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Published: September 16th 2006
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Grrrr!
I leave this one as a mystery. Apologies in advance for the high(er) level of whinge and generalist economic blather in the following blog. Yes I realise you're all mostly at work and I have nothing to complain about.
In Cusco I realised I was wrong to whinge about the prices of tours to the Blanca and Huayhuash. Prices this side of Peru are clearly a bit out of control; but so is the tourist demand. Again I tried my trick of putting up a notice for the Salkantay trek, this time in the office of a place called South American Explorers - said to be a good meeting place for independent trekkers. Anyway I filled some time in wait with a trip to the ruins and market at Pisac with some Frenchies, at Sacsayhuaman, and in general rumination and pondering at what my travel route will be. After a few days no-one had added a name to my notice or emailed, so I thought bugger this, what should I do?
Scam report : This place called Machu Picchu kept appearing on posters around Cusco, so I thought I'd go and have a look. US$53 train tickets, US$6 bus ride, and US$36 entrance fee later and
I soon knew I'd been had. No roller coasters, waterslides, muppets on ice or anything. Just a bunch of old stones, old tourists, and fresh llama poo. There was a nice hotspring at the town nearby which was good for a few hours however.
To be fair, MP was quite special. Not worth the extortionate fees, but the atmosphere, aesthetics, and natural setting are everything you'd expect. I'm grumbling about the costs because Peru has a low-income developing economy. I'd wager that very little of the money leeched by fees and tours goes into maintaining or providing facilities on trails, into the community or otherwise improving the living standards of the average Peruvian, many of whom seem to have to scrape a living. Actually the rail to MP (Perurail) is owned by a Chilean company. Its a tad disappointing, nuff said. Hang on, why wasn't I complaining about costs in Europe? D'oh!
While I'm in the mood for a whinge, I thought I'd mention the vibe I'm getting from other travellers. Most are as couples or groups, many seem rather defensive, insular, suspicious. There is little eye contact, a hesitance to interact, a general coldness. It could be
Cusco aerial
View from the albergue a response to the challenges of travel here, or just the type of person the continent attracts, or just me?? I haven't worked it out yet. The urban Peruanos on the other hand are friendly, welcoming, and tolerant, yet business-minded; which is understandable considering the numbers of us they clearly have to deal with every year.
Reading the above makes it seem I'm not enjoying myself much, but in fact I am 😊 There have been alot of unique moments in the past couple of weeks. However I'm having to pinch myself more and more to make sure I absorb the goings on around me. Simple things like the insane spine-shattering bus journeys where a stop is made almost every hour to let a dozen vendors aboard, and a dozen extra passengers when its standing room only. You look out the window and the view just takes your breath away. Sitting in a modest local restaurant to have a three course menu de la casa for next to nothing. Managing a basic conversation in broken Spanish with a local. Starting a hike up the world's deepest canyon at 3am in full moonlight. Realising that chicken and rice really can
A temple at Pisac
The guide explains how those nasty conquistadors stripped the Inkas of gold and silver. be eaten almost every day. And feeling the travel bug creep back in, and the fatigue beginning to evaporate.
Anyway, back to the travel bits. From Cusco I made a detour to Puno and Lake Titicaca (had to right? the name alone was the reason) on the way to Arequipa. Wandered dazed off the bus into a freezing Puno night and ended up having a 2 hour accommodation search adventure with a student from Lima called Willy Lopez (not joking). We had to get drunk to forget the experience, and somehow I managed my first but very scattered conversation in Spanish.
The next day we joined a bizarre little boat tour to the Uros (floating) islands just offshore. It was a fantastically kitsch experience. I think the origin of the islands had something to do with tribal conflicts some centuries ago, and the Aymara ended up ditching the mainland for these man-made reed-raft-island structures, and floating them away from their antagonists. Tourists turned up sometime later and they were set to carry on life as they have, just living off the reed. Reed is good.
In Arequipa (really nice colonial city), I relaxed for a bit, then
spent a bit too long deciphering the Colca canyon tours on offer (tours are just not my thing I think you've gathered), then finally joined a 2 day hike via some random operator along with some more Frenchies (a very dud couple). It was very beautiful, I have to say, though amazingly dusty. The sort of dust that just sticks too, like paint almost. Weird. Here I also met my first Slovenians. Made me wish Slovenia had made it onto my Europa wanderings - they were hilarious.
Given that my next planned country was Ecuador, I've decided to pass on Bolivia (loud cheers from Bolivia can be heard). The next stop is another town on the trail, Huacachina, on route once more to Lima, where I will hopefully skip town post haste as close to Ecuador as I can for a dodgy border crossing.
I seem to be taking alot more photos, which may bore you all very much on my return, but I think it is a good sign that I'm travelling okay...
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Tessa
non-member comment
Perfect
I fully enjoyed this entry. Smiling and laughing all through. But not as much as I laughed and Richards new jacket ;) Glad to see you're back up and running. Your sounding better than I've ever heard you. Seriously Richards jackets not that bad, I think, but it reminds me horribly of my father and I can't deal with that. Back to savers it goes! BTW. I've lost Kate. Have you seen her?