PeruRail.....Fashion show on wheels.

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Well, obviously still having photo issues......the pictures are too big and the internet connections to freaking slow.....will keep working at it.

We we´ve moved two more towns since I last wrote. We left Aquas Calientes shortly after my last blog, taking the train back to Ollantaytambo. We were expecting about the same trip on the way back, and were somewhat taken aback when just after the drink service, one of the train personnel came out in costume, dancing down the aisle to traditional music, and carrying a small stuffed llama that he silently invited each passenger to pet (Stef couldn´t help but say ¨pet my llama, little girl, pet my llama¨). I think that´s the title of today´s email. After he got one of the male gringo passengers to dance in the aisle with him, his show ended. But, that was just the beginning. Next, a weird techno remix of ¨I left my heart in San Francisco¨ came over the loud speaker, and the other two (a man and woman) took turns strutting down the aisle, modeling some alpaca wear, which they then offered for sale. It was really very bizarre. The other difference was the temperature. The morning train on the way to Aquas was very cold, but this trip in the afternoon was sweltering (sp?). And, the train rocked and jerked a lot more, so between that and the diesel fumes, we were both feeling a little queasy. I also got to have my first train bathroom experience which, other than trying to balance while the train is doing the mambo, wasn´t nearly as bad as I feared. Stef had me thinking I´d be hanging my hiney over a hole in the floor (grin).

Thank goodness, in Ollanta, Florencio (and his wife), met us and got us back to Cusco to our lovely little Hostel Triunfo. Both of us had such a profound sense of homecoming, we almost burst into tears. However, we unfortunately missed the cut off for laundry service since we were heading out again early the next day for Puno. Our clean clothes supply waning, we decided we could make it to Puno where we are spending 3 days - plenty of time for laundry. Next on the agenda, shipping some things home, so we hiked down to the DHL and paid an exorbatent (sp?) price for a valuable lesson.....the cost to ship our stuff home was more than our Buddy Pass round trip ticket to Peru!!! But we didn´t have any choice, and I couldn´t haul that stuff around any more, so I coughed it up. One more lesson about travel in S. Am. (one of many this trip).

Dinner at our old stomping ground Victor Victoria (doesn´t seem to have anything to do with the movie, but when Stef mentioned it earlier in the trip, I couldn´t wait to try it!). Great food, generous portions, inexpensive, and helpful wait staff. It was Heaven.

Lastly, we made some warm alpaca wear purchases since we had heard time and again how cold Puno was. We had hoped to hop onto the internet, too, but were both thoroughly exhausted and went ¨home¨to shower, get some zzz´s, and jump back up for our tourist bus to Puno.

The bus trip was MUCH better than the trip we took in ´05. The bus was nicer, the guide (named Juan.....aka Don Juan....Stef was drooling the whole trip!) spoke very good English and was obviously well informed and knew how to keep things interesting. It also helped that we made 5 stops along the way to see a few sites, use el bano, and give our digestive tracts a rest from the inevitable rocking and bumping. Lunch was pretty good, too, which was a surprise. It was interesting to pass from the Andes to the High Plains were the locals still practice many of the old traditions. Most of them own the land they work...sort of.....they are mainly squatters, only a few have a ¨deed¨from the government, but those then have to pay taxes, so it isn´t necessarily a good thing. Although there are power lines along the main road, the locals don´t have electricity, they work from first light to dark, their mud brick homes are tiny because the temperature during the coldest month (that would be now) gets as low as 20 below at night and the small homes are easier to heat with the kitchen stove - the only heat source they have. We did see many more tractors here than in the Sacred Valley, I suppose because there is considerably more flat land than in the valley.

Finally, after the 8 hour bus ride (funny it was the same length of time as the day long horse back ride, but I was significantly more exhausted after the bus ride....) we arrived in Puno, another unattractive city )at least the part that we saw). Stef had requested that we be met at the bus station, because we aren´t actually staying in the town of Puno, but in Chucuito which is about 15 minutes away. Yes, there was a woman with Stef´s name on a sign, who led us to a waiting taxi, where she asked for 50 soles (about $15) which was confusing because Stef had been told $5. However, the woman insisted and we paid (what could we do? we were falling asleep on our feet and we had to get to the hostel.....). At which point, she gave the taxi driver 20 soles (about $6) and POCKETED the rest. That chapped Stef´s hiney because WE could have just hired a taxi and kept the 30 soles that the woman apparently felt she was owed for finding us the taxi. And she planned to speak to the person in charge at the hostel.

I´ve got that Urubamba feeling....

The taxi ride was uneventful, although we did notice that in Puno, at least at night, the headlights replace the horn as the main means of communication for the drivers. It´s certainly a more limited means of getting your point across, but it seems to work just as well. As we entered the tiny town of Chucuito, we realized that there was a serious problem...the taxi driver had no idea where the hostel was, and had to ask repeatedly for directions.....hints of our Urubamba disaster. Finally, when he has found the street (he thinks) but no sign, he resorts to knocking on doors, trying to find it. Meanwhile, Stef uses my cell phone to call the hostel and so he could get directions. As we turn into a dark, uninviting drive, we look at each other with apprehension.......Stef says ¨if it is bad, we will leave tomorrow and find another hostel.¨ We pull down the drive and the driver has to honk his horn repeatedly before a young Indian woman comes out to greet us warmly. She leads us to a rather nice looking building, but as it turns out that was just so she could get a man to help us with the luggage, at which point they lead us down, down, down to another stone building, unlit and a little scary looking. But as we entered the glass sun room type area next to the building, we could feel the warmth and as we entered the room - heat, blessed heat!!! So, we immediately felt better. Also, there is a working restaurant on premises, and she is the cook, so we won´t go hungry (yeah, no more dinners of crackers and chocolate!). Actually, she is supposed to be famous for her pizza, but she can´t get the oven (not brick - ceramic or something) fired up in time for dinner that night, so we have trout straight from Lake Titicaca (which thankfully doesn´t have the pollution issues that the Urubamba river has). It was fabulous. However, before we had dinner, we had some time to explore our room. The toilet is in the same room as the shower.....and I don´t mean they share a room, I mean it is possible to shower while sitting on the toilet! And the sink is concrete with no plug for the drain.....a problem since we are obviously not going to get laundry service here and we are in desperate need to wash at least some underwear! The heat comes from a smaller version of the oven that is typically used to cook, and therefore requires frequent tending. And, although Stef and I can manage a camp fire ok, this system stumped us. All we managed to do was fill the room with smoke, and as the room is 2 stories, all the smoke ended up in the bedroom. We did have warm water in the sink, thank goodness, so Stef got started washing her essentials before dinner, and I was to do mine after dinner. However, we couldn´t keep the "·$!% fire (well, coals really) hot enough, so some of the clothes dried, but not many. And by the time we got up this morning, the coals were completely cold. And, when Stef went to take a shower, no hot or even lukewarm water! And did I mention that the beds are rock hard?? Last night was really the closest I´ve come to crying for my mommy since girl scout camp when I was 10.

After finding out we had no hot water, I had resolved to ¨go native¨ as Stef calls it, and give up showering until we got back to Cusco. Gross I know, but really, I have had all I can stand of the cold. However, as luck would have it, there is actually another gringa here (well, not here, but in a hostel up the street that is owned by the same man - Señor Santiago). She is a volunteer, here BY HERSELF for a month to teach English to anyone who wants to learn. Susan has just graduated from college and doesn´t know what she wants to do with her life, so she is taking 3 months here in Peru, volunteering in several different cities. Yikes - I don´t think I could live like this for 3 months. She helped us figure out how to get hot water (yea) and introduced us to Pachi the resident alpaca of her hostel. Also, we are close to the main square, so other restaurants and the internet are much easier to access than in Urubamba, so things are definitely looking up. (So, don´t worry Mom, you don´t have to come rescue me!). Today, we are taking things easy since Puno has a significantly higher altitude than Cusco, which we can feel everytime we have to climb up the hill to the main house.

Interestingly, the internet here is MUCH faster than in Aquas Calientes.....so I will once more try to upload at least a few photos later today or tomorrow.......

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