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Published: October 12th 2006
So we last left our little gypsy happily in Lima. The 2nd day there, i watched the changing of the guard in the plaza de armas. Way cool! Then revisited some plazas and discovered China town, took a tour of an old cathedral, and dipped in for a few minutes to watch the mass. Another delightful day. Day 3 caught up to me tho. Caught the bus to Miraflores to revisit the American shops and Starbucks. Couldn't help but end up at Chillis where the nachos delivered me my 2nd bought of food poisoning. Couldn't believe it! Up all night with bowel drama, i had to stay yet a 4th day in Lima. By 3pm the next day, still feeling wretched, i schlepped to the pharmacy where you can get drugs sans prescription here! A nice Peruvian guy befriended me on the street. Thank god he wasn't trying to rob me, i wouldn't have had the strength to fend him off. I felt like someone injected poison into my muscles. Note to female travelers, mentioning the upcoming visit of a fictional boyfriend works wonders in thwarding off creeps. But this guy was nice, walking me to the pharmacy where i got
some antibiotics. at which point I headed back for bed.
Next day, feeling a bit better, i took a bus to Ica and then onto Huacachina, a wonderful tiny town set around a lake , surrounded by sand dunes. Took a sand buggy tour and tried my luck at sand boarding. To my surprise, i was quite good at it and went speeding down the hill, landing on my face. It was a total blast tho, One of the best times i've had yet. That night i organized a tour of Reserva Nacional de Paracas through my hostal, thinking it was a nice little organized tour. To my dismay, i was dropped off at the public bus station to fend for myself at 6 am. This was after being kept awake until 2 am by the noisy hostal bar. So on 4 hours of sleep and recovering from the stomach flu, i am piecing together my own tour. The rest of the day was a bit better, but everywhere we went, we were hoarded by locals trying to sell us stuff, shoving stuff in our faces. I snapped at a brat throwing his trash on the beach 10 feet
from a trash can. Prices were ridiculous and the tour bus at one point left without me. We got back 2 hours late, where i ended up in an argument with the hostal owner who was supposed to book me a bus ticket to Arequipa. Not sure if info was lost in translation or if he was just an ass, but short of it is, i ended up in the last seat of a nasty bus, right by the bathroom that reaked, for what was supposed to be 12 hours, in a seat that didn't even recline.
4 am, after 6 hours on this wretched bus, we stop by the side of the road for an hour. No explanation. By 6 am, we realize the bus has mechanical problems and they called a mechanic. Well, then the locals closed the road in both directions for a half ass road race. So everyone gets out of the bus and sits by the side of the road, a disgustingly littered beach area. At 10,30 am, another bus comes along and several of us shove our way on, agreeing to sit in the isles for the remaining 6 hours. Luckily some seats
Lima
Changing of the guardcame available and 18 hours later, made it to Arequipa. This is a day in the life of a solo traveler. Man, this is why i like organized tours. they do all this crap for you!
Right off to another tour of Colca Canyon to see the Andean Condor. This was a more organized tour, but again, my experience of Peru has been that it has been quite a rip off. Tourist prices equivalent of home or more, people constantly hassling you on the street, shoving stuff in your face or standing in your way. You're just a big dollar sign to these folks. Yet they don't even provide services like clean bathrooms or toilet paper. If i had known, i really would've just assumed skipped Peru. But still, the worst day of traveling beats any day of working a crappy ass job!
I arrived in Cusco today by another much nicer night bus. Getting used to them by now. I will visit Machu Picchu and then head across to Bolivia.
Hi to everyone back home. Glad that all of dad's friends seem to be reading my blog. Maybe some of you from LA want to drop
me a line or leave a comment!
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Debbie
non-member comment
Hey Tana, hope you are feeling better. I look so forward to your blog , as well as your pictures. I admire you and am also jealous of you all at the same time. I would never have the nerve to do what you are doing. Have fun, stay safe and keep in touch.