 Jay’s Journey byJay ChavezPart 6: Dreamweaving and the Law of AttractionI think one of the most valuable lessons I have learned in my life is that you don't know what you can do until you try - it turns out that building a website is one of the things I can do! Luis and I decided that this was an important step in the setting up of our organisation, and one which should be completed early on in the process. I remember writing down a list of possible names and then checking if the “.com” website was available. Happily for us, www.travellernottourist.com was still up for grabs so we grabbed it!  Jay’s Journey byJay ChavezPart 5: How Dreams Become RealityArequipa, in the south of Peru, is also known as “The White City”, which makes it sound like something out of a fairytale. The old centre certainly is beautiful - many of the buildings are made out of huge blocks of a volcanic stone called “sillar”. The Cathedral in the “Plaza de Armas” (the central square from which the rest of the city radiates) is particularly impressive and there are some stunningly beautiful carvings which adorn the doors and walls of other buildings around the plaza. If you know the UK, it is an effect similar to that found in Bath, but whiter. Of course, it gets progressively less clean looking and well-kept as you travel further from the centre but thinking about it - the place I met my husband - still makes me feel like Cinderella. I’m trying not to sound too soft and girly here but sometimes you just have to say it like it is.
Traveller Not Tourist:
Jay’s Journey byJay ChavezPart 4: The Lake That Looks Like an OceanSo, Sucre, what a treat! It's totally gorgeous. I managed to spend a week there and barely do anything but utterly enjoy myself. Jess, a fellow volunteer from Angels of Hope, and I struck gold with our accommodation - we stayed in a self contained flat (above a family home) complete with fully equipped kitchen, bathroom with (almost) hot water, sitting room with dining table and TV and a balcony. We even got to share the family pet, Dino (a dog, not a dinosaur). We made dinner for the family one night and they returned the favour.  Jay’s Journey byJay ChavezPart 3: Hopeful AngelsAfter my amazing experience at Inti Wara Yassi, I found I was thinking differently about the rest of my trip. Originally, I was planning to travel almost the entire length of Chile, which would mean lots of beautiful sights but not much time to really engage with places or people. If I am honest, I had found some of my travelling time to be a little lonely. Perhaps this is a weakness of mine but I felt that the loneliness really stemmed from feeling a bit useless and disconnected from reality when I was staying in travellers hostels and going on trips with other foreigners. This was completely different to the feelings I had whilst I was volunteering.  Jay’s Journey byJay ChavezPart 2: Walking with pumasI spent my 26th birthday in Lima (my birthplace) in the company of people I had known for just a few days. For someone who normally makes the most of birthdays, it felt strange to be so far away from my family and friends but I was still positive about my trip and excited about my packed itinerary. I started with a fairly predictable journey down the West coast of Peru –  Jay’s Journey byJay ChavezPart 1: Catching the travel bugHaving been born in Peru, whilst my parents were on a teaching exchange there, I had always felt a pull in that direction. I always knew I would go back. Initially, I planned to go in 2003 but ended up going on an amazing expedition to Malaysia with an organisation called Trekforce (sadly no longer running expeditions but my expedition leader, Dom, now runs his own organisation - Fieldskills). I loved the feeling of sleeping under the trees in a hammock and spent as much time as I could with the local guides, relishing the experience of connecting with people from such a different culture. We built 5 bridges and a trail to improve access for scientists to an uninhabited area rich with undiscovered flora and fauna (and leeches!) |
