Hurry up and wait

Trip Start Sep 27, 2009
1
18
19
Trip End May 31, 2010


Loading Map
Map your own trip!
Map Options
Show trip route
Hide lines
shadow

Flag of Peru  ,
Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Such is the essence of South American travel.  Hurry up and run from one bus station to grab a taxi and high-tail it to the other terminal across town, only to find out that the midday bus has been mysteriously canceled without explanation, and that we must now wait 9 hours for the night bus to arrive, wait 9 hours in a town with nothing to do but drink and watch movies in the bus terminal on my laptop - and then be charged for the electricity that I have usurped.  As usual, it was our fault.

Just like the one and only time I didn't specify the price of the taxi ride and they charged me ten times as much as it should have been.  Just like when holidays roll in and the bus fares double, same as election time when citizens are required to return to their place of birth.  Just like the $40 entry fee to Machu Picchu for foreigners when its $3 for nationals.  It's not just the gringos--this is a country that is, from it's inception, founded on taking advantage of others. 

Hurry up and wait.  Go go go.  Someone has fucked you over again, go fish.  To hell with Peru.  Cooperativa Loja, too.  It's not the first time they've dicked me around, and God knows it won't be the last.  Thank the stars we've finally moved on to a place where the prices are fixed, and even if the regional food sucks, it doesn't make you sick.
Slideshow Print this entry Lima hotels