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January 08, 2006 - 2:44 PMSince I`ve been called a girl, I thought I`d share the recent use of my equipment. Tempting fate, I stayed out the night before my border crossing and hung out in an empty karaoke bar (the best kind). There was no soap or water in the bathroom, so I got to use my wind up torch to find my no-water soap. Afterwards, I used my gps navigator to get back to the bus station without hailing a dodgy taxi. Now if I had a ferocious dog deterrent, that would have been really useful... The Incans reverred dogs as protectors of the home. That remains the case now- the incan race is strong, and stray dogs are everywhere. They are a funny people too. I was warned they were odd looking but I wasn�t quite expecting a cross between hobbit and orangutan. Cusco was nice. Had character. The tourist parts of Peru seem to embrace native culture and have barely any resemblance to the spanish invaders�culture, except for the religioun that was forced upon them. I was thinking it felt safer than Lima just after I arrived when I felt a boy trying to get into my backpack. It was pretty safe though, and the people were actually nice, not the evil monsters I`m portraying! The sacred valley by cusco was an enjoyable look at the scenery and a mix of past and present society, and Machu Picchu was of course lovely; like an island floating on clouds. Lake Titicaca was neat. I half fell through a floating reed island. What an odd existence it must be living on those tiny platforms. The stop for lunch on titicaca was an island, Taquile, jutting above the 4000m high lake. A church at the top had an interesting style of choral singing and smelt of coca. I`m sure the natural surroundings were comparable to Colombia, but it lost it`s magic somewhere along the way. The long bus journeys were a good time to sit back and absorb the world going by, but like most things it got tedious fairly quickly. I ate alpaca and guinea pig in Peru. The alpaca was nothing special; the guinea pig (cuy) was gruesome.. it was split whole and layed flat on the plate. I wasn`t sure of the orientation until I turned over the head and was faced with the 4 jaw branches splayed in opposite directions, complete with jagged teeth. The meat was a little gamey, yet tender, and not great. All in all, not something I`d make a rabbit of. So I eventually made it to Chile after a gruelling border crossing very early in the morning. So far this town, Arica, is more like southern california in style than anything - palms lining wide roads and dusty sidewalks - which is interesting since I`ve been told Chileans feel like the "bosses" around here. Since I`ve been called a girl, I thought I`d share the recent use of my equipment. Tempting fate, I stayed out the night before my border crossing and hung out in an empty karaoke bar (the best kind). There was no soap or water in the bathroom, so I got to use my wind up torch to find my no-water soap. Afterwards, I used my gps navigator to get back to the bus station without hailing a dodgy taxi. Now if I had a ferocious dog deterrent, that would have been really useful... The Incans reverred dogs as protectors of the home. That remains the case now- the incan race is strong, and stray dogs are everywhere. They are a funny people too. I was warned they were odd looking but I wasn�t quite expecting a cross between hobbit and orangutan. Cusco was nice. Had character. The tourist parts of Peru seem to embrace native culture and have barely any resemblance to the spanish invaders�culture, except for the religioun that was forced upon them. I was thinking it felt safer than Lima just after I arrived when I felt a boy trying to get into my backpack. It was pretty safe though, and the people were actually nice, not the evil monsters I`m portraying! The sacred valley by cusco was an enjoyable look at the scenery and a mix of past and present society, and Machu Picchu was of course lovely; like an island floating on clouds. Lake Titicaca was neat. I half fell through a floating reed island. What an odd existence it must be living on those tiny platforms. The stop for lunch on titicaca was an island, Taquile, jutting above the 4000m high lake. A church at the top had an interesting style of choral singing and smelt of coca. I`m sure the natural surroundings were comparable to Colombia, but it lost it`s magic somewhere along the way. The long bus journeys were a good time to sit back and absorb the world going by, but like most things it got tedious fairly quickly. I ate alpaca and guinea pig in Peru. The alpaca was nothing special; the guinea pig (cuy) was gruesome.. it was split whole and layed flat on the plate. I wasn`t sure of the orientation until I turned over the head and was faced with the 4 jaw branches splayed in opposite directions, complete with jagged teeth. The meat was a little gamey, yet tender, and not great. All in all, not something I`d make a rabbit of. So I eventually made it to Chile after a gruelling border crossing very early in the morning. So far this town, Arica, is more like southern california in style than anything - palms lining wide roads and dusty sidewalks - which is interesting since I`ve been told Chileans feel like the "bosses" around here. |
