Peru

Well I arrived in Lima, Peru at 11.15pm (on-time), what I was not expecting was to leave the airport at 12.45am! It took 1 hour and a half to get through immigration and customs. For some apparent reason the airport decided it was a good idea to have 4 flights all arriving at the same time (in the middle of the night), and this for an airport that gets about 6 flights a day anyway! Therefore, the amount of people they had to get through was unbelievable. You had queues to join queues!!! It took so long to get officially stamped into the country that my bag had already been taken off the travellator to make space for the next plane load!! I found the whole situation very bizarre, but apparently it happens every night!! To top it off, once you have got your bag you have to queue for customs - as expected. But because of the sheer volume of people they have this really odd machine. Basically once you get to the front of the queue you give the person your customs card and then you have to personally press a button on this machine in front of you. If it goes green you can pass through without having your bags x-rayed and you´re out of there. If it goes red, then you have to join another queue and go through the x-ray machine. It is basically chance and whether you are lucky enough to avoid standing around for another 30 mins. Guess which colour I got.....red!!!! So I went off to join another queue and surprisingly enough I had nothing suspect in my bag, so eventually I was allowed out of the airport. I found my taxi and we made our way to the hostel. The taxi driver was obviously on some suicide mission as we got to the hostel in half the time and I had to close my eyes for most of the ride because it was so terrifying!!

Lima is not the most exciting city on the planet (although it does beat Santiago), but I managed to occupy myself for 3 days. It also turned out that Emma and Marc were also in Lima (honestly I am not stalking them, although I think they are getting worried!), so I met up with them one night and we had a few Pisco Sours (the national drink, and a very strong one at that!) and a lovely meal in the city centre.

I then had to catch my flight to Cusco, which again was pretty odd. I had checked-in online the day before so that I could reserve my seat, so when I got to the airport I just had to show them the boarding pass I had printed off and hand them my bag. I then went through immigration, again only showing my boarding pass. I then got on the plane, showing only my boarding pass. When I got off the other end, I did not have to show anybody anything and just picked up my bag and walked out of the airport. During that whole time, no one asked to see any identification whatsoever. How on earth did they know that I was the person who had the reservation and that I had taken the right bag!!! All very suspect if you ask me!!!

Anyway, I had arranged with the hostel that I had booked my room with for an airport pick-up. So the guy was there when I came out of the airport, but we had to wait around for another 30 minutes as he was picking up 2 other people. Then he left the 3 of us for 25 minutes, during which time we were wondering if he had just abandoned us and whether we should just get another taxi. Eventually he turned up, in what was his mates car. We then drove the 10 minutes to the hostel. But it turned out that they didn´t know where it was and drove straight past it. We then had to guide them back to it (we had only just arrived in the city!!). So eventually we got into the hostel and we began the checking-in process, filling in forms etc. So once that was done he took us to our room, which as it turned out was to be all together. This was not right. I had booked a single room and the couple had booked a double, so we weren´t all that keen to be sharing. I tried to explained the problem to the guy, using my limited Spanish. He then gave the dorm room to the couple and then half an hour later told me that they had no other rooms for me. I could not believe this. I had made the reservation 2 weeks ago on http://www.hostelworld.com/ and confirmed with the manager 3 times as I had heard of situations like this and didn´t fancy going through it myself!! Well the manager was apparently out all day and I was left with this idiot who spoke no English (I have to say that my Spanish is improving as now when I argue I can do it in mostly Spanish, although I do tend to repeat the same words a lot (I have limited vocab!)).

Anyway, they couldn´t accommodate me and they guy didn´t know why there was no room, so I was then transfered to another hostel, which I had to wait another half a hour for them to come and pick me up. 10 hours later I finally got a call from someone at the original hostel I was supposed to be staying at who explained that the people who were supposed to vacate my room that day, did not and therefore I was not able to move in. I guess when you make a reservation, pay a deposit and confirm three times, then it isn´t set in stone!!! Anyway, they would now come and pick me up at 10am the following morning and I would be able to have my room - great!! Anyway, to cut a longer story short, I eventually got my room, but with countless other problems, including my new room dispensing smoke from the plug socket with a very strong burning smell!!

Apart from all the accommodation problems, Cusco turned out to be quite a nice little town. It´s safe to walk around, which makes a change, and there is lots of shopping to do!! Anyway, before I could shop to my hearts desire I had to make a trip to Aguas Caliente which is the town next door to Machu Picchu (the whole reason I am here!). So I got up very early one morning and caught the train to Aguas Caliente (its a 4 hour plus journey). I arrived safe and sound and joined up with my tour group. Our guide took us to Machu Picchu and gave us a tour for a couple of hours. I have to say that Machu Picchu is absolutely amazing. Completely worth every penny spent! It is unbelievable that the Incas built this place on top of a mountain. The only problem with the place is that it is incredibly touristy, but then what do you expect from Peru´s most famous attraction. After the tour I stayed for a couple more hours, walking around and trying to get pictures of the llamas just wandering around the ruins. I then made my way back to Aguas Caliente where I was spending the night. I have to say that this place has to be one of the worst places in Peru. It is purely built to accommodate tourists who want to see Machu Picchu, and therefore, is completely overpriced and filled up with tons of bars/pizzerias blaring horrible music. Luckily I was there for only the night before I caught the train back to Cusco.

Back in Cusco, I managed to track down Emma and Marc again! They had just arrived in Cusco and were leaving the next day to do the Inca Trail (they had sensibly booked it ages in advance!). So we spent the day wandering around the artisan markets buying stuff that we didn´t really need, but it was all so cheap! So even though I have already sent home 5kg and thrown out another 2kg, I have now gained another 10kg with all the stuff I bought. As I only have 2 months before I am home I am going to try and carry it around with me, but I´m not sure how long that will last! My backpack now looks utterly ridiculous! It has all the stuff I can´t fit inside tied to the outside and therefore looks absolutely huge!

Anyway, I then had to leave Emma and Marc for the last time (they are probably relieved as I have stalked them around most of South America!). I won´t be seeing them again on this trip as they are spending longer in Peru and are not going to Brazil. So I wish them good luck on the rest of their adventures.

I then caught a bus to Puno which is by Lake Titicaca, which apparently is the highest navigable lake in the world! The lack of oxygen in the air is a definite sign that it is high up anyway!! I took a day tour out onto the lake. Our first stop was this tribe which had built its home out on the lake using the reeds. It is absolutely amazing what they have created just using the reeds. All the islands are made out of the reeds, so are their houses, seats, boats and pretty much anything you can think of. They apparently moved out onto the lake several centuries ago to get away from the Incas who were causing a few problems for them. Anyway, we got to spend some time on one of these reed islands as well as sail around on one of the reed boats which was cool. We then got back on our motor boat and sailed the the main island (for Peru) Isla Taquili . Here we spent some time with the locals and they showed us some of their weaving, music and dancing. They even dragged some of us up there to participate, but luckily I was not picked! We then climbed to the top of the island and got a beautiful view of the lake. We then made our way back to the boat and back to Puno.

The next day I was to leave Peru. I got up really early in the morning to catch a bus that had been booked for me in Cusco, by the people I had had problems with the accommodation (I really should have know better!). So surprise surprise when I got to the desk I found out that a reservation had never been made and there were no seats left on the bus. They managed to find me a seat with another bus company who´s bus was leaving an hour later (so much for getting up early!). I then found out that I had in fact paid 4 times the price of the bus so I was not too happy! So I got on the bus to find out that I had got the equivalent of the jump seat in a plane. It was a fold out chair that was squashed between the toilet and a proper seat, so I was in the aisle, squashed and unhappy with the fact I was to be sitting like this for the next 4 hours! It turned out that they also didn´t have any seats left so they created this one for me!! Anyway, I made it to Bolivia in one piece. I have to say that I am relieved to be leaving Peru after all the problems I had there. It was a beautiful country with lots to see, but I just got so exhausted with all the complications - hopefully Bolivia will be trouble free....