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Published: October 14th 2015
Our "third country" Texas stop. Totally out of the way but so worth it to see the parents for a night. We had a quick stop in Houston in between Panama and Peru, and were fortunate enough to get to see Kristines parents and my new in-laws, even if it was only for about 18 hours. It had only been a month since we left but it was a comforting feeling for us to see the faces of family, going to target, and being able to toilet paper. And on the opposite end it was tough saying goodbye, again, since we're not sure if we'll see them until the end of our trip.
After our short layover we flew to Lima, Peru and stayed the night at hostel run by a very enthusiastic Peruvian man named Santiago. We had a nice conversation with him and quickly realized that he loved the camera and he insisted on a post breakfast photo op. Since we didn't look much into how far Lima was from Cusco, we were forced to fly because we had about 12 hours before we needed to be in Cusco and the bus ride was a measly 20 hours. The flight was only an hour and well worth the money spent. There will be plenty of long bus rides in
Dad very happy to be reunited with his hole in one ball in Texas! the future.
Our plan in Cusco was for Kristine to study Spanish and I'd work at the Eco hostel for our accommodations. Well, it wasn't what we expected and certainly not anything like our Costa Rican workaway experience. The dormroom we stayed in was worse than a fraternity at any major college. It was dirty, damp and dark. It smelled musty and if we were lucky that day, there wouldn't be any surprises floating in the toilet and it would actually flush. In Central and South America the plumbing is weak so you need to throw your toilet paper in the waste basket. That's not a problem if it gets emptied regularly but at the hostel we stayed at it didn't seem like anyone cleaned the dorm and there was soiled teepee overflowing from the waste bin from the day we arrived until the day we left. Now, neither one of us are high maitnence but we do have standards and those conditions forced us to leave earlier than planned and find another place. So We quit our job at the hostel, packed our bags and moved about 5 min away to another hostel that feels like a 5
.
Our welcome party in the Lima airport star resort compared to the last place.
We decided to explore a little outside cusco and booked rooms at different places for Saturday and Sunday. Upon arrival at the first place we were told that a shaman was going to perform a sacred ceremony called a despacho and we could take part if we liked. So we did and it was quite the experience. The shaman spoke only in ancient tongue but we somehow still felt the significance of it all. The following two days were spent exploring the neighboring ancient inca towns of Pisac and Ollantaytambo. Both saturday and Sunday were brilliant sunny days that Kristine said reminded her of Colorado weather. On our way home Sunday, I got my first taste of the crazy driving in South America that Kristine warned me about. Our bus was swerving around tiny compact cars into oncoming traffic on roads with little to no shoulder and drop offs that made our palms a bit sweaty. At one one point we came an inch away from hitting a pedestrian and the even crazier part was how no one seemed to bat an eye. But, no harm no foul we made it safely
Our friend Santiago raising the roof during our breakfast photo op. Loving the camera!back to cusco to start a new week.
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