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Told you Peru is dangerous...
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Well I was right Peru is very dangerous...In case you hadn't heard there was a huge earthquake yesterday, near Lima. A lot of people died, probably over 450 by now, and there was a lot of damage in the more rural areas where buildings are less sturdy. I don't think Lima was too badly damaged so we should be able to get home...we felt the quake here in Cusco. We were in Spanish class at the time. I thought I was getting really dizzy while reading out some Spanish, but then the others said they felt it to and we noticed everthing was shaking. We got out of the house pretty sharpish I can tell you...it was such a strange feeling, like you are drunk and the room is kind of spinning, it doesnt feel like the ground is shaking until you touch a wall for example. it lasted ages, about 4 minutes in total we think. We were all very scared but no one was hurt and there was no damage here. Hope there aren't any more, apparently there was a smaller one in the north of Peru earlier in the day yesterday...
Anyway on to brighter news! I havent updated for a while, the internet is rather temperamental here...Well I am day...4 now I think! It feels like I have been here forever...I never had a problem with the altitude, I was taking Diamox for it but didnt like the side effects (tingling and hyperventilating) so I stopped that..Ive been drinking coca leaf tea, eating coca leaf toffees, and today I even had a coca leaf ice cream!! I didnt even really have a problem with jet lag, probably coz I didnt sleep for the whole journey so was so tired i slept like a log. Ive settled in really well, I can even find my way around Cusco pretty well! Ill now describe some of what ive been up to...
Spanish - I started spanish lessons on Monday. Initially me and Rich had them seperatly but as we have the same teacher and the sessionsare 3 hours long that meant we lost most of the day so ow we have 4 hours togeether. Our teacher is lovely, her name is Techi (a nickname). She gives us tea and this Peruvian drink I cant remember the name of made by boiling purple maize, its lovely. We are progressing quickly with our spanish, though I think Rich is finding it a lot harder than I am, porobably coz I know french quite well and its similar. Getting to Techis house is an experience! We can go on Combis (small VW camper type vans with seats) and larger bus or a taxi. Combis and buses are 50centimos (about 8p) and a taxi 2-3soles (about 30p) Combis are sooo scary but great fun! You hail them by waving frantically and they screech to a halt for about 10 secs for you to clamber on (pushing past the other 25people crammed in) all the while the guy taking money yelling really fast spanish about where it stops i can only assume as its too fast to here. You then hang on for dear life while they cram more people on every 100 yards until you guess where your stop is then shove past people really quickly before the combi drives off ad throw your money at the collector. Phew its exhausting writing about it! Buses are the same only slightly larger...
Food - I have been eating out all the time as I cant be bother to cook and its so cheap. I have tried Alpaca! It was lovely i had it grilled with a fruity pink sauce with berries on it and chips. It was like the most tender delicious steak you have ever eaten...yummy! Not tried guinea pig yet though I will soon. I had trout (trucha) l;ast night which is supposedly another popular peruvian thing, it was very nice. Ive had quite a lot of english food too and that seems popluar here.
Activites - I havent been anywhere outside cusco yet, as i still get tired easily (less oxygen, you get knackered quickly). Ive done a lot around cusco though. Plenty of shopping, I have now bought a beautiful bag with bright blue suede, brown leather and lots of llamas and other peruvian symbols on it. I also got some purple stripy trousers (kind of like pyjama bottoms, they are everywhere here) and a lovely alpaca wool blanket as i am always cold in the house (even when its warm outside, boiling hot even in sun, cool in shade). We went to the catherdral in the plaza de armas. its amazing, absolutely crammed with inca gold and silver that the spanish knicked and used in their cathedral (which i might add they built over an inca temple, bastards) The locals got one back though, the spanish hired them to paint pictures in european style, and do the carvings etc so the incas put in surrupticious inca symbols everywhere like there is a picutre of the last supper, exactly like da vincis but jesus is eating guinea pig and drinking maize drink hee hee! We had a guide which helped, she told us loads about it and even did some of it in spanish so we could practice...Ive also been to the Inca museum, which is full of artefacts from inca and pre inca civilisations. We had a guide for that too, though i dont know where he came from as we were the only people there who did...While we were there there was this lady with a llama (the first I have seen yay!!!) and we paid her to let us take pictures with it. There are locals everywhere trying to sell tourists stuff, from finger puppet llamas to cigarettes, often they are children as young as 5 and they are soo persistant, they follow you down the street insisting you buy their stuff and asking you questions and things. You have to say No gracias every minute to them but they often dont get the message. Its rather annoying but there isnt anything you can do about it and sometimes they are very nice to chat to. What else have I done...gosh I cant think now. Oh yes there has been a fiesta for the virgin mary the past day or so. The other night they built these huge bamboo structures then attached laods of catherine wheels to them and they all went off in order to local music. It was very pretty but rather dangerous. there were loads of sparks and the fireworks tended to fly off and into the crowd...there hs also been processions in the plaza de armas with locals dressed up in amazing costumes and dancing to music wiuth statuees of the virgin mary and stuff like that. Ill put photos and things up but they take ages to load so not right now. Oh and last night I went clubbing in cusco for the first time! Well a bit anyway...we took Juan Carlos (the house keep odd job guy) pout for a meal then onto a couple of clubs. Its great coz you get tickets for free drinks in the street, and free entry so its a very cheap, ie free night!
Thatll do for this session i think. I have stuff planned for the weekend. on saturday we are going to sexy woman (its is not reqally called that, its something iun Quecha (local language) that i can spell but it sounds kind of like sexy woman). Its got ruins and statue and stuff and is a nice little walk, ill let you know what its like. On sunday were are going to Pisac which has beautiful ruins like a small Machu Pichu and a huge amrket, that should be fun. I start in the hospital monday morning. I go on my trek to Machu Pichu on Wednesday, we leave at 5am gah...ill keep you posted....
Latest Comments (4)
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Ummm (reply)
Aug 18, 2007 22:18 EST by rtcolling
Im not sure I was 'very scared'... and I remember wew both felt Ill the first day...and more professional? I have less spelling mistakes! Still its all very good.
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Llama! (reply)
Aug 17, 2007 08:43 EST by alocin
Your first llama! Much more exciting than earthquakes... That all sounds very cool and I will no doubt comment more in an email some time...
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glad your safe (reply)
Aug 17, 2007 08:15 EST by dcolling
glad yoyr safe
very impressed with your diary of events. keep up the good work.
keep safe and teke care
love Diana x
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daisy (reply)
Aug 17, 2007 08:15 EST by dcolling
i am very impressed with your travel blog, much posher then richards!
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| 10. | Told you Peru is dangerous... - Cusco, Peru Aug 16, 2007 (  4 ) |
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