This morning we got into Santiago at about 4:45am (our overnight bus was super early somehow). Took a taxi to the airport to fly to Lima at 7:30am. All went well thus far and we arrived in Lima at 9:23 Lima time (an hour behind Chile). Rather than going to the hostel we booked in the barrio of Lince, our shuttle driver convinced us to stay in Miraflores instead because there was much more to do/see, and it was also much safer. Carlos, our driver, was so nice and even gave us a contact in Cuzco and said we can go to her for anything; she owns a restaurant in the main plaza there. He also gave us a lot ot tips about prices in Perú so that we'd know when we were getting ripped off. After he made us a spectacular deal with Lion Backpackers Hostel in Miraflores, we walked around to find the few attractions there we didn't want to miss. Took lots of pictures, ate some peruvian food, and finally went to this amazing prk with fountains and lights accompanying music. Check out this picture!
11/13/09
We woke up at 3am to shower, pack up, and ship out for the airport by 4am since it took a while to get there and our flight to Cuzco was at 5:45am. We rush there and check in only to find out that over Cuzco the weather was so bad that they weren't letting any flights in till at least 7am. We ended up waiting until almost 9:30 to take off for Cuzco. Took a taxi to Southern Comfort Hostel, and settled in before wandering over to the Plaza de Armas. Once again we had a very friendly cab driver who has a sister as a travel agent who ended up setting everything up for us including tours in Cuzco and Machu Picchu.
11/14/09
Today in the morning we just hit up the artesanías and did some shopping. In the afternoon we had a breif tour of the city of Cuzco and met some very nice Spaniards and Peruvians who we learned we would tour with tomorrow and also in Machu Picchu.
11/15/09
Today we woke up really early for an all day tour of the surrounding area of Cuzco. Yesterday and today our tours were/are in Spanish; which was fantastic practice for us and we loved to meet more native spanish speakers, however its going to be hard to retain the information we learned since it wasn't in English. There is this very nice older couple from Spain on our tours with us, a group of people in their lower 20s from California, one girl from chicago who is teaching in Buenos Aires, and many Peruvians. We trekked up and down at least 5 ancient ruins of the Incas. Of course, everywhere we went there was a giant artesanía. It kind of bothered me that everywhwere we went there were busloads of tourists. Nothing looked as natural as it could've been. I think the thing I hated most was the children and/or families dressed in colorful traditional dress who would say in English: "Please take a picture with me for money."
I just learned that a peruvian Tradition is to place little clay animals on their roofs to keep away bad things: I"ve seen many of those.
I've been chewing on coca leaves all day to help with the altitude sickness, and I'm drinking mate de coca as well. We've done a bit of hiking around and its definitely really hard to breath and my heart is constandly pounding out of my chest. Today has been amazing. I can't wait to go through the pictures again.
I did some shopping: bought an Incan Calender made of stone, stuff for my family, and a leatherbound journal. I enjoy our roommate, Natalie from England. She's been backpacking around the world for 6 months now and she's due to go back to England in 2 weeks after she sees Brazil and Buenos Aires.
Something didn't agree with me tonight because I feel AWFUL... off to the bed... hopefully not the toilet :(
11/16/09
At this very moment I find myself on one of the few trains from Cuzco to Aguas Calientes. I'm tired as usual, but very excited as well. I love looking out my window to see how close we are to the clouds. They're just perched at the top of the big hill next to me. Oh wait, thats a MOUNTAIN. I can't believe I"m in Perú, going to Machu Picchu. One of the 7 wonders of the world. Whats best? I'm only 19. I feel like I've got all the time in the world ahead of me. I'm loving life at the moment. I'm not sure it can get much better than this.
On another note, I cannot belive the poverty I'm seeing. Yes, I've seen it in other big cities such as Milwaukee, NYC, but here, its so bad, so different, and its EVERYWHERE. Nobody has clean feet or faces, almost anyone will ask a tourist for money. It amkes me want to cry when I see a group of children with a baby llama trying to get tourists to take pictures with them for money. And now, as I stare out the window of the train and watch rural families take care of livestock in barefeet, mile after mile, I just don't know what to think of myself. Its certainly teaching me, changing me, in more ways than one. I'm constantly reminded of the things I take advantage of.
I'm not flipping through a National Geographic anymore,
poverty is staring at me in the face.
11/17/09
Basically just had the best day of my life. We passedout early last night to get up at 4 am to hit up Machu Picchu. By 5am we were waiting in line with maybe 150 other people to take a bus up. We rushed in line to get tickets up to Waynapicchu because they only let 400 poeple up it a day. I learned about 1,100 tourists were up there just today. Its going to be closed in some parts in the near future thanks to dumb tourists not following guidelines; lots of parts need to be restored. I heard they want to shut the whole thing down for 2 years! I'm glad I went when I did. Words nor pictures can describe what I sw and did today. After a badly replicated cheeseburger and cusqueña beer, all of us passed out before 9pm.
11/18/09
TO BE CONTINUED!
No comments:
Post a Comment