Why I’m staying in Peru – for good!

On August 11th I made the move to Pisac, Peru.

After 11 years of living in Barcelona, I decided to follow my heart and move to the place I love most in the world.

And what a bloody move it’s been!

Inititally I came for 3 weeks to test out the waters.

(If you haven´t read the backstory about why I was leaving my vibrant life in Barcelona behind, check out my last newsletter here)

Although I came for love, I am staying for much more than that.

I know deep down that this is where I am meant to be.

And even so…there are MANY things that don’t work out here.

For me.

From my life perspective.

M-A-N-Y!

I have gone from having life under control in Europe, to being thrown in at the deep end into customs and traditions that are not my own.

I have gone from having my day-to-day run like a well-oiled machine, to being out of oil and needing to take a quick crash course in Mechanics!

But that’s all part of the journey, right?

In this newsletter I’m going to give you some concrete examples of situations I´ve experienced that don’t make sense to my European mind.

I will also share 3 lessons I’ve learnt that I hope will support you if you ever decide to move to Peru.

MOVING INTO OUR NEW FLAT

My partner, Nilton, and I have been living in our flat together for 4 weeks.

Naturally, when we moved into our flat together, we were excited.

The flat is in Lamay, nestled into the foot of the mountains, surrounded by trees and tranquility.

Stepping out of the flat it like going back in time 300 years – hardly any one in the streets, higgeldy piggeldy mud houses & unpaved streets.

In particular I was delighted to move into a flat that was one tenth of the price I pay for my house in Barcelona.

We agreed with the owner the moving date.

We packed our stuff.

And, being European, I expected everything to go smoothly.

SILLY ME!

Arriving at the flat, I instantly noticed it hadn’t been cleaned.

My excitement dissolved into annoyance and disgust.

The oven was covered in oil splats, the bathroom sinks were caked in toothpaste marks and there were urine stains in the toilets.

But worst of all…THERE WERE DIRTY SHEETS ON THE BED!

It was already evening time and so there was no way we could get a cleaner to come out.

Luckily for us, the owner saw my distress and brought us some fresh sheets.

Still, moving into a dirty flat was one of low lights of my time in Peru so far.

I was really in shock!

I own a flat in Barcelona and rent it out. I would never ever DREAM of renting it to someone without having cleaned it first.

It makes me embarrassed to even think about.

Which is why it was such a shock for me.

Cleanliness is one of my values.

So if a situation arises which goes against that value, I get upset.

But CLEANLINESS is not a value for everyone.

This was an important lesson for me.

#LESSON 1: NEVER ASSUME, ALWAYS DOUBLE CHECK.

NO HOT WATER

Since I arrived in Peru the lack of hot water has been following me around like…a broken boiler.

Now I am an Impacter, and at one point in my life cold showers were my bread and butter.

BUT NOT ANYMORE, YOU HEAR ME?!

Cold showers are cool when I choose them. I get to show people what a warrior I am.

But when cold water is forced upon me, it’s a different story.

I move from Warrior mode to grumpy little princess.

Now I´ve been visitng Peru regularly since 2021. And in that time I only remember having a handful of hot showers.

Which is why, when I moved into my first house in Rinconada, there was only tepid water, I didn’t say anything. I just got on with it.

Until the water went from tepid to cold.

And I needed to wash my hair.

When I messaged the landlady, she was very quick to explain how she had never had problems with the hot water in that house. She went on to justify how they had just changed the gas bottle.

You can imagine my delight at the insinuation that I must be mistaken about the water not being hot.

At this point I pulled out the big guns.

I called upon my European assertiveness and invited her to come and test it for herself.

It was fixed the next day.

Great! Cold water solved.

Or so I thought…

Was the universe really going to let me get away that easily?…

Of course not.

When we arrived at our new flat, the water was cold.

When we enquired, we found out that the water was heated by solar panels.

Not ideal, especially when the rainy season is nearly upon us.

Solar panels meant there was only hot water between 1000 and 1400 – which doesn´t work for us early risers.

At this point I didnt need to get all European because my partner stepped in and insisted that we get a heating system that works.

And the result? We got a brand new electric shower.

#LESSON 2: BE ASSERTIVE & ASK FOR WHAT YOU WANT

RENTING A CAR

I knew very early on that I would need a car.

The public transport system in the Valley is…interesting to say the least.

The “collectivos” (minibuses) are very regular during the day time. But they stop around 20:30 at night.

I have been stranded in Pisac because of this on more than one occasion.

Now don’t get me wrong. I think it’s great that there is regular public transport here. It means people can get around, see their families & go to work.

But there are things I see & experience which make me uncomfortable.

My main concerns with Peruvian public transport are based on the disregard of common rules we have grown up with in Europe

❌Many drivers are on their phones as they drive

❌They drive much faster than the speed limit.

❌There is often standing room only

AND…

❌They will suddenly slow right down to go over a hump in the road.

Which is OK if you have a seat…

…but if you are not lucky enough to get a seat, then you may suddenly be thrown from one side of the bus to the other.

It’s not ideal.

You want to know what else isn’t ideal?

The cost of car rental in the Valley!

In Barcelona I am renting my car out while I’m away for 150€/month.

Here, the minimum price you can find is 600USD/month.

And that’s after negotiating a few days down from 1100USD/month.

You can imagine why I was reticent to hire a car.

I wanted to buy one, but as I don’t yet have my residency or Peruvian driving license, I didn’t want to risk it.

But when the trauma of taking public transport outweighs the trauma of expensive car hire, you get clear on your priorities.

I was all ready to pay the 600USD/month.

We agreed the price.

We arranged when and where to meet.

And then my partner’s friend offered to rent me his car for 375USD/month.

I jumped at the chance and quickly thanked the other guy but told him I wouldn’t be needing his car.

He wasn’t very happy.

So that bridge was burnt.

But, as I told him, I would be mad not to accept the cheaper offer.

Or that’s what I thought.

Until I actually rented the car, that was.

There were a string of events that left me questioning the meaning of the word integrity.

The day we agreed to pick up the car, we had to travel to Urubamba which is around 45 minutes by public transport.

As we were en route to Urubamba we rang Nilton’s friend to confirm the meeting place…and there was no answer.

Nor was there any answer over the next few hours… or any time during the next 2 days.

He just went dead on us.

And this was a supposed friend!

My initial thought was to go back to the original guy offering his car for 600USD.

And then I remembered that option no longer existed.

That bridge had been burnt.

So I resigned myself to having no car.

And as is the way with the universe when you let things go, Nilton’s friend reached out on Monday as if nothing had happened.

And wanted us to go and pick up the car.

If that scenario had played out in Europe, I would have been like “no way hozay”.

But when you are a long way from home, and options are scarce, you take what you can get.

Yuujuu!

Finally I had a car.

So the drama ended there, right?

Of course not.

That was only the beginning.

The next morning I went to the gym, happy as Larry with my new rental car.

I had a great workout, got back in my car to drive home, put the key in the ignition and….the engine wouldn’t start.

I rang the guy to ask if this was a regular occurrence.

He replied “yes, you just need to open the bonnet and move the terminal so it connects.”….as if it was completely normal part of starting the car.

Luckily some kind man at the gym helped me.

And more importantly, the owner of the car came to change the terminal that day.

Fortunately since then the engine has worked fine.

But as we would learn the next day- the engine was the least of our problems!

A bigger issue would be actually getting in the car.

For the last 3 days, the car key doesn’t work.

It enters the keyhole, and turns…but… the door doesn’t open.

You can imagine my frustration just yesterday when I was all ready to go to the gym at 8am.

I’d had my protein powder, I was feeling fired up for a work out, I get to my car and….the door won’t open.

Needless to say, I didn’t get to the gym yesterday.

(But I did have a lot of time to start writing this newsletter!).

For now, we have resorted to not locking the car in case I can’t get back in.

It seems to be the best solution for now.

And lucky we live in very quiet village with hardly anyone around.

And hopefully the desire for it not to be stolen is inspiration for the owner to get a key that works to us, right?

#LESSON 3: WHEN OPTIONS ARE SCARCE, TAKE WHAT YOU CAN GET

SO…WHY AM I STAYING?

Despite all of these exciting events happening over the last few weeks, I am not disheartened.

I know what it’s like to build a life again from scratch.

That’s what I did when I moved to Barcelona from the UK in 2013.

You can read about that here.

It was harder back then.

When you don’t know yourself and where you’re headed, it’s easy to be blown around in the wind. It´s easy to accept situations that dont make you happy.

But this time it’s easier.

I have moved to Peru with my own ecosystem of Coaching & Singing Circles that I have been building over the last 4 years.

With the ecosystem integrated within me, it’s been easy to replicate it here.

The best way I can describe it is this:

I feel I have been picked up by the grab-a-teddy machine and dropped into another place where everything still works.

It’s just different a landscape and different people.

But my morning gym sessions, biweekly Singing Circles, Coaching, & Ceremonies are all the same.

There’s even a recording studio where I can record my next songs!

But I can’t deny that there’s an added something special in my life.

I’m in love ❤️

I’m with someone who treats me like a Queen.

Now I understand why God didn’t allow me to settle.

And that’s beautiful.

CONCLUSION

And this brings us to the end of this week’s newsletter.

Even though there are many things that don´t work, I am happy here.

Waking up and seeing the mountains gives me such a sense of inner peace.

Living in a place without distractions enables me to focus on building my business.

And even so, people recognise me here. Every week someone comes up to me saying “you’re the girl that makes those funny videos”.

For me that´s a sign that I’m in the right place!

But the biggest sign is that I feel happy, joyful and at peace.

I hope you enjoyed reading this week’s newsletter.

Love from Abbey xxx

p.s. – listen to my latest release YOUR VOICE here, available now on Spotify & all other major platforms