A few more days..then it's over..already??!!
Trip Start
Oct 23, 2009
1
8
Trip End
Nov 09, 2009
Cusco, Peru
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Then met up with Katherine, Tina, D & Berry to do a city tour but no tour showed up when and where we were told it would, but one of the touts said he'd take us to the bus and we didn't know what the heck was going on and it all seemed kind of shady, we weren't going to pay him and said we'd pay on the bus, he took us to Quoricancha and we met up with the tour and had the tour around it but decided not to do the all day bus tour. This place was an Inca Temple and parts of it are well presevered but the Spanish built their Catholic church right on top of it. I found this tour boring. It was freezing and pouring rain so I suggested we visit the Inca museum, i heard that they had a collection of mummies! (ooooo! my favorite) We ended up getting a guided tour which dragged on and on and on and i was dying through 10 million pieces of pottery ( I DONT CARE, definitely skipped over the pottery and textile bits of Cultural Anthropology classes) Finally we got to the best part, a small display case of trepained skulls, and elongated skulls (boards or something put pressure on the skull when a child to elongate it, done by nobility) and the best best part the room of the mummies, it's a small room and you look through little windows to see them all arranged, it was awesome, i could have looked at them for an hour if i could. There was even a dwarf, apparently they were special helper people. And a little dog with one too. They were also burried with tiny things like bowls and other charms and things they might need in the next life, it's interesting to note how similiar cultures/relgions evolved although they had no contact with each other. In this case the Egyptians.
I couldn't handle anymore brain activity after these tours and i think we all needed some chill out time. It was our last night together and it didn't start off and fantastic and I'd expected. Vladimir brought a friend, Katherine was back at the hotel sick..The dinner was really good but the conversation was just not right, this friend of his is really into spirituality, which i completely respect and would love to have a conversation about, but, it was not at all the proper subject to disscuss in a group situation and especially not when first meeting people. People's person religious and spiritual beliefs are no ones business and i believe should be discussed privately not infront of others, Tina was in some kind of mood and she challenged and questioned everything the guy said, it was so awkward and uncomfortable and i just hated it and wanted to get the hell out of there. I couldn't shake the bad mood for a couple of hours. The whole dynamics of our group were changed and it wasn't a fun last dinner. It took some cheering up and several more drinks for me to get over it!! We went to a club playing salsa and then another dance club after that. So the night turned around and I ended up having a good one. After an hour or two of sleep i had to get up and meet the group for breakfast and say our goodbyes.
Our 2 weeks together went by so fast! I hope to keep in touch with everyone and definatly will be visiting Ireland again soon.. I told D & Barry all about my Irish obession and they have a friend lined up for me, ha! They also want me to come over next year for a Matchmaking Festival! Cooooool!
I didn't have time to reflect and be sad, i could hardly keep my eyes open. I went to the hotel next door and got my own room, checked in right away and crashed out. I think i went out just to get something to eat then was back to bed by 8.
Got up the next day to search for a hostel to check into. One had been recommended to me so i went to look for it but after 10 minutes of walking up hill and stairs in the high altitude i said forget it and theres no way i could walk this far with my monster pack. So I walked down a big main street to a huge crafts market and spent a couple of hours shopping, yes hours, ahhgg i hate shopping!! But, i bought a big so soft rug made from alpaca fur, i think i got a good deal.. $100 which is like a fortune there, but i looked at them at the airport and they were $1000, yes better quality im sure but still not worth 10 times more! i love it, theres no room in my room for it..but im gonna find some.. somewhere!
Then went to look for another hostel, i stopped in at least 4 places that had the word "hostel" in their name, but when i asked for a dorm, i got nothin but blank stares. Sigh. I finally found one right in the plaza and im sure i paid a bit more for the location $11US a night! I wanted to go to a hostel so i would meet some new people, but i ended up being the only person in my room the whole time.
I was feeling better so time to go out again! I headed over to the Irish bar again, sat at the bar and a guy started talking to me, named TK a half Maori guy who's a lawyer from New Zealand! He was dressed wierd like a surfer or something, but was still cool and hung out with him for a while. Also ran into Daniella and her group again! Also started talking to a group of Canadian girls who were all travel agents for Flight Centre!! (if you remember from my last trip writing about how my heart was so set on working for them..applied when i left NZ..but application not accepted..going to try again someday) We all went back to the dance club i was at a couple nights before. It took a looong time to get out of bed the next day but it was my last day in Peru so i couldn't spend it entirely in bed! Walked around in search of were to eat.. down to 50 soles left...found a Pollo a la brasa place which the only Peruvian guy i know at home told me i must eat. So i walked in and was the only tourist and it was just all chaos, i didnt know what to do, order at the counter or sit down..so i sat down and someone brought me the food i asked for but i think he just thought i would sit there like an idiot and not figure out how it works! ha! I had pollo a la plancha... so grilled chicken and french fries, pretty good for 3 bucks or so ! The best places i've eaten have been the little hole in the wall local places, the realest food with the best flavor. A word about food and menus...when they are translated into English, some meaning is lost in the translation lol some of the funniest items i remember were "airport" and "chicken to the plate". Then went back for a little nap and out again at night for dinner at an Italian restaurant, i got some pasta and pizza and ate less then half but took it to go and gave some to some dogs and a lady on the street. They needed it way more than me!
Nothing else interesting happend that night, got up at 6 am and got a taxi to the airport. My flight was canceled!! No flights till 3 pm and my connecting flight was at 2:30...after waiting for 3 hours to talk to someone they sent me on a different airline. I spent so long in line a nice teacher from Venezuela befriended me and also some nice lady's from Mexico and one of which gave me $2 , she must have overheard me when i said i had no money left! LOL i felt like a bum. It was funny. How nice is that though, Im always amazed at how many good people i meet all over the place. Renews your faith in humanity, you know!
So I made it to the Lima airport with enough time to get my flight, but i had to pay the airport tax of $31.. i had $26 including the nice lady's 2 bucks. In my savings account i had $15 left or so, i was told the airport only takes cash, so i went to the ATM to see if i can take out 5 or 10 dollars, the screen was off, i thought i was pushing the "cancel" button, but immediatly out comes a fat stack of cash and i withdrew $200!!! EEEkkkk there's a nice overdraft fee.
A 3 hour flight to Panama, read a book the hotel, halfway through now. Then changed planes for the 6 hour flight to LA, that trip was not so fun. My stomach hurt so bad from the previous flights food, and the guy next to me had is finger up his nose the WHOLE time serious, seriously digging for gold, so the whole time i couldn't relax fearing boogers were going to get on me.
My dad picked me up from the airport and got home just after midnight. The traveler in me wanted to carry on and continue seeing the rest of South America, but the realist won and home it was, also i couldn't have gotten very far with my empty bank account! But as you know I always have to have another plan so here it is...
Going to take another semester of Spanish ( ok or at least bring a phrase book next time) and come back...but where to next... Argentina..Brazil... Chile??
Hopefully you will hear from me again soooooon!! x x x Kristin
