Belated Peru ramblings
Aug. 31st, 2005 10:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lonelybritDid you know it takes 8 hours to drive from Quillabamba to Cuzco? And there's only one toilet stop. And the temperature goes from being humid and stinking hot to painfully chilling with ice on the windows? Well you do now, and it's something I'm not going to forget in a hurry.
Anyway, putting that rather trying experience behind me.
Lima. I returned to Lima, and I never thought I would be so happy to see its polluted humid smoggy cold drizzly streets again. A city void of mosquitoes, where toilets were clean and flushed, where hot water meant hot water. Ah, the luxery.
We celebrated by going out and watching War of the Worlds. A fun film and perfect for when you're feeling knackered in body and soul. Not so sure about it as an adaptation, but never mind.
Anyway, I returned to some voluntary work in an artisan shop called 'Las Pallas'. Apparently means something like The Princesses in Quechua (some old of the Andes that I can't spell). It's in the area of Barranco - lovely place. All old colonial looking buildings with narrow streets and the odd tree on the corners to add a bit of green.
My proudest achievement though is learning to use the local bus services. Basically you have these small mini-buses zipping up and down the streets at high, high speed. They screech to a halt if you throw yourself under the wheels, the door slams open, the conductor leans out hollaring their destination, you put one foot on the step and the bus is shooting off again whether you've boarded or not.
Think the Knight Bus from Harry Potter and you get a rough idea.
Getting off is equally a memorable experience. Trying to get the conductor's attention without being thrown out a window en route is fun. And then of course you have the joy of flinging yourself out the door and down the steps, hoping that you clear the wheels before they start up again.
Oooh, and I met two hairless Peruvian dog. Lovely lovely creatures, completely hairless except for a few whiskers on their heads and tips of their tails. Big, dark, very regal looking. They used to be very common - revered by the Incas - until the Spanish came along and nearly wiped the whole species out. Now they're coming back as the rich man's pet.
Anyway, the two I met were lovely. Warm warm skin, very friendly, had a tendency to nearly knock me over if they were running, and a bark that could raise the dead.
And I got a free hat! Yay! With llamas on it and in nice vegetable dye will no doubt run the moment I get caught in the very English rain. Squee!
And that was about it. I learnt a few new words of Spanish. Brought a decent supply of Inca Kola and then boarded the tiny metallic tube that was to fly me back home.
All in all, a quite enjoyable stay, and I shall miss the mountains... *sigh*
Anyway, putting that rather trying experience behind me.
Lima. I returned to Lima, and I never thought I would be so happy to see its polluted humid smoggy cold drizzly streets again. A city void of mosquitoes, where toilets were clean and flushed, where hot water meant hot water. Ah, the luxery.
We celebrated by going out and watching War of the Worlds. A fun film and perfect for when you're feeling knackered in body and soul. Not so sure about it as an adaptation, but never mind.
Anyway, I returned to some voluntary work in an artisan shop called 'Las Pallas'. Apparently means something like The Princesses in Quechua (some old of the Andes that I can't spell). It's in the area of Barranco - lovely place. All old colonial looking buildings with narrow streets and the odd tree on the corners to add a bit of green.
My proudest achievement though is learning to use the local bus services. Basically you have these small mini-buses zipping up and down the streets at high, high speed. They screech to a halt if you throw yourself under the wheels, the door slams open, the conductor leans out hollaring their destination, you put one foot on the step and the bus is shooting off again whether you've boarded or not.
Think the Knight Bus from Harry Potter and you get a rough idea.
Getting off is equally a memorable experience. Trying to get the conductor's attention without being thrown out a window en route is fun. And then of course you have the joy of flinging yourself out the door and down the steps, hoping that you clear the wheels before they start up again.
Oooh, and I met two hairless Peruvian dog. Lovely lovely creatures, completely hairless except for a few whiskers on their heads and tips of their tails. Big, dark, very regal looking. They used to be very common - revered by the Incas - until the Spanish came along and nearly wiped the whole species out. Now they're coming back as the rich man's pet.
Anyway, the two I met were lovely. Warm warm skin, very friendly, had a tendency to nearly knock me over if they were running, and a bark that could raise the dead.
And I got a free hat! Yay! With llamas on it and in nice vegetable dye will no doubt run the moment I get caught in the very English rain. Squee!
And that was about it. I learnt a few new words of Spanish. Brought a decent supply of Inca Kola and then boarded the tiny metallic tube that was to fly me back home.
All in all, a quite enjoyable stay, and I shall miss the mountains... *sigh*
