Sunday, March 24, 2013

Arrival in Cusco, Peru!

I'm going to make this post short and sweet since I am writing on the oh so grand keyboard of my iPhone (with wifi from the hostel I'm at!). The last 5 weeks of my gap year I spent mostly at home doing things such as making a dress (a slightly odd looking dress but who cares), preparing for the jungle (mostly by activities such as showering less regularly, finding and purchasing supplies, thinking about how light I was going to pack yet still ending up with a 21.5 kilo duffel bag, etc). Anyway, I really enjoyed my time at home but blogging about it won't be as interesting. So now let's talk about Peru! 

To begin with maybe I should mention the long plane ride to get here. Total travel time ended up being about 22 hours with a night flight from LA to Lima. I was both fortunate and unfortunate enough to sleep for most of the flight. Fortunate because sleep is good, unfortunate because I waited up for like an hour to see if we would be getting a dinner (since I forgot to do that during my layover) then I settled on a granola bar went to sleep, slept through the pasta dinner they apparently tried to give me, and woke up with my oh do appetizing vegetarian breakfast sitting on my tray table in the down position. There were also some great mike options that i did not watch. But the fligh was smooth. Then I got to Lima and a mini nightmare began as I had only 1.5 hours to get to my connecting flight and had to go through customs, get my suitcase from baggage claim, find where my next flight would be (another unfortunate process where a man I thought was being kind helped me find the way and pushed my stuff then charged my $6, lesson learned; never trust someone who iss nicer than they need to be, but I was in a hurry and the airport was not well marked so oh well), recheck in my luggage and then go through a painfully long security line arriving to my gate with 10 mnutes before it was supposed to leave. But no worries, they had just started boarding so I was in a thankfully no pasa nada situation. 

I finally  arrived in Cusco (Cuzco) today at around noon and was promptly greeted by Angelika, the coordinator for IFRE here in Cusco that worked out my placement and such. She is really nice and is from Germany! After taking me back to the hostel we walked around Cuzco for about 2 hours and were joined by her Peruvian boyfriend who works on tourism, so that was funand I got to see some cool parts of the city. I then explored a b more only own and got lunch at the restaurant she recommended (with enough leftovers for dinner now!). Unfortunately the altitude has affected me more than I expected and I am not feeling my best so I spent a relaxed evening in the hostel which basically has a view of the whole city (only a 10 minute or less walk down but then more like a 30 minute or more walk back up to the old and more central part of the city). I did also drink some traditional coca leaf tea which is supposed to help with altitude and it may have a little, or it could have been placebo, but either way it tasted good (yes coca leaves are used in making cocaine but don't worry just the leaves are fine). There was also a parade that went through the city and I got to use my new tephoto lens to take some cool pictures without actually moon from my window perched position ;)

Anyway, I will probably now shower and sleep soon even thou it's only 7 to avoid getting sick / hopefully feel better. I also have to be up and on a bus at 4:30 am tomorrow to manu. It should take about 8 hours but since its still the end of the rainy season it could take a bit longer. Oh, I also tried out my uv water purifier and it seems to be working out just fine (hasn't made me feel worse which is always a good sign). I will also have my own personal stash of water in the jungle, so that's another plus. I wish I was feeling better but the point of this post is basically to inform you all that I am here safe and sound and the next part begins early tomorrow! 

I suppose I should also add that I've never seen so many llamas and that I should have brought the whole 8-pack of travel tissues my mom bought me because toilet paper is not a common occurance here (not even in the hostel which is quite nice in all other regards (my own. Extols and bathroom!)) so that does bring some worry for the jungle. Also it was a beautiful day here today with in the very hot 70s (though I really think that wrong, it felt like at least 90s). Okay, until next time, whenever that may be! :) 

1 comment:

  1. Um, excuse me, nothing exciting/interesting from the last five weeks? OKAY THEN COOL.
    But otherwise I hope you feel better soon and can communicate with us before the passage of 2 whole months!

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