I have no idea how the Peruvians live like this. At the moment in the day it is high twenties in the sun but there is always an icy wind especially when you step into the shade. At night it gets dark and so cold so quickly. Come 6pm you need to be adding an extra layer and preferably wrapped up in bed. We found it hard to adjust to this relaxed early nights and early starts lifestyle especially after arriving from busy bustling Rio.
There are no heaters or insulation in the houses just thin rickety windows, tiled floors and tons of blankets. Our bathroom doesn’t even have panes of glass in so running to get a (thankfully hot) shower is a challenge.
We were stupidly unprepared for how cold it gets here and our lamely packed backpacks represent this. Instead of bikinis, shorts and flip flops I so wish we had woolly hats, thermals and snuggly slippers. I haven’t longed for thick socks so much in my life. As we are planning to visit so many different countries in South America, each with their own climate it was always going to be a struggle to pack suitably but we completely messed up here!
Luckily my mum has sent us an aid parcel containing vital thick socks and there are plenty of shops selling alpaca and llama fleecy jumpers but being on a budget it seems quite a luxury to go shopping. The one bonus is that being so cold has made us appreciate how lucky we are back home to flick a switch on the central heating. With every day we are acclimatising slowly and currently managing to keep an ok temperature with just two layers rather than the three or four we were wrapped up in when we first arrived!
If I could give you any advice it would be to really research how cold places get and not expect that the houses will be warm! Right I am off to make another cup of herbal tea (god I’m really starting to miss a mug of Tetley) and add some gloves as my fingertips have got icy just typing this!
