Angela's Andean Adventures.
London
25th-27th May 2001.
Whitsun Bank Holiday Weekend and Another Lovely London Visit.
This proved yet another immensely enjoyable weekend. Friday night was
excellent too. I only had to do 10 minutes work at my second job as they
were closing even earlier than usual. So I had time to go home and spend an
hour on a sunbed enjoying the warm sunshine before getting ready. I'd been
looking forward all day to going to Las Iguanas with Colin where we spent
another very pleasant evening. We'd booked our table an hour earlier than
usual due to the fact we had an early start next day.
Next morning I woke up having slept through an hour of clock radio music
and realised I only had 40 minutes to get ready before Colin arrived. What a
rush and luckily I had thrown a few things into my case the night before or
I would never have been ready in time. He arrived at 6.15 and I was ready by
half past. We got to the station in good time for my bus departure at 7.15.
It had to be a bus journey again on this occasion as I didn't know I was
even going to London until a few days previous. Train tickets cost far too
much unless booked more than 7 days in advance.
On this occasion I was wearing sensible shoes - my trainers and socks, my
new shorts and a camisole top - all ready for another hoped for day of
sunshine (which luckily proved very warm and sunny indeed). Also I was
trying out my new mini trolley case (purchased for when I'm on the move from
one town to another in Peru) and what a difference - to be able to trundle
it along behind me instead of staggering under the weight of bags as on my
last visit to London two weeks earlier!
The bus arrived in good time and I got off at Earl's Court at 10.15 and
from there made my way to Notting Hill Gate and then on to Portabello
Market. When I arrived at the spot where I expected to see Claire and
Aquiles, Tarpuy were in the middle of a set and Victor looked really amazed
to see me there (as we'd been in email contact the day before and I hadn't
mentioned I was coming to London. The reason for not telling him was being
careful not to let one band know what the other one was doing. Had he known
I was coming it would have told him that Claire and Aquiles would be in the
market and given him an unfair advantage to get the best pitch! And as it
happened they got there first anyway. So I stayed listening for about half
an hour and when they took their break I chatted to them for a further 20
minutes before going further into the market to find Aquiles and Claire -
Victor having explained exactly where to find them. Whilst with Victor I was
delighted to see Suzanna, Carlos' wife who was pushing baby Tupay in his
pushchair. It was great to see her and have a chat. Tupay is really gorgeous
- 17 months old now. Before leaving Tarpuy I gave Victor a cassette of
Illapu music that I had copied for him, much to his delight as he only has
one of their CDs and I have seventeen! I also purchased a Bolivian CD from
Santiago which he had brought from his recent visit to France (knowing how
much I adore Bolivian music).
When I caught up with Claire and Aquiles their friend Ricardo was with
them and all three of them were pleased to see me and the teasing started
pretty well immediately! Eg me pulling his leg because he hadn't got up
early enough. He said they had arrived really early but that Tarpuy had
arrived even earlier! Ricardo went off to the nearby pub and came back with
some beers and we drank them and chatted in Spanish whilst Claire and
Aquiles did one last set for almost an hour. They sang three new songs which
will be on their next album so that I could hear them and I enjoyed them
very much. Ricardo has only been in London 9 months so in order to help him
with his English whilst I practised my Spanish, we decided that I would
speak to him in Spanish and he would speak to me in English, correcting each
other whenever we went wrong. This proved very beneficial throughout the
weekend as I gained a lot in confidence speaking in Spanish and Aquiles was
really impressed at my progress, especially whenever he surprised me by
saying something in Spanish direct to me and I understood and replied in the
same language!
After their set at Portabello market they packed up the equipment as they
were contracted to play from 2 pm to 5 pm at the Sundance market, which was
situated about a 15 minute walk from Sloane Square. Again I was glad to have
my trolley case and sensible shoes on as we had to get a move on to get
there in time. The Sundance market proved to be a very upmarket complex all
owned by one man - a restaurant and series of shops, juice bar and
Vietnamese Noodles bar - all purely organic. Ricardo and I were able to sit
down next to where they were playing and chat throughout the whole time they
were playing. It was still very warm and sunny and I felt quite sleepy at
times and had to fight to keep my eyes open! They took a break a couple of
times during the afternoon and during the second break we all decided to try
the Vietnamese Noodles soup which was really delicious - noodles and
vegetables in a delicious clear soup, topped with piles of chicken. And
there were condiments to spice it up - chilli sauce, oyster sauce etc and we
all thoroughly enjoyed it. Claire and Aquiles got theirs free for performing
there and I treated Ricardo to his as he had paid for all the beers.
From there we made our way to Charing Cross and Aquiles left all their
equipment in a Left Luggage place until the following day. We just missed
the fast train to Lower Sydenham where Ricardo lives so caught another one
which took us halfway and then got off and caught a bus the rest of the way.
On arrival we went straight to the supermarket to get the necessary items as
the plan was that Ricardo would cook a barbeque for the four of us. However
time was marching on so we decided we'd have a meal indoors instead. We
bought wine and beer to accompany it and back at the house put the music on
and Ricardo said that after our meal we'd do lots of dancing to the music
(he knows how much I love to dance - it was him who had been teaching me a
Peruvian dance at Sol Andino two weeks previously).
On arrival in the house I was delighted to see their three birds - two
cockatiels in a cage and an Amazon parrot not tethered on top. I was
enchanted with the Amazon parrot and spent a while trying to get him to talk
- but he wouldn't do it for me! I helped with the food preparations and we
had the music on whilst cooking and made a start on the booze. When
eventually it was ready it was a really delicious Peruvian meal. Only
problem was I sat on the settee afterwards and fell asleep almost
immediately so no dancing took place! They didn't wake me up so all four of
us ended up spending the night there!!!! Ricardo is living with his three
nieces at present, so the mattress he normally sleeps on he brought into the
lounge for Claire and Aquiles to sleep on. When I woke up, quite early next
morning, Claire was on the floor beside me and Aquiles on the mattress and
when I looked round for Ricardo I saw a pair of legs sticking out from under
the table and it was a struggle not to laugh as he had slept on a quilt
under the table!!!!! I just about managed to get across the room to get to
my case and made it into the bathroom and had a quick shower and when I came
out the others were waking up. Claire said she'd tried sleeping on the
mattress but every time Aquiles turned over he knocked her off the edge of
it and when she'd climbed back on about six times she gave up and slept on
the floor!!!!!
We had time for a glass of fruit juice each and then had to dash as it
was a 10 minute walk to the mainline station to catch the train to London.
This came along bang on time at ten to nine and as I had decided to go to
Brick Lane market and Claire had to dash home first, we got off the train
before the other two. I left my trolley case for Ricardo to look after and
we were all meeting up again later in Covent Garden.
Claire and I caught another train and she got off at Whitechapel and told
me to get off at the next stop - Shoreditch - which would be right bang in
the middle of Brick Lane where the market takes place. She also explained
how to find my way back to Covent Garden afterwards. At Brick Lane I was in
two minds whether to look around the market or call on my ex husband Labu
who lives in that vicinity. My dilemma was solved when I asked a stallholder
the way to Hanbury Street and was told it was only a 5 minute walk away. So
I decided to visit Labu instead. I had written to him earlier in the week to
say there was a possibility I might visit. At the block of flats I rang the
bell and his wife Rekah answered and said to come on up.
Up I went the four flights of stairs and at the top her door was open and
I went in and she was struggling into her dress hurriedly! They hadn't
received my letter so my visit was a complete surprise but she seemed very
pleased to see me nonetheless, and Ryan who is now about 9 I think was
delighted to see me too. Rekah set to and prepared some coffee and breakfast
and phoned Labu to say I was there and that I couldn't stay too long, and he
promised to be there in about ten minutes.
When he arrived he was really delighted to see me, saying he had missed
both me and the boys and he wants to see them again and I gave him all their
phone numbers so that he could make contact direct and arrange to go down to
Bath and even stay at the house if he wants whilst I'm away. We were able to
catch up on all news and then I asked if he could give me a lift to
Spitalfields market as I was running out of time and he gave me a lift and
dropped me off at the right entrance to the market so that I could find
Victor easily and showed me where Liverpool Street station was so that I
could get the underground afterwards. He gave me a big hug before I got out
of the car and promised to keep in touch.
In the market I saw Victor and Catalina setting out the jewellry on their
stall and went up and put my arm around Catalina and she was really pleased
to see me and we embraced and had a chat - and Victor was pleased I had
popped in as well as he had invited me the previous day to visit their stall
in the market if I had time. Whilst getting the stall ready they were
playing the Illapu tape I had given him and really enjoying the music. I
stayed with them about 10 minutes, wishing I had time to stay longer as the
whole covered craft market looked so interesting.
From there it was about 8 minutes walk to Liverpool Street station, three
stops down the central line to Holborn, a quick change and one stop to
Covent Garden. When I exited the station I found the others less than 50
yards away, awaiting their turn to play. I had about half an hour with them
all before taking my leave of Claire and Aquiles - Ricardo having decided to
accompany me to Victoria Station and see me on my way.
I had already invited him down to Bath for the following weekend so he
was able to see where he could buy his bus ticket at the same time. We
arrived at Victoria in plenty of time, took note of which gate the bus would
depart from, checked out the whereabouts of the ticket office - the queue
for tickets was horrendous! - and then as we still had over half an hour we
decided to have a drink while waiting. We went into the Tapas Bar opposite
first but couldn't have a drink there unfortunately as their licence was
such that you had to eat tapas in order to have a drink - which would have
been nice but unfortunately we didn't have enough time. Luckily there was a
pub a few yards away and we enjoyed a nice cold beer in there until near the
time of my departure and we took our leave. Ricardo promising to buy his bus
ticket the following day for the coming Friday when he will visit Bath for
the weekend. Not having been outside London in his nine months in England he
is really looking forward to it.
Claire and Aquiles will be arriving before him - either today (Tuesday)
or tomorrow and will stay until Sunday as well. Claire is performing in the
opera Carmen at the Theatre Royal in Bristol for 4 nights Wednesday to
Saturday - just evening performances - with Claire and Aquiles playing their
music in the daytime as well. She is going to get complimentary tickets for
all of us to see the opera - probably for this Thursday which is the best
night for us. Whilst with me I will cook Aquiles favourite dish - Rocoto
Belleno - plus I have another one I want to make for him - Carapulcra made
with Pork. I plan to do a barbeque for them at the weekend with my
speciality recipe of Tandoori chicken, spicy pork kebabs and other things.
Goodness knows when I'll have time to prepare for it - little by little
throughout the week I expect. With only two weeks until my departure for
Peru it's another busy week ahead - visits to my sister Tracy, the bank,
then sister Kathryn tonight, followed by Slimming World and then up to
Colin's house to show him how to get to his email. Tomorrow evening to
pictures to see Pearl Harbour and Thursday straight to the hairdressers
straight from work for my perm (with the opera Carmen afterwards) and Friday
will depend on Ricardo's arrival time in Bath as to how we spend Friday
evening. I will be with Claire and Aquiles all day whilst they are playing
on Saturday so we will probably all handle the preparation and cooking for
the barbeque in the evening.
I arrived back in Bath from London at 4.30 where Colin met me and we went
up to his house where I had time for a quick change as we were going to the
Wagon and Horses at Doulting Beacon in the evening, for the concert to see
Geraldo Maia (a Brazilian guitarist) in their upstairs gallery at 6.30 pm
followed by a meal in the restaurant after the performance. And what a
performance - I enjoyed every moment of Geraldo's music and his beautiful
singing voice. We were right in the front row, having ensured we got there
early, and I had a bottle of wine to enjoy during his performance which I
finished off with the meal downstairs afterwards. Geraldo was so nice, and
all the audience enjoyed his sparkly humour and wonderful music.He was
easily approachable and we were able to talk to him during the interval.Back
downstairs we bought his CD and he signed mine for me which I thought was
very nice. The meal was excellent too - I chose Ceviche which I was
surprised to see on the menu board - it being a Peruvian dish - and I
followed this with Paella Valenciana and my favourite dessert that I always
have - three different flavours of icecream with a measure of Tia Maria
poured over it.
Bank Holiday Monday was also enjoyable - we decided not to go too far in
case of holiday traffic. I fancied the seaside so we went to Weston Super
Mare. We arrived and parked at 12 noon exactly and went straight into the
Royal Hotel which is where we always go for lunch and that was very nice.
Afterwards a quick look at my favourite dress shop which specialises in
Indian designed and made clothing and Colin bought me a lovely pale pink
skirt with embroidery and mirrors on it.Then we went on the beach and
relaxed in the sunshine for a couple of hours until a breeze started and we
decided to find a pub and have a cold beer instead.
Colin had been telling me about the helicopter rides from the beach and
we could see them in the sky. He said we wouldn't bother then but on a
future occasion we could go up for a helicopter ride. I'd love that having
done this just once before and found it a brilliant experience.
Back home afterwards I managed to persuade Colin to strim my lawns (the
string always breaks when I do it) and after he had gone I mowed the lawns
and washed all the patio furniture ready for next week's barbeque. It was
another excellent weekend and I now look forward to the arrival of Aquiles
and Claire and more laughs with them. |
