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Published: October 26th 2005
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Moto Taxi
Not the one I rode in, but they´re all the same!! 25 October 2005
Hi Folks,
Well - so much for me planning a quiet evening!! Life is never dull in Peru!! After updating my diary a few of us wandered into town for some supplies. They consisted of crepe paper, orange and black shiny paper (for Halloween decorations) and some finger paints. All for the grand total of 14 soles - the equivalent of two pounds 80p. On the way back, we decided to take a moto taxi as we felt a few splotches of rain and anticipated another thunderstorm (which didn´t materialise!). Have attached a photo for you. There were three of us (Vicki, Wendy and myself). Please believe me when I tell you that riding in one of these things is equivalent to a dodgem ride at the shows - thankfully without the bumps. There were a few occasions when I had my eyes closed though!! Traffic in Ayacucho (and no doubt the rest of Peru) is absolute mayhem. There are two sets of traffic lights I have seen in Ayacucho (pretty scarce for a city equivalent in size almost to Glasgow). They are pretty much ignored, and there is a definite lack of use of indicators.
Locksmith in my bedroom
Proof that I wasn´t making this up!! They tend to use their horns instead! Crossing the road is a challeging experience to say the least!! The moto taxis have no indicators, and weave in and out of the other traffic (including cars, buses and lorries!). It´s great fun!!
Got back with a spare half hour before Spanish. Decided to climb onto my bunk and read for a bit (reduce the blood pressure after the moto taxi ride!). My roommate Caroline was also on her bunk reading. Was disturbed by a knock on the door to tell me I had a call. Climbed down to face a slight problem. The room door was shut and the handle had fallen off - we were stuck!! The handle only operates from inside, so no one outside could let us out!! Vicki asked my caller (my mum) to call back in ten minutes. It soon became clear there was no obvious escape. We were passed a screw driver through the bathroom window, and tried to unscrew the lock from inside to no avail - the lock was screwed into the side of the door and the door frame. We would need to open the door to remove it which we
Tree Frieze
Very colourful, isn´t it? just couldn´t do!!
Next thing to happen was a locksmith climbing through our bedroom window (we are one floor up) to tackle the problem. Photo attached of him working on the door. In the meantime mum called back, and Vicki explained what had happened. The response from mum was along the lines of "locked in her room - best place for her" accompanied by hilarious laughter!! Thanks mum - I love you too!! Vicki thinks you sound like great fun!!
Anyway - problem was resolved in time for dinner, although I missed my Spanish lesson! Poor Rudy (the CCS Ayacucho coordinator) was called from home. During it all Caroline and I were lounging on our bunks, reading and consuming large amounts of Peruvian chocolate!! It´s a hard life!!
Afterwards Vivki and I met up with our friend Pancho (the guide when we went trekking in the Andes). We had asked him for some advice re planning our travelling, and had a rough idea that we wanted to see Macchu Picchu (the Inca trail) and Lake Titicaca. Not only did Pancho come up with a complete itinerary for us using lots of local contacts in the places we
My Wawa Wasi kids
Left to right: Karina, Ernesto, Maria, Andrea and Giovani will visit, he´s also planning to accompany us as he wants to complete some business at some of the stop offs on our trip. I´m sooooooooooo excited!!!!! It will be great to have a native Peruvian with us. Pancho has a lot of knowledge about the country and the history of the places we will visit and will also be available to assist the "Gringas" if we have any problems!! Our itenerary is as follows:
10 December - fly from Ayacucho to Lima and then Lima to Cuzco. Arrive in Cuzco approx 1pm with some time to explore!
11 December - City Tour of Cuzco
12 December - Sacred Valley - Aguas Calientes - first stop on the trail to Macchu Picchu. Approx 8km away from MP. The Sacred Valley is the Sacred Valley of the Incas.
13 December - Macchu Picchu. We´ve decided not to do the trek, but will go by train. This will save some time to see and do other things. After Macchu Picchu we´re heading back to Puno via Cuzco. This will be an overnight bus trip.
14 December - Puno - the floating island of Uros. We are now
Rufna and her baby
She wasn´t happy when Ernesto tried to get into the photo too!! Quickly disolved in tears! at Lake Titicaca. The lake is split by a vertical boundary north to south. The east side of the boundary is Bolivia and the west side Peru. Our first stop will be the floating islands of Uros. These islands are manmade, and built using buoyant totora reeds, and the largest contain several buildings e.g. school, post office, souvenir shops and houses.
15 December - we are travelling into Bolivia. Sooooo excited!! Another interesting stamp on my passport!!
16 December - Heading to Isla Del Sol on the Bolivian side of the lake (Island of the Sun), the legendary birth place of Manco Capac (the first Inca) and the sun itself according to Inca legend. There are some interesting Inca ruins on this island too.
17 December - Travel from Bolivia to Juliaca (Peru) where we will catch a flight to Lima. Will have an overnight stay in Lima.
18 December - leave Lima and head to my family in the USA!!!
The above is not set in stone and may change a little, but should broadly reflect what I´ll be up to. Can´t wait!! Will have some great photos too!!
26 October
Had a rotten sleep - wide awake at 2.30am (8.30am GMT) and stayed awake until 5.30am!! Appeared at breakfast sleep deprived and probably depraved too!! Was incredibly grumpy!! For those of you who have had the misfortune to share a room with me on holiday or at GB camp, this will come as no surprise!! I´m not a morning person at the best of times!!
We had seven at Wawa Wasi today. Baby William made a fleeting appearance, but again would not settle, so mama took him away. We worked on our tree frieze again - you will note that it´s an exceptionally colourful red, yellow and blue tree from the photo!! Kids were desperate to pose again, so have snapped another one of them. Almost managed to catch Rufina with her doll. She had pulled her t shirt up and was mimicking breast feeding!! We should finish the frieze tomorrow. Friday will be making Halloween decorations.
We have another guest speaker at base this afternoon on local natural remedies - right up my street. After that, Spanish at 6pm and (hopefully!) a quiet night in comparison to last night!!
Anyway - take care and keep reading!!
Lesley
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Andrew
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Moto Taxi
Re Moto Taxi, guess you now know how we feel as passengers when you're driving....!!! :)