Cuzco City
If I didnt know any better, I would think “Madre de Dios” means “muddy river” in English (it really means “mother of the gods”). Really, I made it to the rainforest yesterday and it was beautiful.
But it rained – alot. In the rainforrest. In the rainy season. Imagine that :).
Travelling alone always has its benefits. Because I was by myself and only had one night at Reserva Amazonica, I ended up with my own private guide – Carlos. We went to Roland Island (monkey island), then to a native farm. We all know I forget things, and I forgot about the fact that I may get sick with local water or fresh food. I ate avacados and peppers right off the vine. Im fine. I guess I have a high tolerance for bacteria because Im from the dirty south. I met several ladies at my lodge who have been recently working on a volunteer project in Ecuador. They seemed like pretty nice people.
Do you think you could come up with a “You might be a redneck if…” joke that ends with “youve ever been on a long boat on the Madre de Dios river spotlighting Peruvian alligators in the dark?” Thats what we did. Then I went to sleep in the comfort of my own mosquito netted bed. It was really cool, but I wouldnt have wanted to stay any longer.
Today has been a day for firsts. It has been the first day I ate a fried egg sandwich (for lunch at 4:00 because my flight was super late due to rain), first time I saw someone wearing leather pants and tennis shoes in the airport in the rainforrest, the first time Ive eaten Thai food in South America and the first time Ive seen someone get the cops called on them for skipping out on a telephone charge (which was about $0.60). Got to mind your Ps and Qs here I guess. By the way, the food at the jungle lodge was amazing :). In addition to all of those amazing things (and Beth may be the only person to understand this one) I have fallen in love with the Pisco Sour. Its a drink kind of like a margarita.
Tonight I went to a resteraunt on the Plaza, which was probably out of my price range. Im trying to take it easy because of the risk of altitude sickness (so far, all its meant for me was that I got a buzz from 2 drinks) :).
HOTEL STUFF: Im staying at the Hostel el Trifuno in Cusco. The first, and probably lasting, impression I had of this hotel was that the employee who was supposed to meet me at the airport waited 2 and a half hours for me to get there because of the delays. That was incredible to me. The people arent as outgoing as those in Lima, but the employee flattered me when he said my spanish is as good as his english. Weve been communicating in spanglish. The hotel is small and clean and a half a block from the main plaza. You can book tours and have laundry done there (which is ALREADY an issue for me).
Tomorrow I have to get up at 4:30am (on purpose for once) to go to Machu Pichu. So Ill write more maybe tomorrow. Hope all is well on the home front!
P.S. Dont guess theres a spell check for the blog site – forgive my numerous errors 🙂
Tags: Travel
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My vote for the reason you will not come back from South America is:
While sand surfing, you will discover the lost gold of the Aztecs, whereupon the curse of Montezuma will be lifted. The native people will be so happy they can actually drink their water without destroying their bowels that they will make you their new Sun Goddess. I guess constant worship would definitely be a plus to living….waaaaaaaay down South. 🙂
The travelling sounds great. Keep up the vivid descriptions. That way those of us who would rather be anywhere than where we are now can at least live vicariously through your adventures.
MOM says the reason you will not come back to the states is because you don’t have a GPS, lets face it you can’t leave Sherwood and find your way home without the system. You can’t call out of the country so Holly or I can’t look up Maps and tell you where to go. LOVE YOU BE SAFE!!!!!