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Published: September 29th 2010
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The Main Square of Huaraz
The Boss went to take this photo from across the square but the woman saw her and stood in front of her Alpaca so as to ruin the photo. Turns out you're supposed to pay s/1 to get a pic. "Fuck that," the Boss said, and waited until the woman wasn't looking to get a snap. Yes, we're dirty tourists, robbing these innocent mountain folk. Huanchaco to Trujillo
Our last day in Huanchaco was spent for the most part in bed. Kyle enjoyed his birthday so much that he couldn’t be vertical until 7 PM. We went for dinner and then had a few beers at the hostel before going out for an evening of reggae. The locals described it as “the only thing in Huaraz worth going out for” and it happens every Friday at a bar that is quite literally on the beach. Thongs and shorts were more than dressy enough and we stood on the sand, having a beer and enjoying a band consisting of at least 8 members, including two singers (one of whom wore a black jacket with green, yellow and red piping and a big picture of Bob Marley on the back, just so the crowd were aware of his influence).
We checked out at midday (it’s almost the universal check out time in South America and it’s awesome) and headed to Trujillo, where we bought tickets for the overnight bus to Huaraz in the mountains. The day in Trujillo was pretty unremarkable, the only real high light being a toothless, homeless woman who tried to sell us sweets, told us she was going to steal our bags and then asked to see my eyes - I was wearing sunnies - and gave me a hug. We played cards in a cafe and I started to feel the onset of the flu - just what you want before boarding a ten hour bus.
We got the bus to Huaraz with a company called Linea and it was sweet. The seats were the size of an airline’s business class, they reclined a fair way back and we were given blankets, pillows and a meal. The on-board entertainment was “How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days” which had been dubbed in Spanish with English subtitles. But instead of being the actor’s lines, the subtitles were of the director’s audio commentary. His opinion of his film and actors was ridiculously high (“Kate ad-libbed all of this dialogue”, “This scene is an homage to my film Mystic Pizza”, “Matt paid me $5 for every take in this scene where he kisses Kate”). It was kind of like someone explaining why their bad joke was actually really funny and served to make a shitty film quite entertaining.
Huaraz to the Max
Arriving in Huaraz at around 8 AM the next day, the combination of altitude sickness (it’s about 3000m above sea level) and the flu had me feeling like shit. We were greeted at the bus station by the usual tour guide types offering to take us to the best hostels and book the best tours. We ignored them and jumped in a cab to the street our guide books said had hostels on them. It ended up being just around the corner and when we got out of the cab, two of the tour guide types from the bus station were waiting for us, this time grabbing our bags and carrying them to the hostels. One introduced himself as Max. We booked in to a hostel called “El Jacal” for the princely sum of S/ 40 for a double room with ensuite (around $8 each) and then had a nap.
Upon waking a few hours later, we were a little surprised to discover that Max had waited in the hostel for us.
“You ready to book a tour now? Good one leave tomorrow - bus tour of beautiful mountains.”
Having just got off a 10 hour bus and with the Boss and I preparing to get on another 10 hour bus back to Lima in around 36 hours, it sounded about as appealing as watching “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” without the audio commentary.
We walked in to town to find another place to book and had no sooner made the main square when Max popped up
again.
“My office is just over here. Come, we book tour.”
The inclination to tell him to kindly fuck off was there but we resisted and kindly explained that we were just going to go get some lunch first.
We ate at a cafe in town and had some coca leaf tea and another tea of local herbs - both of which were supposedly good for altitude sickness and, to my relief, actually did the trick.
We wandered about town and ended up booking a mountain bike trip for the following day. Kyle made the mistake of patting one of the street dogs and it spent the afternoon following us around, so we named it “Max”. At around dusk Kyle and Tahlei went to go shopping and the Boss and I headed back to the hostel. But on the way...
“Hey, you want to book tour now?” How was he managing to be everywhere we were?
“We’ve already booked a mountain bike tour for tomorrow.”
“I have mountain bikes. Come to my office, we book the tour.”
“No, we booked with someone else. Thanks though.”
“What about your friends, they want to book with me?”
“No, they’re coming with us.”
Max walked away looking decidedly disappointed. I would have felt sorry for him if I hadn’t spent the day feeling like shit just wishing he would leave me alone.
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