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Published: January 9th 2017
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After a horrendous journey on the night bus we arrived in Cusco. Thankfully we were able to check into the hotel early so after a quick shower and freshen up I decided to dry my hair, what a mistake! The hairdryer exploded in flames as I screamed the hotel down. Jo was in the shower and was unsure whether I was dead or alive! After putting out the fire we threw the hairdryer into the corridor, crisis averted. Sometime later a little Peruvian man appeared at the door, hairdryer in hand and a confused look upon his face. Needless to say the hairdryer was no more, RIP. Then it was off out for breakfast. We went to cafe called Jacks and had enough food to feed to 5000 and finally we got our hands on a decent cup of coffee. After breakfast the day was ours to explore, shop and chill out. We visited the Inca museum and nearly knocked over a priceless artefact (we really are walking disasters). So we decided the best place to go was the bar and get ourselves a pisco sour and watch the world go by. Cusco is beautiful and we both instantly like the
atmosphere. The evening was spent being briefed about the impending Inca trail trek and then off out for pizza. There was no cravings for Peruvian food tonight!
Next stop was a small town in the mountains called ccoccolla.. for our homestay with our very own Peruvian mama and papa. Where do we start.... our mama was called Christina and we were shown to our bedroom. After a 'short' rest we were called down from our quarters to enjoy a traditional homemade lunch. Afterwards we ywere quickly dismissed to our room again. About an hour later we were summoned and put into traditional Peruvian dress. I can only describe this experience as utter humiliation. Being two larger ladies we were shoe horned into a white frilly blouse, full traditional skirt, colourful shawl and a button hat. If that wasn't bad enough we were paraded through the town square for everyone's entertainment. And when we say everyone, we mean everyone! The whole town was in The square having a meeting. Now my Spanish is basic but even I know they were laughing at
How poorly these clothes fitted. It didn't stop there we had to walk down to the terrace to do
some hard work- hacking weeds for the cows dinner! Now normally this would have been ok but seeing as how tight the clothes were, we couldn't really give it 100%!
Once we returned we were sent back to our room and told dinner would be at 8pm. Now it's only quarter to five at this point, so we went for a walk. 5:30 we return from our walk, back to the bedroom, play cards, 6:30 still playing cards but now with dodgy Spanish music blaring out over a local PA system. 6:45 put Peruvian outfit back on for a photo shoot! 7pm chat about how this is worse than doing time- at least prisoners have a tv! 7:15 feel like we have lost the plot and so on and so on! 8pm
Finally comes around and we have dinner again with our host before a nice early night at 9pm.
Now I feel I need to explain to you a bit more about the context of the situation we are in here! When we were told we were going on a home stay we thought we would be learning and participating in local culture and traditions. What we actually got
was a white room with two beds, silent meals with just the host and non of her family, despite our persistent attempts at conversations in Spanish! No other interaction or activities were on offer. And seeing we were travelling light for the trail we had a pack of cards only to keep us sane!
Thankfully we had an early night and we're in bed by 9pm.
We headed off early in the morning after sayin goodbye to our mamas and headed into ollyantaytanbo! We will touch base again after we have completed the trek!
Adios amigos!
Lauren and Jo xxx
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Charlotte
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Any llamas?
Still laughing from your Peruvian costume nightmare. Pisco survival plan needs to be initiated!