Week One (and a half)

So, this is my retranscription of events thus far.

I had a highly annoying start as due to massive queues at Sao Paulo airport I missed my connection to Lima. Apparently, because my previous flight wasn't delayed, the airline won't take responsibility and I had to fork over nearly 470 pounds sterling to get an onward flight that afternoon, an onward flight, I might add, that involved connections in Assuncion (Paraguay) and Buenos Aires (Argentina) before finally getting me to Peru. Obiously I'm going to try and claim the money back from someone but for now I'm just trying to put it behind me.

Having spent the previous night not sleeping in an airport I was pretty tired when I reached Lima. I chilled out there for a day or so getting my bearings and trying cigarette brands (turns out I smoke Premiers) before getting a bus to Huancayo, a small city up in the Andes. Unfortunately it was a night busa so I missed what the guidebook assures me is a breathtaking ascent, but whatever. I took a bus tour around the valley for a day, visiting the smaller villages with their special crafts (weaving, silversmithing, trout farming, dairy products) and stopped for lunch at a little restaurant in the trout farming place where I had, naturally, trout and chips. I also bought a hat here. It's really difficult to buy hats in Peru - everywhere just sells tourist hats. I kept wanting to stop old men on the street and ask them where the hell they bought their pimp fedoras, or maybe buy a beggar's hat from him. However, I ended up buying a terrible leather cowboy hat which I wore for one day before all the people laughing at me in the street got too much.

After Huancayo I moved on to Huancavelica - as mentioned in my previous post, don't go there. The trip down from Huancayo allowed me to see some of the scenery I'd missed on the way up. The road winds through a river valley high in the Andes and is genuinely beautiful (if a little scary at times). However, the enjoyable journey did end at the less enjoyable Huancavelica. It's really non-touristy in a really bad way. I spent eight uncomfortable hours there being stared at in the street, having young men mutter "gringo" as they pass me in the street and nearly twisted my ankle stepping off the pavement thanks to their ridiculous drains. I left my hat here - a fitting home for a shit hat. Got the first bus out of there to Pisco, which was a much more pleasant place.

Despite a certain warzone aesthetic due to the earthquake that hit the south coast a couple of years ago, it was a much nicer place to spend time than Huancavelica, with friendly locals and plenty of guys on the street selling delicious deep fried treats. Pisco has a coupe of nearby sites of wildlife interest - I took a boat tour of the Balletas Islands in the morning, which are described as the (very) poor man's Galapagos, and then headed out to the much more impressive Paracas National Reserve in the afternoon. This is basically miles upon miles of stunning desert scenery and coastline (pictures when I get back). We stopped at a little trio of restaurants overlooking a bay where I payed a ridiculous amount for cerviche, but I guess that's the price you can charge when you have fantastic views and incredibly fresh fish. Cerviche, by the way, is a Peruvian dish of raw fish or seafood with a lime dressing. It is very tasty. Bought a slightly better hat here.

After Pisco I carried on south down the coast to Ica, a somewhat larger town that either didn't get hit as hard by the earthquake or was rebuilt faster. Spent my first day wandering around and being incredibly hot, and on the second day headed out to the Huacachina lagoon in the desert, which is basically a kind of mini-resort. A small lagoon surrounded by a horseshoe concrete walkway and numerous hotels and restaurants. Despite this it was quite pleasant, although I in fact chickened out of taking advantage of the duneboards for hire.

After Ica I hit Nazca - of the Nazca Lines, although I didn't see them because I am cheap. The main thing I took away from Nazca was that people selling cake in the street is the best thing ever. Booked a ticket on an overnight bus to Arequipa for 11:30pm, but the bus was then four hours late, time I spent sitting in the bus terminal, for the first time cracking open the copy of The Brothers Karamazov that I'd brought along for reading material. Turns out it's pretty compelling.

I'm currently sitting in an internet cafe in Arequipa, from where I shall try and get a bus to Puno this afternoon. I wouldn't have minded staying longer but this place is packed with tourists and so everything is really expensive - I just can't afford to. Anyway, that's me up to date. Hope the rest of you fags are doing well.

keke

Lost in Translation

I did type up a massive post about my first week in Peru, but unfortunately it got lost in submission and I didn't ctrl+c it before attempting to post it. I may type it up again if I can be bothered at some stage, but here is the short version:

Not yet raped.

Protip: Don't go to Huancavelica.

Bye Bye Baby

see you all in two months

cantlin america blog

meant to post this when i started the stupid thing and um i guess its kind of redundant at this point but hell why not