The Lima Predicament

Hey All,



You know how, when something happens that you´re not too happy about, the events that follow just seem to snowball on top of eachother? Yeah you do. And now, so do Stacey and I. Yesterday, Stacey and I woke up at 5:30 (after going to bed at 3:30 after one last night out on the town), and had our last breakfast from Manchi, the wonderful grandmother of Fair Play. We were joined by Ernest and Patty, our homestay roommates, for breakfast. They were such a kind and fun couple, and were so eager to have fun and share experiences with us. One of those experiences was the Chicha incident, so we are pretty much bonded for life because of that! After saying our goodbyes (I will never get used to goodbyes), we crammed all of our stuff into a taxi and headed to the airport. Upon arriving, we found out that our plane was delayed for 4 hours (the snowball effect begins..). Fortunately, our practice teachers, Nayut and Lourdes, came to the airport for one last goodbye, which was amazing of them. I even got to meet Nayut´s son, who had so much energy that if he stood in one spot it seemed as if he was vibrating. They gave both me and Stacey each a present, which I couldn´t believe, because these women do not have alot of money. I was so sad to leave them, and perhaps when I am more fluent in Spanish I can go back to Cusco and visit them!

Alright so, we finally get on our plane, and arrive in Lima. First impressions...not so good. Out of all the taxi drivers in Lima (thousands) we had the most obnoxiously terrible driver. He honked far more than was necessary, even here in Peru, and almost got us killed when he kept trying to pass a small combi bus. As we sat in this little deathtrap, streets upon streets of desolate houses, garbage and throngs of people stared at us through the windows. It was far worse than despressing, with the grey, soggy weather completing the picture.

Our first hotel that we tried to get to, it turned out, was not in existence. Gotta tell Lonely Planet about that one. We finally found a decent hotel run by a Peruvian family, paid for one night, then set out to find the bus station to book a ticket for Huaraz, our next destination. Finding the station was an adventure in itself, and eventually, with the help of a friendly police officer, found it and bought our tickets for a 9:30 departure the next morning. The rest of the day was filled up with sleeping, sleeping, eating some pizza, then sleeping until morning.
Now comes the real kicker. We arrived to the bus station at 8:30, plenty of time to ensure we didn´t miss our bus. When 9:30 came around, our bus had not yet arrived, so I went to question the ticket counter if our bus was delayed. The lady at the counter looked at me in suprise and told me (in Spanish) that we were at the wrong station. After a phone call, she then informed me that we had missed the bus, and we had to purchase a ticket for 10pm tonight. This meant that we had to shell out more money for another ticket, and that we would have to spend another day here.
So now here I am, in a dreary little internet cafe, waiting for 10pm to come around!!
Oh the joys of travelling!


Vikki