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Published: June 13th 2008
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Here is what one of my typical days is like when I decide to get my act together and actually do something that day.
Ever since I started traveling, I've been a very early riser; which is very opposite to my character for anyone who knows me. Today I had slept in till about 8:30 or so. Yesterday I had met a girl from New York who wanted to go on a day trip out to Moray so I thought I would join her. Her name was Bettina but she was Taiwanese which I thought was odd since it's a German name. I guess it cant be any odder than me having a last name of Roth.
The first stop of the day was to a town called Chinchari to go see some ruins. I opted to stay outside and take a nap as I have seen quite a lot of ruins so far and didn't feel like paying for a Boleto Turistico (tourist ticket) which grants access to many of the sites around Cusco. This Boleto Turistico also grants access to the steeped terraces of Moray; however, I had planed on just getting the cheaper day pass.
After the ruins, we caught a shared taxi that dropped us off at the outskirts of Maras. Our destination was Moray which was about 13km away. The taxis near the main highway seemed a bit expensive so we opted to walk; however after about an hour of that and seeing that we still had a long way to go, we caved in and flagged down a taxi. All that walking wasn't for waste though, it saved us about $0.50 each in cab fare.
As I mentioned before, I didn't have a boleto turistico, and the taxi driver knew this. He let Bettina of at the entrance so she could get her ticket punched, but he drove me straight through the control gate ,giving me a wink as we went strait to the entrance of the terraces.
Since we had gotten there on our own, we didn't have a tour guide to explain what these terraces were for. They were still very cool looking though.
After finishing touring around Moray, we had met up with an Irish guy who was going to hike to salt flats about 5km away. But since it was getting late in day, and
I needed to make my way back to Cusco, I decided not to go. Bettina on the other hand was on her way to Machu Picchu and was going to stay the night close by, so we parted ways.
Back at the main parking lot I was surprised to see that there were no taxi waiting there. I figured with the constant flux of visitors that there would be a few waiting. There was however a tourist bus with the bus driver sitting out on front. I find out that it is going back to Cusco and I bribe the driver 20 soles ($8) to take me back as I wasn't part of tour group. The driver chuckles a little and tells me that it will only cost me 5 soles. What I find out later is that this tourist bus wasn't for foreigners, but actually for local Peruvians and it also doubled as a regular bus with set fares. When I got on with everyone else, I could tell that the driver was joking with the passengers of how I tried to bribe my way onto a regular public bus. Everyone on the bus turns to me and
starts laughing.
Since I was catching a ride with tourist group, the next stop was to a guinea pig farm. On the way there, I had somehow become an unofficial member of the tour group and was allowed to join the tour. Since the whole tour was in Spanish, I could only understand a small fraction of what was going on. I did find out that it is fairly costly to raise guinea pigs, which explains why it was relatively expensive ($4) when I had it a few days ago during the Festival of the 12 Saints. When it time for me to get off and pay, I only have a 20 soles bill that I was going to bribe the driver with and 3 soles in coins. The fare is 5 soles and they really don't want to break the 20, so they tell me that 3 soles is fine. I feel pretty bad shorting them the 2 soles, but as I get off the whole bus waves me goodbye.
While not everyday is like this, I always find that unplanned things always give nice surprises.
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