Wherever you go, there you are…

So, they have tuk tuks here, only they aren’t called tuk tuks.  They’re called MOTOTAXIS.  For those of you who aren’t tuk tuk savvy,”The tuk-tuk (ตุ๊กตุ๊ก or ตุ๊กๆ in Thai) is the Thai version of a vehicle known elsewhere as an auto rickshaw or cabin cycle, (or, in Peru, a mototaxi) and is a widely used form of urban transport in Bangkok and other Thai cities, where traffic congestion is a major problem. The tuk-tuk has a tin or iron body resting on three small wheels (one in front, two on the rear), a small cabin for the driver in the front and seating for three in the rear.

Tuk-tuks are generally fitted with a motorcycle version of a two-stroke engine with a handlebar for control instead of a steering wheel, effectively making them a three-wheeler motorcycle carrying passengers on the rear seat. The tuk-tuk is named after the sound its two-stroke engine makes. It may have been derived from a similar Japanese non-motorised automobile in the 1950s. Tuk-tuks are quite powerful, and can go faster than taxis, particularly in heavy traffic.”

Anyhow, I think I should definitely make a Today’s Lunch Tuk Tuk out of my scooter.  It’s no 2 stroke engine but it would do the job!!

Hey everybody!!

I finally left Lima with my newly purchased classical guitar.  Headed north on a 16.5 hour bus journey to the surfer town of Mancora.  I spent 2 days with these 2 locals from Lima.  A lady named Amparo, who is a travel agent and wanted to come check the place out so she would have some information for people who were going there, and her friend Henri.  It was pretty cool, I got to speak all sorts of spanish and the guy wouldn’t let me pay for anything although I sure tried.  He’s says I’m not in Canada anymore and here, the man pays.  Whatever you say!!  After they left, I got to make some english speaking friends and I never thought it would be so relieving.  It gets exhausting trying to always remember words for things but my spanish is getting pretty darn good. 

Mancora, in a nutshell, is a cross between Tofino Canada, Byron Bay Australia, and Jaco Beach Costa Rica.  Bunch o’ hippies and surfers and artisan markets with hostel after hostel after hostel.  Nice place but a bit of a fashion show of an interesting type.  Everyone surfs!!  I almost felt “uncool” because I hadn’t shredded any ‘mar’ lately.  Haha, nahh, I never feel uncool.

So… my plan, which changes every 12 hours or so, was to go up to Ecuador and take spanish school.  Well, I met a couple girls who took spanish school in Peru and it was even cheaper.  And the place they took it was in the town of Cuzco, which is where the journey to Machu Pichu begins.  Which is also in the exact opposite direction to where I was heading.  So I kept that in mind as I waited patiently in a hammock for something to tell me where to go. 

That something came in the form of 3 dudes who had driven a Ford Explorer all the way from Pennsylvania and are on their way to Buenos Aires in Argentina.  Not even joking!  It was late Sunday night that I met them, and by Monday morning I was the fourth passenger and we were heading south.  So apparently I have a new plan now.  And travelling in a vehicle is SO unbelievably WAY easier and more exciting than any bus where the seat fully reclines.  We drove right up to the hostel once we got where we were going and had to carry our bags for about 30 seconds until we got to put them down.  A whole new aspect to backpacking I tell ya.  So we made a 9 or so hour journey down the coast, through the desert, listening to Journey and White Snake and Boston (power ballads), got pulled over once for going the wrong way around a meridian and paid the cop off once again.  It’s the “no system system.”  Yes they have it here too.

Now we’re in a new beach town called Huanchaco, still north of Lima and plan on staying here for a few days.  Haven’t done much yet other than walking to this internet place but so far so good, and the sun is shining.

Miss you and Love you all!!

Sue

 

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