Dia Dos

When we bought our tickets to fly to Cusco, we asked for a 8:30 flight, so our hostel booked us a 5:40 AM flight. Half dead we dragged ourselves to the airport, where we then found ourselves next in line, only to be abandoned by the people working at the ticket counter. 30 minutes later (20 minutes before our flight) we found out the computers had crashed. We were given hand written boarding passes, where we then sprinted through the airport wearing our enormous backpacks, Katie running like a duck. There weren´t alot of foreigners in the airport, but there was another American* who gave us dead face when we attempted to be friendly. Oh well.

*Generally, you can always tell who the Americans are.




The muffin on the airplane tasted like fish. Apparently, the chickens in Peru are fed on fish guts, and all the eggs taste like fish.

Side Note: The next day an omlette was eaten and it tasted fine.

Arriving in Cusco, we were picked up by ´Ronaldo´. He bustled us to our hostel, sat us down with Coca tea for the altitude, and presented us with tour packages. It was 7 AM. Bewildered and sleep deprived, like asses, we accepted 2 tour packages - one tour package for the day, starting in 1 hour to hike around Inca ruins and market places, and another 4 day and 3 night jungle trek beginning at 7:30 AM the next day. We also pre-booked our hotel room until our flight back to Lima on Saturday.

Side Note:
As Ronaldo led Dani to the ATM to withdraw money for the tours, he told her that women walk on the right side of the men. Which was weird, until he said it was so he was closest to the traffic. The Peruvian men here are so polite.

After rushed cold showers, we picked up the bus where the same glassy eyed American we had seen in the airport was sitting in the backseat. This time he responded to our dialogue. His name is Ross, and he was traveling on leave from a military base in Lima. We became friends.

We stopped at several markets in little towns, where we found the locals willing to bargain over handmade goods. There were always at least 3 final prices, always at a special price for you my friend. We didn´t stop to go to the bathroom for hours, and finally the driver randomly stopped on the side of the road. Ross leaped from his seat to run off the bus exclaiming 'I have to take a piss', to which a Peruvian woman in the back commented, 'only a gringo'. Dani then tried to use her limted Spanish to tell the ladies how lucky they were to have such polite Peruvian men.

What was actually said: Mujeres fuentes tener hombres Peruvian.
Meaning: Women went to have Peruvian men.

We stopped for lunch and had a disgusting buffet. Everyone told us how good the food in Peru is, but so far we haven't seen it. There were only 2 or 3 things that were actually edible, and we were forced to stop for provisions at a local mini mart; provisions meaning dry crackers and water.

We then arrived at another Incan ruin up a stone street, where there was a little market at the base of the mountains. We had decided not to take the altitude sickness pills, so after we started up the side of the mountain embarking on a 2,000 stair walk, we became so out of breath after the first 20 steps we decided to head back down and have some tea at a little shop in the marketplace.


Side Note:
Apparently, the altitude sickness pills add acid to your blood. Probably not the best thing to consume.

We then embarked on another several hour bus ride that ended in another stop at an old church: it was freezing out. Ross bought a blanket from one of the vendors on the side of the street and wore it as a cape, and shared it with us in the church. He was very proud of his bargaining skills.

We finally arrived back in Cusco after 8 PM, exhausted, dirty, and thoroughly unable to trek for 4 days in the jungle, after not having any time to adjust to the altitude (as cool as that might have been). We went to our hostel, called Ronaldo, and asked if it would be possible to change to a 2 day 1 night tour instead. He then informed us we could, but we wouldn´t get any money back, even though the 2 day tour was much cheaper- the reason being the food was already bought for the trip. We knew it was garbage, but what could we do. Barfing in the jungle wasn't an option.

We met Ross for dinner at a local restaurant in the main plaza. Again, the food wasn´t stellar but we were too hungry to care- a familiar mantra to come. On the way back, we passed a restaurant that served Cuy (guinea pig), decorated with orange chiles where his ears should have been- a mini diablo. We asked the waiter why the cuy had horns, and he didn´t seem to know we were joking. He very calmy explained that they weren´t horns, they were peppers, and you eat them.

sus amigas, daniela y katerina

Día Uno

we arrived in lima and were picked up by a dashing young peruvian man wielding a dry erase board with ´katie bradford´written on it. having to wait for other people also headed to the hotel españa (their luggage had been lost somewhere in frankfurt), we settled down on a wall, where our driver, gary, promptly sat down with us and we began conversing in broken spanish.

after the question of ¨¿tienes novió?' (do you have a boyfriend?), where dani responded sí´and katie no, it became apparent that gary had eyes only for katie.

we didn´t emerge from our room till 11am the next morning, and when we did, we spotted gary heading for our room with a note in hand:

while handing us the note, he mimed dancing and drinking.

es posiblé.

(side note: while at the airport, trying to break the ice and make conversation, we´d reverted to using the limited spanish phrases listed in the guide book. in hindsight, perhaps we should not have used ´where can we find it cheaper?´, ´drunk´, and ´pisco´.)

we decided to explore downtown lima, where we wandered among shops and honed our bargaining skills. we stumbled across a tiny bar tucked in an alleyway, where we were flagged down for free pisco samples.

¡pisco!

>

on this shopping expedition, katie also realized she is in love with alpacas. they are her new power animal.













after wandering into the downtown district and stopping to eat lunch at a little cafeteria style restaurant with traditional peruvian food (dani devoured a 1/4 pollo and papas fritas, katie ate arroz con pollo, leaving most of the pollo behind), we met a lovely gentleman from colombia. he invited us to see his ¨mama´s place¨. dani was skeptical but katie trotted after him, ice cream in hand, like a small child being led to a predator´s vehicle with promises of candy. we went to ¨mama´s place¨, which turned out to be a really cool bar. as we were leaving, an hombre at a table started leering and throwing spanish comments our way. we were unsure what was going on, so we left, while our colombian friend went dashing back up the stairs. after he returned, he told us what the man had said (which we shall not repeat, this is a clean blog - unless dani is typing, in which case expect inappropriateness), and that he had told the hombre what´s what. he then invited us to come back at 8pm for free drinks and dancing.

dani: nothing is free.
katie: how nice!

es posiblé.

next, we returned to our hotel and decided we were famished. katie wanted to try a ceviche place (recommended by a toothless man on our way back to the hotel), but dani was craving wine, bread, cheese, and olives. she is very persuasive, so we set out to find a supermarket. while in the wine aisle, we started talking to a peruvian guy (jean) who ended up speaking perfect english, and had also studied at the san francisco art institute. this piqued dani´s interest, and led to a long conversation regarding illustration and design, while katie acquainted herself with his friend, who was also interesting. they then invited us out to celebrate jean's friend's birthday at a local bar.

es posiblé.

after our walk back, including a long deliberation over the evening's plans, we decided to ditch all three of our admirer's invitations to have our own private party.

























sus amigas,
daniela y katerina