Pennypinching in Peru

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June 21st 2006

Published: June 22nd 2006

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Helan

Lorry and Sunset

On way back from Tiahuanaco

Hola,
Have now been in Peru since 7th June where I entered Puno from Copacabana in Bolivia. So that's just under 2 weeks now. In Puno I went to a museum called Museo de la Coca y Customs, in which I viewed a video highlighting the main traditional dances of Puno ( there are 400 recognised dances)- that was really interesting- shame I have since mixed them all up and can't remember the names or for what they were invented. There was one mocking the Spanish monarchy where they all dress up as the Spanish colonialists and swagger down the streets dressed in gold and silver (the Peruvians thought all the Spanish must wear lots of gold and silver as they'd sent so much there from Peru). After that we spent the night there and in the morning we went on a 2 day tour to Las Islas Flotantes and Amantie and Taquile. The floating islands are very interesting- islands made of Totora reeds upon which the islanders have portable houses, also made of Totora, which they lift up every month or so to lay new layers of reeds as they are continually sinking. The reed layers are about 2

El Rey

Dance costume mocking king of Spain

metres thick and our guide opened a whole up and we measured how deep the water was under the reeds- turned out to be about 16metres. People have lived on them for about the last 600 years, the guide explained that they could have moved onto the lake to get away from the Incas who would have killed quite a few of them on land. They used to make their living from fishing, nowadays it's mostly from tourists but also fishing. They embroider weavings and make wee boats out of Totora and all the usual "Artesania"- I hate that word with all its trappings. Una moneda??! Anyway enough grumbling- from one of the Uros islands we had the option to be poled across to the next floating island on a totora boat which we did and we were immediately attacked on both sides by wee schoolkids rowing alongside us and singing songs in French, Japanese, English, Spanish and Quechua and then holding out hats to collect money from us in order to raise money for something for their school. Felt like a pirate attack but v interesting to hear their useless renditions of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Frere Jacques.

Funny guy

In Puno

We finally got rescued by our own boat and continued onto Amantie (think I may have spelt it wrong) Island and there we were greeted by about a million (maybe 20) women dressed in traditional dress who were to be our host families for the night. I was with 2 Brasilians, Henrique and Leo, and we were taken to our new house by our new host sister, Jacqueline, aged 15. She'd left school a few years previously and spent a lot of time peeling potatoes and cooking. There were quite a number of language difficulties- I really don't know why- my Spanish is 2nd to none! But everytime I asked her the makeup of her family I got a different answer and if I asked a question with a yes or no response, then I just got a yes. Maybe she was a bit special. But eventually from what I gathered, we were staying in a house in which her grandfather, her parents, her 2 sisters and one brother lived and maybe an aunt or two too. We were given a lovely wee room upstairs with 3 beds in it, very comfortable. The doors were about a metre

Dancing in Puno

There are 400 dances in Puno!

tall- the reason I was given was to prevent too much wind getting in. I'm not overly tall but I did have problems trying to limbo through the doorways. Henrique and Leo are quite tall so I think they coped admirably. The family were very poor and lived almost completely off their land. We had quite a few potatoes during our 18 hour stay with them. Peruvians like Bolivians, eat a lot of soup. A girl named Denys from La Paz told me that if a Bolivian wife doesn't make soup for dinner and supper then her husband gets very offended. We weren't at all offended. Was nice soup though...WHERE WAS THE MEAT??

That afternoon we went up a horrendously steep hill to meet our group and to play football with the locals. Henrique played for quite a while and I was very impressed he didn't have a heart attack. He couldn't manage the walk up the mountain afterwards to see some ruins and the sunset. I did though and it was splendid. Unfortunately I'd forgotten my camera in the house, but as you may have noticed- I have lots of photys of sunsets. All along the way were

Floating island

Before we landed

locals trying to press their wares on unwary and vulnerable tourists. A twix costs about 4 or 5 soles there- more than a feckin euro!! How much are they back home now anyhow?

Afther (ha ha!) we went back to our host family house, with our 4 and 5 year old brother and sister leading the way (they were incredibly cute and taught me how to say how are you in Quechua- Allinllachu), where we finally got to meet our host parents. They were really nice and we spent a few hours with them. My other host sister, bugger can't remember her name, oh I can it was Stephanie I think- anyhoo she spent about 40mins doing my hair in elaborate plaits so I would look the part for our pub evening of traditional dress. The traditional dress stank of B.O. but I didn't complain, being used to being smelly. Jacqueline must have been reading Snow White and the 7 Dwarves previously as she tied the strings of my skirts (2 skirts and a weirdy belt thing) sooo tight I nearly fainted, and was really uncomfortable and felt bloated the whole evening- worse after 2 glasses of lukewarm beer.

Islas Flotantes

Isla de Uros

But it was fun to dress up and the boys got ponchos and knitted woolen hats (which we were urged to buy, and didn't). The island is separated into 4 communties and where we were has a kind of hall which they use for when there are lots of tourists and they put on a dance with a folklore music. The dances last for an eternity and are really quite boring to dance. I danced with a 7 year old boy and by the end of it I just wanted to die (partly cos of the tight skirts though). It was all done and dusted by about 9.30pm though. Spared!!

Next morning we were woken by our obnoxious wee host siblings screaming that it was breakfast time. We had lovely pancakes and then were herded out the house and down to the jetty to wait to board our boat. The house didn't have electricity and no flushing loo- just a hole in a brightly painted orange port a loo thingy.

We then went to other island, Taquile where we went for a hill walk and then hung around the village square till lunch time- lunch time about 10.30am!

Multi functional

Islanders use the totora reeds as toothbrushes and salad...

I feel like Heidi recounting my tale, as I was so hungry that even mouldy old bread and cheese would've done me. Taquile was nothing to really shake a stick at and we left and made our 3 hour trip back to Puno, where we showered and went on a bus to Arequipa. Please don't ever use bus company Julsa!! We had about a hand's width of space to put our legs between seats and was so uncomfy. Henrique had to put his legs in the aisle.

Arequipa was nice, reminded me of Sucre- with the lovely white main square- it's made of something called um, oh can't remember- some white rock. There was lots going on there, esp if you're a tourist. We went on a 2 days trip to see the condors- Colca Cañon. Really good apart from our minivan crashing on the first day. No one was hurt but was a bit of a shock as another van passed us too close and took out the window next to my left shoulder. Still have glass in my bag...
We stayed in a place called Chivay which was really comfortable (the hotel) and in the

Floating kids...

Very cute

afternoon we went to some hot springs which were amazing (even though I'd not shaved my bikini line). That night we went for dinner in a really touristy place where there was loads of dancing and Brasilians were made to dance too. I didn't, being from Ireland with Pata dura. The next morning we left just before 6am and were extremely lucky to see 6 condors really close and before other tourists got there to frighten them off. Leo played his flute to lure them all around! Magical!! Then we went to Cruz del Condor where we saw another 9 or 10 and 4 of them at a time just sitting on a rock waiting for their photos to be taken. I was quite suspicious and I think the workers there feed them... But they were incredible. Enormous and the way they take off- it's like they're just falling- they open a wing, lean forward and off they fall/fly. After that amazing spectacle I got my photo taken with an eagle on my head. I was wearing Henrique's hat incase it shat (have had bad experiences before!).
Then we went back to Arequipa and that evening we got a

Totora reed boat

With me in it...

bus to Nasca where we arrived at 4am and finally got into a hotel and slept a few hours before getting up and going for a plane trip over the puzzling Nasca Lines. They were really amazing. We watched a video before we went in the plane, explaining different theories as to what or who made them. I believe the most in the one that the Shamen saw them when they were flying high on San Pedro and then got the minions to stake them out according to his visions and then they worshipped them. Unfortunately while I was watching the video I was also stuffing my face with cake and in the plane I spent most of the journey trying not to puke- with Leo's fingernail jammed into my nose as a deterrent.
That afternoon after a bit of a splif we went giggling along to see a cemetary full of preserved mummies. I couldn't stop laughing though so wasn't the best place for me to be then. The mummies mostly all had long dredlocks and looked like something Bob Marley would be proud of. But it was interesting too.

Leo left us that night and took a

Brasileños

Henrique, me and Leo on Lago Titicaca

bus to Cusco. Henrique and I went for a delicious meal and then he left the next morning to Lima, to get a plane to Cusco where he and Leo had booked the inca trail starting on the 17th. I wandered about for a bit, not being used to being on my own and then I took a bus to Ica where I stayed for about an hour and a half, visiting the museum there which has lots of um, can't remember the name but lots of stuff about the Nascan people and other cultures. It was mad though, there were about 3 or 4 large photos of textiles and saying that the originals had been stolen!! Weird... From Ica I got a taxi to Huacachina which has the most enormous sand dunes surrounding it and all for tourists- sand buggy rides, sand boarding etc. I didn't go on any trips, which I now regret. I'd been panicking about spending too much money, cos for the month I was with the Brasilians I'd spent a lot more than I would've done normally. I really should have gone sandboarding or at least on one of the dune tours. I stayed in

Pirates

Singing at us and demanding funds

a really shitty "hotel" called Casa de Arena, and it was horrible. 18 girls to a dorm, bathrooms ages away, all the workers were men and one tried to kiss me twice! They got angry when I refused to pay more than 10soles (which is what they'd quoted me when I arrived) and I just didn't like their sleazy demeanor. But the village was dead nice. The night I stayed there I went to an Israeli pub with some Canadians and we smoked a water pipe, tasting of strawberries. It felt really smooth. And the waiters were all stoned and gave us free hash. Can't remember the name but ask anyone if you're in Huacachina! Next day I left to go back to Ica and then got a bus to Pisco, 3 separate people told me to be really careful with my belongings on the bus. It was fine though I was a bit paranoid. A crazy nun called Hermana Benadicta sat next to me and all along I was thinking she was a fake one and would rob me. I gave her some Nivea cream for her dry arms and she kept calling me a true sister. She was

Jenno

My cute little host sister in Amantie

on her way to an 8 day festival in some sand dunes- I'd just finished reading Ivanhoe and was thinking about Friar Tuck....

Um Pisco wasn't that good. I was chatted up by about 5 different Peruvians and then walking back to my hostel (where I was the only guest-but had a tv in my double room and an ensuite all for just 10soles) a gang of youths threw footballs at me and laughed. Nothing like the knackers of Dublin though!! ha ha
So anyway I realise I'm doing this in a kind of day by day thing now. Don't know why, especially as am so fed up of writing now and just want to go and touch up my fabulous tan, but best continue-nearly done for now...
Yeah next morning I went to Paracas on a tour to see "poor man's Galapagos". We had shitty foggy weather and the waves were really high so we couldn't get as close to the Ballestas Islands as normal tours.I was just paranoid that this Yanky woman was going to puke down my neck the whole trip. Anyhoo was still fun and we saw some commoner garden sea lions (boring!). The

Getting my hair done

With Susana y Jenni

pelicans were good fun to see though. They're enormous. The Giraffe, and Pelly and MEEEE. I'd brought all my bags with me and so once we got back to Paracas then I went off to find a hotel and then we went to Paracas reserva which is supposed to be the driest place on earth. Not sure about that, but it was quite dry. I met up with a Slovenian girl, Tamara, I'd met in Nasca and she's mad. We travelled on the luggage rack ontop of the bus and it was a perfect way to see things- and not have to listen to the guide's murdering of the English language.
That evening I spent most of it trying to find a Captain from a boat Evohe to see if I could travel with them to Lima the next morning. Tamara had spent 2 nights on the boat and thought there wouldn't be any problems and so I even got someone to row me out to the boat which was miles away from the yacht club and I met the other tourists and crew who also thought it'd be fine. Then however I phoned the guy that night and a

Before going out

Some of my host family- me in trad dress

girl told me there was no space as Captain Steve had other people going instead. I was fit to cry!!
So I decided to come to Cusco and have a share in the festivities which are taking place all week building up to an enormous party on 24th June. A Cuscan party and it's also to celebrate the winter solstice. It took about 30 hours on the bus. I was really lucky to meet a boy in a bus who took me to his house for father's day on Sunday 18th. All his family were there and we had a lovely meal and they were so nice to me. Perce, the boy, is studying tourism in Ica and said that one of the first things they learn on the course is to never leave a tourist if they're lost! Lucky me!!

Cusco's nice though and have met up with other people I know, including randomly seeing a boy I was in primary school with. Weird!
talk to yis
Helan
PS: Today is 9 months since I left the Emerald Isle...

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