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Published: September 3rd 2005
Took a quick 3 or 4 hour bus ride around the lake to Puno. the border crossing was a breeze and the transition to peru was smooth a butter. there wer suptle differences - the prices were slightly higher, people dressed a little less traditionally and there seemed to be more tourists. also the vendors seemed a little more aggressive, maybe because the were more tourists. as i right this i am in lima and the differences are huge. there are very few people dressed traditionally or like campacinos (country people). even in la paz bolivia the were a lot of campacionos. the prices are a lot higher here in lima, they are even higher than argentina. so i am back in a dorm for the first time in over three months!!!!! i am paying $9 a night for a dorm bed versus $5-6 a night for a private room with a private bath!! oh well enough about money. well ok, one more thing. in arequipa i went to the post office to send a small package back to the states, until i found out it was $30 to send a 4 pound package!!!! i should have send it from la
paz where it would have cost about $10!!!
oh i think i am about to go off on a tangent. i must have been home sick or something because yesterday i went to mcdonalds and had two meals, within ten minutes of each other. and today i went to an american express office to cash some travelers checks and next door was a modern supermarket. i havent seen one of those since the end of april. so i went in and for some reason headed to the comfort food isle - m&ms , snickers ... man were they expensive, a bag of m&ms that would sell for about $.35 on sale in the US was $2, and a bag of small snickers was $10!!!!!!!! i want to say fu·%%$3ing dollars but my mom may read this. needless to say i left and went to mcdonalds again - for the last time since the meal was $6. hell i even bought an english newspaper. maybe it is homesickness or maybe it is because this part of Lima looks a little like the US and it is easy to fall into old habits. hell, i am going to go to TGIFs
tonight with some locals.
hopefully this will pass soon and i will once again don my backpack and head for all the touristy areas. oh back to the snickers, oh back to the vegetables and fruits. they are still cheap here, not as cheap as in bolivia, in bolivia you could get a small bag of fruit or vegetables for one boliviano or about $.13. For $1 you could get a few days worth of vegetables and fruit. hey these prices are the opposite in the US, Candy is cheap and fruits and vegetables are expensive. hmmmmmmmm
Oh, about the places. Puno, Peru - took a tourist boat to tourist islands (see pictures). the locals constructed floating islands out of reeds. well not only the island but huts and boats out of reeds. now a few hundred years ago the floating islands islands served a purpose. they were used as a defense to get away from other people. today they are used to attract people with coins in their pockets. there are little settlements on the islands and the tour boats stop there for a quick tour and then you spend your time buying things from the locals.
one island even had a small post office and telephone center. needless to say, spent a few hours on the tour and then caught a bus to arequipa.
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Leslie Price-Robison
non-member comment
just saying "hey"
Hey Yogi, Just wanted to thank you for letting me live vicariously thru you from your beautiful pictures. Glad to see that you are safe and having such a cool adventure. Looking forward to seeing you when you return to Land of Lincoln. Will try to get a group together if you will be back in Waukegan on your return. Be safe and enjoy your adventure. Have seen your mother at Paragon. She is the coolest. Love, Les