Argentina

I have a blog and never seem to have the time, or effort to update it. And this being said, it´s late here and I feel as though I should write something. Yeah, yeah, blah blah.
My life was never and has never been boring (including the days when I used to work with my parents at the estate as a cocoa harvester!), so this year has been a lot of travelling!
Argentina was fantastic. Although, the Spanish is like so confusing. I tell you, the Spanish are easier to understand (thank God for my days as a London Cervantes student who was balloony ´embarazada´)!
Anyway, over in Argentina, How are you - Como se llama (pronunced Como se Yama) is actually Como se Shama. And breakfast or desayuna (desaYUna) is desaSHUna!
So is it rather confusing, luckily in Buenas Aires, they speak a little English but I tried to speak and just gave up. It was like talking to a parrot who said Sholly shwants a shawacker!
All the same, Argentina is nice but it´s all white people there. Apparently, indigenous people don´t exist there. Which is why I love Peru, it is so diverse here and very nice.
Argentinians are nice and friendly but you know something is not right when you see them staring at you as if they have never seen a dark-skinned Asian person before. Oh dear, what ever happened to globalisation?
I did like Argentina though, it had this nice vibe, funky and hip but calm and peaceful. The food was delicious, carne and vino (meat and wine) and I tell you I was as stuffed as a Paddington bear on a cabillion marmalade sandwiches after the holiday. It was eating, drinking, sleeping, horseriding at the estancia (farmhouse) and more eating, drinking and sleeping...oh yeah and sightseeing!
The Casa Rosada is beautiful! It is the presidential palace, the good thing is that you can go in and see it (and all the infamous portraits) but not in Lima.
Also, the Perons are there in their glory and so is her Majesty Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, the current president (who can´t solve the economic crisis the country is going through).
Oh well.
However, that being said and even though everything was a tad bit expensive, I truly enjoyed the country. It was a nice break, well deserved for the husband and our baby had a fantastic time.
The highlight would have been going to a little village, close to the estancia we were staying at.
It is called San Antonio de Areco. Absolutely nice, quaint village, nice park and a couple of bridges. And of course it´s famous person, a writer known as Ricardo Guidaldes. It was a good stay there.
Besides this, we loved Buenos Aires (literally translated as Clean or Good air  lol ) it was old and nice and the Palmero area was awesome.
We were so happy to meet our UK Embassy´s DA Richard, his lovely wife Diana and cute baby Sofia. Such lovely people.
Indeed, Argentina was lovely, dramatic and hope that Argentina doesn´t cry for me now that I´m back.

Fusion!

Being probably the only Sinhala-speaking Sri Lankan living in Peru, I was surprised to find that there was a massive Indian population here. So much so that the first Peruvian girls I met, said they loved Indian actors, especially Hrithik Roshan.
You wouldn't believe how surprised I was.
In fact, I met a lovely Indian lady Shikha at the spice section of my local WONG supermarket. We are great friends now and it is amazing that no matter what they say about Sri Lankans and Indians, like they say for Peruvians and Chileans, it was nice to have an Indian friend here in Lima.
What was amazing was that Shikha also lived in Colombo for a few years when her husband was working there. So she does have an understanding of both cultures.
And while my maternal grandfather is of Bengali origin, I am glad to say that she got me in touch with my Indian roots.
And Peruvians understand and know India and it turns out that someone would have met an Indian.
What's more, I'm glad to bring this diversity into Peru, the fact that being South Asian is good and unique.
I've also perfected a Peruvian/Sri Lankan dessert which makes me all the more satisfied that I'm here.
And I am willing to go the extra mile!
Peruvians also value spicy food which is great because Sri Lankan food entails spiciness. So let's see, maybe I'll make more recipes and treat my friends and family in Sri Lanka?
While people in Peru think that their lucuma or chirimoya is native to only their country, I always surprise them by saying its available in Sri Lanka.
We call lucuma, laollu and chirimoya is cherrymoor and guanabana is anoda! So many similarities!

Farewells and Travails!

Wow! A great many things have happened since I last wrote!
Firstly, my first 'proper' expat friend Tanya left Lima and I still can't believe she is actually gone. I mean we all knew she was planning to leave at some point but then the day arrived and she went!
In a country where everything was new to me and I hardly had made a friend, it was lovely to meet her, a Canadian Internations member who was fun to hang out with! I will miss Tanya dearly but we promised to be in touch and anyway, we will be seeing each other in Miami this December!

Last week and the week before was quite hectic but fun as we travelled out of Lima to see the real Peru. And what an eye-opener. While Lima can be bustling and the trendy places quite rich, when you venture out of Lima is when you see the awful truth. As much as it is a beautiful country, you can't believe that most people do live in poverty here. It's quite shocking but true. While here the mining companies, hotels and restaurants make big bucks with passing tourists and all, there is nothing going into poor communities or if there is money going in, as a bystander you don't really see it.
Our first destination was Pisac or Pisaq which was an hours' drive from Cusco, the biggest tourist town near Macchu Picchu. Pisac was nice and quiet all the more because of the less number of tourists that visit the ruins.
Its Incan ruins, also called Inca Písac is located at the foot of a valley. The ruins are sectioned into four types - P'isaqa, Inti Watana, Q'allaqasa, and Kinchiraqay. The best one is Inti Watana that houses the great Temple of the Sun of what its foundations exist and its impressive rectangular rocks.
According to legend, the Incans constructed agricultural terraces where crops are supposed to grow better at certain altitudes on the steep hillside and the greatest thing is that they are still used today! It was amazing seeing how the actual stones that the Incans erected are still in place today and that Peruvians still learn from their ancestors on the secrets of agriculture.
However, most tourists who want to make the journey all the way to Pisac, come to the town's most bustling and biggest market near Macchu Picchu. And it's quite a market. With everything from beautiful tapestries to clothes and warm winter Andean designed jackets, the market is fantastic! We bought Andean ponchos, an Inca tapestry and some random stuff.
The restaurants here are also good but since they cater to tourists, can be expensive.
We stayed at the Royal Inka hotel which had lovely views and even the though the food wasn't that great, they did have hot water and we got a nice room with a view of cornfields. The highlight of Pisac was visiting the ruins which were quite stunning and even though it was at a high altitude which was on par with Macchu Picchu, we managed to climb up without any issues.
Altitude sickness affects every person differently. For someone who is healthy and has the time to get used to the altitude it is advisable to go to a few places first before venturing to Macchu Picchu later. Pisac was a good example even though we quickly wore ourselves out and were gasping for breath with every step we took up the ruins. Eventually by the second day we were used to it.
Having Josh there and him being 8 months was good because as a baby they can get used to the altitude better and quicker than toddlers. But that did mean sleepless nights and more feeds. However, I would say we didn't have a bad reaction to the altitude like other people. We knew people would be vomiting, having drowsiness and just plain getting sick but thankfully, we were fine!
Next we went to Urubamba and stayed at the lovely Casa Andina Private Collection....but I'll post that later. Here are some nice Pisac pictures!
                                                                   Pisac Views

                                                                  Pisac Ruins

                                                            View from our hotel room

                                                                    Pisac Market

                                                                       Pisac Ruins

                                                             View over Pisac Ruins

                                                           View of Pisac Town

Hectic Few Weeks!

I must say, I've suddenly become so busy! Which explains why this is a short post.
Our Sri Lankan friend Rads is in town, she came last week and leaves on Friday.
So happy to see her - I get to talk in Sinhala, a language I miss a lot....and now keep forgetting due to learning Spanish.
She brought the orange lentils which were godsent since the only ones you get here are the green and black ones.
So happy she came to visit us - the first Sri Lankan to do so!

Long story short, we had our first Sri Lankan dinner party on March 27th, the day of my parents' 32nd wedding anniversary. And was it a hit! We cooked some of our favourite Sri Lankan dishes and stole some secret tips from Peter Kuruvita and it was delicious - even though I do say so myself!
We had black lentil curry, prawn curry, chicken curry, beetroot curry, cashew and pea curry, rice, rotti and an assortment of pickles and chutneys! For dessert, it was my famous carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and Peruvian key lime pie!
The diplomats and VIPs invited loved it! So much so we have a dinner invitation from one of them on Friday! So thrilled!

Not all Beaches are sweet as Peaches!

Last weekend we went to two Peruvian beaches.
I have to say, they were not beautiful at all. I am so blessed I am Sri Lankan because Sri Lanka does indeed have some of the world's most beautiful beaches. Only thing is, we don't really care or love our beaches!

After my son's doctor's appointment and a quick check up, we headed to the beach. By the way, he is healthy and way above average for his height and weight. At nearly 7 months, he is nearly 10 kilos!

We travelled on the South Panamericana highway to Pucusana (about an hour away from Lima). We stayed at the El Mirador guesthouse.
It's a quaint guesthouse with about 10 rooms atop a deserty hill. We had to be careful when we walked along the towns, the stray dogs and cats could be aggressive. I was happy I had my rabies booster shots at MASTA in London before moving to Lima.
The food was delicious! Cerviche and the seafood dishes were fresh and well-prepared. We ate too much!
Jhonny's is a good restaurant in the beach front. There is an island in front of Pucusana beach but believe me, neither is that beach any better than Pucusana itself. And most of the houses on the island are all private houses, not hotels. But anybody is free to use the (dirty) beach so you could see babies and the locals having a whale of a time even though the fish market right opposite stank to high heavens!
In addition to this, there is also a blow-hole in Pucusana which is opposite a restaurant called El Sol where we ate some delicious seafood omelettes! It was quite impressive!

Unfortunately for us, that Saturday was a massive concert, the 20th anniversary of some hotel so we were bombarded with noise, much to our chagrin. Fortunately, Josh slept well and we were the ones who had to endure it.

Having had enough, I told my husband that I needed a clean beach if he wanted to dip Josh's toes in the Pacific Ocean. I didn't want him near Pucusana beach!
So we headed to probably the most exclusive beach in South Peru.... Asia! Asia is about half an hour away from Pucusana. But Asia was not as beautiful as any Sri Lankan beach but definitely nicer and cleaner.
It's like the Peruvian beach equivalent of America's The Hamptons!
We stayed at the Hotel Asia which was a 3 star hotel with a pool.
Asia is in fact a Lima city away from Lima. At the Asia Boulevard, you get all the restaurants and stores you would normally find in Miraflores. The famous WONG supermarket (UK's equal to Waitrose) was there and a whole heap of designer clothes stores including Roxy (where I bought a pair of leather-strapped slippers)!
I bought a few nice dresses at Michelle Belau and Josh got a nice gecko shirt and shorts. My husband opted to get a leather pair of Quicksilver flip-flops! And we managed to see many SUVs on offer as we were looking to buy a car! We finally settled on the Nissan Qashqai!
So we went to Asia in reality to get some shopping done and to dip Josh's toes in a clean beach. It was his first Pacific Ocean experience and he was happy!

But seriously, I miss Sri Lanka...there is indeed no place like home, especially our beaches!

Why the hell did it have to be Mel?

Today's post is dedicated to Mel. I've been wanting to write about her for ages but it was just too difficult.
Words can't express how awfully depressing it is to know someone and then hear of their murder.
What a sad way to die.
Mel was there on the first day I met my husband but sadly, we didn't really talk. We happened to be in the same social setting and she spoke to my husband but we were never acquainted.
Nearly a year later, we found ourselves on the same whale-watching tour and we had to share a room (common for most journalists of the same gender) at the prestigious Fortress hotel in Koggala.
Compared to others in the Sri Lankan journalism sector who knew her well, I can't say Mel and I were close. We were journalist acquaintances. But somehow the person she was and the way she died really made me connect with her.
On the whale-watching tour, we shared a room and got on well! We had things to share, she talked about herself and I spoke about myself. How she was a wine journalist before anything else was quite ironic because she never drank too much alcohol! Or probably didn't drink at all even though sometimes I would catch her with the occasional glass of wine!
Moreover, what makes me think about her, is the way she understood things. She had this sharp mind, smart and witty vibe about her. She could ask the interrogative of questions and could give some of the harshest statements. I couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or telling the truth. She had this way with words, when she spoke and when she wrote.
Either way, Mel was Mel.
You could spot her in a crowd. We weren't close because there were several already known to her. I thought I would be just another journalist friend but back then, considering my husband's then position at the British High Commission, she was one of the first to commend our new relationship. She even mentioned in a Facebook comment what a wonderful thing it was that we donated blood for our birthdays!
Mel was also fair. She never believed in all the freebies people misuse and take for granted in journalism. Getting something at an event was a bonus but if there was a time to pay, she would pay her way. She would never try to say 'I'm a journalist, I deserve an upgrade in business class of your airline' and that was what struck me about her!
She was honest, open and had her firm beliefs.
I just can't believe the way she died.
Living in Peru now, I was so gutted I couldn't go to the funeral. The most we did was send her father a sympathy card. And that's not enough.
In memory of Mel, I only hope we offer our young journalists the chance to do as much as she did. In a country where journalism is now mostly government propaganda, it's imperative that we inspire a better generation of journalists. Ones who would educate themselves, differentiate the good from bad and not think that the wrong thing is right!
She was one of a kind and I sorely miss her! If only I had the chance to say goodbye I would have but never did I know...!
                                              Mel at our posh Fortress hotel room! (2009)

                   Mel writing furiously all the while ignoring the good-looking guy next to her! (2009)

Write and Save a Life!

In my last post I mentioned about a baby's life I saved when I was a journalist. I want to explain the story because hopefully, if someone reads my blog and are interested in writing/journalism/reporting or just contributing a bunch of articles to social media websites, I hope this would give them some inspiration in some way.

It's not to boast and not make me a superior species of the normal journalistic, ballistic human race where sensationalism sells newspapers which overrules truth. However, I just want to say, what you write can mean saving a life, the difference between life and death and hope for a better tomorrow for someone else.

So this was the story I published back in May 2011. I was also undergoing a turbulent time in my relationship back then but the story really made me realise how much I was needed!

I interviewed this doctor who even though he was the Sri Lankan President's skin specialist, he was qualilfied in curing children with disabilities. But most Sri Lankans never knew the latter just the former.

Probably a week after the story appeared I got a call from a very good-accented English lady by the name of Mrs.Saldin asking for the doctor's number. I gave all the details I knew including the address of his clinic and what times he was in. She was happy and I never thought about it.

After about 6 months, I went back to this same doctor hoping to ask for more stories because I ran out of ideas for the health column and he and I got on well so I paid him a visit.
After I interviewed him, he told me about this lady from Badulla.

He said that she and her husband had trouble conceiving and wanted a baby so badly. They were quite well-to-do and had wealth but God hadn't blessed them with a bundle of joy. So one day, through an arrangement with someone, they went to the Kalubowila hospital in Colombo South and waited outside for 'rejected' babies. Little did they know, when they were 'given' one baby, they didn't know that his mother had rejected him because he had a disability. He had hydrocephalus (result of an imbalance between the formation and drainage of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain). It is commonly called 'Water in the Brain' because it looks as though the baby has water in his head.
Sadly, they didn't know this and when you adopt a child illegally, who can you turn to anyway? Definitely not the police!
When their foster baby was about 2 years old, the condition surfaced.
They were desperate and emotionally upset. The doctors in their area told that their adopted child would not live.

So one fine day, this article appears, and they call me for the doctor's details.
They visit the doctor whom I interviewed and he puts the baby on a course of treatment. There is surgery performed to filter out the fluid. In a few months time, the baby is hale and hearty! They are the best parents ever, in spite of being foster parents, they took in and sought to find any means necessary to save their adopted child!

When I heard this story, I just couldn't believe my ears! I mean, I was just a messenger, just a reporter but I had this one special gift - I could be a messenger and save lives!

For all my time in journalism in Sri Lanka, I never received any awards and since I worked for a government-controlled newspaper, I never thought I'd win anyway! But this was worth more than anything I've achieved in journalism -  before my marriage and baby - or even my life!

So the morale of this post is to inspire people to write!
I was a rather accidental journalist but I knew I wanted to write. I never thought I would get a job at Sri Lanka's most-read weekly newspaper and thought my articles meant nothing being all government-controlled. But this story changed everything. Now when I'm sad or disheartened, I know that there is a baby's life I saved all because of me!

So if you're out there, go and write, get anybody to publish your articles, you never know whose life you will save! Stop thinking you're not good enough or you're not qualified enough or you don't fit the bill. Just take that pen and put it to paper, tap those words from your keyboard and text those words on your iPhone! A small difference means a world of change!

Because I'm Worth It!

For the past one and half years, when I quit my job and that was not just being a journalist but giving up my beloved health column at the Sunday Observer, I thought I'll never be worth the same self I was.
In a nutshell, the column was a secret success and my baby. I would never forget the day a foster parent called me to save their foster son by asking for a telephone number of a disability-specialist doctor I interviewed. Had it not been for my article and the interview their son's life wouldn't have been saved!
That was the former me....the me I missed....!

But how wrong I was!
Not only am I worth so much as a wife but I mean the world to my son. And that's the best job ever, being a mother...! It's the most difficult, most gruelling, most difficult job in the world but it is also the most rewarding, most priceless and most wonderful job I have been so blessed to ever have.
However, I never thought that I would have an impact on people in different ways.
I met Tanya and Claire through Internations (a world-wide expat group). I thought since I'll be in Peru for 4 years, I might as well go ahead and make friends of my own....not just the ones in the diplomatic circles!
Tanya is loads of fun and Claire, I just met her once before but we got on really well. Claire is intelligent, bright and has a sharp mind. I found her so interesting...!
So I just randomly invited them over for tea last Thursday. Claire brought her lovely boyfriend Jorge too!
I never knew that inviting such a random bunch of people, they would get on like a house on fire. Jorge's attempt at English was really commendable.
And here, I was worried there would be some drama....!
I never knew that Claire felt somewhat like I do. Being an alien but still being optimistic to carry on and make an effort to be positive.
She puts her thoughts and experiences the best and you can read her post on my tea party here
Seriously, it made my day and I hope she finds it in her to be positive and think that not all expats are hoity-toity snobbish airheads! I mean there are plenty but it's the good ones, the diamonds in the roughs that make all the difference.
So I'm definitely doing another tea party....especially since they all loved my food!

Bienvenido à Perù

It's nearly 11pm and I am sitting in a plush apartment in the Miraflores district in Lima, the capital city of Peru.
Even though my last post was about how happy I was being a Londoner, life changes I tell you!
This is what you get when you get married to a diplomat, you see yourself being whisked away to Lord Knows Where and you have to deal with it! Not that I'm complaining but you get to used it I suppose over time.
The jet lag hasn't been easy to overcome and acclimatising from 5 degrees C to 25 degrees C, it's quite a turn-around. I love the heat, always have and always will but I really wasn't prepared for the climate shock of that. And here we are, the start of a four year posting in a country of the Incas and other Peruvian civilisations who made their mark on humankind.
I honestly can't complain, I tell you! Our house is big....not just big, it actually comes with a swimming pool. Wow! Yes, I know, I shouldn't really complain. And the kitchen comes with two ovens and we have a great barbeque grill outside. So tough job, being a diplomatic spouse. Okay so we had to sacrifice a lot of things, our career, our families and even our body to have diplomatic children but at the end of the day, there is a whole world of good we can do.
It's just the right attitude.

AM, the predecessor's wife is a lovely person! Had it not been for emails back and forth London to Lima, I would have panicked! My husband wasn't ambitious but we were thrown in the deep-end about the planning and preparation to Peru. Moreover, my Spanish is not really good but I have hope and optimism....I hope I can crack it even though I know Sinhala, Malay, Quranic Arabic, some French and a hint of Hindi. It's just squeezing fluent Spanish somewhere down it which would be a real tester. Ah well, I am STILL optimistic!
Speaking about the right attitude, as a diplomatic spouse, the charities you can commit to are endless. Come on, you needn't do WAG coffee mornings and cookery classes....I mean all that is important and I hear there are loads of Americans here but on the bright side, it's up to you to lead the life.
Either you shut yourself out from the locals, culture and news and mingle with expats or immerse yourself in everything that your adopted-country-for-four-years has to offer. I would personally go for the latter but I am in my late twenties and I do have a sense of adventure so yes, I'm weird!
Also, Peru has so much to give! The food is fabulous, the seafood is amazing, the pisco sours are heavenly and the art and culture is so diverse, I mean it's like unlocking the key to a new world. I feel that by moving continents, I've gone where none most of my family would ever dream about except read it in their history books or if they see it advertised in some sort of travel package. Macchu Picchu! Now how awesome is that.....! Oh well, I better stop ranting..!

All the same, if you go on about setting a better example, joy will be yours forever. Maybe that's stretching optimism too far but at the end of the day, there is more to life than being a diplomat's wife!