Back in La Paz II
I have bought myself new clothes and some red nail varnish, plucked much neglected eyebrows and feel almost normal again! Stumbled on the Coca Museum yesterday (whilst doing a bit more shopping) and wandered around to be educated...things like cocaine being used to anaesthetise patients, thus stopping the doctors from bashing patients over the head & suchlike barbarianism. Good displays of legal adverts for cocaine & even a section on how to chew the coca leaf correctly. The Spanish banned the coca leaf but reinstated its use when they discovered that it raised the output of the indigenous people that they were using as slaves at the time! With a tax, surprise surprise. Went to the ballet last night.....was ballet school production but pretty good, some of the younger ones had that petrified expression on their faces that I had throughout my whole dancing school/stage career! Second half was Bolivian National Folk dancing...bit sexier than the Manx traditional dances!
Back in La Paz
One of my posts has gone missing....so, maybe repeat, maybe it'll show up as the blog has a mind of its own. Flew back from Rurre, well, spent 2 days trying to leave the place, as it was 37 degrees and I thought I was dying!! Got up and out for 7.30am two days in a row in an attempt to leave and got screwed over both days. On Friday our 7.30am flight finally went at 4pm, was amazing views over huge expanses of rainforest, that it's nice to know exist, and what I saw was just a tiny part of it! People had been telling us about the minuscule size of the planes...but they fit 38 people on! Smaller ones regularly go from the IOM to Birmingham, so I had no issues with the plane size. Flying back was definitely a good idea!! One hour compared to 24. Remember the 2 Brits that we hadn't spoken to but seen everywhere......they were on the road to Rurre, next to a broken down bus and tried to ask our driver to get on ours.....in universal bus driver style, he ignored them. Today, have been having a coffee near our hotel and who walks in???? So figured it was time to say hello, given they have been following us for a month!
email from Feb 26th.......
Accidentally caught a dodgy bus down the death road.....aka the most dangerous road in the world, it was packed full of people, dodged the occasional rocky landslide and the highlight of the 24 hours on the bus has to be the 2am almost tipping over piece of fun. Survived. Was a very unpleasant wake up call, after which we realised the door was trapped shut and we all had to climb out through the drivers window which was a little higher up than usual.....and stand knee deep in mud till we got towed / dug out. Rurrenabaque is pretty but sweltering....I am not exactly surprised as currently in the Amazon Basin, but my skin can't handle it. Got munched on by mozzies in the jungle, evidently Manx blood is a delicacy round these parts, I look truly diseased. Am puzzled as to why they go for elbows, knuckles, ankles...all the places guaranteed to make you itch like crazy! Trip up river to the jungle was spectacular! The river is massive & we were on a motorised wooden canoe. Encountered a variety of poisonous insects, yum, tracked a small group of wild pigs....amazingly cute, very hairy, don't much resemble pigs.....saw pairs of macaws flying over the rainforest and ate some interesting bits of plants that cure malaria (possibly necessary, but think while I was eating it was getting bitten) cure impotence (?) and make your tongue go numb. That one was very tasty. Ate all mine and had paralysed mouth for ages. Spent three days in the Pampas, living pretty damn close to a 2 metre alligator....I had strangely vivid images of the camp cat getting munched one night. Swam with pink dolphins...I find it absolutely mad that there are dolphins living in the river. And that they are pink obviously. Saw loads of monkeys, turtles, condors, storks, eagles, lizards. Odd to see a very large stork sitting in a nest in a small weak looking tree. And encountered the largest spider I have ever seen in my life at 2am when I unfortuntely had to extract myself from my mozzie net and go for a much unwanted wee. It was so large and hairy it looked more like a rodent with too many legs than an arachnid. Was petrified and screamed silently the whole time. See, I am considerate to other's sleep patterns even when scared half to death. Or maybe just didn't want to look like a big wimp! Anyway, after three days without washing it seems perfecly acceptable to go for a swim in alligator / piranha infested waters! Don't think I came out cleaner though. Went looking for anacondas in a great marshy field...if hell exists that was it! Large field, knee deep in water, head height grass, wet wellies, no shade whatsoever and a herd of cows stampeding towards me. And went piranha fishing....couple of people caught one, but I think I was just feeding them their lunch, they're very Quick and I have never been fishing before. My other first was jumping on the back of a motorbike taxi today...only to go about 200m down the road but was so hot I couldn't resist. Had some drinks last night for the first time since Cusco....and ended up kareokeing. Why? I know I can't sing, but was great fun. Spoken huge amounts of French...I think it's the new universal language, was talking to Chilean circus man who now lives in Paris, and when arrived back at the hotel at 2am after quite a lot of drinks shall we say, ended up being questioned on my views of the Royal family by a Swiss man who was most surprised by my language capabilities. I don't have views on the Royal family. It makes me feel less dumb that I have minimal Spanish, as I can always try the "parle francais" approach, and am amazed how many people recently have French as a second language. Have spent today in a swimming pool with macaws and a tucan sitting in the palm trees around. Luckily cooling down a bit now.....back to La Paz tomorrow in IOM sized plane.....possibly smaller to buy some new clothes, can't wait, practically all my clothes need binning and I look like a right scruff. I didn't mind till I met people who have been travelling the same amount of time, who still look clean and well dressed. So new clothes it is!
Bus hell
I think I may well have been to hell and back since the last post!!!!Used up my nine lives for sure. But I'll start from the beginning rather than launching into tales of near death experiences!!!!!!In La Paz we had a quick word with tourist info, who said the bus was OK and a cheaper option as we had a bit of a lack of money for a flight. So we wander on up and book a bus ticket....all good so far. Get on bus the next morning, leaves only half an hour late......settle in for a 17 hour bus journey....which I don't mind as theres exciting stuff to do at the end of it. After three hours sat in the yard of the mecanica......only 30 mins out of La Paz I did start to wonder if we are cursed....every bus we get on breaks!!!! Amused self feeding stray dogs biscuits. After 2 hours and fifty minutes of staring at the bus, the mechanic finally does something, and the bus was miraculously fixed in about 10 minutes, and we went straight back down the road we went up originally!!!! All going quite nicely after that, until we headed down a curiously thin and steep and windy road. Sheer drop on one side, and we were the ones pulling over to let huge lorries and things go past, except I'm not sure there was quite enough room, and we were probably dangling half the bus off the edge every time....luckily (not when you read what happens at 2am)I was sat on the right hand side , so had good view of the waterfalls we drove under, and the landslides. Boulders. I think C has a photo of the crew removing the rockfall and nearly getting a splatted by a great big slab of falling rock. Still kind of OK with the bus at this point. Then I wondered why so many jeeps were coming up with bicycles on top. And then twigged....this must be the famous 'Death Road'...aka the most dangerous road in the world. Were you wondering where it was? Yep, here.....and I have been down it in a big old bus. With too many people on it and maybe a broken engine. Or brakes. Was hopeful that at the end of this road things would get better....was pretty amazing to see the scenery change...from normal trees and pretty chilly high up La Paz, the plants got bigger and weirder and this tropical feeling kind of crept up on me, like, yeha we are in the Amazon Basin, which was pretty cool. Dinner stop was also good, chicken again...kind of a staple of my diet! Bus also pretty easy to fall asleep on, until they stopped and let another 12 people on....very very hot. 2am....jolted awake by lurching of bus. Thinking, it's OK, buses did this in Madagascar, but when it hit the 45 degree angle and people started to scream it got a bit more real and there was definite potential for tipping right over! So staring at the ground from slightly nearer than I am comfortable with....made the decision to get off the bus...and had to break into the stampede to get off through the drivers window which had turned into a skylight we were that tipped over. And stood around in the mud waiting to get pulled out by the bus that had wanted to get past....no chance. Arrived in Rurre after 24 hours on the bus and found gorgeous hotel.
plus....
I meant to add to that last post that it is Carnival...this seems to be the reason for pouring stuff on the ground, and blessing stuff by pouring alcohol on it. As an offering to pachamama (mother earth). This is also the reaon that small boys everywhere think it's acceptable to throw water balloons at unsuspecting travellers. As revenge, we have today bought a grand supply of water bombs.- I plan to spend tomorrow morning hurling them from my window and then hiding.
This room stinks of Piss
No word of a lie...this is the actual graffitti on my current bedroom wall.....got to La Paz at 2pm & have been giggling about this ever since. It's true. That and the pornographic "etchings" next to my bed. Pretty good for 17 Bolivianos per night and we leave tomorrow for Rurrenabaque. My lunch cost more than my bedroom!!!! But we did go to Burger King.....couldn't resist and it was beautiful. Quite sad to leave Copacobana, as it's pretty, warm and unpolluted.....La Paz is smoggy and full of stray dogs. I did wonder why so many dogs, everywhere not just here, and have figuered it's because none of them ever get the snip! Noticed when one waved its balls in my face when I was sat down the other day. Nice. Anyway, back to Copacobana, we went for a scary little pedaloe ride, it kind of creaked but was nice to be on the Lake. Have clocked up a lot of hours on water. Then I made the very insane decision to walk up the hill. Yay, another big clump of rock I thought, I'll walk up that. On my own. Half way up was accosted by a group of Argentinians who wanted to take photos of me. Hello I thought, this is the photo they'll send my parents for the ransom money. However given the misunderstanding of the value of money they'd probably only have asked for a tenner. Then small Bolivian man offered me beer and I thought a wild pig was going to charge at me (turned out to be tied up so it was OK). Then the Argentinians took photos of me with Senor Boliviano. Then we all had to pour beer on the ground. VERY confus-ed at this point. And decided to carry on up to the top of the hill....lungs bursting and everything. Here I met some Norwegians who had actually heard of the Isle of Man, and I learnt to say goodbye in Norwegian. When I got approached by three guys who had a box, some "alcohol potable" and some beer and orange juice...I thought hmm my day is getting weirder..obviously by this point I had twigged that it was a special day, or a special mountain or something. So they wanted me to take a photo of them pouring alcohol into the box, which turned out to be full of money. Which I did and then escaped back down the hill away from aforementioned dog. Got bus this morning to La Paz for about 1.5 gbp which included unexpected crossing of lake. The bus crossed separately on a barge at a very unusual angle (that'll be my bag in the boot weighing it down!). Meals in Bolivia have improved since the first one. Forgot to tell people to boycott that restaurant! Anyway, probably out of email / net access for the next few days....going to jungle and Pampas. Hoping to dump my bag somewhere first...Hammock doesn't fit in bag!!!!
Copacobana
Had possibly the worst meal of my life last night, unless we count those last few days at uni, when there are a few baked beans, a tin of tuna and some rice noodles left in the cupboard! Hotmail's doing a sterling job of not letting me in to look at my messages.....so back to blogging. So, meal last night.....vegetable soup, aubergine with sauce and some little grain thing that looks a bit like barley. Except I think it was dishwater with carrots and beans. None of the 4 of us managed to get a decent meal and we all ordered different things.....even the beer was bad and how can you get that wrong?? So we tried to make up for it by giving Copacobana the benefit of the doubt and went to find somewhere nice for dessert...got flambeed bananas, tea and hot chocolate between us.......no success as bananas were not flambeed, we did it ourselves over a candle and added sugar to make it edible....and hope we did not offend the owner too much with the giggling....cause tea bad, hot choc bad.....described as the worst tea ever tasted, and Lindsay liked it....but then added that normally she hates tea so this not really a compliment!!! Bolivian food been redeemed by the amazing nachos and pico de gallo I just had....bought a hammock as well. Bring that extra suiitcase to NZ dad!!!
OK,
It's slightly more interesting than that, but I think the Internet is more expensive here than in Peru...so either I have to learn to type faster, or I have to condense my thoughts.
Copacobana
Got up early. Got on bus. Crossed border. Am in Bolivia.
Burnt to a very pink crisp
Yes....forgot my hat didn't I, on a very long boat trip on Lake Titicaca. Went yesterday morning at 8am, after being kept awake for a long long time by all the wandering festival bands. Spent a little time on the floating islands, which are built on reed roots, with great piles of reeds on top, about 2 metres thick. It's disconcerting to sink into the ground on an island where there is no real solid ground. They eat the reeds too, and build boats out of them and there are surely some other multiple uses for them! Nice with a bit of sugar probably. Arrived at our little island for lunch, walked up another steep hill! Yes another one. Our house and the family we stayed with were very cool. Theodocio and Epifania, and their children Bryan Elvis and Jhony Richard. Bryan Elvis! Yehar. Tourism only started on the island about 3 years ago, and looks so far to have been a positive thing. My more multilingual compatriots who could communicate with their family said that generally it is viewed as positive, the islanders appreciate the money and enjoy the extra influx of people...who generally bring fruit as presents as no fruit and few vegetables are grown there....not too often in the low season....and the fiestas are for them as much as the touristsGathered tour group together again at 4pm for football against the locals...looked violent cos it was all boys on concrete pitch so obviously didn't join in. That and being at an altitude of 4000 metres is my excuse. Was very cute that youngest child Bryan seemed very keen on holding my hand all the way up the hill. Then more hill to the top of Pachamama to watch the sun set....but got cloudy and stormy so what we got was a stunning display of lightning...absolutely huge bolts of lightning reaching out from under the clouds. The storm didn't hit our island till 2am when hail on the corrugated iron roof made me think we were under attack. Had lovely dinner all crammed into tiny little warm kitchen, and some great tea that is just a herb of some kind and hot water. And another treat...the amount of stars you can see when you're away from cities! And being trussed up into traditional dress of three layers of skirts and a white embroidered top, a cummerbund tied so tight I thought I might die and a long heavy headscarf (discovered this morning that these were very bright colours, but with no electricity it seemed like just black) and went dancing. Felt very wide and "encased", and we could at last tell why women here look like they have no shape. Apparently on very special occasions they wear 9 or 10 skirts. Was in bed by 10 and aside from storm had very good sleep. Discovered that a French girl from our group went to the IEP in Lyon and did her ERASMUS year at the uni of B'ham. Nice surprise and I even attempted to speak some French. Got back to Puno at 4, having spent a couple of hours on Taquile island, having lunch, walking up more hills and down lots of steps! 540. Steps. My boots are earning their keep I can tell you.
Dunno...thinker or something...
My
Bloginality is
INTP!!!
It´s right that I like correcting people though!
Last few days in Peru....
Assure you I am far from being sad geek sitting blogging instead of going out and doing the stuff known as fun! Am in Puno, seem to have hit the middle of the ¨Festival de la Virgen de la Candelabra¨ and so far Puno is not as bad as everyone we´ve met has made out! I think it´s alright....but that could be something to do with the constant parades and mad costumes and music. Put my washing in today....will be bliss when it comes back all clean and smelling nice! All my clothes are trashed and I look like a hobo. Got bus yesterday...was supposed to be at 11.30 but at 12.30 we were still in the bus station, with a nice number of people on the bus, not full you know. But when we got out of the bus station, the driver let lots of people on, (prob for cheaper and bypassing the ticket office and pocketing the profits, cynical, moi?) and it was packed! And, there were definitely a high percentage of soap dodgers on that bus! Then it broke down in the arse end of nowhere! And a small boy changed the tyre, with the engine still going...big big tyre, while all the normal sized blokes stood around and watched! This bus had like 8 wheels, you´d think they could carry on if one fell off! Anyway, whilst dying from the heat and the smell, I discovered the downstairs part of the bus, with only 2 very clean looking people sat there...hee hee. So I sneakily moved, bringing C & 2 other English girls with me where we sat in luxury for the next 7 hours. My favourite bit of bus journeys is when people get on and sell you hot corn on the cob for about 20p. Mm. They can keep their dodgy looking ice lollies though! Got to Puno a couple of hours later than expected...and followed English girls off the bus to their hotel...thus no thinking for ourselves which made a nice change. Very nice hotel for about $3...but have to wait till 7pm for the hot water to make an appearance. Am lucky in that I´ve had to have very few freezing showers.....just can´t live without hot water! Bed is lopsided and all my covers fall off overnight & they´re so heavy cos it´s freezing here, that it´s really hard work to pull them back on. I´m sure there´s some other stuff been going on....days melting together and I kind of forget things, which is where my little blog comes in handy ...old lady nearly got ran over the other day just as we got off our bus from Machu Picchu, I think she wanted money from us...but the sheer volume of people that ask and beg just makes you hard and I´m quite choosy with my causes....tough but true. Once one person sees you give something or buy something...they are all on you and you just have to walk away. Going on Lake trip tomorrow to floating islands, it´s overnight so back to blog on Monday.
P.S I don´t believe that Friday 13th has any special significance (smell was the only unlucky bit of my day) I don´t read my horoscope and I walk under ladders. Ha.
Still annoyed...
Apologies if anyone got weird emails from the &&$#@ who broke into my hotmail!!!
Machu Picchu
Got bus on Tuesday morning to Urabamba..everything worked out despite distinct lack or organisation...think our bus driver got stopped for speeding or dangerous driving or something, as he seemed to be playing chicken with the car that was trying to overtake. Cars here beep for a couple of reasons.....1. To let people know they´re there. 2. To let car in front know they´re there and are trying to overtake. 3. To let car in front know they are pissed off that said car won´t let them overtake. Hence lots of beeping during this episode. Got straight on collectivo minibus in Urabamba with about 13 seats and 20 people (which would have been fine had one of them not smelt of wee) to Ollantaytambo and went to see some Inca ruins and had pizza. Train at 7.45pm to Machu Picchu Pueblo...plus one hour queueing to buy a ticket. Now here´s the fun bit...C & I, having been walking around ruins and stuff at Machu Picchu, spied the great vertical clump of rock that is Huayna Picchu, and thought, "yehay, let´s go up there". And the going up was alright, truly. It was when I dropped my jumper at the top that it got funny, cos you know how much I hate losing things. Anyway, it had gone down this great crack in the rock, and fell into a Katie height hole. And I had to get it back! After trying a few methods, including tying a stick to a cardigan, dangling myself into the hole head first, and trying to hook it up with my keyring, C finally came up with the ingenious method of getting a thorny stick off a tree, tying that to a cardigan, and after about an hour....the jumper was finally rescued. And I was muddy. Then we decided to walk the back way down, hmm, mistake. Templo de la Luna was not worth the up, down, up, down, jungle of strangulating plants and the v rotten looking ladder with a sheer drop to either side!! Took 3 times as long as going up did!! At 4pm, we finally got back to actual Machu Picchu, by which point couldn´t be bothered looking at any more ol bits of buildings and struggled off back to the bus! Got befriended by cat at hostel....it came to sit with me last night and I fed it some Cheetos.
Burglars
Somewhere between Sunday night and Monday morning, someone broke into my hotmail, deleted all my messages, changed my msn messenger name and deleted all my contacts except my sister. It´s actually a bit like being burgled, like someone´s gone through all your stuff, and actually I feel quite upset! Am just hoping no-one received any dodgy messages purportedly from me. Thankfully they left me with my address book. Am very annoyed.
Still in Cusco.....
Slept yesterday instead of sorting life to go to Machu Picchu. Have found bed for tomorrow night so getting cheap train tomorrow morning. Hotmail inbox deleted itself for no apparent reason, even the ones I hadn't read! And I've got the posh version! Which means all those emails people haven't sent me are still not there. Sort yourselves out and email me (Liz, Josie and Dave you're off the hook). x
Sundays are the same everywhere in the world!
And the award for nicest bar in Cusco goes to Mandelas Bar, has very cool roof terrace with amazing views and a nice line in flambeed fruit pancakes. Last night only kicked off about half twelve...Went to Mama Africas which C immediately compared to Paramount (!) possibly getting withdrawal symptoms....and by 4.30am I was eating some dodgy takeaway and trying to get rid of a klingon that we picked up somewhere along the way. Spoke no English, my Spanish is limited shall we say, and the international language of ignoring him didn´t work. We gave him sols that he wanted in the hope that he´d go away, but he came back with a carton of vino tinto. Classy man. No one wants to drink AFTER their dodgy takeaway! I´m really not looking that attractive (would you believe?? ;)) but C & I are getting our fair share plus of the sleazy man attention. Went shopping yesterday...mainly for an extra jumper as its freezing, but everyone is trying to sell something! You think they´re a normal person on the street, then they suddenly offer to sell you an engraved fruit or a knitted finger puppet. Postcard boys are the worst.....three foot nothing con artists with a cute face! Salesmen or what! Addresses by email please...I have a lot of postcards to dispose of. Then did what most people here seem to do in the day, (as have no desire to see any more dead bodies, no matter how ancient) went to watch film. Mona Lisa´s smile, which was blatantly a girlie film, and the 3 accidental blokes left halfway through, while the ones who´d ben dragged by girlfriends had to stick it out! Me & C thought it was good, but then we both like girlie films anyway even the universally panned ones. Planning on going to Macchu Picchuu Pueblo tomorrow...but having issues finding a bed for the night, which you wouldn´t think would be a problem as we are in the very middle of the low low season. Low. Low. So I think we´re just going to get on a train in the morning anyway. There will be something....it´s February so surely somewhere will want us!
Normal service resumed.....
Still in Cusco, but moved hostels for fun, well actually it saves us $5 a night and is in the centre so no taxis. Room kind of looks like a cupboard. We have left behind a really nice garden up in Miravalle at Casa de la Gringa...nice place, squeaky stairs. Hell, the blog went all funny yesterday, and things I posted just were not showing up. Probably thought, "Katie this is dull, please don´t inflict this on the web". We´re being really lazy and haven´t sorted anything out to do. We have watched films and gone shopping mainly. The Last Samurai is really long and seems like it should have a complex storyline, but it´s just Tom Cruise learning some Japanese and to fight with a sword. Hmm, think he better try again for his Oscar. My nod towards cultural activity has been the Inca museum of archaeological stuff, saw yet more skulls and mummies. There´s a fair few deformed looking skulls amongst the ones we´ve seen, but apparently when babies were born, their heads were, uh, "shaped" while their heads were still soft, to show status or something equally necessary. Why so gruesome? I know more about skulls & mummies than I should I think.
Planning to head to the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu on Monday. Going a little slower now. Then Puno, (Lake Titicaca) on Wednesday or Thursday, Copacobana, La Paz (by Saturday or Sunday), Uyuni (Salt Plains). Any great news I am missing in the IOM / UK? How´s Jordan getting on in the jungle?
Am in dark internet place, & can see 2 blokes that we have seen before.
In Lima, at the bus station, in Pisco and Paracas. And now here. It´s getting kind of embarassing as they are English too & we have never spoken. Got left holdin a pile of waterproof ponchos earlier, as the girl ran off to get change. I figured at least I could attempt selling them if she legged it without giving me money. x
Another site in case you fancy looking at Peru stuff.
Cusco
So much for feeling healthy.....
Have just recovered from 2 day blip, and am now back to full health, so thought I´d go and drink some vodka and stuff tonight. The main culprit was the bus I think, "Reyna". I was fine when I got on it at 7pm, and when I peeled myself from my seat at 5.30am I no longer felt 100%. There´s this awful thing that happens when (as a foreigner) you get off a bus in a new place. A million (maybe less) people crowd around you....have I said this before? That´s how completely disorientating it is! Then they claim to know where they´re going when you get in their taxi...and guess what, they really don´t. And they overcharge you for the privilege. At 5.30 am I have no patience with this, and it´s a damn good job your average taxi driver does not understand too much English. For pictures of bits of Peru...see http://www.peru.org.pe/. Not got my pictures in a viewable state yet, waiting till I´ve filled a few more cards, then taking them to be put on a disk. Also should wait till I have learned enough Spanish to explain what I want. Otherwise I might end up with a llama, a postcard or a waterproof poncho. It´s absolutely bloody amazing, the minute it starts to rain, someone appears at your side to sell you a waterproof poncho. Very handy and should happen more often in the Isle of Man. Or at all even.
About to run off to get bus to Cusco....Arequipa is bigger than it looks and it a bit smoggy, think we´re on a main road and there is possibly a big sign outside our hostal that says"beep your horn if it´s 6am and you want to wake up some gringas", and a large community of dogs that like to have late night chats. Am very very tired! Hoping bus is comfy so we can have some sleep! Went to ace chicken place last night for chicken and chips for 80p, feel quite healthy today, so we´re going again tonight before the bus. Got stared at lots for being the only white people in the vicinity, small children have no subtlety!
LLamas on the road
OK, despite worrying title of last post, everything seems to be OK, no civil war breaking out, just the one president right now, so all is well (madagascar ref). Yes, so llamas on the road, and cows and sheep and frisky donkeys, stray dogs and stray children...out in the middle of nowhere you just don´t expect to see a 4 year old out on his own! Have been to the Colca Canyon, out tour agency´s advert said "if you travel with us, nice trip, if you don´t good luck". Famous last words. Bus broke down 3 times on the way there and twice today, however the problem seemed easily fixed after about half an hour of pouring water in the engine. Got up at 5am this morning to go and see the condors in the canyon, and thankfully they obliged by turning up and flying round for about an hour. Yehar. 5am, yes I know you´re thinking is this Katie? But I promise you it is and I have not yet had my identity stolen. Or any of my belongings or internal organs. Did talk to a girl today though who´d had her passport stolen by a taxi driver in Lima, who then came to her hotel later on and sold it back to her for 10 soles (about 2 quid!!) which she obviously accepted and promptly moved hotels, as you would. Our move of hotels was a big nightmare...taxi driver didn´t know where our hotel was, so he took us for a detour around the market, and dropped us at any old hostel, where we got stared at. Lots. He was much more intent on correcting my pronunciation than actually finding the place we wanted to go to. If in London there is "the knowledge", here there is "the lack of". Eventually found a bloke who knew what he was talking about....well it was in Spanish which I am not understnding too much of yet, but hey he looked knowledgeable. Have been sitting having a beer with a Dutch bloke in the hostel, and the doorbell went. Even I got this, the question was...."una habitaccione por una hora por favor?" Hee hee. Whatever would two people want with a room for one hour? Could fit in 2 epiosodes of Friends I guess. Gotta go to bed. x
