside until we realised we had an odd mosquito for company and went back inside (too late not to get bitten on the leg though!). We would have liked to have invited LeAnn to eat with us except that she was still at work until gone 7, the reason she could not come with us to the show that night.
We drove to a place called Knights of Columbus for the show - a belly-dance show, the star of which was Delilah, one of the most famous belly-dancers in the world. Inside Layla greeted old friends and introduced me to them and we looked at the lovely costumes on sale and I was almost tempted to buy one of the CDs because of the unusual instruments except they were quite expensive at 18 dollars each! Just before the show started we were delighted when Jerry arrived, neither of us dreaming he would drive those 84 miles just for the evening but he did, even though since we had left him he had been working hard on building a new room extension onto his house. Luckily there was an empty seat next to the two we had reserved at the front so we could sit together. The show was brilliant and began with a flamenco dancer who danced through 4 songs, the music supplied by two musicians on eastern instruments and a Spanish guy on flamenco guitar. This was followed by belly-dancers each dancing a different style, culminating in Delilah's passion filled exotic performance at the end. The music was really beautiful, the guys playing various different instruments. Despite being so thrilled with the show, I was also having to fight to stay awake as by this time all those long days were catching up with me and at times it was a struggle to keep my eyes open! Afterwards we stayed about a further half an hour chatting to various people before saying our goodbyes and driving back to LeAnn's for another night. Our original plan had been to drive about an hour out of Atlanta in the direction of Savannah and stay at the Trade Winds motel, but LeAnn had persuaded us earlier in the day to spend another night at her house instead which we did.
When we got there we were given her beautiful welcome again, our beds turned down waiting for us and I was asleep within seconds of my head hitting the pillow. We knew we had an early start next day and I was afraid to rely on me waking at 4 am again so we set an alarm for 5. As it happened I awoke at ten past four and decided to take my shower and even though I did this silently, the others were awake without me having to wake them. We had coffee together and we showed LeAnn our photos and she even gave us cups to take more coffee with us. We thanked her profusely for her lovely hospitality when we left and I will definitely be keeping in touch with her by email.
It was still dark but leaving at just after 6 we were able to get out of town before encountering any real traffic but as we drove out on the interstate I was amazed at the amount of traffic going in the opposite direction, commuters from outside the city on their way to work. After about an hour and a half we stopped at a Waffle House for breakfast and just that distance out from Atlanta I was amazed at the warm balminess of the weather even though it was a hazier day and not bright sunshine like the previous day. We had to put our coats on in the Waffle House though because they keep the air conditioning turned up so high.
Yet again I was impressed with another American breakfast. I just adore the Scrambled Eggs here which are made with butter and cheese and this comes with hash browns, bacon, toast and a delicious cinnamon flavoured raisin bread upon which you spread apple butter. Yummee, really delicious! Both days Layla enjoyed something called grits with her breakfast but I did not fancy it as it looked something like porridge - yuk! This is something typically Southern she said. We only stopped once more on the way to Savannah, to buy root beers which is a non-alcoholic drink which tastes almost medicinal as if they use eucalyptus roots and it's a really unusual taste. Even just stopping in a garage to buy these, polystyrene cups full of crushed ice were provided along with the bottles - not the measly one or two ice cubes you get if you ask for ice back home!
Finally at 11-15 we drove into Savannah which looks a really beautiful place with ancient buildings and everywhere enormous ancient oak trees laden with moss which hangs down. With the really tropical feeling balmy air I know I am going to love it here. Layla's house is beautiful and spacious and the first thing we did was put on the new CDs she got for me and I am enjoying Andean Nation latest CD called 'Skies of Tarabuco', Andes Cosmos, Fusion Andina's first Andean symphony etc and loving every beautiful note as I write you this long email! Layla has gone to teach a dance class and will be back soon and then we are heading out to Tybee island, to have lunch at a seafood place on the beach and then relax on the beach a while, although we will only have a few hours there as she has to be at the Casbah restaurant by 6 pm, the Moroccan restaurant where she dances most evenings. I am going too and will probably eat there later but early on will wander around River Street where the shops will still be open. Tomorrow Layla's Ecuadorian friends Tumi, Rene and Miguel are arriving and we plan to visit the beach again, weather permitting. These musicians play in the Andean band Andes Cosmos and I am looking forward to meeting them. I love their band's music and know there are one or two albums of theirs that I have not got and will probably buy them. I was also delighted to note in one of the tape covers in the car that it is possible to buy Otavalomanta's CDs from them and there are two that I want more than anything!
Palmetto Bugs!
It's Thursday morning and later today I will be flying to Dallas for a stay of 4 days. I was lucky to get a bargain priced flight from a standby sale to enable me to make this inter-state visit. I will be staying with my Bolivian friend Jacco and by pure luck this coming weekend I will not only be able to see his band Vision Andina in performance but also Wayanay Inka who are brilliant; I have all their CDs. I am really looking forward to both performances as well as seeing Jacco of course! I last saw him when he came to England for 2 weeks holiday in summer of 2001.
I am continuing to enjoy my first visit in the US. The wonderful weather has continued and we went to the beach both yesterday and the day before. Tuesday was a pretty hectic day with the early start, the long drive to Savannah from Atlanta but we did manage to squeeze in a couple of hours at the beach - first a late lunch at the North Beach Grill and then just over an hour relaxing right on the sea's edge enjoying the sound of the surf and the sea birds. Which is when I fell in love with the boat tailed grackles - these have an unusual tail feather and are very elegant looking with beady eyes and very curious and friendly. The males are an iridescent black colour and the females are iridescent brown. They are so cute. There were a whole host of other sea birds - skimmers, ordinary sea gulls, sandpipers, but I was really charmed by the boat tailed grackles which are also indigenous to South America but go by another name there.
Yesterday we spent the afternoon at the beach - with lunch at the North Beach Grill again and then we drove to the other side of the island, South Beach, and set ourselves up there. We had to move twice as the tide was coming in and the third time made ourselves comfortable above the water line. I had saved chips and most of my bread roll from lunch in the hopes of seeing some boat tailed grackles and eventually some did appear and I had fun feeding them. I regretted not holding some of the food back later though because a female grackle with only one leg appeared a little later and I managed to coax her quite close to me and to my delight she stayed with me a good part of the afternoon, hopping around my chair and coming close enough that I could have reached out and touched her. I am convinced that if I had had food she would have come onto my hand to get it. When she eventually disappeared a couple of hours later I felt quite bereft!
We stayed on the beach until it was almost dark. It was practically deserted on South Beach apart from the odd person walking by and a guy in a flying contraption up in the sky. We actually saw him take off later from our beach, by arranging the parachute part behind him and then running with a little engine running until he went airborne.
We drove home (about 15 miles) and then got busy as we were having friends over for a meal in the evening, having got all the ingredients the night before after Layla finished work at the Casbah. Layla's job was to set the table and make the salads and I got busy cooking. Tracy and Michelle arrived just before 8 pm and we had a lovely evening, listening to Andean music, enjoying the food and wine. Later in the evening Michelle gave me a reading with the tarot cards which was very illuminating and interesting because she got my situation and life in the present exactly right, even down to the Andean factor.
Which reminds me I forgot to tell you about Tuesday night. I went with Layla to the Casbah as she was working that evening. I watched her first show and then went out with the idea of eating later. I discarded my first idea of visiting the shops because there were not many people about and the inevitable crowds of men loitering on corners. This put me right off walking alone so I went into the library of the Savannah College of Art and Design instead where I was able to sign in as a visitor and spend a couple of hours on one of their computers. When I got back the restaurant was pretty crowded but I managed to get a table with a good view of Layla's dancing and was in time to watch her do the sword dance. I really enjoyed the meal, having chosen lamb and vegetable cous-cous, which I livened up with harissa sauce.
I don't know if I mentioned it before but all the houses here have little creatures in them! By this I mean palmetto bugs which are a type of large flat cockroach who normally live in the palm trees outside but come indoors when the weather turns cooler. I managed to avoid seeing one for a while by Layla turning on the lights and giving me the all clear each time we went into the house. But just before our guests arrived I was ironing the camisole I wanted to wear today when I saw one appear right beside me. I managed to get up without too much of a panic and back away and Layla came to the rescue to kill it. Boy what a mess that makes! She was telling the girls about it at dinner and they said that was nothing - that to see one flying towards you was really scary. I quivered with fright at the mere idea of those wings buzzing, especially when Tracy told me about one that flew straight towards her and landed on her forehead and it was so big it took up her whole forehead, with her screaming for someone to get it off! I think if that happened to me I would have a heart attack and die right on the spot! I'm sleeping on a futon quite near to the ground and was worried in case one climbed up in the night! I might not have slept so easily that first night had I known they could fly! By the way I have got used to the different time zone now and the past couple of mornings did not wake until 7 am. There is a 2 hour time difference between here and Texas but hopefully that will be easier to get used to than a 5 hour difference.
I haven't seen much of Savannah yet, us having chosen to spend our time on the beach due to the unseasonably hot weather, but when I return after the weekend we will have time to still do all the touristy things, like a carriage ride around the oldest part of town, all the shops, maybe dinner on a paddle steamer etc. Most of Layla's work next week is in the daytime, teaching dance classes or modelling and her evenings will be clear. It was really unfortunate that she could not come with me to Dallas due to these daytime commitments but unfortunately there is no one who can model instead of her and all this forms part of her regular work. At the Casbah things are more flexible as she can book other dancers to dance instead of her, which she did in order to have last night free. Upon her return at lunchtime today she will drive me to the airport.
Greetings From Dallas.
You are probably wondering why it took so long to write a message from here. The reason is that since I landed in Dallas on Thursday evening it has been a whirlwind of activity.
As you know I left Savannah last Thursday on the 2 pm flight, changing planes at Atlanta. There was a 2 hour wait between flights which meant I did not arrive at Dallas Fort Worth until around 6.20. When Layla dropped me off at Savannah airport I purposely did not eat anything thinking something would be served on board but no. The flight to Atlanta was one hour and all we got served was a small packet of pretzels and a drink. The next flight was 2 hours and I was starving by this time and felt sure we would be given something more substantial - but again no - all we got was 2 mini packets of pretzels and a drink!!!
When I arrived at the carousel to collect my suitcase, Jacco was already there waiting for me and in no time we were on our way. Our first stop was the studio as he had another meeting before he could go home. This wasn't the studio he normally works at but another one which he had designed and built from scratch and once there he showed me around and I was really impressed. Then while he had that last meeting I was given a beer and a magazine to read and I sat in whilst the meeting took place. I realised then that he would be working all day on Monday, having been unable to get that day off. The meeting was about the training session he would be giving on how to operate the sound equipment in the studio. This had to be done on Monday (today) because Jacco leaves for Bolivia on Thursday. I was just glad he had been able to get Friday off and although he would be busy on Saturday and Sunday at Dallas International Festival I would be there too enjoying all the music and dance from around the world. Jacco is something of a workaholic, working long hours at the studio, on average from 8 in the morning until 10 or 11 at night, plus he is caught up in various music projects, manages his band Vision Andina and other things and life for him is always spent on the run.
After the studio we drove to a Venezuelan restaurant for something to eat. Unfortunately we arrived late enough to miss the performance by his friend Carlos on Venezuelan harp but Carlos said he would be performing at Monica's the following night and urged us to come and hear him then instead. We then drove to Jacco's home and spent the remainder of the evening watching a video of him performing last July at a Pena in Bolivia with Ernesto Cavour, Fernando Jiminez, and Juan Carlos Cordero. We also listened to Vision Andina's latest CD which was also recorded in Bolivia with some of these famous musicians. 100 of these have been produced in its spontaneous form and will be sold with all proceeds going to the first of a series of projects he is involved in, raising funds for Bolivian orphanages. He gave me one of the CDs and the video, and I will be taking a few of the CDs with me to England to sell them for him there. The CD will be re-mastered in the spring and properly released then and I am going to do a CD cover to replace the existing one. So if there is anyone out there who would like one of these limited edition spontaneous editions of the CD the price is 10 pounds or 15 dollars and are obtainable though me. Every penny will go to the Bolivian orphans as each musician donated his time without any fee. I have heard the CD three times now and it is absolutely brilliant, an excellent performance by top class musicians. The song selections on it are absolutely wonderful too.
The next morning Jacco went out to a local bakery and bought croissants and crusty French bread and also came back with 2 takeaway containers containing typical Texas sausages and Huevos Mexicanos - a delicious scrambled egg concoction with peppers, onions, etc, accompanied by a hot vegetable salsa - really delicious. After breakfast I showed him a lot of useful shortcuts and tips in both Quark Xpress and Photoshop programmes. This evolved from the fact that the printers had not got the colours right on the current CD cover of Anthology which he had produced himself. I showed him how to ensure this never happened again and answered all his questions about things that puzzled him in both programmes, as well as showing him a few useful shortcuts and how to fade out colour pictures etc. After this I had time to check my email before his friends arrived, a couple of other people who are involved in the Bolivian Orphanages project. Lunch was also a meeting to go over their suggestions on how best to film the benefit performance in La Paz next Saturday. If anyone sees this in time, this concert is taking place at Auditorio Colegio de Avogados in La Paz and will feature other bands as well as Jacco playing with Ernesto Cavour, Fernando Jiminez and Juan Carlos Cordero. Juan Carlos is working very closely with Jacco organising everything at the Bolivian end. A film crew are going with them and on the Friday will be a big party for the children at the biggest of the orphanages benefiting from their efforts. The benefit concert on Saturday is the first of a series of them and will involve Jacco going to Bolivia to perform in these concerts at least 3 times a year. Look out for the story about this first one on my website in a few weeks time, complete with pictures of the children and performers.
I did not realise until we got outside the house that the weather here in Dallas was nowhere near as good as it had been in Savannah. It was pouring with rain! I asked Jacco if he had an umbrella or anything and he produced one of the rain ponchos purchased when in Edinburgh in 2001 which was perfect to put on and keep out the rain. We drove to the Green Chilli, an Asian noodles and grill bar, where we enjoyed an excellent lunch. I chose a delicious chicken and Asian vegetable soup with noodles which was enormous and a meal on its own.
After the meal we said goodbye to his friends as the next job was to return home and collect and load his car with everything needed for his booth at the international festival the following day. Arriving at St Marks school (a posh private school here in Dallas), we found the table allocated to Bolivia and set things up as far as possible in readiness for the following day. Jacco's lady friend Noreen arrived at this point as she would be managing the booth both days, Saturday and Sunday. The whole place was a hive of activity with people getting their booths ready.
After that was done it was time to eat dinner so the three of us went to an Argentinian restaurant which also served food from other South American countries including Peru and Bolivia. I ended up choosing a huge Guatemalan seafood soup which was the best soup I have ever tasted. There was some live music performed there too, a guy singing romantic songs, also a friend of Jacco's. After the meal we went to Monica's - another restaurant - where it was possible to just order drinks and we enjoyed the live music there which was a funky jazz fusion - two guys on bongos and drums and Carlos on his Venezuelan harp. I just loved their style of music and would have bought a CD had one been available. Our last stop before going home was to 2 supermarkets - the first one to buy some CD-Rs and the second a food market as I wanted to cook lunch on Sunday for all the members of Vision Andina who would be doing their rehearsal at Jacco's house in the morning. Then back home afterwards I went through Jacco's CD collection which is when I realised he had some great stuff that I would never find in Europe and made a little pile of the most elusive ones so that I could hopefully make a start the following day.
Saturday and Sunday were very busy, taken up with the Dallas International Music Festival. I helped him load all the stuff in his car again and take it to St Mark's and carry it to the booth. As we carried it in we passed Wayanay Inka who were setting up under a tented awning outside and I knew I would be there at the first opportunity! At the booth I helped Jacco and Noreen who had arrived before us set up the remainder of the items, including several beautiful ponchos and the CDs for sale. Then I left them to it and headed straight over to Wayanay Inka as I was dying to hear them play live. I was delighted to discover they had a new CD produced in 2003 called 'Andean World' which I immediately bought. The band consisted of two of the four original Wayanay Inka band, plus Miguel who normally plays with Vision Andina, plus one of the brothers selling CDs. Jacco said this band often splits into two and go off doing different things. Without the full complement of original musicians they did not sound as good as they would otherwise have done, but I was still thrilled to be listening to the live music of what is one of my favourite bands by whom I have around 5 CDs in my collection. I spent all morning and part of the afternoon listening to them, going off in between sets to see the rest of the festival which was unbelievably impressive. In addition to booths of most of the countries of the world, there were also two stages in two different large buildings, one devoted to dances in costume by many countries around the world, and the other devoted to music shows by bands from various countries. I enjoyed watching some of the dance shows, visiting all the booths and bought handmade jewellery from two of them, also a leaflet of Guatemalan recipes from another. I had dressed warmly for the day but being outside so much I felt cold after a while. It was misty and overcast and there was a really cold wind blowing so I ended up borrowing one of the ponchos from our booth and wearing that to keep warm. It was also fun to try out the food from some of the stalls - choosing Argentinian empanadas and jorajas, Hungarian apple strudel and Indian samosas. Then at 3 pm it started pouring with rain and did not look as though it would let up all day. I knew Wayanay Inka wouldn't be playing in conditions like that so returned to the booth to ask Jacco if he could drop me back to the house so that I could start on the CDs and he said okay. He dropped me off, saying to make myself at home and make coffee or eat whatever I wanted and that he would return later in the evening. I knew this would be several hours hence as he also had to deliver a car load of boxes of medicines, toys and clothing to one of the employees of American Airlines, to be distributed among the members also going to Bolivia on Thursday using the main bulk of each traveller's luggage allowance. American Airlines are the main sponsor for this new project of Jacco's. This guy lived an hour out of Dallas so the plan was for Jacco to leave Noreen in charge of the booth while he delivered everything and for him to return in time to help her pack everything up for the night. He said he would pick up takeaway food and bring it home for us on his return and I happily got to work on the CD copying, listening to some beautiful music at the same time and the time simply flew. I had planned to write this email then but got so caught up in the copying process that time ran out and Jacco returned. After eating I did as much preparation as I could for the following day's lunch and Jacco watched TV with Andean music playing at the same time. I also prepared a flyer for him which he would get photocopied the next day - advertising Vision Andina's performance at 4 pm, which would be handed out at the booth.
Yesterday was a brilliant day and the weather was better too - warm and quite sunny. The band arrived about 10 am, by which time I had the cooking of a Peruvian lunch well under way. Jacco tuned all the instruments ready for the arrival of his fellow musicians and then dashed out to get the flyer photocopied by which time they were arriving and it was great to meet the other musicians of Vision Andina. I spent the morning dashing from kitchen to computer to copy a few more CDs and back again to supervise the cooking, plus taking photos as the band rehearsed - they sounded so good I knew that listening to their show on stage that afternoon would be the highlight of my whole trip to Dallas. When they finished we all sat down to eat lunch which we enjoyed with a bottle of red wine, and it was great to see them tucking in and enjoying the food. Jacco who hardly ever eats at home and mainly eats out even asked for the recipe and said he would start cooking at home sometimes. After lunch we set off for the festival again and I helped them carry instruments to the backstage area and then went off to see everything again, my first stop being to Wayanay Inka to listen to their performance. The remainder of that day revolved around their shows until about quarter to four when I went to the main stage area and got myself a front row seat ready for Vision Andina's show. A Caribbean music show was just finishing and then a Mexican folkloric dance troop entertained us while Vision Andina set up their instruments. Noreen arrived just as the show was about to start and there followed an hour of pure heaven. The 10 songs they had decided to play were about the most beautiful Bolivian songs of all time and the seating area was packed with people watching. I was especially entranced when right at the beginning Jacco welcomed the people who had come to see them, first mentioning me from England. I thought that a wonderful gesture on his part. Hearing Vision Andina live on stage for the very first time was definitely definitely the highlight of the whole Dallas visit.
Back at the booth afterwards it was time to start packing everything up and I helped Noreen with this and Jacco joined us soon afterward once the instruments were in the car. Then he had to drive Juan back to his car which had been left parked outside his house and I went with Noreen to her house, with Jacco to join us later. Noreen said the plan then was to go to a party on a ranch about an hour outside Dallas, but that Pedro had already left and no one knew the address where the party was to be held apart from him.
Back at Noreen's house she produced coffee and snacks and then got on the phone to try and track someone down who knew the address, all of which yielded nothing, until Jacco phoned and said that Pedro and Francisco were performing at an Arabic restaurant called Sands and for us to meet him there. When we arrived Jacco was sitting at a table with another Bolivian and two ladies and upon our arrival Jacco decided we would eat there and listen to the musicians play. The two of them sounded really good too, Francisco singing and playing the guitar and Pedro playing flute or panpipes. The food was excellent and we were all drinking iced tea which is a great favourite here in USA. Somehow tea drunk ice-cold through a glass full of crushed ice tastes much better than the hot variety, especially by the time I had added a few cubes of sugar. I ended up drinking three of these during the evening and enjoying the music of Pedro and Francisco. Unfortunately by the time they finished at 10 pm, no one wanted to still go to the party at the ranch as it would have been too late an evening. Jacco had too much preparation to do at home ready for the studio session today, and Pedro and Francisco had day jobs to go to also. So we said our goodbyes and returned to the house where I was able to help Jacco by desktop publishing all the material he needed for the students at the studio today.
This morning he was up at 6 and on his way to the studio by 7 and he will be home again about 6 pm tonight. I am writing this email now and will then finish the CDs, take a shower etc, in time for Noreen's arrival at 2 pm when we are then going on a drive around Dallas to see some of the posh sights. We drove through some of the posh end of town at night where the most incredible houses are set on huge lots, all among lovely trees and it will be nice to see these places in daylight. I am really impressed with Dallas as a city - it all looks so modern and clean - residential areas in wide avenues with lovely trees. Noreen told me that city officials check every house in the city and if any garden is found with the grass on the lawn a few inches high they are heavily fined. I especially like the fact that at intersecting streets you can see the street name high above as you approach and even the road numbers in small print underneath indicating the road numbers to the left and right. This means you can see well in advance as you approach the traffic lights the name of the next street instead of waiting until you turn the corner and then hope to find a street name sign as you turn which is what you have to do back home.
After a driving tour of the posh end of town she is going to show me some of Dallas's nicest shops until we meet up with Jacco around 6 and then the plan for my last evening is for the three of us to go up a really high tower like the one in Atlanta, this one topped by a ball of flashing lights inside of which is a restaurant and bar and a place for dancing. I am really looking forward to that although we won't be staying late. We have to leave the house at 4 tomorrow morning for my flight back to Savannah which departs at 5.50 and this time the two flights are pretty close together and I sure hope I can find my way to the second flight in the time in what is a really enormous airport at Atlanta. I will arrive in Savannah at 10.25 where Layla will be at the airport to meet me and take me into town so that I can start exploring there while she teaches her class and she will rejoin me there afterwards. I sure hope the weather is nice and warm like it was before I came here.
I will probably send two more emails after this one, the next one covering the days in Savannah up until Friday when we leave for Atlanta - then the last one covering the weekend in Atlanta, the journey home, culminating with Sunday in London following my arrival, when I hope to visit Eddy and Rosa at El Inca, see Jorge and his new wife Viviana at Canary Wharf and finally Aquiles at some point in the afternoon before the journey back to Bath by train - where I will arrive late and return to work on Monday morning!
After that the next Andean event to look forward to is Quimantu in concert with John Williams on Sunday 30th November, unless any of my friends in Peruvian bands such as Dante or Chan Chan decide to visit Bath one weekend soon.
Last Hello From Savannah.
It's Thursday morning and I am taking the opportunity to write whilst Layla is working. She comes back at 12 noon and we have lots of touristy things planned for this afternoon in Savannah. It looks like another warm sunny day outside, apart from a breeze blowing.
My last day in Dallas was thoroughly enjoyable. Noreen came for me at 2 pm and we drove first to Lakeside to look at the huge houses which faced on to Turtle Creek. We crossed the bridge looking for turtles in the water but unfortunately some dredging work was going on nearby which probably scared them all away. It was a lovely spot with various beautiful geese and ducks and we took some photos.
After that we drove to Spanish Village, a large square of shops in a very wealthy area. The shops were designer names such as Christian Dior and it was interesting to window shop. Then Noreen treated us to lunch at Celebrity, a shop specialising in catered meals but also had a few tables outside for people to enjoy their special sandwiches or cakes. As we were eating I was delighted to see that grackles live in Texas too, albeit slightly smaller ones than in Georgia, and I had fun feeding them.
After lunch we drove out to a huge shopping mall and looked around the shops there. I fell in love with a slim-line CD player which worked on the Bose wave principle and was a bargain compared to what it would have cost back home. I may have even been tempted to buy it had I not already bought a CD clock radio in Dallas. There would not have been room for both in my flight baggage on the long haul homeward.
We were looking for dresses for Jacco to take for his sister in La Paz and as Noreen is the same size as her she was able to try things on. She insisted on buying me a present as we did this which I thought was very sweet of her. Of the tops I tried on I chose a lovely cross-over one in black and silver which fit me perfectly - the others were too small, there being nothing larger than British size 16 which is 14 here. Finally Noreen chose four outfits for purchase for Jacco to choose between, as the shop would take anything back within a month of purchase. Also whilst shopping I bought a transformer to convert 110 volt items to 220, not realising at the time of buying the CD clock radio that it would only work on 110 volts. In fact, not even realising until then that the voltage wasn't the same as back home.
We arrived back at the house with enough time for me to change and each had a small glass of wine before Jacco's arrival. Noreen suggested a place to go and eat but Jacco, knowing how much I had enjoyed sea food here in Savannah, said No that he knew a much better place, a Mexican restaurant specialising in sea food dishes, and that we would eat there and then go to the tower.
The restaurant was lovely and had so many lovely things on the menu it was difficult to choose. Jacco chose a plate of appetisers for us to share whilst deciding and I eventually decided on a mixed platter of jumbo shrimps and mixed sea food in the most divine sauce with baked potato and salad and chose iced tea to accompany it, having really got partial to this popular American drink. I never thought I would see the day that I would be drinking tea having disliked it as a drink all my life, but sweetened and in a glass full of crushed ice with several slices of fresh lime in it, it is really delicious. I could happily drink this instead of wine and will do when I start my diet back home.
After the restaurant we drove to the tower, driving through the downtown area in the process which was interesting to see. It is in the downtown area that all the skyscrapers are - out from the centre it is completely different with wide avenues. When we arrived at the tower we gave up the car to the valet service and entered the hotel and had the lovely experience of going up in a glass lift again and seeing Dallas laid out before us. At the top we entered the bar and were sitting right against the glass window like in Atlanta and I was completely mesmerised by the wonderful view, which like in Atlanta kept changing as it rotated also. We weren't quite so high up as we were in Atlanta but higher again was the disco in the flashing ball which we didn't visit. I chose a wonderful concoction called Chocolatini made with kahlua, white chocolate liqueur, vodka and cream covered in thick dark chocolate flakes which was incredible, Noreen and Jacco choosing brandy alexander and marguarita. We stayed enjoying the views for about an hour and took a few photos until returning to ground level in that incredible lift, and then reclaiming the car from valet service (10 dollars for that privilege).
By the time we got back home it was 12.15 so while Noreen modelled the dresses I made my bed up and said my goodnights knowing I had to be awake 3 hours later. Luckily all my packing had been done much earlier in the day before Noreen arrived.
I was awake bang on 3.30 intending to call Jacco at 3.45 but before I could do so, I could hear he was up and already having a shower, and by the time he was ready so was I and we left the house about 4.20 for the drive to the airport, about half an hour distant. At the airport Jacco waited with me while I checked in to make sure I did not have any problems and then walked me down to departures where we said goodbye, with me wishing him a safe and happy flight to Bolivia just two days later.
By the time I reached the departure gate it was only moments before I could board the plane and I was very happy to sink into my window seat, intending to sleep the 2 hours to Atlanta, but as usual could not resist watching take-off and seeing Dallas get further and further away below. It reminded me of the previous night from the tower, all lit up as it was still dark, but once the plane arrived above the clouds one could see the sunrise which looked very pretty. After that I closed my eyes and dozed lightly all the way to Atlanta where I enjoyed another perfect landing. Luckily the plane landed in time as I only had half an hour between flights to reach the departure gate of the connecting flight to Savannah, knowing from the outward journey that it was a very long way in that enormous airport. This involved a long walk, then a train ride to the next concourse and then another long walk and when I arrived boarding was already in progress. Again it was quite a small plane for the Atlanta-Savannah flight but a pleasant trip nonetheless, with me dozing most of the way. But I arrived in Savannah feeling quite refreshed and was outside waiting for Layla by 10.40 and she arrived a few moments later and we were back at the house by 11 am. She went off to teach then saying she would return at 1 o'clock and suggested the beach which I was very happy about as it was another glorious day. By the time I left Dallas the weather there had also improved and 80 was promised on the day I left and it was probably close to that on Monday, and it was warm enough to go without a cardigan on Sunday. It was only on Friday and Saturday that it was so rainy and cold and in fact the weather there is as diverse and temperamental as it is back home in England, never knowing from one day to the next how it will be.
When Layla returned we made straight to the beach as planned - along with her friend who had also decided to join us. We headed straight for South Beach which enjoys the afternoon and evening sun the longest and were soon ensconced on the sand and enjoying the sunshine. Layla and Tracy went off walking and I was content to doze off again in the sunshine until they returned. I woke up when they returned and enjoyed what I thought would be my last day at the beach until 5.30 when it was getting dark. We then headed round to the North side and the North Beach grill where we had decided to eat dinner. All three of us chose the Shrimp Creole and enjoyed a couple of margaritas each too. That dish was absolutely divine and I am sure going to miss those delicious shrimps which are huge and really meaty ones and different than the varieties available back home. The puddings sounded delicious too and I chose blueberry cobbler with ice-cream which was sensational. Tracy and Layla enjoyed their white chocolate and key lime pie also.
Yesterday was another lovely day too. Layla returned at 12 noon again and although the plan was to sightsee around Savannah we changed our minds and went to the beach again as it was such a hot day, at least in the 80s. Arriving at the North Beach grill first we decided to get our food as take-away and took this and two large iced sweet teas with us and drove to South Beach where we could see the tide was going out and parked ourselves right on the water's edge, a perfect spot to enjoy the food, surrounded by sea birds including grackles and having fun trying to feed the grackles without the bigger sea birds grabbing everything. Those grackles are such cute and intrepid birds - it was like a game of strategy between them and the sea gulls and they won out in the end because they were brave enough to walk right up and take food from our hands, whilst the big birds hung back. Then after all the grackles and sea gulls went away the little sandpipers came scurrying along cleaning up what few crumbs were left.
It was so hot that Layla went into the sea to swim but I was happy just relaxing in the sun, listening to the peaceful sound of the gentle surf and reading my book. We stayed almost 3 hours but left earlier as Layla wanted to get back to Savannah in daylight so that I could see something of the town. Once we had accomplished this we did a quick dash home to wash the sand off our feet and change into something warmer and then drove into the main part of town which I had not yet seen. We parked and climbed down steps into River Street, the street cobbled with the same stones that had been used as ballast in the ships in years gone by. River Street was beautiful with the wide river going right through the town and at one end the huge bridge - crossing it takes you into South Carolina which is something we might have done had I been here longer and if we could have fitted it in around Layla's work commitments.
We then did some sightseeing of the shops as I was getting worried not having bought any presents and only 2 days left to do it in. In the next couple of hours I managed to buy all the gifts I intended taking home for people and then we went to a restaurant and sat outside on the upstairs balcony with a good view of the river. A couple of enormous ships went past while we were there - really huge ones which was amazing to see, such huge vessels going straight through the town like that. There was a guitarist and singer entertaining the diners and it was very pleasant even though we could feel the mosquitoes biting us! I chose shrimp again, this time buffalo shrimp (buffalo meaning the fiery sauce on them) and Layla chose flounder and we shared a pecan pie afterwards. Outside afterwards we walked by the river but when Layla pointed out the palmetto bugs I beat a hasty retreat back to the main street, not wanting to see any of them fly. As long as I can forget the fact that they can fly I can just about tolerate the risk of encountering them in the house.
This morning I am covered in mosquito bites all over my neck, some on my face and my feet and ankles are covered in bites, including all up my legs until my knees, even though I was wearing a long skirt, but it isn't too unbearable. I have known worse back in Europe, e.g. France and Spain. It is not much worse than gnat bites back home. Well maybe a bit worse as it has caused my ankles to swell which coupled with the long flight home this weekend will cause some discomfort for a few days.
This afternoon we are sightseeing around Savannah again, this time to see the beautiful squares. Savannah is a city laid out into pretty squares and we are going to see them by driving and then go to lunch. Then the plan is a river boat ride on either the Georgia Queen or Savannah Queen, huge paddle steamer boats. The dinner cruises are quite expensive at 39 dollars per head but we might have done it had it fitted in around Layla's work commitments which unfortunately it doesn't. Instead we are taking the 15 dollar one hour cruise at 2 pm, and then immediately afterwards taking a carriage ride around old Savannah. We have to be back here for Layla's dance class at 7 pm which continues until 8.30 in which I am going to participate too, to get some ideas for the exercise regime I plan to make part of my daily routine at home once I get started on my diet.
We have all day tomorrow here in Savannah too as the plan is to leave for Atlanta very early on Saturday morning. Jerry is working both Friday and Saturday evenings which put paid to the possibility of spending tomorrow night there. As long as we leave by 9 am we will have time to reach the Westin Tower on Peach Street in time for lunch and enjoy one of those huge cocktails and the spectacular views. In case any of you want to take a look at the Sun Dial Restaurant at the top of the Westin tower the website address is www.sundialrestaurant.com.
The End of the Holiday!
I'm starting this on Sunday having arrived safely back in London and will complete the last bit tomorrow. I had a good flight home which only took 7 hours in this direction, landing at Gatwick at 7.20 this morning. From there I took the Gatwick Express into Victoria, stowed my case and am at present at Charing Cross (where I knew I could find an internet cafe) and from here I am off to see my friends Eddy and Rosa at El Inca cafe.
My last couple of days in Savannah were very enjoyable with the warm sunny weather lasting apart from a cooler breeze setting in. We had a lovely time on Thursday - first going on a one hour cruise on the Georgia Queen paddle steamer. When the boat set off up river we were seated at the front of the boat but could not stay there long as we were almost blown overboard by the breeze! Coming back later the difference was incredible as we were sheltered from the breeze and sitting in a suntrap. Amazingly on board near us were people from Wales and Swindon which makes one realise what a small world we live in at times.
After leaving the boat we headed into town as our next plan was a carriage ride around the old part of Savannah. We detoured through one of the candy stores offering free samples of Savannah's famous pralines though. These are really delicious but really expensive at 15 dollars per pound. Just buying one each of these cost us 5 dollars.
We had to wait half an hour before going on the carriage ride so passed the time eating ice-cream and looking at paintings in an art gallery. The actual carriage ride was lovely and lasted nearly an hour, taking in the most historical places and a tour guide talking continuously telling us the history of the city.
After that we returned home as Layla had a dance class for two people at 7 pm until 8.30 but as it happened both students cancelled at the last minute, so Layla offered to do a dance class just for me. For the next hour we did a lot of slow movements to some Hindu music which is often used in yoga. We purposely kept the exercises light and airy so that I would not pull any muscles - what with the long journey home ahead of me. Afterwards we were quite hungry so went to an Indian restaurant nearby for supper.
On Friday we had arranged to meet her friend Michelle at the coffee shop they go to frequently in the mornings. We enjoyed several cups of coffee and cranberry scones and afterwards went for a walk around a beautiful park nearby. We returned home so that Layla could get organised for her classes that day, and then she dropped me in town so that I could spend my last afternoon sightseeing, and she would pick me up in the same place three hours later.
I went into a Spanish tapas bar for lunch and then looked at some shops and bought a few things. I also managed to find the square which had a famous Indian chief buried there, and paid my respects at his grave. Then at 4 pm we returned home as Layla's friend Tumi was due to arrive any minute, as he usually stays at her house when playing in Savannah. In fact we got there just 10 minutes before him, even stopping on the way so that I could get a few things to cook that evening. Layla had to go to work at 6 at the Casbah so I listened to music (Andean of course!) with Tumi all evening and he told me lots about Ecuador which has really fired up my interest to go there one day. Later I cooked a Peruvian dish for supper, saving some for Layla for when she returned from work.
The next morning we had an early start as Tumi would be selling Ecuadorian crafts and playing music at a huge flea-market outside of town as by this time we had decided to go with him so that I could hear him play, instead of the early start to Atlanta previously planned, and we would be continuing direct to Atlanta from there without returning home. As it was just him, he would be playing panpipes in accompaniment to his CDs, as his fellow band members were at another flea market in Colombia that weekend.
We left about 8 o'clock as we had 15 miles to travel and all vendors had to be there by 9 o'clock. I enjoyed browsing round at the flea market spending quite a bit of time in the livestock sections. There was one big shed completely devoted to puppies of all different breeds and I especially fell in love with a blue eyed Siberian husky puppy who was on sale at 400 dollars. I also had a lot of fun in the bird house with had lots of parrots, most very friendly and used to people. Layla took a couple of photos of me holding a beautiful Cockatoo whilst we were in there.
Then at 11 o'clock we said our goodbyes to Tumi and set off for the long drive to Atlanta. After an hour and a half of driving we stopped at a Waffle House for breakfast, and then continued to Atlanta airport which took a further 3 hours, the airport being on our side of Atlanta and thus avoiding possible delays in the city.
There I checked in early, which is a double check-in procedure since September 11th. After checking in and getting my boarding pass I had to then go to the screening centre where all luggage is checked by machine. I sure hope that none of my undeveloped films were in the suitcase as a notice warned they would be destroyed by the machine. I could only hope they were in my hand baggage as I knew that somewhere were 2 undeveloped films in addition to the almost completed one in my camera. Several of the cases were being opened and checked and I was hoping they would not do that with mine, having done a war-dance on it at Layla's to get it zipped closed! Fortunately they didn't open it but the guy lifting it onto the trolley going to the plane gasped at the weight!
Then we went to a cafe for coffee and sandwiches before Layla and I said our goodbyes. I spent about half an hour looking in the gift shops and then headed for the train as my plane would be leaving from the most far distant concourse. I had a fair wait until boarding was in progress and it was great to finally sink into my seat - a window seat which is always my preference - and a gap between me and another lady in the same row. The flight home was good - British Airways look after their passengers so beautifully - but I was unable to sleep more than about an hour. I ended up listening to Andean music all the way home and reading for a while. Each passenger had a TV screen in the back of the headrest of the passenger in front, with films throughout the flight but the best two films I had already seen at the cinema (Homicide Cop and Pirates of the Caribbean). I will continue this email tomorrow as it is going to be a pretty late breakfast at El Inca unless I get going!
Well unfortunately I was unable to see Eddy and Rosa when I arrived at El Inca as they had gone shopping. Serves me right for wanting to surprise them instead of letting them know. I waited 40 minutes in case they returned and in the end left a note for them, as I had to get across to Canary Wharf next to meet Jorge and Viviana. Before reaching Oval station Jorge phoned and confirmed they would be waiting for me in the tube station at Canary Wharf.
When we met it was lovely to meet his wife Viviana for the first time who had returned from Peru with him in August. We went to their home first so that they could show it to me and then picking up their wedding photos to look at over lunch we all set off by bus to a favourite restaurant of theirs. When we got off the bus I realised we were in Bethnal Green and very close to where another friend Claire lives. We had lunch at Nando's which I think is Portuguese, where they specialise in barbecued marinated chicken which was so delicious that we ended up placing our order again after we had finished and enjoyed a second portion! It was great to see their wedding photos. They could not have got married in a more wonderful place - at Huanchaco, the beach I so fell in love with whilst in Trujillo earlier this year.
Finally as we made our way back to their home it was beginning to get dark and I was struggling to stay awake on the bus and still had a few hours of travel before I would get home. I said goodbye to Viviana and Jorge accompanied me to the tube station - with me admiring the scenery as we walked. Canary wharf is very modern looking with pools and fountain and two large shopping malls to be explored at some future visit. I will see them again just before Christmas as I have invited them to Bath for a few days when Jorge has holiday from both work and studies.
From there I had to return to Victoria and pick up my case and thereafter it was quite a struggle being lumbered with that, plus another pull along bag plus a backpack full of things. The wheels on the suitcase were damaged during the outward flight which meant they did not roll properly and it took all my strength to drag it along. Fortunately there are plenty of gentlemen about because as soon as I attempted to get all my things down stairs to the tube trains, someone appeared and carried the heavy case down for me.
Once at Paddington my intention was to ask if I could change my two separate tickets into one direct journey to Bath, but I noticed there was a train already on the platform so decided to take a chance and get on it. The worst that could happen would be having to get off at Reading and taking another train. Again I was lucky that a kind man helped me with the heavy case, even carrying it through a whole packed carriage until I could find a seat where I could keep watch on the case during the ride home. The next two hours was an almighty struggle to stay awake as by this time I was really tired, having only had a couple of hours sleep in the past 36 hours. I finally arrived in Bath at 8 pm where Colin met me at the station, returning to his house first so that we could have a cup of coffee and exchange news and then I drove home and even managed to unpack before finally sinking into bed and a good night's sleep. Today I am back at work. Well that's it I guess until the next holiday or weekend away. The next holiday adventure will be Peru and Bolivia in summer of 2004.
Monday, November 17, 2003
Thursday, September 04, 2003
3 Weeks London and Edinburgh August 2003
We are having the most brilliant time here in London - but always rushing here and there with no time for internet cafes. Sunday afternoon when we did have time the local cafe was closed early! It is now Tuesday and the past few days have been fantastic. Ann stayed Friday night and we all went to the Pelican pub for a meal and drinks plus a live band who were rubbish so we did not stay too long. We stopped to visit my sister on the way home and had a glass of wine there, then back to Colin's to sleep. I put a CD on and Ann and I fell asleep to a brilliant Inka Wara recording.
Next morning I was awake first and after a shower we had time for a light breakfast before Colin drove us down to get the train. The journey to London was nice, we had window seats, both of us with our CD walkmans etc. The train pulled into Paddington at 9.30 where Jorge was waiting to meet us. By this time I was already regretting having 3 bags to lug around all day - a small pull along trolley case, a quite large shoulder bag and a leather backpack full of stuff. Jorge being the gentleman he is insisted on carrying all three of them for me and would not let me carry even one of them, bless his heart!
We set off for Portabello market and were delighted to come across Luis the Ecuadorian so we stopped and chatted to him a while. Then made our way further into the market and found his fellow musician (of the group Migracion) and stopped for another chat with him. At this point Layla phoned and when I said we had already seen two musicians playing she said she was on her way and would phone when she reached the market. Then Jorge, Ann and I did a tour of the market, with me tucking into a mug of Thai spicy chicken soup on the way plus one of the almond croissants I always enjoy at that market. Then Layla phoned and we agreed to meet in the Earl of Lonsdale pub like before, except that she came across Luis before she got there, phoned and we agreed to meet there instead!!!
When I got there Luis was wearing one of Layla's beautiful dream catcher earrings having traded one of his CDs for it so they were both happy with the deal. We then went on another tour of the market with Layla, ending up back at the pub later on for a few cold lager shandies as it was quite a warm day. About 1 pm Jorge decided to say his good-byes because he had worked all night before coming to meet us off the train and by this time was feeling really tired. We parted agreeing to meet up again another day or evening during the week. After he had gone I was lumbered with the 3 bags and really appreciated him having carried them all morning for me. Finally we decided to make our way back to Oval so we would have time to get ready before going out in the evening for Contigo Peru at Conway Hall.
When we reached Layla's lovely flat above El Inca I was very impressed. It is a huge flat with 2 bedrooms, lounge, kitchen, bathroom. That first night her flatmate Noelle let me borrow her bedroom as she was away overnight but the rest of the time I was very comfortable on a nice long comfortable sofa in the lounge. We got ourselves ready and were soon on our way to Conway Hall and luckily managed to get there just as the doors opened at 6.30. Our tickets were waiting for us on the door which is the usual arrangement I have with Annie, the organiser of this event. We found a table near the stage which it so happens we were sharing with people who had travelled from Bristol, the town nearest to Bath!
We decided to eat first and from among the delicious Peruvian dishes on offer I chose Ceviche for a starter and a delicious duck dish for the main course, served with rice and spicy beans. At 7.30 Juan and a couple of other musicians playing Creole music played for half an hour and at 8.15 Kausary played their first set (which for us was the highlight of the evening). Almost from the beginning the floor was crowded with dancers - Peruvian people really know how to enjoy themselves, throwing themselves into the rhythm with gusto whatever their age. I was especially pleased when Aquiles arrived a while later and then Dante as well. Aquiles even got me up on the dance floor later. Chatting and laughing with Dante and Aquiles, plus chatting later with Eliban and Ricardo it was a really fun evening, apart from the interval just before Kausary did their second set when there was a load of speeches. At this point I was struggling to stay awake and almost slid off my seat at one point. Once the band came back on I was okay though as long as I stayed up on the dance floor and didn’t sit down! Flor arrived around midnight and I danced for at least half an hour with her. Ann and Layla thoroughly enjoyed the evening too and although we had had some tentative plans for inviting the band back to the flat for a drink afterwards, by this time we were all flagging on our feet and looking forward to sleep, so decided to defer that idea for another day. We got home on two night buses via Trafalgar Square finally getting home around 1.30 or maybe 2 in the morning.
We all slept so well that I was still the first up even at 9.45 next morning, an unheard of late hour for me! As soon as we were all ready we went down to el Inca for breakfast which Eddy cooked for us and would not let us pay for. Eddy and Rosa who run El Inca and one of whose flats we are staying in are the dearest friends imaginable. Both Layla and I think the world of them and they seem to really like us as well. It was lovely to chat with Eddy (and later in the day with Rosa when we popped back home to change). After breakfast we set off to visit Sunday markets - there being many to choose from. Because of some problems on the Northern line we ended up having to reroute our journey on the Jubilee and then East London lines ending up at Whitechapel. From there we asked directions and headed for Brick Lane. I wanted to fit in a quick visit to my ex husband whilst there as well as look around the market etc. We walked down several streets looking at stalls eventually ending up in a whole street of outdoor cafes selling freshly squeezed juices, excellent cakes and baguette sandwiches etc. I left Ann and Layla to relax there while I went off to find Hanbury street and Labu's flat. When I finally found it a quarter of an hour later I was disappointed that no one was home. I asked a neighbour who said they no longer lived there. Her little daughter said they had the address and went indoors to look for it but eventually came back saying she could not find it. I felt really sorry that I had left it so long since the last visit and sure hope Rekah and Ryan are okay. I have no means of making contact now except that I have the email address of Labu's best friend living in Algeria, so I am hoping he will be able to let me know their current address.
I made my way back to Layla and Ann who were tucking into huge plates of cheesecake, so I joined them and enjoyed a fresh mango juice and Florentine biscuit. From there we continued in another direction until we came to Spittlefields market where I was delighted to catch up with my Peruvian friend Victor and his girlfriend Catalina, agreeing after a chat that we would get together for a meal later in the week, possibly to that nice Malaysian place in Russell Square where I once went with them and his friends Edgar and Santiago. I would love to have seen them again too but Victor said they were still back home in Peru. After that we enjoyed a Mexican meal in the market on one of the many foreign stalls and then continued on to Petticoat Lane market where Layla bought two blouses and I bought one.
After that we decided to go back to the flat because a) we wanted to get to an internet cafe and b) we needed to shop for food for Monday's picnic. Unfortunately the local internet cafe was closed so we did the shopping first and dropped it back to the flat, popping in to see Eddy in El Inca on the way, who promised that Rosa would have Aji de gallina ready for our supper when we returned from the internet cafe. We had an hour at the internet cafe but apart from reading messages I had no time to reply to anyone, having to spend the whole hour trying to find out which railway company covered journeys into Kent and which London station they travelled from. I found out it was Virgin Trains but nowhere online did it state which London station you had to travel from, nor were any of the phone lines still open by this time. I had no choice but to wait until the following morning to find out. We went back and thoroughly enjoyed Rosa's Aji de Gallina at El Inca before ending up back at the flat where we listened to some music. Layla had bought an Arabic dance CD in the market and we put it on to play which is when the idea was born for Layla to dance for us, Ann never having seen her dance before. She changed into her costume and danced for about 15 minutes and it was really fantastic, both of us taking lots of photos in the process. By this time I was ready for bed as I wanted up be up at 6 next morning in order to take a shower before Noelle would need the bathroom to get ready for work. We all slept really well too.
Next morning after taking my shower and getting ready I was relaxing with a coffee and reading my book whilst Ann and Layla got ready. I had forgotten to ring Dante back the night before so was waiting until 8 am before ringing both him and Virgin Trains to find out which station we would travel from. At 8 am Layla was relaxing at the dining room table with a cup of coffee and reading her Harry Potter book but when I finished my call to Dante it was all stations go because Dante said we would need to leave within 10 minutes so that we could all meet on the platform at Charing Cross to get the 9.05 train. The day before I had complained to Layla that I found it difficult at times keeping up with her where she walked so fast and that day it was the other way round - they had difficulty keeping up with me where I was so eager to get to the station! There we had to wait while Ann bought her travel-card and then zoomed to get the Charing cross train. On arrival at Charing Cross we had to check it was still going to be platform 4, buy our tickets etc but we made it onto the platform in good time .... where there was no sign of Dante!!!! We waited on the platform and when the train came in were waiting with the train manager by the open doors all of us anxiously waiting for Dante and Chano to get there. Finally the train manager said we had 15 seconds before the doors closed to decide whether to get on it or not and at the last minute we decided to get on. Once we were seated I phoned Dante and said 'we're on the train, where are you' and his reply was 'the bastards would not let us get on without a ticket.! He said to go and have breakfast in Safeway coffee shop in Tunbridge Wells and he would catch up with us there on the next train.
When they arrived we decided to take a taxi as there were five of us and soon we arrived at the Enchanted Forest where Dante works. After some negotiation with the ticket collector on the gate he was allowed to take some of us in free and the others paying the entrance fees which we then shared between us. We had taken a huge picnic with us and they offered to carry the bags so that we could relax and enjoy our day in the forest. He said to go and watch the 11.30 birds of prey show first and then take the boat ride into the forest, plus visit the formal gardens if we wished, and that we would catch up with him later.
We were so impressed with the beautiful birds of prey in the show that we spent a further 20 minutes with their handlers afterwards and Layla was pleased to be given some beautiful feathers. We decided to go back outside and see the other birds of prey afterwards before continuing into the forest and spent a further 20 minutes there. At one point I was on my knees in front of a baby vulture with my nose only a foot away from his and thank goodness I did not disturb him by this because I was told afterwards that he had a beak like a meat cleaver and the most vicious bite of all the birds!!!
We detoured through a part of the gardens, singing 'An English Country Garden' in the process and then had a lovely boat ride along the canal into the forest. When we got there we could hear their music in the lower end of the forest and by following the music soon caught up with them. There followed he most magic day imaginable, partly spent with them and partly detouring off to see the various sights and coming back to them as they moved through the forest. We saw mystic pools, a megalith stone encircled by hundreds of years old oak trees, a giant wood carving of a head, a circular maze, giant swings in the trees so high you could barely see the tops, a totem pole, a glade with giant rabbits etc. We all had a go on the swings and that was amazing. Later in the day we enjoyed the picnic with Dante and Chano. We also went into a huge wigwam and spoke to Hester a lovely young girl making dream catchers. All day the sun was shining through the trees and with their music and the beautiful setting we were in heaven, believe me! Even our drinks were chilled for the picnic because Dante immersed them in a spring coming up from the ground which was icy cold. This spring supplied all the water for the lakes, the canal, all the fountains in the gardens etc and was pure enough to drink.
Finally it was time to go and we had to walk quickly to leave the forest and then we crossed a big field containing sheep and llamas to the road the other side and we took the bus back to the railway station. We were lucky on arrival there to catch a train within minutes and we enjoyed the remainder of our picnic all the way back to London. It had been such a magic magic day that none of us wanted it to end yet and by making phone calls on arrival at Charing Cross both of them were able to stay with us longer and we went to a bar on a boat on the South bank with a view across the river to the London Eye and enjoyed a few beers together. As the lights came on one by one this was an incredible beautiful setting. Finally Chano had to leave and then Dante too had to go and we walked to the train station before parting company, hopefully seeing them again later in the week. Tomorrow Dante's band Amaru III are playing between 7.30 and 9 and we will be there for that but only if we get back in time. We have an exciting day to look forward to tomorrow because Eddy and Rosa are taking us out for the day by car. We are meeting in El Inca (where Eddy has promised us a surprise breakfast) at 8 am and then leaving at 8.30. We are going outside London into Sussex for the day, a part of England I have never visited before, so I am really looking forward to it. Today after breakfast and time in internet cafes we are exploring the Camden Town area, looking at the market and shops. After Camden we are probably going to Hampstead Heath which Layla is anxious to show me. Apparently there are wonderful views from up there and Hampstead itself is a lovely place with nice shops, plus Eddy recommended an excellent Spanish restaurant there. Later in the day we will accompany Ann to Paddington to catch her train home and then we are going to East Dulwich to spend the evening with Flor and everyone in Johnny's family. All in all it is proving a brilliant week in London and I am enjoying myself immensely. I hope to write again later in the week before I travel back to Bath on Sunday 3rd August with Layla joining me there on Monday the 4th.
It's Friday and possibly my last chance to write an email before returning to Bath on Sunday morning so here I am. After a hectic time since arriving here last Saturday morning I had to really slow down yesterday, I had no other choice really. As usual I was up early and ready and then just by the simple act of putting a CD on to listen to I felt a muscle go in my back and could not straighten up again. It was so painful but I felt convinced I could keep going. I took two strong painkillers and when they did not act quickly enough I took two more and then yet two more but still I couldn't straighten up without extreme pain. We went down to El Inca for breakfast where Eddy bless his heart had our surprise breakfasts ready for us - an amazing platter with sliced chicken, smoked sausage, salami, cheese on toast topped with an egg, mushrooms and bacon, along with coffee and toast.
When I got up later I realised those painkillers were not going to work but was still determined to do the things planned for that day. We decided to go to the nearby internet cafe first and went by bus. After an hour in there I tried to stand up again but knew it was impossible, I had no choice but to go back to the flat and spend the day in bed. Today is still a problem and I am in pain but at least I can stand upright and having spent a day resting I am hoping a day of activity will help. We have been to Charing Cross and are now in Camden and hopefully can meet up with Aquiles later on for a drink. We phoned Carlos to see if they were playing anywhere tonight, only to find that he and Chano are in Bath! Despite the quiet day yesterday the previous days Tuesday and Wednesday more than made up for it. On Tuesday after a hectic day visiting various parts of London including Hampstead and Hampstead Heath as planned and taking Ann to Paddington for her train home, we took a bus from Oval to Dulwich with a hefty walk at the other end, finally arriving at Flor’s house around 8 pm. On arrival we could hear the band in full swing in Johnny’s studio and Flor was busy in the kitchen cooking a meal for everyone. We enjoyed sitting at the kitchen table watching her cook and at the same time listening to the band rehearsing for their concert at Eastleigh summer festival next day. When the musicians joined us after the rehearsal it was nice to see Chano (who lives in Peru most of the year and only visits England for a few weeks each summer) and after trying to work out the identity of one of the other musicians who I recognised I realised he was Carlos who plays with Quimantu and it was lovely to see him again too. We all enjoyed Flor’s excellent ‘Seco de Cabrito’ for supper (a delicious slightly spicy goat stew) and just relaxing and chatting to everyone afterwards. Finally about 1 am, Cameron got up to go and offered us a lift back to Oval which we were very grateful for. Back at the flat we went straight to bed as we were going out for the day with Eddy and Rosa the next day.
We left after breakfast and were delighted when Eddy asked us if we wanted to go to Eastleigh summer festival where we all knew Kausary were playing - he said we could still visit places in Sussex afterwards so we knew it would be a brilliant day out. It took a couple of hours driving to get to Eastleigh where we found our way to the festival venue easily by following the signs and were delighted to arrive in good time before the band started to play. We could hear them still rehearsing in the big top so took a look around the shops in there and found one selling the most amazing clothes - just the kind of clothes that Layla and I both love and we both bought something.
Then we heard the band start playing so went into the big top for the show which was full of families sitting down. Layla and I and several others danced, my favourites being a San Juanito and a brilliant Wayanay Inka song whose title escapes me right this minute. In the interval I returned to she shop and bought another blouse and a dress. Kausary played for about an hour and a half and we really enjoyed the show. During the concert Rosa bumped into an old friend, a Brazilian lady called Keri who invited us back to her house afterwards where she offered us lunch. Her hospitality was amazing and we really enjoyed the time spent with her. All day was sunny and when we left Keri's house Eddy headed for Sussex and although the plan was to go to Littlehampton he decided in the end to continue on to Brighton, much to mine and Layla's delight as we had not been there previously.
We arrived in the late afternoon with the sun still shining, spent time on the beach and then onto Brighton Pier where we all had a beer in Victoria's bar. Then we walked into town looking for a nice restaurant and chose to go into Old Orleans. There we enjoyed an excellent meal as well as a couple of delicious cocktails each. I chose Paradise punch and the others opted for zombies, all of which were delicious. After this lovely meal we walked back along the sea front which looked beautiful as all the lights were on and the pier especially looked beautiful being so brilliantly lit against the night sky. From there it was a long drive back to London and we finally got back just after midnight. We enjoyed Eddy and Rosa's company so much all day and I look forward to a similar jaunt at the end of August as I may come back to London then. Eddy and Rosa have invited me to go with them to Great Yarmouth which is about 140 miles from London on the Anglian coast. I have never been there either and Eddy said it is the most beautiful seaside resort in the whole of England so I am tempted to go. I may come back to London and spend a long weekend here at the end of August. Tomorrow night is Layla's dance performance in El Inca restaurant which will hopefully attract a lot of Peruvians who have been letting everyone know about this event. In the afternoon Layla and I plan to rearrange the furniture and pictures in the restaurant and my job will be to take the money on the door as people arrive. We are hoping that lots of people come to see her dance. Being stuck in bed yesterday the highlight of my day was seeing Layla rehearse her native American part of the show. The evening's entertainment will be 4 separate shows all doing different dances (including the fire dance and two different belly-dance performances, and depending on if some friends arrive late she may even do some of them more than once. I am looking forward to it immensely and so is Eddy and Rosa. Well that is all news for the moment. Sunday morning I will be up early and taking the train back to Bath in the morning where Colin will meet me as we are going straight to an outdoor party with live music starting at 1 pm and continuing until around 9.30.
We had time for another quick internet visit so here I am - this is definitely the last message before I leave in the morning. After leaving the internet cafe yesterday Layla and I had a very enjoyable time in Camden Town, exploring the various markets there. Wow what fantastic clothes are to be had in the shops and markets there! Just exactly the beautiful styles of clothes we both adore and I just could not resist buying yet more clothes - two fantastic skirts and four tops - all of them incredibly beautiful. It is impossible to find such fantastic styles in Bath at affordable prices and in sizes to fit me so I just could not pass them by, especially as the guy selling them gave me such excellent discounts after I had bought the first item.
We headed back to the flat in the late afternoon as thereafter we had separate plans for the evening - Layla to dance at a Moroccan restaurant in Hampstead and me to meet up with Labu, Rekah and Ryan. Remember my dismay last Sunday when I thought I would not be able to make contact with them again, having visited their previous home in Whitechapel and found they had moved? Well by pure coincidence Labu had been trying his best to make contact with me, eventually having to phone the boys to get my latest mobile phone number. I did not get his messages in time to see his sister who was on a visit from America - who had brought gifts for my sons and really badly wanted to see me before she went home. Unfortunately I missed being able to see her but the message did come in time for me to see Labu, Rekah and Ryan last night. Labu gave me detailed instructions on the phone how to find their house from Stepney Green and I said I would visit them in the early evening. As it happened I arrived in Stepney Green at about 7.30 and found my way almost to the house. A quick phone-call brought him to find me and it was lovely to see him, Rekah and Ryan again and to see them all looking very happy. Instead of the flat they lived in before they now have a lovely house and garden and are so thrilled with it. I also saw his brother's wife and daughter who live nearby and were visiting. I stayed about an hour and a half before he walked me back to the tube station, promising that they would all come down to visit me in Bath, probably in that last week of the summer holiday before the children go back to school as they can hire a car and drive rather than taking the train or bus. After leaving him at the station I made my way back to Brixton without mishap and shared a jug of Chicha Morada with Eddy and Rosa before continuing upstairs to the flat and a quite early night. Earlier that day I had bought an excellent book which is set in the Amazon rain forest so making a start on that was a nice finish to the day.
This morning was heavy cleaning day in El Inca so we were too early for them arriving for breakfast before 9 o clock. We decided to have breakfast in the cafe in the park but when we got there it wasn't even open yet! We had a nice breakfast in another restaurant and then took the 185 bus to East Dulwich as we had to reach Johnny's house by 11.15. We managed this okay but they were all still getting ready. We were going with them to Woolwich Docklands festival - a community event - where Flor, Tanya, Kaymi and Cleyder would be dancing. The journey was a bit fraught as we did not think we would arrive in time. It involve the No 12 bus to London Bridge, a train to Woolwich Arsenal and then a change of train to arrive at the Docklands. Fortunately it was less than 10 minutes walk from the station and luckily we arrived in good time. Their participation in the show was two dances to Bolivian music, dressed in lovely costumes. The first was to a Jacha Mallku Morenada and the second was to a Los Kjarkas Saya Caporal. We captured the whole thing on video and took lots of photos which we promised to send to Flor for her to keep some and distribute the others to the other dancers. After their show we said our goodbyes as Layla was anxious to get back to El Inca. On arrival there Eddy dished us up an excellent Peruvian lunch - similar to that cooked for us by Flor last Tuesday when Kausary were practising for Wednesday's festival event - seco de cabrito with rice and spicy beans. This is one recipe I will definitely be looking up in my Peruvian cookbook... After lunch we rearranged the furniture in El Inca and set out the area for her performances tonight and she did a rehearsal which was brilliant. A few Peruvians were in there while this was going on and all said they would definitely be back tonight and bring some friends as well.
It must be about a week since I last wrote from London so hoping I can remember everything since then here goes with another account of our adventures ... We arrived in Edinburgh early Thursday morning and are having a wonderful time, but I will get to that in sequence. I believe I last wrote just before Layla's dance party at El Inca so will continue from then .... Our last full day in London was equally as enjoyable as the 9 days preceding it - warm and sunny again - and we paid another visit to Camden Town and bought a few more clothes. It will be hard to keep away from Camden Town in future because so many shops sell exactly the kind of fashions I most adore. We headed back to El Inca in the early afternoon and rearranged the layout of the restaurant for the evening. I was in charge of taking the money on the door and wore my new sparkly colourful (jungle colours) t-shirt, exotic necklace and a feather head-dress to more look the part for the evening. We were delighted that many of our favourite Peruvian friends arrived in good time as well as many others we've only got to know recently.
The evening was a great success and Layla danced off an on from 8.30 pm until 1 o clock in the morning, taking it in turns with an ethereal dance with veil to Andean music, a dance using feathers to Robert Mirabel's music (fusion of native American and heavy rock), two different belly-dance performances and her fire dance, all of which were beautifully performed and I enjoyed the bemused and awestruck expressions on the faces of our friends nearly as much as watching the dancing. I took some great photos. Towards the end of the evening Layla invited some of them to get up and dance with her - even Eddy was persuaded although he danced backwards right out the door onto the pavement and it was so funny when Layla matched him step for step ending up right outside dancing to spectators out there as well! Rosa made some chicha morada for us and laced it with vodka the way we like. It really was a fun evening and every one of our friends said so too and we will repeat it at the very next opportunity - maybe even before she returns to USA the week after next. After Layla finished dancing Eddy put on some salsa music and everyone was dancing for another hour or more but we did not stay too late as we were both quite tired by this time, plus I had to finish packing my suitcase as I would be leaving next morning.
Luckily with no alarm clock I was up early enough next morning although it was quite a struggle getting the heavy case down the stairs to street level. With my bad back I knew I could not manage the 3 bags like I did coming, so Layla lent me a larger suitcase on wheels for me to put everything in and I left my smaller one on wheels for her. Eddy cooked us a nice breakfast and very kindly offered to drive me to Paddington station to save me having to manoevre the case up and down all those escalators and stairs - an offer which was greatly appreciated! I arrived in Paddington in good time and luckily the train was on the platform 20 minutes before departure, giving plenty of time to stow the case on the train where I could more or less keep an eye on it.
The journey to Bath was uneventful and Colin awaited me on the platform at the other end to help me with my suitcase down the long flight of stairs. Then we took it home and after 10 minutes freshening up we set off for the party being held by his ex wife Diana and her husband Brian. This proved to be an excellent family party for around 150 people in a community club in a nearby village to their home, with a band on stage and dance floor, a superb spread of food for everyone and a huge green sports field outside where most of us took our food and drinks to enjoy out on the grass in that very hot sunshine. All the drinks were free and Colin and I enjoyed several glasses of Pimms - a deliciously refreshing summer drink diluted with lemonade, with lots of ice and the glass full of assorted fruit, chopped cucumber and mint leaves etc. It was lovely to see all Colin's family again, many of whom are scattered all over England so we only get to see them on big family gatherings like that. One of the highlights of the afternoon was a magic show performed by one of Colin's nephews - Simon who is also a musician in two different bands - and this show was so incredibly funny that the adults enjoyed it as much as the children did.
Back home in the evening I was so tired I went to bed early as I knew Monday would be a busy day. I had my other job to do and arrived there at 8 in the morning, then shopping to make a Peruvian meal for Layla that evening, a trip to my home to pick up my post plus my passport for Edinburgh, including collecting a package of CDs that had arrived from my dear friend Jorge in Tierra del Fuego. Then I went to visit my Mum for an hour before making my way into town to meet Layla off the train.
Once back at Colin's we spent the afternoon quite leisurely, sunbathing in the garden, plus I prepared the Pollo Guisado for the evening which we enjoyed at 5.30 pm before driving to a lovely countryside pub by the river right next to lock-gates where all the river boats go through. Layla and I were drinking cranberry juices and vodka, starting off with one vodka to one bottle of cranberry but gradually adjusting the alcohol content until each glass held 2 vodkas and half a bottle of cranberry! We were just halfway through the second one, sitting on the lock gates with our feet dangling when a little houseboat came through and we were talking to the friendly guy who owned it whilst the water levels rose in the lock, and he offered us a ride on his boat down to a nearby boathouse where he was going to dock it, saying it would only take us about 10 minutes to walk back. We were thrilled and downed our drinks in double quick time and climbed on the back of the boat and thoroughly enjoyed the peaceful glide down the river, passing swans and cygnets and lots of ducks on the way, fishermen on the river banks, hot air balloons up in the sky, in short a perfect summers evening. We could see down into the boat from where we were standing and it looked so cosy, even complete with fireplace, television and video etc. We thanked the man profusely for this little adventure when we disembarked at the boathouse by his home, promising to stop by one evening later with copies of the photos we took. Back at the pub we enjoyed another couple of drinks at an outdoor table on the patio before returning home for another quite early night, having made our plans for the next day already.
Layla wanted to go to Glastonbury again and this time climb the tor (which somehow I found myself agreeing to do, even though I am not normally the most energetic person!) - we left early and were parked in the town in good time to catch the first bus going to the tor - and surprisingly I found that climbing the tor was not so strenuous as I had envisaged. The climb was made easier with series of steps to climb and circular walks leading to the top which was surprisingly manageable. My sister phoned just as we arrived at the top and she was amazed when I said where I was! We stayed up there about half an hour enjoying the views and taking photos. Unfortunately there was scaffolding around the tower itself so we took care to exclude it from all our photos. Then we walked down the other side which was a long path stretching down and enjoyed this too. At the bottom we could have visited the chalice well but were both too hungry after the climb so instead walked into town (rather than wait 20 minutes for the next bus), stopping at a factory shop on the way where Layla bought a lovely white sheepskin.
We were sorry to see on arrival in town that Cafe Gallatea (where the musicians play) was closed and only opens in the evenings on weekdays) so went to Rainbow's End cafe instead, which was only offering vegetarian food. We quite enjoyed lunch but both agreed we would prefer meals with meat in it. All this time the sun had been shining and we decided it would be nice to end the day on a beach so headed out of town and even though we could not find the right road from town eventually we found our way back to Wells and then took the road to Weston super Mare, probably a 35 mile trip. Unfortunately by the time we reached the town, parked up and made it to the beach, the sun disappeared and there was a rumble of thunder and spots of rain - luckily the rain did not last and it was a further hour before the sunshine returned but we had an afternoon tea at an outdoor cafe in the meantime which was nice. Then we returned to the Marine Lake beach where we could sit on the sand for an hour before returning home. The water on the beach you could only see with a telescope as unfortunately the tide was way out. The problem with the Bristol Channel being the vast difference between low and high tides and although there is a sandy beach at the esplanade this turns to sticky mud before it reaches the sea.
Wednesday morning we were up early again - I had my other job to do and to make it more feasible to catch the 9.45 train from Bath Colin said he would accompany Layla to the station on the bus so that I could drive straight to the station and then hand over my car to him. I arrived at my job before 7.30 am and was away again just after 9 and only just made it to the station to catch the train. Layla was amazed at the 'toy train' which eventually arrived. The trains for Weymouth are only two carriages long - even in August, height of the tourist season - and we were lucky to get seats. The train was full of families complete with their cool-boxes, buckets and spades etc - already an over full train on this which was only the second of about 16 more stops to pick up people along the way! I was heavily engrossed in my adventure story set in the Amazon rainforest and Markamaru's Fiesta Andina and Kultrun's Ecos del Alma on my headphones so the journey did not seem overlong.
At the other end we joyfully left the train and headed straight for the beach, with me jokingly telling Layla we might find it difficult to find a space to put a pocket handkerchief down on the sand let alone a towel! We stopped for an enormous ice-cream on the way and then headed straight for the beach and luckily found a space big enough for us both. After some lunch we both enjoyed sunbathing a while, Layla sometimes walking and visiting around the town but I was just happy to relax in the sun reading my book. Later in the day when the beach was slightly less crowded we moved closer to the water's edge and on one of her trips into town Layla returned with a quarter bottle of Bacardi rum and some mango/apricot/orange smoothie and a couple of paper cups and we enjoyed this so much that she went off to buy more rum. When she returned she was carrying a large stuffed tiger under one arm and a half bottle of rum in the other! As you can imagine we were both quite giggly and silly by the time we finished the second bottle of rum, even as far as both of us going into the sea and splashing each other until we were soaked through (not comfortable when you don't have a change of clothes to change into!). The sun was still shining brightly even when we left the beach at 7 pm but we were hungry again and just had time for a quick dinner before getting on the 8 pm train and my what a crowd on the platform awaiting that last train back. It was a mad scramble to try and get seats on the train but luckily we were able to, albeit not sitting together. We finally got back to Bath at 10 pm where Colin picked us up at the station and although earlier plans were to go to the Bell Inn to listen to some live music we decided against it due to the early start next day, Colin not having realised until then that we had to leave for the airport at 5 am and groaning slightly at the prospect of such an early start to the day! Bless him, Colin is an absolute darling and I am really really lucky to have him.
I was up first next morning at 3.45, calling Layla 20 minutes later after my shower and then calling Colin at 4.30. The drive to the airport was uneventful and soon we had our luggage checked and were up in the departures lounge keeping an eye on the screen for the gate number. On EasyJet flights in addition to not having a ticket, you don't get boarding card seat allocations either and the first on the plane gets the first choice of seats. Being early we were in the first wave of people taken by bus to the plane and each took a window seat one behind the other right at the front of the plane - although it was a misty morning with not much to see. The flight lasted an hour and took such a pretty route - over the Brecon Beacons in Wales and the Lake District in the north of England that we regretted not being able to see this from the air.
We arrived at Edinburgh airport at 8.15 and then took a bus into town. We checked our luggage at Waverley train station and then went to see if our musician friends were playing yet but no sign of anyone. So we went first to get some breakfast and then had a session at the internet cafe, speaking to Eloy on the telephone later when he confirmed the band would be playing opposite Balmoral Hotel. When we got to them we were in time for their first show of the day and listened to it, chatting to both Eloy and Lolo in between as well as Ivan who I remembered from previous years here but didn't know as well as the others. In addition to watching them we also explored around Prince's street and Layla climbed the Scott Monument whilst I went off to find an optician to get my glasses mended which typically broke the evening before with no time to get them fixed before heading for Edinburgh. During the afternoon I asked if they could play my favourite San Juanito song - Pobre Corazon - which is my favourite song of all in my 2000+ CD collection - and they performed it beautifully - twice that afternoon and again in the evening.
Eloy said the band were booked to play at Kia/Honda showrooms in Glasgow that evening and invited us to go along with them if we wished. We delightedly agreed to go with them in order to see a bit more of Scotland and were happy when they let us both sit up front in the van with a good view of the scenery along the way. It took about an hour and a half to arrive where a big party in showrooms was in full swing complete with hot buffet food and an unlimited supply of wines, soft drinks etc. We collected a glass of wine and chose an excellent turkey curry for dinner and found a table in front of the stage and it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening. The food was so good that we went back and got a second plate of it, enjoyed several wines and the two sets of music performed by the band, who looked lovely in their white shirts and Andean waistcoats and performed really well. Layla and I got up and danced quite a bit which in turn encouraged others to dance including a delightful little boy aged about 4 or 5 who was sitting near us. When we left at the end someone kindly gave the musicians a couple of bottles of wine and then we headed for Pizza Hut where they tucked into an enormous pizza while Layla and I enjoyed bowls of ice-cream, and then finally the long drive back to Edinburgh arriving at the apartment around 1 am. There we shared the wine and chatted and listened to music until the guys said their goodbyes with us saying we would catch up with them next day.
Layla and I assumed we were at Eloy's flat and were careful not to make any noise to wake up his wife and 3 year old daughter, but next day we realised we had the flat to ourselves. Before leaving Eloy had given me a key and we learned next day that he was lending us his brother's flat who is playing with a band in Spain and realised how lucky we were to have such excellent accommodation in Edinburgh. We both have comfortable beds, a bathroom with shower, a kitchen to cook in etc, and are very very grateful to Eloy for this. The best is that it is so close to the town centre that we can walk to Prince's street in about 10 minutes.
Next morning we had a nice breakfast sitting in the window at Garfunkels before the steep climb from the Mound up to Edinburgh castle. We had planned to visit the castle but the queues for tickets (£8.50 per ticket) were so long we decided to leave it for another day. We were at the beginning of the Royal Mile so decided to check out all the street entertainment and this was so enjoyable. We chatted to a lovely Scottish man posing as a bloodthirsty clansman complete with his scythe, as well as an 84 year old gentleman in full Scots regalia, and countless other interesting people during that day. We also came across three of the belly-dancers and agreed we would definitely go to their show at the Underbelly that day. We found an excellent Indian restaurant to have a buffet lunch and then separated for a while so that Layla could visit some other places and I wanted to find a bookshop and buy another book having almost finished the Amazon rainforest one.
We met back at the Underbelly at 4 pm in good time for the 4.30 show and walking down the spiral staircase full of posters was an adventure in itself - spiralling down through three floors of ancient stonework. We had time to enjoy a vodka and cranberry juice in the bar at the lowest level and were first into the Underbelly when the doors opened and had front row central seats in front of the stage. There followed the most amazing show. Seven belly-dancers performed 11 different dances during the next hour, beginning and ending with all of them, other dances only requiring one, two or three of the dancers - each dance in different costumes. It was truly fantastic and one of the highlights of being here for both of us (apart from the Andean music of course!!!)
When the show ended it was a mad rush to get to the Balmoral to see if the band were still playing and we got there just in time as they had already packed up their instruments and were putting the last of them in the van. But Lolo gave us a lift back to our flat. After resting a while Layla and I went out and did some shopping and decided to eat at the flat and have an early night. She stayed in town a bit longer than me in order to sample a bit of the night scene, but I was just ready to fall into bed after supper and catch up on some sleep. We had to sleep a bit quicker than intended too because heating the water took the last of the electricity and we were plunged into darkness while Layla was still in the bath!!!! Today we found a super cafe at the lower end of Rose Street and had a really leisurely breakfast and then parted company as Layla wanted to sunbathe in the park and I wanted to come here and write this email. It is the hottest day yet outside so there are still hours of sunshine to enjoy once I get back outside. Layla really loves Edinburgh - she said it is the most beautiful city she has ever seen and cannot get enough of it. Tonight we will go out into town in the evening as well - there is a Moroccan restaurant not too far from where we live so may even go there if it is not too late to book a table. We will be here until next Thursday and know it is going to be a really fantastic week - especially if this lovely sunshine weather keeps up. Our plane doesn't leave until 8.55 in the evening next Thursday by which time we will have enjoyed 8 full days here.
I will write again in a few days time and tell you more about this wonderfully vibrant and exciting city. Even without the fiesta it is one of the most fantastically beautiful and historical cities and with the excitement of the fringe festival I can think of no better place to be.
When Layla and I caught up with each other later that Saturday, she was really excited about a band she had seen that day in the park. In the part of the park where she was relaxing there was a huge stage where different bands and other acts were doing taster sessions of their shows and when Mikel Angelo and the Black Sea Gentleman performed she was delighted with their music. At the end Mikel Angelo said the first three people to buy their CD would receive two free tickets for that night’s show and luckily she was among that first three. With ticket prices of £9.50 it was a good deal and I was all for taking in that performance that evening and deferring our earlier plan of going to the Moroccan restaurant for another day.
After telling me all about it we decided to get a picnic lunch and return to the park as it was so warm, knowing there was no Andean music playing that day. The band had disappeared to Newcastle for the day. We popped into Marks and Spencers Food Hall and bought a delectable array of salads, fruits and drinks and had just finished eating it in the park when my phone rang. It was Lolo suggesting a trip to the beach and we delightedly agreed to go with them. At this point we did not know that only some, not all of the musicians had gone to Newcastle. We agreed to meet them outside Lloyds bank in Hanover Street in 25 minutes (a Peruvian 25 minutes turned out to be 45 but there you go!)
Lolo arrived with is friend Ricardo and we drove to the sea at Granton which is close to where they live. The tide was in so there were only rocks on the beach but there was a huge grassy headland above the beach and we found a place to relax there and stayed a couple of hours just chatting, drinking the beers we had stopped and bought on the way, taking a few photos etc, until it was time to return in order to get to our show in time. We invited them to join us at the show but they were not too keen, preferring us to phone when it had finished and perhaps go salsa dancing afterwards.
They dropped us back at the flat where we managed to change clothes and get ready in 20 minutes and then were walking back into town. Having studied a map we thought we knew the way to the Calton Road venue but when we finally worked out where it was we were on a road high above Calton Road which went below us. Although I guessed that we may be able to get to it by doubling back and heading for the roundabout off the Eastern end of Prince’s street, when we stopped and asked someone we were given alternative directions and followed those - which resulted in a very wide detour indeed, through a quite scary and derelict area which we were relieved to get through without mishap in daylight, vowing there was no way we would return the same way afterwards even if it meant paying for a taxi.
Luckily we had allowed plenty of time to find it and arrived in good time and again we were lucky to get into the venue and have a first choice of seats for the show. The stage set was in darkness lit here and there with eastern lights and with eastern music playing, setting the scene for the atmospheric show to come. We chose front row seats central to the stage and when the musicians came onto the stage we were mesmerised right from the first moment. This wasn’t just an ordinary music set but a very dramatic performance by four very excellent musicians. The lyrics of the songs were part comic part grisly dramatic and with Mikel Angelo’s stage presence and hypnotic eyes we were absolutely entranced. We enjoyed ourselves immensely and even managed to speak to the musicians afterwards who mingled among us. We found out then that they were of Eastern European descent but living in Australia.
We found our way back to Prince’s Street afterwards without difficulty (my earlier surmise having been correct) but were both feeling too tired for salsa dancing so decided to head back to the flat and sleep instead of phoning the guys, knowing we would see them next day anyway. We had forgotten to buy electricity top-ups (having tried a few places in the day and being unsuccessful) so had to manage without electricity, and realising by then that we would have to wait until Monday before we could buy any, the Post Office being the only place selling them.
On Sunday we went to the same lovely restaurant for breakfast at the lower end of Rose Street and afterwards walked up the hillside from the park to get to Edinburgh Castle, taking photos of the views en route. Then we enjoyed the remainder of the day on the Royal Mile which is the most vibrant place of all to be during Edinburgh festival, every spot taken up with street performers each of whom only has a 15 minute slot so the entertainment is constantly changing. We saw lots of brilliant shows - dance shows, comedy, little dramatic performances, juggling, clowns, whole troops of musicians and dancers from Argentina, a whole host of entertainment.
We headed back to listen to the Andean musicians later in the afternoon and when they packed up their instruments about 4 pm we went with them into the pub part of the Balmoral Hotel and enjoyed a couple of hours drinking with them before heading back to the flat to get ready for the evening, Layla and I having decided to go to Walima Moroccan Restaurant to eat that night.
I insisted that Layla carry a dance costume just in case and we walked to the restaurant which was not too far from the flat. There we met the owner who said his head dancer would arrive in half an hour and we sat at a table with a good view of the dance area and there spent the most enjoyable evening. It was a very exotic menu and quite pricy but we decided to keep costs down by restricting ourselves to one soft drink and then iced tap water and we shared a starter before choosing our main courses. In this way we kept the cost to around £25 each. The food was excellent and when Lorna the head dancer arrived she came and spoke to us before her performance and was very very friendly and nice.
Then when she danced we were thrilled with her performance, Layla saying it was the most perfect belly dance performance she had ever seen. During the evening Lorna invited Layla to join her in a performance and when she overheard me urging Layla to mention she had brought a costume with her, she insisted on her changing into it and doing a solo performance. This was great for me to see Layla dance again, knowing the owner of the restaurant was watching her. After she had finished Lorna and Layla danced together, matching each other step for step and the other diners really appreciated this double act also. It really was a splendid evening and we knew we would see Lorna again the following night because she told us about a cabaret evening taking place at the Old Pier Inn at Portobello - Edinburgh’s sea-side - the following evening and we decided we would go.
On Monday and Tuesday Layla and I spent most of our time in the Royal Mile, knowing the Andean musicians would not be playing on those days. We had breakfast in Rose Street again and then walked to the Royal Mile, spending a good part of the day there, enjoying the different entertainment, delightfully coming across Mikel Angelo and the Black Sea Gentlemen doing a 15 minute set outside St Giles Cathedral (which is 1000 years old) where we were finally able to take photos of them, not having taken cameras with us the previous Saturday. We were delighted to chat to them and Mikel Angelo gave me his very last poster when I dropped a loud hint for it, which is a great souvenir of the most memorable part of our week in Edinburgh.
About mid afternoon we found our way into a delightful pub called the Worlds End at the lower end of the Royal Mile and enjoyed a couple of long drinks made from vodka, cranberry and pineapple juices topped with chunks of lime and lots of ice. The food was excellent too. Then the long walk back to quickly change and then get the bus to Portobello. We arrived in plenty of time and were delighted to see a beautiful sandy beach that stretched for miles in either direction and off came our shoes and we walked down to the water’s edge and spent the next 40 minutes walking along the shore in the water’s edge cooling down aching feet from all that day’s walking. We relaxed sitting on the sand for half an hour too before the start of the cabaret show in the pub.
In the pub we found a table right by the stage, were drinking dark rum and pineapple juice concoctions, but what a pity the cabaret proved to be so boring! The first act wasn’t too bad as the girl had a lovely deep voice and the 40s style music she performed to piano accompaniment was very nice to begin with but went on too long. The next act was a local poet who recited a series of his poems which was really boring. The first half of that cabaret show was only redeemed by Lorna’s belly dance performance which was so brilliant that many of the old gentlemen in the pub could hardly bring themselves to look at her. After this we went outside and although I was prepared to go back in later and see the second half, Layla had had enough. Lorna joined us outside and we had an enjoyable half an hour talking to her before saying our goodbyes and making our way to get the bus back to Edinburgh centre. I had every intention of returning to Portobello the following day for a relaxing few hours on the beach but alas the weather was not hot enough to make the trip worthwhile, even though I bought all day bus tickets both Tuesday and Wednesday just in case.
The weather that week in Scotland had been quite variable with sunshine most days but never higher than 26 degrees even on the warmest day. This was in sharp contrast to the rest of Europe which was basking in a heat wave of unheard of dimensions. We learned that 3000 people in France had died from the heat and my sister wrote that she could hardly stand the heat back in Bath. Unfortunately those latter days in Edinburgh were spoiled by a damp heat haze which blocked out the sun and even when this disappeared halfway through the day, it was so cloudy that one minute the sun was blazing down, the next minute it disappeared etc, so that even though I had my bus ticket for Portobello on Tuesday I ended up not going after all. Instead we went to another show in the afternoon - Godspell - a rock musical which was very nice and we ended up in the World’s End pub again for dinner. After dinner Layla enjoyed a chair massage and I waited for her in a delightfully old-fashioned tea shop which is where we headed for breakfast on Wednesday morning, this time travelling all the way from the flat to the Royal Mile by bus. Unfortunately throughout the week my bad back had gradually been returning having eased slightly in the early part of the week. It was getting increasingly difficult to get out of bed in the mornings, me having to literally haul myself out using top bunk and ladder to get myself onto my feet. I was only able to function at all by being heavily dosed with painkillers and that day I made it even worse by dancing to the music of the Andean musicians. Even though it hurt I just could not sit or stand still and suffered heavily for it later. We learned that day that Mikel Angelo and the Black Sea Gentleman also did late night shows at a Circus tent on the outskirts of town and wanted to go, but when the time came I knew the best place for me was bed to try and get myself fit enough for the journey home next day, so Layla went off to the show on her own and I spent the evening in bed reading my book, listening to music etc with everything I needed within reach until her return later.
The pain was so bad that I used the last of my painkillers even by doing nothing more strenuous than being in bed and I was beginning to dread the thought of our journey home next day. Layla returned at 2 am and I was delighted to hear all about her evening even while regretting that I had been unable to enjoy it with her and we finally went to sleep around 3 am. I woke up before her next day when it proved impossible to get out of bed, the pain was so bad. When Layla got up she went straight to a chemist to get me the strongest painkillers available and came back with some really good 8-hour ones and after a coffee and taking one I was finally able to haul myself out of bed, wishing beyond anything that I could wave a magic wand and magic myself back to Colin’s without the journey in between!
With Layla’s help I managed to pack my suitcase and help her with cleaning up the flat, me doing the arm level chores and her sweeping and doing those I could not bend to do. Eventually we were both ready and she carried the cases downstairs one by one and she wheeled both cases out to the main street while I carried our hand luggage and there we flagged down a taxi which took us to the station. Then we checked both bags into left luggage for the day and made our way to the Andean musicians where we planned to spend most of our last day. We were delighted on arrival to find two Andean bands playing side by side in the same spot, one playing while the other took a break etc so that we had continuous music all day. With our flight home later I did not dare dance that day, telling Layla to dance enough for both of us which she happily complied with!!!
At lunchtime we left them for a while and went to have lunch in the Royal British Hotel nearby and Layla left me there to relax with a couple more drinks while she whizzed up to the Royal Mile to catch the last opportunity to see Mikel Angelo busking, before rejoining me a little later. In the hotel I had a table in the window in bright sunshine and was happily relaxed there until her return. When the two bands finished later in the afternoon we went into the Balmorral pub with them joining us and had a last couple of drinks with them. Then when finally it came time to leave we had Peruvian helpers who collected our luggage for us and wheeled it up the slope to the bus stop for the airport and carried them on the bus for us. We said our goodbyes and know that as always they will keep in touch until we see them again on a future trip to Edinburgh. In my case this will not be next year as I will be in Peru and Bolivia but if Layla still travels with me in Peru next year she may return earlier in time to go to Edinburgh and has tentative plans to put on a show of her own there. And we have both made a definite date to go to Edinburgh for the whole 3-4 weeks of the Festival in 2005.
I took a painkiller before getting on the bus which enabled me to cope with the journey home - first out to the airport and then the actual flight itself. We reached Bristol about 10.15 pm where Colin met us and took us home and where I eventually gratefully fell into one of the soft beds and had a good night’s sleep.
Next day when I woke up my back felt a lot better and I was able to do all the things planned for that day - first to my other job and then visits to family, returning to Colin’s to fetch Layla and returning to visit my Mum and sister so that she could meet them. We had a delightful hour with them sitting outside in the sunshine before heading into town where we met up with Ann. I was feeling really guilty about Ann because the original plan had been for me to return to London with Layla on Saturday with Ann coming along too for the long weekend, but I realised on Wednesday that I could not possibly continue travelling with my back in such poor condition and had very reluctantly decided to cancel my following week’s stay in London and instead relax at home in Colin’s house instead where he could look after me, and that hopefully a week of rest would put me right. With three weeks only to get myself fit to go back to work again this seemed the most sensible option.
Ann, Layla and I went to Las Iguanas for a late lunch in the courtyard there and then met up with Kausary to lead them back to Colin’s house. It was lovely to see them all again - Johnny and Julio and cousins Jorge and Ciro - and we were looking forward to their performance that night at the Pelican Inn, Chew Magna. By the time we reached Colin’s the time was marching on so the guys went to the Chinese takeaway 10 minutes walk from the house while we all did a quick change and then we walked to them and rode in the van to the Pelican with Colin to join us there about half an hour later as he was busy watering all his plants when we got there.
Because I had been relatively pain free all day I decided to dance that evening and it really was a magical evening, Layla and I dancing energetically most of the time and me thinking how lucky I was that my back was appearing to get better. I had a rude awakening next morning when I could hardly get out of bed again and realised I had overdid it again too soon! We all had breakfast together and Colin took Layla to catch her train which was a pre-booked ticket for 10.22. When we hugged goodbye we were both feeling sad knowing we would not see each other until her next trip to England.
The band had a wedding gig in the afternoon and needed to practise a song they were supposed to play during the wedding ceremony so Ann and I enjoyed watching them rehearse the lovely romantic song ‘Love is All Around’ until they were happy with it. They did two versions, one with guitar, charango, panpipes and bongo drum, the second version with Jorge on the sax instead of the bongo and both versions were really beautiful, a fantastic accompaniment to making wedding vows. After they had gone Ann stayed with me and we went into Bath where we met up with my sons, Ceri and baby Jasmine and all of us went to Baty’s bar for a few drinks to catch up on our news. Then Ann and I bought food to take home and have as a picnic lunch in the garden and spent the afternoon relaxing there in the sunshine. Layla phoned to say she had two dance gigs that evening which she was happy about. In the evening Ann came with us and we went to Doolally’s, a delightful little café bar recently opened in Bath, where we enjoyed some excellent cocktails, finishing up at a pub in Widcombe for one last drink whilst waiting for our Indian takeaway meals. Today was another painful one but I was able to go out at lunchtime with Colin and Mary and I am hoping that day by day in the week to come I will finally get better. All in all these past three weeks holiday from work have been really exciting ones. This my 4th visit to Edinburgh Festival since the first trip in 2000 was brilliant despite my back problems and I look forward to spending the whole Festival there in 2005 and before that my next trip to Peru and Bolivia in 2004. Layla phoned this morning to say how much she was enjoying Carnival del Pueblo in London, especially her delight to find Kausary playing on one of the procession floats leading to the carnival and I was glad she was able to experience this brilliant carnival before her trip home to the USA on Tuesday. All being well she will return to the UK for another holiday this coming winter which I really look forward to because we had such great times together on both her March/April and July/August trips here this year.
The night before her scheduled flight Layla went to visit Johnny’s family for the last time and unfortunately between leaving the flat in Brixton and her arrival in Dulwich she was robbed. This could have happened in the street or on the crowded bus and as you can imagine this left her completely devastated. She was robbed of the wallet containing her passport, credit cards, her cash, driving licence etc, which meant she could not fly home the next day as planned For such a thing to happen whilst visiting a foreign country is about the worst nightmare I can imagine and I felt so sorry this happened after seven perfect weeks here.
Fortunately she was able to obtain a temporary passport from the American Embassy next day but being so shaken up by this terrible experience and not wanting to stay in Brixton where it happened she decided to pay another visit to me in Bath. She phoned me at Colin’s on Thursday and I was thrilled to be seeing her again, having said goodbye the previous Saturday and was already missing her as we had had such good times together. She said she would return to London on Sunday and fly back home on Monday.
I met her off the London bus on Thursday afternoon and we had a drink in the pub by the station. Then we drove to Colin’s and I cooked dinner for us. After dinner we spent some time going through her photographs as she had several extra copies for me. We were also planning a day out on the train the next day and after phoning National Rail to get prices of train tickets we finally decided we would visit Oxford, both of us hoping we would find an Andean band playing there.
Next morning Colin drove us to the station and we caught the 9.52 train which unfortunately was not a direct one - we had to change trains twice along the way but this proved uneventful and we arrived in Oxford just after 11.30, setting off for the town centre to check the likeliest places for an Andean band. Unfortunately we chose a time to visit Oxford when the main street was like a building site, completely dug up with lots of noise, and after this discovery and checking other places we realised we were unlucky. The noise was so loud that even if a band had been playing no one would have heard them!
We had quite a pleasant visit there though, looking around the shops and then we had an excellent lunch in All Bar One, complete with draught Leffe beer in those beautiful Leffe glasses which it is very rare to find on draught here, this being a beer brewed by monks in Belgium. We did a lot of walking that day so that by the time we decided to make our way back to the station we ended up travelling by bus, both of us quite weary after so much walking.
Back in Bath Colin met us at the station and we took the car to park it and walking back to Bath’s All Bar One, both Layla and I were struck at the same time by how beautiful Bath looked. We enjoyed a couple of Leffe beers and then ordered take-away Indian food to eat at home whilst enjoying another drink, and by the time we got home we knew that our Peruvian friends from Chan Chan - Gabriel, Fernando and Oswaldo - would be arriving any minute as they had played at Weston Super Mare that early evening from 5.30 to 7.30 and would be doing the same performance the next day.
We had an enjoyable couple of hours listening to music and enjoying Trinidad rum with various fruit juices and Layla did a dance performance for them - and Colin who had not yet seen her dance. With no Arabic music we had to choose something similar and put on the CD of that Eastern European band from Australia we had seen in Edinburgh. The first track being instrumental was perfect for belly dancing and I just adored looking at the expression on their four faces as they watched her dance. Then the next song had lyrics, really funny ones and halfway through she could not dance for laughing. She also danced to Loyko’s and Gipsy Kings gypsy style music and we all thoroughly enjoyed watching.
When I woke up early next morning it was to find the band already outside emptying their car of as much equipment as possible in order to fit in three passengers later in the day, Layla and I having decided to go with them to Weston Super Mare that afternoon and knowing Ann would want to come too. The band went on into Bath to set up their equipment with us to follow as soon as we were ready.
We had a lovely day in Bath, mostly spent with the band, listening to the music and dancing but at midday we disappeared for an hour or so to have lunch in the new Lebanese restaurant just opened where the food was excellent. Layla also spoke to the Manager with a view to dancing there on a future visit to Bath. We rejoined the band about 2 pm and from then until 4 pm were dancing almost continuously and having a brilliant time in the warm sunshine. The band even played ‘Pobre Corazon’ for me a couple of times to my delight. One incident marred the day - when I caught someone stealing money from their box and I challenged him. Unfortunately this person was really aggressive and looked ready to hit me, so that Gabriel immediately jumped to my defence and said not to worry and to let the matter go. Despite this, the robber was incredibly abusive and we all heaved a sigh of relief when he continued on his way.
At 4 pm they packed up the instruments and when loaded all 6 of us climbed into the car, me up front with Fernando the driver and the other four in the back, and we set off for Weston Super Mare with me showing them the best direction to take and we arrived there about 5.15. By 5.30 the band were playing and Layla and I were dancing. We could not imagine anything more heaven-like than dancing with an Andean band at the seaside with the sun shining down. The whole day was brilliant After they finished we went for a Chinese take away meal and ate it in the park before driving back. Although we had had tentative plans to meet Colin at Woodford Lodge, a delightful restaurant and bar on the shores of Chew Valley lake we decided against it when we realised it would be nightfall by the time we reached there and impossible to see the lovely views. We arranged to meet in a pub nearer Bath. Unfortunately everything took longer than I thought and we were 45 minutes late arriving by which time Colin had given up and driven home. We phoned and said we would get some drinks and see him in about 20 minutes and then had another very pleasant evening drinking and listening to music at home. Those lovely guys in Chan Chan are such fun and the whole day spent with them was really lovely. They had planned to stay the whole weekend, even until Monday which was a bank holiday but unfortunately it was raining when we woke up on Sunday morning so they changed their mind and returned to Exeter instead. We all left together as Colin was driving us down to the station to catch the 8.30 am bus to London, this being the most direct one of the day.
Sitting on the bus reading our books, Layla said how glad she was that I was accompanying her back to London and repeated this later on arrival in Brixton. She said that after what happened there, London had lost its appeal for her and that she much preferred the tranquillity and beauty of Bath.. On arrival at Brixton we popped in to see Eddy and Rosa in El Inca who were pleased to see us both and Eddy said he would be doing a barbeque later that afternoon/early evening as a farewell party for Layla. One of the guys who works there produced a gift for me which came as a complete surprise. He had bought an enormous box of Belgian chocolates for Layla when the robbery happened and decided to buy a box for me as well. I was so thrilled at this unexpected gift.
After an hour of relaxation we set out for the gardens of the Horniman Museum as Kausary would be playing a free concert there from 3 to 5 pm, our reason for returning to London that particular day. We were able to travel there easily by bus and arrived in good time just as the concert was about to start. It was another sunny day (much better than that rainy start in the morning) and the band played on a bandstand in the park and there was plenty of seating for the audience all around. It was delightful to see many of our friends there, including Sandra, Johnny’s lovely Spanish wife and all his family. The concert was brilliant and everyone enjoyed it immensely, people of all ages. Afterwards it was lovely to chat to the musicians, including Chano whose last gig it was - he would be leaving for the USA a few days later and thence back to Cusco.
Afterwards we made our way back to El Inca where preparations for the barbeque were under way and we had a really enjoyable evening. Aquiles and some of his friends were there too, all of whom promised to come and visit me in Bath very soon. The food was excellent, all the meat marinated in Peruvian spices before being barbequed and doused in an excellent sauce made from Peruvian chillis that had come from Peru only days previously. Finally, despite several attempts to persuade me to stay another day, I had to say my farewells as I was booked onto the last bus home leaving Victoria at 11.30. Layla and Ricardo walked me to the Oval station and I felt quite sad saying goodbye to her, knowing it would be at least 6 months if not longer before seeing her again. Thank goodness for email and being able to keep in touch.
On the train the next station was Kennington and I thought ‘Great, I am going in the right direction’ only to discover the second stop was Elephant and Castle! I jumped off the train quick, realising the line split into two directions before rejoining itself into one and rather than risk going backwards and forwards on the same line I changed to another line and got to Victoria without incident. I always dread the walk between train and coach station at Victoria on my own at night but this time I was lucky as another traveller asked me the way and I had company on the 10 minute walk between stations. The journey home was incredibly boring - the bus was completely full and I just could not get comfortable and fidgeted all the way home. Even my music could not distract me from the sheer boredom of the journey and I was jolly glad when I finally reached Bath station at quarter past two. Even better was arriving home and falling into bed twenty minutes later.
Today was spent leisurely. Colin, his sister and I walked across the fields to Southstoke village at lunchtime and had a nice lunch in the pub garden and I relaxed in Colin’s garden enjoying intermittent sunshine most of the afternoon. Today was the start of my last two weeks of holiday which will be spent a lot more quietly than the past four weeks have been, although we do have a day trip planned for Torquay on Thursday and I look forward to seeing Chan Chan again on Friday as they have the last of their three gigs in Weston Super Mare on Friday evening and hopefully will be playing in either Bristol or Bath before that in the daytime and if the weather holds, may even play locally on Saturday. As before they will stay with us overnight on Friday and I look forward to seeing them again, they are such fun to be with and such genuinely nice friends.
Next morning I was awake first and after a shower we had time for a light breakfast before Colin drove us down to get the train. The journey to London was nice, we had window seats, both of us with our CD walkmans etc. The train pulled into Paddington at 9.30 where Jorge was waiting to meet us. By this time I was already regretting having 3 bags to lug around all day - a small pull along trolley case, a quite large shoulder bag and a leather backpack full of stuff. Jorge being the gentleman he is insisted on carrying all three of them for me and would not let me carry even one of them, bless his heart!
We set off for Portabello market and were delighted to come across Luis the Ecuadorian so we stopped and chatted to him a while. Then made our way further into the market and found his fellow musician (of the group Migracion) and stopped for another chat with him. At this point Layla phoned and when I said we had already seen two musicians playing she said she was on her way and would phone when she reached the market. Then Jorge, Ann and I did a tour of the market, with me tucking into a mug of Thai spicy chicken soup on the way plus one of the almond croissants I always enjoy at that market. Then Layla phoned and we agreed to meet in the Earl of Lonsdale pub like before, except that she came across Luis before she got there, phoned and we agreed to meet there instead!!!
When I got there Luis was wearing one of Layla's beautiful dream catcher earrings having traded one of his CDs for it so they were both happy with the deal. We then went on another tour of the market with Layla, ending up back at the pub later on for a few cold lager shandies as it was quite a warm day. About 1 pm Jorge decided to say his good-byes because he had worked all night before coming to meet us off the train and by this time was feeling really tired. We parted agreeing to meet up again another day or evening during the week. After he had gone I was lumbered with the 3 bags and really appreciated him having carried them all morning for me. Finally we decided to make our way back to Oval so we would have time to get ready before going out in the evening for Contigo Peru at Conway Hall.
When we reached Layla's lovely flat above El Inca I was very impressed. It is a huge flat with 2 bedrooms, lounge, kitchen, bathroom. That first night her flatmate Noelle let me borrow her bedroom as she was away overnight but the rest of the time I was very comfortable on a nice long comfortable sofa in the lounge. We got ourselves ready and were soon on our way to Conway Hall and luckily managed to get there just as the doors opened at 6.30. Our tickets were waiting for us on the door which is the usual arrangement I have with Annie, the organiser of this event. We found a table near the stage which it so happens we were sharing with people who had travelled from Bristol, the town nearest to Bath!
We decided to eat first and from among the delicious Peruvian dishes on offer I chose Ceviche for a starter and a delicious duck dish for the main course, served with rice and spicy beans. At 7.30 Juan and a couple of other musicians playing Creole music played for half an hour and at 8.15 Kausary played their first set (which for us was the highlight of the evening). Almost from the beginning the floor was crowded with dancers - Peruvian people really know how to enjoy themselves, throwing themselves into the rhythm with gusto whatever their age. I was especially pleased when Aquiles arrived a while later and then Dante as well. Aquiles even got me up on the dance floor later. Chatting and laughing with Dante and Aquiles, plus chatting later with Eliban and Ricardo it was a really fun evening, apart from the interval just before Kausary did their second set when there was a load of speeches. At this point I was struggling to stay awake and almost slid off my seat at one point. Once the band came back on I was okay though as long as I stayed up on the dance floor and didn’t sit down! Flor arrived around midnight and I danced for at least half an hour with her. Ann and Layla thoroughly enjoyed the evening too and although we had had some tentative plans for inviting the band back to the flat for a drink afterwards, by this time we were all flagging on our feet and looking forward to sleep, so decided to defer that idea for another day. We got home on two night buses via Trafalgar Square finally getting home around 1.30 or maybe 2 in the morning.
We all slept so well that I was still the first up even at 9.45 next morning, an unheard of late hour for me! As soon as we were all ready we went down to el Inca for breakfast which Eddy cooked for us and would not let us pay for. Eddy and Rosa who run El Inca and one of whose flats we are staying in are the dearest friends imaginable. Both Layla and I think the world of them and they seem to really like us as well. It was lovely to chat with Eddy (and later in the day with Rosa when we popped back home to change). After breakfast we set off to visit Sunday markets - there being many to choose from. Because of some problems on the Northern line we ended up having to reroute our journey on the Jubilee and then East London lines ending up at Whitechapel. From there we asked directions and headed for Brick Lane. I wanted to fit in a quick visit to my ex husband whilst there as well as look around the market etc. We walked down several streets looking at stalls eventually ending up in a whole street of outdoor cafes selling freshly squeezed juices, excellent cakes and baguette sandwiches etc. I left Ann and Layla to relax there while I went off to find Hanbury street and Labu's flat. When I finally found it a quarter of an hour later I was disappointed that no one was home. I asked a neighbour who said they no longer lived there. Her little daughter said they had the address and went indoors to look for it but eventually came back saying she could not find it. I felt really sorry that I had left it so long since the last visit and sure hope Rekah and Ryan are okay. I have no means of making contact now except that I have the email address of Labu's best friend living in Algeria, so I am hoping he will be able to let me know their current address.
I made my way back to Layla and Ann who were tucking into huge plates of cheesecake, so I joined them and enjoyed a fresh mango juice and Florentine biscuit. From there we continued in another direction until we came to Spittlefields market where I was delighted to catch up with my Peruvian friend Victor and his girlfriend Catalina, agreeing after a chat that we would get together for a meal later in the week, possibly to that nice Malaysian place in Russell Square where I once went with them and his friends Edgar and Santiago. I would love to have seen them again too but Victor said they were still back home in Peru. After that we enjoyed a Mexican meal in the market on one of the many foreign stalls and then continued on to Petticoat Lane market where Layla bought two blouses and I bought one.
After that we decided to go back to the flat because a) we wanted to get to an internet cafe and b) we needed to shop for food for Monday's picnic. Unfortunately the local internet cafe was closed so we did the shopping first and dropped it back to the flat, popping in to see Eddy in El Inca on the way, who promised that Rosa would have Aji de gallina ready for our supper when we returned from the internet cafe. We had an hour at the internet cafe but apart from reading messages I had no time to reply to anyone, having to spend the whole hour trying to find out which railway company covered journeys into Kent and which London station they travelled from. I found out it was Virgin Trains but nowhere online did it state which London station you had to travel from, nor were any of the phone lines still open by this time. I had no choice but to wait until the following morning to find out. We went back and thoroughly enjoyed Rosa's Aji de Gallina at El Inca before ending up back at the flat where we listened to some music. Layla had bought an Arabic dance CD in the market and we put it on to play which is when the idea was born for Layla to dance for us, Ann never having seen her dance before. She changed into her costume and danced for about 15 minutes and it was really fantastic, both of us taking lots of photos in the process. By this time I was ready for bed as I wanted up be up at 6 next morning in order to take a shower before Noelle would need the bathroom to get ready for work. We all slept really well too.
Next morning after taking my shower and getting ready I was relaxing with a coffee and reading my book whilst Ann and Layla got ready. I had forgotten to ring Dante back the night before so was waiting until 8 am before ringing both him and Virgin Trains to find out which station we would travel from. At 8 am Layla was relaxing at the dining room table with a cup of coffee and reading her Harry Potter book but when I finished my call to Dante it was all stations go because Dante said we would need to leave within 10 minutes so that we could all meet on the platform at Charing Cross to get the 9.05 train. The day before I had complained to Layla that I found it difficult at times keeping up with her where she walked so fast and that day it was the other way round - they had difficulty keeping up with me where I was so eager to get to the station! There we had to wait while Ann bought her travel-card and then zoomed to get the Charing cross train. On arrival at Charing Cross we had to check it was still going to be platform 4, buy our tickets etc but we made it onto the platform in good time .... where there was no sign of Dante!!!! We waited on the platform and when the train came in were waiting with the train manager by the open doors all of us anxiously waiting for Dante and Chano to get there. Finally the train manager said we had 15 seconds before the doors closed to decide whether to get on it or not and at the last minute we decided to get on. Once we were seated I phoned Dante and said 'we're on the train, where are you' and his reply was 'the bastards would not let us get on without a ticket.! He said to go and have breakfast in Safeway coffee shop in Tunbridge Wells and he would catch up with us there on the next train.
When they arrived we decided to take a taxi as there were five of us and soon we arrived at the Enchanted Forest where Dante works. After some negotiation with the ticket collector on the gate he was allowed to take some of us in free and the others paying the entrance fees which we then shared between us. We had taken a huge picnic with us and they offered to carry the bags so that we could relax and enjoy our day in the forest. He said to go and watch the 11.30 birds of prey show first and then take the boat ride into the forest, plus visit the formal gardens if we wished, and that we would catch up with him later.
We were so impressed with the beautiful birds of prey in the show that we spent a further 20 minutes with their handlers afterwards and Layla was pleased to be given some beautiful feathers. We decided to go back outside and see the other birds of prey afterwards before continuing into the forest and spent a further 20 minutes there. At one point I was on my knees in front of a baby vulture with my nose only a foot away from his and thank goodness I did not disturb him by this because I was told afterwards that he had a beak like a meat cleaver and the most vicious bite of all the birds!!!
We detoured through a part of the gardens, singing 'An English Country Garden' in the process and then had a lovely boat ride along the canal into the forest. When we got there we could hear their music in the lower end of the forest and by following the music soon caught up with them. There followed he most magic day imaginable, partly spent with them and partly detouring off to see the various sights and coming back to them as they moved through the forest. We saw mystic pools, a megalith stone encircled by hundreds of years old oak trees, a giant wood carving of a head, a circular maze, giant swings in the trees so high you could barely see the tops, a totem pole, a glade with giant rabbits etc. We all had a go on the swings and that was amazing. Later in the day we enjoyed the picnic with Dante and Chano. We also went into a huge wigwam and spoke to Hester a lovely young girl making dream catchers. All day the sun was shining through the trees and with their music and the beautiful setting we were in heaven, believe me! Even our drinks were chilled for the picnic because Dante immersed them in a spring coming up from the ground which was icy cold. This spring supplied all the water for the lakes, the canal, all the fountains in the gardens etc and was pure enough to drink.
Finally it was time to go and we had to walk quickly to leave the forest and then we crossed a big field containing sheep and llamas to the road the other side and we took the bus back to the railway station. We were lucky on arrival there to catch a train within minutes and we enjoyed the remainder of our picnic all the way back to London. It had been such a magic magic day that none of us wanted it to end yet and by making phone calls on arrival at Charing Cross both of them were able to stay with us longer and we went to a bar on a boat on the South bank with a view across the river to the London Eye and enjoyed a few beers together. As the lights came on one by one this was an incredible beautiful setting. Finally Chano had to leave and then Dante too had to go and we walked to the train station before parting company, hopefully seeing them again later in the week. Tomorrow Dante's band Amaru III are playing between 7.30 and 9 and we will be there for that but only if we get back in time. We have an exciting day to look forward to tomorrow because Eddy and Rosa are taking us out for the day by car. We are meeting in El Inca (where Eddy has promised us a surprise breakfast) at 8 am and then leaving at 8.30. We are going outside London into Sussex for the day, a part of England I have never visited before, so I am really looking forward to it. Today after breakfast and time in internet cafes we are exploring the Camden Town area, looking at the market and shops. After Camden we are probably going to Hampstead Heath which Layla is anxious to show me. Apparently there are wonderful views from up there and Hampstead itself is a lovely place with nice shops, plus Eddy recommended an excellent Spanish restaurant there. Later in the day we will accompany Ann to Paddington to catch her train home and then we are going to East Dulwich to spend the evening with Flor and everyone in Johnny's family. All in all it is proving a brilliant week in London and I am enjoying myself immensely. I hope to write again later in the week before I travel back to Bath on Sunday 3rd August with Layla joining me there on Monday the 4th.
It's Friday and possibly my last chance to write an email before returning to Bath on Sunday morning so here I am. After a hectic time since arriving here last Saturday morning I had to really slow down yesterday, I had no other choice really. As usual I was up early and ready and then just by the simple act of putting a CD on to listen to I felt a muscle go in my back and could not straighten up again. It was so painful but I felt convinced I could keep going. I took two strong painkillers and when they did not act quickly enough I took two more and then yet two more but still I couldn't straighten up without extreme pain. We went down to El Inca for breakfast where Eddy bless his heart had our surprise breakfasts ready for us - an amazing platter with sliced chicken, smoked sausage, salami, cheese on toast topped with an egg, mushrooms and bacon, along with coffee and toast.
When I got up later I realised those painkillers were not going to work but was still determined to do the things planned for that day. We decided to go to the nearby internet cafe first and went by bus. After an hour in there I tried to stand up again but knew it was impossible, I had no choice but to go back to the flat and spend the day in bed. Today is still a problem and I am in pain but at least I can stand upright and having spent a day resting I am hoping a day of activity will help. We have been to Charing Cross and are now in Camden and hopefully can meet up with Aquiles later on for a drink. We phoned Carlos to see if they were playing anywhere tonight, only to find that he and Chano are in Bath! Despite the quiet day yesterday the previous days Tuesday and Wednesday more than made up for it. On Tuesday after a hectic day visiting various parts of London including Hampstead and Hampstead Heath as planned and taking Ann to Paddington for her train home, we took a bus from Oval to Dulwich with a hefty walk at the other end, finally arriving at Flor’s house around 8 pm. On arrival we could hear the band in full swing in Johnny’s studio and Flor was busy in the kitchen cooking a meal for everyone. We enjoyed sitting at the kitchen table watching her cook and at the same time listening to the band rehearsing for their concert at Eastleigh summer festival next day. When the musicians joined us after the rehearsal it was nice to see Chano (who lives in Peru most of the year and only visits England for a few weeks each summer) and after trying to work out the identity of one of the other musicians who I recognised I realised he was Carlos who plays with Quimantu and it was lovely to see him again too. We all enjoyed Flor’s excellent ‘Seco de Cabrito’ for supper (a delicious slightly spicy goat stew) and just relaxing and chatting to everyone afterwards. Finally about 1 am, Cameron got up to go and offered us a lift back to Oval which we were very grateful for. Back at the flat we went straight to bed as we were going out for the day with Eddy and Rosa the next day.
We left after breakfast and were delighted when Eddy asked us if we wanted to go to Eastleigh summer festival where we all knew Kausary were playing - he said we could still visit places in Sussex afterwards so we knew it would be a brilliant day out. It took a couple of hours driving to get to Eastleigh where we found our way to the festival venue easily by following the signs and were delighted to arrive in good time before the band started to play. We could hear them still rehearsing in the big top so took a look around the shops in there and found one selling the most amazing clothes - just the kind of clothes that Layla and I both love and we both bought something.
Then we heard the band start playing so went into the big top for the show which was full of families sitting down. Layla and I and several others danced, my favourites being a San Juanito and a brilliant Wayanay Inka song whose title escapes me right this minute. In the interval I returned to she shop and bought another blouse and a dress. Kausary played for about an hour and a half and we really enjoyed the show. During the concert Rosa bumped into an old friend, a Brazilian lady called Keri who invited us back to her house afterwards where she offered us lunch. Her hospitality was amazing and we really enjoyed the time spent with her. All day was sunny and when we left Keri's house Eddy headed for Sussex and although the plan was to go to Littlehampton he decided in the end to continue on to Brighton, much to mine and Layla's delight as we had not been there previously.
We arrived in the late afternoon with the sun still shining, spent time on the beach and then onto Brighton Pier where we all had a beer in Victoria's bar. Then we walked into town looking for a nice restaurant and chose to go into Old Orleans. There we enjoyed an excellent meal as well as a couple of delicious cocktails each. I chose Paradise punch and the others opted for zombies, all of which were delicious. After this lovely meal we walked back along the sea front which looked beautiful as all the lights were on and the pier especially looked beautiful being so brilliantly lit against the night sky. From there it was a long drive back to London and we finally got back just after midnight. We enjoyed Eddy and Rosa's company so much all day and I look forward to a similar jaunt at the end of August as I may come back to London then. Eddy and Rosa have invited me to go with them to Great Yarmouth which is about 140 miles from London on the Anglian coast. I have never been there either and Eddy said it is the most beautiful seaside resort in the whole of England so I am tempted to go. I may come back to London and spend a long weekend here at the end of August. Tomorrow night is Layla's dance performance in El Inca restaurant which will hopefully attract a lot of Peruvians who have been letting everyone know about this event. In the afternoon Layla and I plan to rearrange the furniture and pictures in the restaurant and my job will be to take the money on the door as people arrive. We are hoping that lots of people come to see her dance. Being stuck in bed yesterday the highlight of my day was seeing Layla rehearse her native American part of the show. The evening's entertainment will be 4 separate shows all doing different dances (including the fire dance and two different belly-dance performances, and depending on if some friends arrive late she may even do some of them more than once. I am looking forward to it immensely and so is Eddy and Rosa. Well that is all news for the moment. Sunday morning I will be up early and taking the train back to Bath in the morning where Colin will meet me as we are going straight to an outdoor party with live music starting at 1 pm and continuing until around 9.30.
We had time for another quick internet visit so here I am - this is definitely the last message before I leave in the morning. After leaving the internet cafe yesterday Layla and I had a very enjoyable time in Camden Town, exploring the various markets there. Wow what fantastic clothes are to be had in the shops and markets there! Just exactly the beautiful styles of clothes we both adore and I just could not resist buying yet more clothes - two fantastic skirts and four tops - all of them incredibly beautiful. It is impossible to find such fantastic styles in Bath at affordable prices and in sizes to fit me so I just could not pass them by, especially as the guy selling them gave me such excellent discounts after I had bought the first item.
We headed back to the flat in the late afternoon as thereafter we had separate plans for the evening - Layla to dance at a Moroccan restaurant in Hampstead and me to meet up with Labu, Rekah and Ryan. Remember my dismay last Sunday when I thought I would not be able to make contact with them again, having visited their previous home in Whitechapel and found they had moved? Well by pure coincidence Labu had been trying his best to make contact with me, eventually having to phone the boys to get my latest mobile phone number. I did not get his messages in time to see his sister who was on a visit from America - who had brought gifts for my sons and really badly wanted to see me before she went home. Unfortunately I missed being able to see her but the message did come in time for me to see Labu, Rekah and Ryan last night. Labu gave me detailed instructions on the phone how to find their house from Stepney Green and I said I would visit them in the early evening. As it happened I arrived in Stepney Green at about 7.30 and found my way almost to the house. A quick phone-call brought him to find me and it was lovely to see him, Rekah and Ryan again and to see them all looking very happy. Instead of the flat they lived in before they now have a lovely house and garden and are so thrilled with it. I also saw his brother's wife and daughter who live nearby and were visiting. I stayed about an hour and a half before he walked me back to the tube station, promising that they would all come down to visit me in Bath, probably in that last week of the summer holiday before the children go back to school as they can hire a car and drive rather than taking the train or bus. After leaving him at the station I made my way back to Brixton without mishap and shared a jug of Chicha Morada with Eddy and Rosa before continuing upstairs to the flat and a quite early night. Earlier that day I had bought an excellent book which is set in the Amazon rain forest so making a start on that was a nice finish to the day.
This morning was heavy cleaning day in El Inca so we were too early for them arriving for breakfast before 9 o clock. We decided to have breakfast in the cafe in the park but when we got there it wasn't even open yet! We had a nice breakfast in another restaurant and then took the 185 bus to East Dulwich as we had to reach Johnny's house by 11.15. We managed this okay but they were all still getting ready. We were going with them to Woolwich Docklands festival - a community event - where Flor, Tanya, Kaymi and Cleyder would be dancing. The journey was a bit fraught as we did not think we would arrive in time. It involve the No 12 bus to London Bridge, a train to Woolwich Arsenal and then a change of train to arrive at the Docklands. Fortunately it was less than 10 minutes walk from the station and luckily we arrived in good time. Their participation in the show was two dances to Bolivian music, dressed in lovely costumes. The first was to a Jacha Mallku Morenada and the second was to a Los Kjarkas Saya Caporal. We captured the whole thing on video and took lots of photos which we promised to send to Flor for her to keep some and distribute the others to the other dancers. After their show we said our goodbyes as Layla was anxious to get back to El Inca. On arrival there Eddy dished us up an excellent Peruvian lunch - similar to that cooked for us by Flor last Tuesday when Kausary were practising for Wednesday's festival event - seco de cabrito with rice and spicy beans. This is one recipe I will definitely be looking up in my Peruvian cookbook... After lunch we rearranged the furniture in El Inca and set out the area for her performances tonight and she did a rehearsal which was brilliant. A few Peruvians were in there while this was going on and all said they would definitely be back tonight and bring some friends as well.
It must be about a week since I last wrote from London so hoping I can remember everything since then here goes with another account of our adventures ... We arrived in Edinburgh early Thursday morning and are having a wonderful time, but I will get to that in sequence. I believe I last wrote just before Layla's dance party at El Inca so will continue from then .... Our last full day in London was equally as enjoyable as the 9 days preceding it - warm and sunny again - and we paid another visit to Camden Town and bought a few more clothes. It will be hard to keep away from Camden Town in future because so many shops sell exactly the kind of fashions I most adore. We headed back to El Inca in the early afternoon and rearranged the layout of the restaurant for the evening. I was in charge of taking the money on the door and wore my new sparkly colourful (jungle colours) t-shirt, exotic necklace and a feather head-dress to more look the part for the evening. We were delighted that many of our favourite Peruvian friends arrived in good time as well as many others we've only got to know recently.
The evening was a great success and Layla danced off an on from 8.30 pm until 1 o clock in the morning, taking it in turns with an ethereal dance with veil to Andean music, a dance using feathers to Robert Mirabel's music (fusion of native American and heavy rock), two different belly-dance performances and her fire dance, all of which were beautifully performed and I enjoyed the bemused and awestruck expressions on the faces of our friends nearly as much as watching the dancing. I took some great photos. Towards the end of the evening Layla invited some of them to get up and dance with her - even Eddy was persuaded although he danced backwards right out the door onto the pavement and it was so funny when Layla matched him step for step ending up right outside dancing to spectators out there as well! Rosa made some chicha morada for us and laced it with vodka the way we like. It really was a fun evening and every one of our friends said so too and we will repeat it at the very next opportunity - maybe even before she returns to USA the week after next. After Layla finished dancing Eddy put on some salsa music and everyone was dancing for another hour or more but we did not stay too late as we were both quite tired by this time, plus I had to finish packing my suitcase as I would be leaving next morning.
Luckily with no alarm clock I was up early enough next morning although it was quite a struggle getting the heavy case down the stairs to street level. With my bad back I knew I could not manage the 3 bags like I did coming, so Layla lent me a larger suitcase on wheels for me to put everything in and I left my smaller one on wheels for her. Eddy cooked us a nice breakfast and very kindly offered to drive me to Paddington station to save me having to manoevre the case up and down all those escalators and stairs - an offer which was greatly appreciated! I arrived in Paddington in good time and luckily the train was on the platform 20 minutes before departure, giving plenty of time to stow the case on the train where I could more or less keep an eye on it.
The journey to Bath was uneventful and Colin awaited me on the platform at the other end to help me with my suitcase down the long flight of stairs. Then we took it home and after 10 minutes freshening up we set off for the party being held by his ex wife Diana and her husband Brian. This proved to be an excellent family party for around 150 people in a community club in a nearby village to their home, with a band on stage and dance floor, a superb spread of food for everyone and a huge green sports field outside where most of us took our food and drinks to enjoy out on the grass in that very hot sunshine. All the drinks were free and Colin and I enjoyed several glasses of Pimms - a deliciously refreshing summer drink diluted with lemonade, with lots of ice and the glass full of assorted fruit, chopped cucumber and mint leaves etc. It was lovely to see all Colin's family again, many of whom are scattered all over England so we only get to see them on big family gatherings like that. One of the highlights of the afternoon was a magic show performed by one of Colin's nephews - Simon who is also a musician in two different bands - and this show was so incredibly funny that the adults enjoyed it as much as the children did.
Back home in the evening I was so tired I went to bed early as I knew Monday would be a busy day. I had my other job to do and arrived there at 8 in the morning, then shopping to make a Peruvian meal for Layla that evening, a trip to my home to pick up my post plus my passport for Edinburgh, including collecting a package of CDs that had arrived from my dear friend Jorge in Tierra del Fuego. Then I went to visit my Mum for an hour before making my way into town to meet Layla off the train.
Once back at Colin's we spent the afternoon quite leisurely, sunbathing in the garden, plus I prepared the Pollo Guisado for the evening which we enjoyed at 5.30 pm before driving to a lovely countryside pub by the river right next to lock-gates where all the river boats go through. Layla and I were drinking cranberry juices and vodka, starting off with one vodka to one bottle of cranberry but gradually adjusting the alcohol content until each glass held 2 vodkas and half a bottle of cranberry! We were just halfway through the second one, sitting on the lock gates with our feet dangling when a little houseboat came through and we were talking to the friendly guy who owned it whilst the water levels rose in the lock, and he offered us a ride on his boat down to a nearby boathouse where he was going to dock it, saying it would only take us about 10 minutes to walk back. We were thrilled and downed our drinks in double quick time and climbed on the back of the boat and thoroughly enjoyed the peaceful glide down the river, passing swans and cygnets and lots of ducks on the way, fishermen on the river banks, hot air balloons up in the sky, in short a perfect summers evening. We could see down into the boat from where we were standing and it looked so cosy, even complete with fireplace, television and video etc. We thanked the man profusely for this little adventure when we disembarked at the boathouse by his home, promising to stop by one evening later with copies of the photos we took. Back at the pub we enjoyed another couple of drinks at an outdoor table on the patio before returning home for another quite early night, having made our plans for the next day already.
Layla wanted to go to Glastonbury again and this time climb the tor (which somehow I found myself agreeing to do, even though I am not normally the most energetic person!) - we left early and were parked in the town in good time to catch the first bus going to the tor - and surprisingly I found that climbing the tor was not so strenuous as I had envisaged. The climb was made easier with series of steps to climb and circular walks leading to the top which was surprisingly manageable. My sister phoned just as we arrived at the top and she was amazed when I said where I was! We stayed up there about half an hour enjoying the views and taking photos. Unfortunately there was scaffolding around the tower itself so we took care to exclude it from all our photos. Then we walked down the other side which was a long path stretching down and enjoyed this too. At the bottom we could have visited the chalice well but were both too hungry after the climb so instead walked into town (rather than wait 20 minutes for the next bus), stopping at a factory shop on the way where Layla bought a lovely white sheepskin.
We were sorry to see on arrival in town that Cafe Gallatea (where the musicians play) was closed and only opens in the evenings on weekdays) so went to Rainbow's End cafe instead, which was only offering vegetarian food. We quite enjoyed lunch but both agreed we would prefer meals with meat in it. All this time the sun had been shining and we decided it would be nice to end the day on a beach so headed out of town and even though we could not find the right road from town eventually we found our way back to Wells and then took the road to Weston super Mare, probably a 35 mile trip. Unfortunately by the time we reached the town, parked up and made it to the beach, the sun disappeared and there was a rumble of thunder and spots of rain - luckily the rain did not last and it was a further hour before the sunshine returned but we had an afternoon tea at an outdoor cafe in the meantime which was nice. Then we returned to the Marine Lake beach where we could sit on the sand for an hour before returning home. The water on the beach you could only see with a telescope as unfortunately the tide was way out. The problem with the Bristol Channel being the vast difference between low and high tides and although there is a sandy beach at the esplanade this turns to sticky mud before it reaches the sea.
Wednesday morning we were up early again - I had my other job to do and to make it more feasible to catch the 9.45 train from Bath Colin said he would accompany Layla to the station on the bus so that I could drive straight to the station and then hand over my car to him. I arrived at my job before 7.30 am and was away again just after 9 and only just made it to the station to catch the train. Layla was amazed at the 'toy train' which eventually arrived. The trains for Weymouth are only two carriages long - even in August, height of the tourist season - and we were lucky to get seats. The train was full of families complete with their cool-boxes, buckets and spades etc - already an over full train on this which was only the second of about 16 more stops to pick up people along the way! I was heavily engrossed in my adventure story set in the Amazon rainforest and Markamaru's Fiesta Andina and Kultrun's Ecos del Alma on my headphones so the journey did not seem overlong.
At the other end we joyfully left the train and headed straight for the beach, with me jokingly telling Layla we might find it difficult to find a space to put a pocket handkerchief down on the sand let alone a towel! We stopped for an enormous ice-cream on the way and then headed straight for the beach and luckily found a space big enough for us both. After some lunch we both enjoyed sunbathing a while, Layla sometimes walking and visiting around the town but I was just happy to relax in the sun reading my book. Later in the day when the beach was slightly less crowded we moved closer to the water's edge and on one of her trips into town Layla returned with a quarter bottle of Bacardi rum and some mango/apricot/orange smoothie and a couple of paper cups and we enjoyed this so much that she went off to buy more rum. When she returned she was carrying a large stuffed tiger under one arm and a half bottle of rum in the other! As you can imagine we were both quite giggly and silly by the time we finished the second bottle of rum, even as far as both of us going into the sea and splashing each other until we were soaked through (not comfortable when you don't have a change of clothes to change into!). The sun was still shining brightly even when we left the beach at 7 pm but we were hungry again and just had time for a quick dinner before getting on the 8 pm train and my what a crowd on the platform awaiting that last train back. It was a mad scramble to try and get seats on the train but luckily we were able to, albeit not sitting together. We finally got back to Bath at 10 pm where Colin picked us up at the station and although earlier plans were to go to the Bell Inn to listen to some live music we decided against it due to the early start next day, Colin not having realised until then that we had to leave for the airport at 5 am and groaning slightly at the prospect of such an early start to the day! Bless him, Colin is an absolute darling and I am really really lucky to have him.
I was up first next morning at 3.45, calling Layla 20 minutes later after my shower and then calling Colin at 4.30. The drive to the airport was uneventful and soon we had our luggage checked and were up in the departures lounge keeping an eye on the screen for the gate number. On EasyJet flights in addition to not having a ticket, you don't get boarding card seat allocations either and the first on the plane gets the first choice of seats. Being early we were in the first wave of people taken by bus to the plane and each took a window seat one behind the other right at the front of the plane - although it was a misty morning with not much to see. The flight lasted an hour and took such a pretty route - over the Brecon Beacons in Wales and the Lake District in the north of England that we regretted not being able to see this from the air.
We arrived at Edinburgh airport at 8.15 and then took a bus into town. We checked our luggage at Waverley train station and then went to see if our musician friends were playing yet but no sign of anyone. So we went first to get some breakfast and then had a session at the internet cafe, speaking to Eloy on the telephone later when he confirmed the band would be playing opposite Balmoral Hotel. When we got to them we were in time for their first show of the day and listened to it, chatting to both Eloy and Lolo in between as well as Ivan who I remembered from previous years here but didn't know as well as the others. In addition to watching them we also explored around Prince's street and Layla climbed the Scott Monument whilst I went off to find an optician to get my glasses mended which typically broke the evening before with no time to get them fixed before heading for Edinburgh. During the afternoon I asked if they could play my favourite San Juanito song - Pobre Corazon - which is my favourite song of all in my 2000+ CD collection - and they performed it beautifully - twice that afternoon and again in the evening.
Eloy said the band were booked to play at Kia/Honda showrooms in Glasgow that evening and invited us to go along with them if we wished. We delightedly agreed to go with them in order to see a bit more of Scotland and were happy when they let us both sit up front in the van with a good view of the scenery along the way. It took about an hour and a half to arrive where a big party in showrooms was in full swing complete with hot buffet food and an unlimited supply of wines, soft drinks etc. We collected a glass of wine and chose an excellent turkey curry for dinner and found a table in front of the stage and it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening. The food was so good that we went back and got a second plate of it, enjoyed several wines and the two sets of music performed by the band, who looked lovely in their white shirts and Andean waistcoats and performed really well. Layla and I got up and danced quite a bit which in turn encouraged others to dance including a delightful little boy aged about 4 or 5 who was sitting near us. When we left at the end someone kindly gave the musicians a couple of bottles of wine and then we headed for Pizza Hut where they tucked into an enormous pizza while Layla and I enjoyed bowls of ice-cream, and then finally the long drive back to Edinburgh arriving at the apartment around 1 am. There we shared the wine and chatted and listened to music until the guys said their goodbyes with us saying we would catch up with them next day.
Layla and I assumed we were at Eloy's flat and were careful not to make any noise to wake up his wife and 3 year old daughter, but next day we realised we had the flat to ourselves. Before leaving Eloy had given me a key and we learned next day that he was lending us his brother's flat who is playing with a band in Spain and realised how lucky we were to have such excellent accommodation in Edinburgh. We both have comfortable beds, a bathroom with shower, a kitchen to cook in etc, and are very very grateful to Eloy for this. The best is that it is so close to the town centre that we can walk to Prince's street in about 10 minutes.
Next morning we had a nice breakfast sitting in the window at Garfunkels before the steep climb from the Mound up to Edinburgh castle. We had planned to visit the castle but the queues for tickets (£8.50 per ticket) were so long we decided to leave it for another day. We were at the beginning of the Royal Mile so decided to check out all the street entertainment and this was so enjoyable. We chatted to a lovely Scottish man posing as a bloodthirsty clansman complete with his scythe, as well as an 84 year old gentleman in full Scots regalia, and countless other interesting people during that day. We also came across three of the belly-dancers and agreed we would definitely go to their show at the Underbelly that day. We found an excellent Indian restaurant to have a buffet lunch and then separated for a while so that Layla could visit some other places and I wanted to find a bookshop and buy another book having almost finished the Amazon rainforest one.
We met back at the Underbelly at 4 pm in good time for the 4.30 show and walking down the spiral staircase full of posters was an adventure in itself - spiralling down through three floors of ancient stonework. We had time to enjoy a vodka and cranberry juice in the bar at the lowest level and were first into the Underbelly when the doors opened and had front row central seats in front of the stage. There followed the most amazing show. Seven belly-dancers performed 11 different dances during the next hour, beginning and ending with all of them, other dances only requiring one, two or three of the dancers - each dance in different costumes. It was truly fantastic and one of the highlights of being here for both of us (apart from the Andean music of course!!!)
When the show ended it was a mad rush to get to the Balmoral to see if the band were still playing and we got there just in time as they had already packed up their instruments and were putting the last of them in the van. But Lolo gave us a lift back to our flat. After resting a while Layla and I went out and did some shopping and decided to eat at the flat and have an early night. She stayed in town a bit longer than me in order to sample a bit of the night scene, but I was just ready to fall into bed after supper and catch up on some sleep. We had to sleep a bit quicker than intended too because heating the water took the last of the electricity and we were plunged into darkness while Layla was still in the bath!!!! Today we found a super cafe at the lower end of Rose Street and had a really leisurely breakfast and then parted company as Layla wanted to sunbathe in the park and I wanted to come here and write this email. It is the hottest day yet outside so there are still hours of sunshine to enjoy once I get back outside. Layla really loves Edinburgh - she said it is the most beautiful city she has ever seen and cannot get enough of it. Tonight we will go out into town in the evening as well - there is a Moroccan restaurant not too far from where we live so may even go there if it is not too late to book a table. We will be here until next Thursday and know it is going to be a really fantastic week - especially if this lovely sunshine weather keeps up. Our plane doesn't leave until 8.55 in the evening next Thursday by which time we will have enjoyed 8 full days here.
I will write again in a few days time and tell you more about this wonderfully vibrant and exciting city. Even without the fiesta it is one of the most fantastically beautiful and historical cities and with the excitement of the fringe festival I can think of no better place to be.
When Layla and I caught up with each other later that Saturday, she was really excited about a band she had seen that day in the park. In the part of the park where she was relaxing there was a huge stage where different bands and other acts were doing taster sessions of their shows and when Mikel Angelo and the Black Sea Gentleman performed she was delighted with their music. At the end Mikel Angelo said the first three people to buy their CD would receive two free tickets for that night’s show and luckily she was among that first three. With ticket prices of £9.50 it was a good deal and I was all for taking in that performance that evening and deferring our earlier plan of going to the Moroccan restaurant for another day.
After telling me all about it we decided to get a picnic lunch and return to the park as it was so warm, knowing there was no Andean music playing that day. The band had disappeared to Newcastle for the day. We popped into Marks and Spencers Food Hall and bought a delectable array of salads, fruits and drinks and had just finished eating it in the park when my phone rang. It was Lolo suggesting a trip to the beach and we delightedly agreed to go with them. At this point we did not know that only some, not all of the musicians had gone to Newcastle. We agreed to meet them outside Lloyds bank in Hanover Street in 25 minutes (a Peruvian 25 minutes turned out to be 45 but there you go!)
Lolo arrived with is friend Ricardo and we drove to the sea at Granton which is close to where they live. The tide was in so there were only rocks on the beach but there was a huge grassy headland above the beach and we found a place to relax there and stayed a couple of hours just chatting, drinking the beers we had stopped and bought on the way, taking a few photos etc, until it was time to return in order to get to our show in time. We invited them to join us at the show but they were not too keen, preferring us to phone when it had finished and perhaps go salsa dancing afterwards.
They dropped us back at the flat where we managed to change clothes and get ready in 20 minutes and then were walking back into town. Having studied a map we thought we knew the way to the Calton Road venue but when we finally worked out where it was we were on a road high above Calton Road which went below us. Although I guessed that we may be able to get to it by doubling back and heading for the roundabout off the Eastern end of Prince’s street, when we stopped and asked someone we were given alternative directions and followed those - which resulted in a very wide detour indeed, through a quite scary and derelict area which we were relieved to get through without mishap in daylight, vowing there was no way we would return the same way afterwards even if it meant paying for a taxi.
Luckily we had allowed plenty of time to find it and arrived in good time and again we were lucky to get into the venue and have a first choice of seats for the show. The stage set was in darkness lit here and there with eastern lights and with eastern music playing, setting the scene for the atmospheric show to come. We chose front row seats central to the stage and when the musicians came onto the stage we were mesmerised right from the first moment. This wasn’t just an ordinary music set but a very dramatic performance by four very excellent musicians. The lyrics of the songs were part comic part grisly dramatic and with Mikel Angelo’s stage presence and hypnotic eyes we were absolutely entranced. We enjoyed ourselves immensely and even managed to speak to the musicians afterwards who mingled among us. We found out then that they were of Eastern European descent but living in Australia.
We found our way back to Prince’s Street afterwards without difficulty (my earlier surmise having been correct) but were both feeling too tired for salsa dancing so decided to head back to the flat and sleep instead of phoning the guys, knowing we would see them next day anyway. We had forgotten to buy electricity top-ups (having tried a few places in the day and being unsuccessful) so had to manage without electricity, and realising by then that we would have to wait until Monday before we could buy any, the Post Office being the only place selling them.
On Sunday we went to the same lovely restaurant for breakfast at the lower end of Rose Street and afterwards walked up the hillside from the park to get to Edinburgh Castle, taking photos of the views en route. Then we enjoyed the remainder of the day on the Royal Mile which is the most vibrant place of all to be during Edinburgh festival, every spot taken up with street performers each of whom only has a 15 minute slot so the entertainment is constantly changing. We saw lots of brilliant shows - dance shows, comedy, little dramatic performances, juggling, clowns, whole troops of musicians and dancers from Argentina, a whole host of entertainment.
We headed back to listen to the Andean musicians later in the afternoon and when they packed up their instruments about 4 pm we went with them into the pub part of the Balmoral Hotel and enjoyed a couple of hours drinking with them before heading back to the flat to get ready for the evening, Layla and I having decided to go to Walima Moroccan Restaurant to eat that night.
I insisted that Layla carry a dance costume just in case and we walked to the restaurant which was not too far from the flat. There we met the owner who said his head dancer would arrive in half an hour and we sat at a table with a good view of the dance area and there spent the most enjoyable evening. It was a very exotic menu and quite pricy but we decided to keep costs down by restricting ourselves to one soft drink and then iced tap water and we shared a starter before choosing our main courses. In this way we kept the cost to around £25 each. The food was excellent and when Lorna the head dancer arrived she came and spoke to us before her performance and was very very friendly and nice.
Then when she danced we were thrilled with her performance, Layla saying it was the most perfect belly dance performance she had ever seen. During the evening Lorna invited Layla to join her in a performance and when she overheard me urging Layla to mention she had brought a costume with her, she insisted on her changing into it and doing a solo performance. This was great for me to see Layla dance again, knowing the owner of the restaurant was watching her. After she had finished Lorna and Layla danced together, matching each other step for step and the other diners really appreciated this double act also. It really was a splendid evening and we knew we would see Lorna again the following night because she told us about a cabaret evening taking place at the Old Pier Inn at Portobello - Edinburgh’s sea-side - the following evening and we decided we would go.
On Monday and Tuesday Layla and I spent most of our time in the Royal Mile, knowing the Andean musicians would not be playing on those days. We had breakfast in Rose Street again and then walked to the Royal Mile, spending a good part of the day there, enjoying the different entertainment, delightfully coming across Mikel Angelo and the Black Sea Gentlemen doing a 15 minute set outside St Giles Cathedral (which is 1000 years old) where we were finally able to take photos of them, not having taken cameras with us the previous Saturday. We were delighted to chat to them and Mikel Angelo gave me his very last poster when I dropped a loud hint for it, which is a great souvenir of the most memorable part of our week in Edinburgh.
About mid afternoon we found our way into a delightful pub called the Worlds End at the lower end of the Royal Mile and enjoyed a couple of long drinks made from vodka, cranberry and pineapple juices topped with chunks of lime and lots of ice. The food was excellent too. Then the long walk back to quickly change and then get the bus to Portobello. We arrived in plenty of time and were delighted to see a beautiful sandy beach that stretched for miles in either direction and off came our shoes and we walked down to the water’s edge and spent the next 40 minutes walking along the shore in the water’s edge cooling down aching feet from all that day’s walking. We relaxed sitting on the sand for half an hour too before the start of the cabaret show in the pub.
In the pub we found a table right by the stage, were drinking dark rum and pineapple juice concoctions, but what a pity the cabaret proved to be so boring! The first act wasn’t too bad as the girl had a lovely deep voice and the 40s style music she performed to piano accompaniment was very nice to begin with but went on too long. The next act was a local poet who recited a series of his poems which was really boring. The first half of that cabaret show was only redeemed by Lorna’s belly dance performance which was so brilliant that many of the old gentlemen in the pub could hardly bring themselves to look at her. After this we went outside and although I was prepared to go back in later and see the second half, Layla had had enough. Lorna joined us outside and we had an enjoyable half an hour talking to her before saying our goodbyes and making our way to get the bus back to Edinburgh centre. I had every intention of returning to Portobello the following day for a relaxing few hours on the beach but alas the weather was not hot enough to make the trip worthwhile, even though I bought all day bus tickets both Tuesday and Wednesday just in case.
The weather that week in Scotland had been quite variable with sunshine most days but never higher than 26 degrees even on the warmest day. This was in sharp contrast to the rest of Europe which was basking in a heat wave of unheard of dimensions. We learned that 3000 people in France had died from the heat and my sister wrote that she could hardly stand the heat back in Bath. Unfortunately those latter days in Edinburgh were spoiled by a damp heat haze which blocked out the sun and even when this disappeared halfway through the day, it was so cloudy that one minute the sun was blazing down, the next minute it disappeared etc, so that even though I had my bus ticket for Portobello on Tuesday I ended up not going after all. Instead we went to another show in the afternoon - Godspell - a rock musical which was very nice and we ended up in the World’s End pub again for dinner. After dinner Layla enjoyed a chair massage and I waited for her in a delightfully old-fashioned tea shop which is where we headed for breakfast on Wednesday morning, this time travelling all the way from the flat to the Royal Mile by bus. Unfortunately throughout the week my bad back had gradually been returning having eased slightly in the early part of the week. It was getting increasingly difficult to get out of bed in the mornings, me having to literally haul myself out using top bunk and ladder to get myself onto my feet. I was only able to function at all by being heavily dosed with painkillers and that day I made it even worse by dancing to the music of the Andean musicians. Even though it hurt I just could not sit or stand still and suffered heavily for it later. We learned that day that Mikel Angelo and the Black Sea Gentleman also did late night shows at a Circus tent on the outskirts of town and wanted to go, but when the time came I knew the best place for me was bed to try and get myself fit enough for the journey home next day, so Layla went off to the show on her own and I spent the evening in bed reading my book, listening to music etc with everything I needed within reach until her return later.
The pain was so bad that I used the last of my painkillers even by doing nothing more strenuous than being in bed and I was beginning to dread the thought of our journey home next day. Layla returned at 2 am and I was delighted to hear all about her evening even while regretting that I had been unable to enjoy it with her and we finally went to sleep around 3 am. I woke up before her next day when it proved impossible to get out of bed, the pain was so bad. When Layla got up she went straight to a chemist to get me the strongest painkillers available and came back with some really good 8-hour ones and after a coffee and taking one I was finally able to haul myself out of bed, wishing beyond anything that I could wave a magic wand and magic myself back to Colin’s without the journey in between!
With Layla’s help I managed to pack my suitcase and help her with cleaning up the flat, me doing the arm level chores and her sweeping and doing those I could not bend to do. Eventually we were both ready and she carried the cases downstairs one by one and she wheeled both cases out to the main street while I carried our hand luggage and there we flagged down a taxi which took us to the station. Then we checked both bags into left luggage for the day and made our way to the Andean musicians where we planned to spend most of our last day. We were delighted on arrival to find two Andean bands playing side by side in the same spot, one playing while the other took a break etc so that we had continuous music all day. With our flight home later I did not dare dance that day, telling Layla to dance enough for both of us which she happily complied with!!!
At lunchtime we left them for a while and went to have lunch in the Royal British Hotel nearby and Layla left me there to relax with a couple more drinks while she whizzed up to the Royal Mile to catch the last opportunity to see Mikel Angelo busking, before rejoining me a little later. In the hotel I had a table in the window in bright sunshine and was happily relaxed there until her return. When the two bands finished later in the afternoon we went into the Balmorral pub with them joining us and had a last couple of drinks with them. Then when finally it came time to leave we had Peruvian helpers who collected our luggage for us and wheeled it up the slope to the bus stop for the airport and carried them on the bus for us. We said our goodbyes and know that as always they will keep in touch until we see them again on a future trip to Edinburgh. In my case this will not be next year as I will be in Peru and Bolivia but if Layla still travels with me in Peru next year she may return earlier in time to go to Edinburgh and has tentative plans to put on a show of her own there. And we have both made a definite date to go to Edinburgh for the whole 3-4 weeks of the Festival in 2005.
I took a painkiller before getting on the bus which enabled me to cope with the journey home - first out to the airport and then the actual flight itself. We reached Bristol about 10.15 pm where Colin met us and took us home and where I eventually gratefully fell into one of the soft beds and had a good night’s sleep.
Next day when I woke up my back felt a lot better and I was able to do all the things planned for that day - first to my other job and then visits to family, returning to Colin’s to fetch Layla and returning to visit my Mum and sister so that she could meet them. We had a delightful hour with them sitting outside in the sunshine before heading into town where we met up with Ann. I was feeling really guilty about Ann because the original plan had been for me to return to London with Layla on Saturday with Ann coming along too for the long weekend, but I realised on Wednesday that I could not possibly continue travelling with my back in such poor condition and had very reluctantly decided to cancel my following week’s stay in London and instead relax at home in Colin’s house instead where he could look after me, and that hopefully a week of rest would put me right. With three weeks only to get myself fit to go back to work again this seemed the most sensible option.
Ann, Layla and I went to Las Iguanas for a late lunch in the courtyard there and then met up with Kausary to lead them back to Colin’s house. It was lovely to see them all again - Johnny and Julio and cousins Jorge and Ciro - and we were looking forward to their performance that night at the Pelican Inn, Chew Magna. By the time we reached Colin’s the time was marching on so the guys went to the Chinese takeaway 10 minutes walk from the house while we all did a quick change and then we walked to them and rode in the van to the Pelican with Colin to join us there about half an hour later as he was busy watering all his plants when we got there.
Because I had been relatively pain free all day I decided to dance that evening and it really was a magical evening, Layla and I dancing energetically most of the time and me thinking how lucky I was that my back was appearing to get better. I had a rude awakening next morning when I could hardly get out of bed again and realised I had overdid it again too soon! We all had breakfast together and Colin took Layla to catch her train which was a pre-booked ticket for 10.22. When we hugged goodbye we were both feeling sad knowing we would not see each other until her next trip to England.
The band had a wedding gig in the afternoon and needed to practise a song they were supposed to play during the wedding ceremony so Ann and I enjoyed watching them rehearse the lovely romantic song ‘Love is All Around’ until they were happy with it. They did two versions, one with guitar, charango, panpipes and bongo drum, the second version with Jorge on the sax instead of the bongo and both versions were really beautiful, a fantastic accompaniment to making wedding vows. After they had gone Ann stayed with me and we went into Bath where we met up with my sons, Ceri and baby Jasmine and all of us went to Baty’s bar for a few drinks to catch up on our news. Then Ann and I bought food to take home and have as a picnic lunch in the garden and spent the afternoon relaxing there in the sunshine. Layla phoned to say she had two dance gigs that evening which she was happy about. In the evening Ann came with us and we went to Doolally’s, a delightful little café bar recently opened in Bath, where we enjoyed some excellent cocktails, finishing up at a pub in Widcombe for one last drink whilst waiting for our Indian takeaway meals. Today was another painful one but I was able to go out at lunchtime with Colin and Mary and I am hoping that day by day in the week to come I will finally get better. All in all these past three weeks holiday from work have been really exciting ones. This my 4th visit to Edinburgh Festival since the first trip in 2000 was brilliant despite my back problems and I look forward to spending the whole Festival there in 2005 and before that my next trip to Peru and Bolivia in 2004. Layla phoned this morning to say how much she was enjoying Carnival del Pueblo in London, especially her delight to find Kausary playing on one of the procession floats leading to the carnival and I was glad she was able to experience this brilliant carnival before her trip home to the USA on Tuesday. All being well she will return to the UK for another holiday this coming winter which I really look forward to because we had such great times together on both her March/April and July/August trips here this year.
The night before her scheduled flight Layla went to visit Johnny’s family for the last time and unfortunately between leaving the flat in Brixton and her arrival in Dulwich she was robbed. This could have happened in the street or on the crowded bus and as you can imagine this left her completely devastated. She was robbed of the wallet containing her passport, credit cards, her cash, driving licence etc, which meant she could not fly home the next day as planned For such a thing to happen whilst visiting a foreign country is about the worst nightmare I can imagine and I felt so sorry this happened after seven perfect weeks here.
Fortunately she was able to obtain a temporary passport from the American Embassy next day but being so shaken up by this terrible experience and not wanting to stay in Brixton where it happened she decided to pay another visit to me in Bath. She phoned me at Colin’s on Thursday and I was thrilled to be seeing her again, having said goodbye the previous Saturday and was already missing her as we had had such good times together. She said she would return to London on Sunday and fly back home on Monday.
I met her off the London bus on Thursday afternoon and we had a drink in the pub by the station. Then we drove to Colin’s and I cooked dinner for us. After dinner we spent some time going through her photographs as she had several extra copies for me. We were also planning a day out on the train the next day and after phoning National Rail to get prices of train tickets we finally decided we would visit Oxford, both of us hoping we would find an Andean band playing there.
Next morning Colin drove us to the station and we caught the 9.52 train which unfortunately was not a direct one - we had to change trains twice along the way but this proved uneventful and we arrived in Oxford just after 11.30, setting off for the town centre to check the likeliest places for an Andean band. Unfortunately we chose a time to visit Oxford when the main street was like a building site, completely dug up with lots of noise, and after this discovery and checking other places we realised we were unlucky. The noise was so loud that even if a band had been playing no one would have heard them!
We had quite a pleasant visit there though, looking around the shops and then we had an excellent lunch in All Bar One, complete with draught Leffe beer in those beautiful Leffe glasses which it is very rare to find on draught here, this being a beer brewed by monks in Belgium. We did a lot of walking that day so that by the time we decided to make our way back to the station we ended up travelling by bus, both of us quite weary after so much walking.
Back in Bath Colin met us at the station and we took the car to park it and walking back to Bath’s All Bar One, both Layla and I were struck at the same time by how beautiful Bath looked. We enjoyed a couple of Leffe beers and then ordered take-away Indian food to eat at home whilst enjoying another drink, and by the time we got home we knew that our Peruvian friends from Chan Chan - Gabriel, Fernando and Oswaldo - would be arriving any minute as they had played at Weston Super Mare that early evening from 5.30 to 7.30 and would be doing the same performance the next day.
We had an enjoyable couple of hours listening to music and enjoying Trinidad rum with various fruit juices and Layla did a dance performance for them - and Colin who had not yet seen her dance. With no Arabic music we had to choose something similar and put on the CD of that Eastern European band from Australia we had seen in Edinburgh. The first track being instrumental was perfect for belly dancing and I just adored looking at the expression on their four faces as they watched her dance. Then the next song had lyrics, really funny ones and halfway through she could not dance for laughing. She also danced to Loyko’s and Gipsy Kings gypsy style music and we all thoroughly enjoyed watching.
When I woke up early next morning it was to find the band already outside emptying their car of as much equipment as possible in order to fit in three passengers later in the day, Layla and I having decided to go with them to Weston Super Mare that afternoon and knowing Ann would want to come too. The band went on into Bath to set up their equipment with us to follow as soon as we were ready.
We had a lovely day in Bath, mostly spent with the band, listening to the music and dancing but at midday we disappeared for an hour or so to have lunch in the new Lebanese restaurant just opened where the food was excellent. Layla also spoke to the Manager with a view to dancing there on a future visit to Bath. We rejoined the band about 2 pm and from then until 4 pm were dancing almost continuously and having a brilliant time in the warm sunshine. The band even played ‘Pobre Corazon’ for me a couple of times to my delight. One incident marred the day - when I caught someone stealing money from their box and I challenged him. Unfortunately this person was really aggressive and looked ready to hit me, so that Gabriel immediately jumped to my defence and said not to worry and to let the matter go. Despite this, the robber was incredibly abusive and we all heaved a sigh of relief when he continued on his way.
At 4 pm they packed up the instruments and when loaded all 6 of us climbed into the car, me up front with Fernando the driver and the other four in the back, and we set off for Weston Super Mare with me showing them the best direction to take and we arrived there about 5.15. By 5.30 the band were playing and Layla and I were dancing. We could not imagine anything more heaven-like than dancing with an Andean band at the seaside with the sun shining down. The whole day was brilliant After they finished we went for a Chinese take away meal and ate it in the park before driving back. Although we had had tentative plans to meet Colin at Woodford Lodge, a delightful restaurant and bar on the shores of Chew Valley lake we decided against it when we realised it would be nightfall by the time we reached there and impossible to see the lovely views. We arranged to meet in a pub nearer Bath. Unfortunately everything took longer than I thought and we were 45 minutes late arriving by which time Colin had given up and driven home. We phoned and said we would get some drinks and see him in about 20 minutes and then had another very pleasant evening drinking and listening to music at home. Those lovely guys in Chan Chan are such fun and the whole day spent with them was really lovely. They had planned to stay the whole weekend, even until Monday which was a bank holiday but unfortunately it was raining when we woke up on Sunday morning so they changed their mind and returned to Exeter instead. We all left together as Colin was driving us down to the station to catch the 8.30 am bus to London, this being the most direct one of the day.
Sitting on the bus reading our books, Layla said how glad she was that I was accompanying her back to London and repeated this later on arrival in Brixton. She said that after what happened there, London had lost its appeal for her and that she much preferred the tranquillity and beauty of Bath.. On arrival at Brixton we popped in to see Eddy and Rosa in El Inca who were pleased to see us both and Eddy said he would be doing a barbeque later that afternoon/early evening as a farewell party for Layla. One of the guys who works there produced a gift for me which came as a complete surprise. He had bought an enormous box of Belgian chocolates for Layla when the robbery happened and decided to buy a box for me as well. I was so thrilled at this unexpected gift.
After an hour of relaxation we set out for the gardens of the Horniman Museum as Kausary would be playing a free concert there from 3 to 5 pm, our reason for returning to London that particular day. We were able to travel there easily by bus and arrived in good time just as the concert was about to start. It was another sunny day (much better than that rainy start in the morning) and the band played on a bandstand in the park and there was plenty of seating for the audience all around. It was delightful to see many of our friends there, including Sandra, Johnny’s lovely Spanish wife and all his family. The concert was brilliant and everyone enjoyed it immensely, people of all ages. Afterwards it was lovely to chat to the musicians, including Chano whose last gig it was - he would be leaving for the USA a few days later and thence back to Cusco.
Afterwards we made our way back to El Inca where preparations for the barbeque were under way and we had a really enjoyable evening. Aquiles and some of his friends were there too, all of whom promised to come and visit me in Bath very soon. The food was excellent, all the meat marinated in Peruvian spices before being barbequed and doused in an excellent sauce made from Peruvian chillis that had come from Peru only days previously. Finally, despite several attempts to persuade me to stay another day, I had to say my farewells as I was booked onto the last bus home leaving Victoria at 11.30. Layla and Ricardo walked me to the Oval station and I felt quite sad saying goodbye to her, knowing it would be at least 6 months if not longer before seeing her again. Thank goodness for email and being able to keep in touch.
On the train the next station was Kennington and I thought ‘Great, I am going in the right direction’ only to discover the second stop was Elephant and Castle! I jumped off the train quick, realising the line split into two directions before rejoining itself into one and rather than risk going backwards and forwards on the same line I changed to another line and got to Victoria without incident. I always dread the walk between train and coach station at Victoria on my own at night but this time I was lucky as another traveller asked me the way and I had company on the 10 minute walk between stations. The journey home was incredibly boring - the bus was completely full and I just could not get comfortable and fidgeted all the way home. Even my music could not distract me from the sheer boredom of the journey and I was jolly glad when I finally reached Bath station at quarter past two. Even better was arriving home and falling into bed twenty minutes later.
Today was spent leisurely. Colin, his sister and I walked across the fields to Southstoke village at lunchtime and had a nice lunch in the pub garden and I relaxed in Colin’s garden enjoying intermittent sunshine most of the afternoon. Today was the start of my last two weeks of holiday which will be spent a lot more quietly than the past four weeks have been, although we do have a day trip planned for Torquay on Thursday and I look forward to seeing Chan Chan again on Friday as they have the last of their three gigs in Weston Super Mare on Friday evening and hopefully will be playing in either Bristol or Bath before that in the daytime and if the weather holds, may even play locally on Saturday. As before they will stay with us overnight on Friday and I look forward to seeing them again, they are such fun to be with and such genuinely nice friends.
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