What To Do In Peru?

After Machu Picchu, I decided that it was time to take things easier. Admittedly, because of the planned strikes in Cusco last week, I didn't imagine that I would be able to leave until Friday anyway, but it at least gave me an excuse not to rush off onto the next town (which I probably would have done otherwise!) On Monday evening, I met up with Alice again, from Arequipa, and we had a genuinely leisurely day, just what the doctor ordered! We wandered around the town, trying to avoid pushy touts as much as possible (i.e. not at all) and then stopped off for a massage, which after my Herculean hiking efforts the day before, was well needed! It was hilarious, 45 minutes later we emerged like giggling schoolchildren, and I would have been concerned that someone had slipped something into my drink... had I had one! We then found a cool little cafe that served chai tea and shisha and another hour was whiled away chatting and relaxing.

Wednesday and Thursday were much the same - I would wake up at 6am as usual, despite being tired, I´d get up for breakfast and eat a stupid amount of bread rolls, way more than my quota I am sure, and drink several cups of Tetley tea. Thank goodness I'd been given a packet of teabags by a fellow backpacker in Potosí as I had at last found a hostel that supplied milk at breakfast! On Wednesday, the strike was in full flow and so there was no way to leave the town. We visited the museums that were included in the Tourist Ticket, so it made sense to make the most of it. Shame they were really quite poor, one seemed to exhibit strange dolls that I could only imagine had come from someone's recently deceased great aunt's attic!!! Thursday was even less productive, I think we only stopped eating breakfast and got dressed sometime after noon!!!

On Friday, I decided that I should be a little more productive, so Alice and I planned to visit the nearby ruins in the Sacred Valley, again to use the Tourist Ticket. Unfortunately, Alice had had a big night and wasn't quite up for it anymore. Now, I´ve been on my own for months now, so buses and getting around is child'd play for me, but for some reason, I was hesitant to go off alone. I don't know why, maybe just because I've had a rougher patch recently. After procrastinating too much, I eventually plucked up the courage to find out where the little local buses departed and to just do it! I took a local service out to the furthest of the nearby ruins, Tambomachay, and from there I walked back through the valley towards Cusco, about 8km in total I think, taking in all the ruins in that area.

It was a lovely day, in fact I was pleased that I had my back to the sun or a burnt nose probably would have resulted! The ruins were, well... disappointing really, and not just because I'd now seen Machu Picchu, but I was pleased that I had made the effort to see them. Saqsaywaman was however, quite impressive - I'd wanted to see this Inca fortress inparticular as this is the one that has walls made of interlocking blocks of stone that you can't even fit a sheet of paper between the cracks. I'd seen it on TV and so being in the area, I had to see it for myself!

Saqsaywaman

On Saturday, I decided that it was definitely time to leave Cusco. I think I needed to have a decent period of rest, but I was ready to continue. I had phoned Qantas in the week to move my flight to Quito forward to June 6th and I immediately felt better about that. OK, I had rushed through Peru, but I haven't really developed an affinity for it at all. It is a country that I have wanted to visit for a long time, but after seeing Machu Picchu, I felt that was enough for me. I don't know what it is, but I just haven't found Peru all that amazing otherwise. I can't put my finger on it... it would'nt be quite fair to say that it is the people, but let's just say that Argentina was the place that the people made the experience.

After another lazy morning, I spent nearly 2 hours in an internet cafe, just to get my photos OFF my camera, never mind uploading them, and then I took a taxi to the bus terminal. I didn't bother buying a ticket in advance like usual as I had enquired about prices to Nazca when I'd arrived in Cusco the week before. I was pleased that everything walked smoothly - I walked in, bought a bus ticket, grabbed some snacks and had boarded after seeing my backpack safely stowed under the bus. This is how real travellers do it, they just turn up without stress, buy a ticket and off they go! At last, I was on a bus in Peru withouit feeling nervous! In fact, I was so calm that when the driver put on some AWFUL music that sounded like bad Bollywood in a blender, I just popped in my earplugs and was rather amused!

My enthusiasm wore off a few hours later though, when the radio was still on and the temperature started to drop. The Lonely Planet had warned that this would be a cold route through the mountains and I had come prepared with many layers, my usual hat-scarf-glove combo and a blanket, but it was REALLY cold. Really, really was. I did sleep overnight, on and off and it could have been worse, but I was glad to arribe in Nasca just before 7am on Sunday morning. Once again, I had not planned in advance, I just knew that I was there to see the famous Nazca lines and that it should be fairly easy to organise once everything actually opened that morning!

Now, I don't know if I have a sign around my neck that only the locals can see, but I'd barely started off up the street when a woman was trying to get me to her hostel, then off on a tour over the lines. Her English was poor, but I tried to tell her that I'd just got off a long bus journey and I wanted to relax before making any decisions. She was the pushiest person I think I've met on my travels so far (and perhaps that's why I don't like Peru much, it feels really pushy). She soon had me bundled into a taxi into a hostel (even though she had actually told the driver to take me to the airport, until I realised that we were going in the exact opposite direction to the town centre!) I didn't even know if I would bother staying the night there once I'd seen the Lines! The thing was, as nothing was yet open, I couldn't even research an alternative tour operator.

I decided that if she was so desperate for my business (as she kept going on there were 2 other people booked into a plane and how I would "complete" the tour) that she should knock $5 off the cost. She wouldn't budge and started to walk off! To cut a long story short, I decided to just get out on a flight straightaway while the skies were clear and after we had sort of chased each other around the plaza, with me begging her to stop being so damn pushy! Then, after telling me the price in soles (as I had no dollars on me), she then started to insist I pay in US - by this point, I decided to call ths shots, she'd get soles or nothing at all!

Phew! Once I'd been whisked off to her office to pay and stow my bags, I was taken back into town to collect another person and then she vanished out of the van, without giving me a ticket or receipt. Oh dear, not again! It was fine however, I was taken to the airport checked in with no problems. It was there that I read the signs stating "You have the right to buy a flight from whichevr company you choose in the airport. Do not go through a middle agent." Why do I keep doing this? In the end, I decided that if I had paid too much, it probably wasn't by much and at least I was there.

The flight was brief, only 30 minutes, but it was one of those things that I just had to do. As we took off, Iagain had Mysterious Cities of Gold on my iPod and I got all choked up again, pretending to be flying off in the Golden Condor with Esteban, Zia and Tao. Well, I'm a child of the Eighties, Google it! I sat up front next to the pilot and soon we were circling over the Whale, Spider, Spaceman, Condor, Hummingbird and so on. The Lines were a little smaller than I expected and perhaps not all that impressive really, but I was glad I had seen them, it was a box I needed to tick!

Afterwards, I was dropped off back in the town and saw that there was a bus departing for Ica in 15 minutes time. I would have had to wait until that evening to take a direct bus to Lima, so on the spur of the moment, I bought a ticket to Ica where there are frequent services bound for Lima. So, I'd been on a bus for 14 hours overnight, then I'd wandered around Nazca playing cat and mouse with Miss Pushy Peru, I'd taken a quick Cessna flight over the desert and then I was back on a packed, hot bus by 10am! At this point, I realised that I was trying to get out of Peru as soon as I could! Once, in Ica, I then bought a ticket to Lima (eventually as they spoke no English and did not understand that I wanted to know how often the buses left as I needed to get some lunch first). After gobbling down a portion of fried rice that could have catered for the Sermon on the Mount, I was back in the bus terminal, waiting to board my bus to Lima.

This was another 5 hour journey (but I didn't have a fat man and his daughter spilling into my seat this time, unlike the one to Ica) so it was pleasant enough and I finished reading my book. I was parched by the time I arrived in Lima that evening though, and I couldn't believe my luck - I hate it when sellers board the bus, trying to sell drinks and snacks at every stop, but what do you know, the one day I was dying of thirst, no one got on to sell anything! When I arrived in Lima, I had no idea where I had been dropped off and it had started to get dark. I refused all offers for a taxi (stupid, I know, but I just couldn't take anymore touts) and I walked up the road towards a neon hostel sign. Once I was eventually buzzed in, I simply wanted to ask where I was on my map, in order to get my bearings. This was a difficult task as the guy spoke no English and was behind a sheet of mirrored glass. Where the hell had I ended up? So, like a prat, I just kept saying (in English) "I can't see you, I just want you to tell me where I am!"

Eventually, a woman who spoke some English appeared in person, after I demanded that I needed to speak face to face, and I decided to stay there for one night - I got 5 soles knocked off the price and had my own room with a TV, just what I needed after nearly 24 hours on the road! I did wonder after a while if I had somehow checked into a brothel... there was a lot of neon outside, there was a large mirror in the room and a poster of a young model in only underwear next to the bed... oh well, I had earplugs! But why did the staff insist on hiding behind a mirrored kiosk in reception???

On Monday, I woke up unscathed after a decent sleep. Well, I was technically rudely awakened by the sounds of at least a dozen cockerels... in the middle of Lima!!! I'd booked a new hostel in Miraflores online the night before and so I flagged down a taxi and after telling him that 10 soles was not acceptable and that 6 was fair, off I sped to a location the driver didn't seem all that sure about. Once again, I did wonder what they hell I was thinking, as I later read in my guide book that you should never flag taxis down in Lima, especially in the area that I'd stayed in, but in fairness, I arrived at my new hostel and he did give me my 4 soles change!

My new hostel was lovely, decetn location with nice staff. Once I'd checked in, I decided that I didn't need much time in Lima at all. Well, it doesn't seem to be that great a city and at this time of year, the weather is pretty rubbish - cold, misty and damp as the clouds roll in from the Pacific. I found a cheap call place, phoned Qantas AGAIN and moved my flight to Quito to tomorrow! That gave me yesterday to chill out and get my laundry done and today to explore the main city sights! Well, I found a geocache yesterday and today I did... erm, nothing! It was another grey day and I just decided that I had no interest in seeing yet another plaza and a few churches! Well, I'm genuinely past the point where I feel guilty if I haven't explored a city.

In fairness, I did have cerviche for lunch, which is a very traditional Peruvian dish of raw fish "cooked" in lime juice, and it was alright really! So, tomorrow I am off to Quito in Ecuador, which should now give me enough time to get out to the Galapagos islands before the high season starts. It will still be incredibly expensive, but I'm hoping that it will be worth it as eveyone who has been over there says it is fantastic. Everyone also said that NZ was fantastic too... fingers crossed I guess!

So, I have rushed through Peru in 2½ weeks when I had originally had 4 here. I´ve rushed through 4 countries in 6½ weeks - Chile, Argentina, Bolivia and Peru - and that's way too fast, but I think that the thought of getting to the Galapagos has been playing on my mind the whole time. Once I've been there, I'm planning to slow it down as the only thing I have to do after that is fly home! Once the pressure is off, I am hoping that I'll be able to enjoy Ecuador and Colombia a lot more. So, the new plan is to study Spanish for a while in Ecuador and then spend some time up on the Colombian coast in the Caribbean scuba diving. I may even take the next PADI qualification while I am there, I´ll be a Dive Master before you know it! The thing is, I've realised that fast and furious is just the way I travel and although everyone else goes slower and probably gets more out of it, that's not the way I work. I'll have plenty of time to really enjoy the remaining countries and if I genuinely cannot slow down and I skip through them as well, I'll just take an early flight home. Who knows? I don't! We will just have to wait and see...