ahhhh man, Im so glad I brought along my old ipod. Ancient and chunky as fuck even back in the day haha. I think I got it when I was in year 8 and it's been my sturdy baby ever since. It's got so much music on there that I've lost from computers over the years xD I brought it with me on the tours I did alone in the desert and ahhhh <3 music. It's beautiful. Rocking out in my own little bubble to SOAD watching the sand dunes go past. Lol but I haven't been holding back here, just dancing in my seat and mouthing all the lyrics XD lol what mikel said to me before leaving has really stuck with me and I'm clinging onto that to dear life. Who gives a fuck, you're in another country and you're never going to see them again.
Anyway, I'm on the 2nd flight of the day, 10th in the last 3 weeks I think. I'm really getting over this shit, lol the god damn snack boxes are always the same and because it's still the same month all the mags are the same too =.= I'm flying back with mumsy to Santiago at the moment, we spent the week in Peru. This flight back has been the longest so far though, but only because there's heaps of waiting time inbetween flights. We flew from Cuzco to Lima and then had to wait 8 hours in the airport for the flight from Lima to Santiago. We considered going out and exploring a tiny bit in Lima because we didn't see it at all this week but I wasn't game. With our luck I'm sure we would have gotten rolled or missed our flight somehow. Instead we just killed time, luckily Limas airports been the best one we've been to so far in South America. Main time killer was getting mah nails diddddd, and pedicure and foot massage lol. My nails looked feral, I got them done for one of the first times before leaving and they'd grown out heaps. Oh and finally had maccas lol, tasted exactly the same, even the packaging was the same which was nice ^.^ It's tasted different every time I've gone to other countries.
SO PERU. We landed Sunday night and it was already dark so we just wondered out and found dinner. Cuzco is really high up, lol I'm heaps shit with stats, I NEED KURT. So altitude sickness was a thing =.= I felt like crap as soon as we landed. This heavy feeling and headache. ick. Lol we grabbed the first coca leaves we found in a bowl at a tourist stand haha. You're supposed to suck on them to lower your blood pressure or something, they sell heaps of different lollies and gums, teas and chocolates with coca extract to help but I have a feeling it's mostly a gimmic. Any kind of movement made your heart race, even tossing around in bed while I was half asleep made me feel like I had just finished working out lol. YAY incognito excercise. I acclimatised fairly quickly but breathlessness on exertion and racing heart never changed, but I noticed it was the same for the locals too. Less oxygen up there so I guess your body never really will fully adjust, it needs what it needs. Lol when we were on our domestic flight today there was an add for some fancy hotel in Cuzco that said they had oxygenated rooms LOL. That would have been nice. Or you know, maybe a window in our room *twitch*
Before coming to Peru i started researching a little and looked up our hotel. We had booked everything through Intrepid which is an Aussie tour company and we did it really rushed so we pretty much just let them do everything and didn't double check anthing. So the day before fying I'm reading the hotel reviews and farkkk where they bad lol I was kinda scared to go but i decided not to tell mum coz she had been a whiny bitch this entire trip. (in fairness to her she's been hella sick but man she's a brat). We got there and it really wasn't that bad. Free wifi and I'm happy lol, seriously though, after staying in hotels in europe and a hostel in the cross practically anything is heavenly. Our first night we Ate at some swanky restaurant and the food was hella tasty, lots of blends of ingredients, argh that salad! goats cheese, caramelised pecans, vinagret, nomssss (plus ur usual salad crap). Pretty sure I had alpaca that night too but I had it a few nights I was there, tasted a bit like kangaroo, it's lean and kinda beefy.
The next day we checked out and went on our first tour which was to the Sacred Valley. TBH I don't even know the names of a lot of the places we stopped at, like the small towns along the way and market stalls but it was pretty. The main event was the Pisaq ruins which involved a lot of stairs, maybe like....7 flights of stairs up a mountain. Normal sized steps though and neat so it's not like we were trying to get through rocks and shit. Mum gave up hlalf way lol, Then the tour guide left us at a train station and we got a train to the town of machupicchu which is near the ruins that you always see in pics. t was already dark when we boarded the train so we didnt see anything. It was raining when we got there and we werre meant to get picked up nby our tour guide but no one was there D= We knew that our hotel was on the same road as the train station so we asked a couple shop keepers if we were walking in the right direction and walked on in the rain and in the dark but we found it fairly quickly. Next problem though was that the hotel didn't have our names listed D= He was heaps sweet hough, obviously he realised we werre soaked and it was dark already and we hadn't made the resrvation ourselves so he called the tour company for us and it all got sorted in 30mins and we got our room ^.^ About 15mins later our tour guide rocked up to our hotel room all apologetic and told us that they had told her we were coming tomorrow but everyone was hella nice so no biggie. Mum was really sick at this point, she had a really bad earache and some kind of flu and she wasn't doing well with the alittude in general and blah she smokes way too much. I havent shared a room with her for a few years and she totally wheezes all night long now. Gah she's going to have emphazema hard out soon. So yeah her fitness just wasn't up to this shiz and our tour guide told us that machu picchu would be double what we had done that day in the sacred valley lol. I spent the night telling mum she couldn't miss going to machu Picchu! Not when she was only a 20min bus ride away but overnight I kept waking up from all the noise she was making in her sleep, she just wouldn't be able to hack it so I told her in the morning to just stay which she would have done anyway but I think she needed to hear me acknoweldge it too. We told the tour guide in the morning and she seemed freaked out and went running to get the local doc lol, she was such a sweetheart. Within 10mins we had the doctor in the hotel.
So since mum and me somehow had ended up with a private tour guide for machu picchu and she pulled out, it was just me XD It was awesome, she would explian everything and be really commanding to get photos of me in all the iconic spots ^.^ That place was fucking stunning. I'm so glad I went, but tbh it wasn't double of the sacred valley, it was probably easier because it wasn't one long flight of stairs. There was one bit right at the begining which was maybe 2 flights of stairs that were windy and uneven but after that it was always either flat ground or just a few steps here and there. Luckily the rain had cleared already and it was a beautful day and the tour guide even said it was looking empty and there wasn't that many tourists XD That place in mind blowing, how the fuck did they know so much shit D= Heaps kool. Lol I took sooooo many pics and then when I was back in Cuzco I found the most awesome leathbound photo album so I bought it. I didn't plan on printing pics but the album was so pretty I decided I may as well make one dedicated to Peru ^.^
Machu Picchu only took about 2 hours and the tour guide offered me to just chill up there for awhile but I decided to come back down to have lunch with mum. The tour guide was sooooooo nice though, she full called the doc to ask how mum was going and then called my mum at the hotel later that day and then instead of just leaving me at the bus station she walked me to my hotel and checked up on me. Total sweetheart. She was kool to talk to as well, I guess the kinds of tourists they get generally are a little different lol. There's a lot of dipshit aussies/americans who say the wierdest shit and just seem so clueless all the time. I think it's the culture shock but it ends up seeming like they;'re mocking everything even if they don't intend to. That or hella snobby South americans who are fucking rude and arrogant. Generalisations of course but she was wierded out by me haha but we talked heapssss and she started asking me about Aus and I was showing her pics and she told me about her kids and her life and stuff, she was so lovely <3
That's the day I ate Cuy! aka: Guniue Pig D= Lol it wasn't exactly something I was craving but it's been a Peruvian thing for centuries and I figured I should try it while I was around. They usually spit roast it which is how I had it. I didn't do my research for this one, lol I didn't think it through. I kinda figured it wold be cut up and look meaty...insteadI got a burnt rat on my plate, teeth and all o.o It looked pretty gross and I didn't know how to eat it lol so the dude asked if I wanted it cut up for me so I agreed which really was only a small help. I was kinda freaked to pick it up and really intimidated by it's two front teeth staring me in the face but I got over it and picked it up. I had no clue how to eat it and I couldn't really use utensils because there was hardly any meat, it was all around the edges of the carcas attached to the ribs so I just picked it up with my hands. There was maybe a mouthful of meat o.o It didn't taste very good but that was only because of how it was seasoned, they shoved a fucktonne of pesto on it and it was too overpowering. The meat itself kinda tasted like chicken thigh but a little dryer. Mum conviced me to try the meat from inside the head but that was hard. picking up it's head, with it's little ears and row of teeth in it's mouth o,O But again, I got over it and tried to eat some of it but it stil had it's spine and I couldn't get more than a fingernail sized piece of meat out which tasted like a really mild blood sausage (which I don't mind). I'm glad I tried it though ^.^
Later that day we got the train back to the town whose name I still can't pronouce, I would look it up but I'm on the plane...oytantutambo? It was daytime and it was beautiful but there was something about that train that made it suffocating, maybe because it was going to o slow? The country side we went past and drove past in the mini van that too us from that town back to Cuzco looked a lot like part of Chile that one of my gran-aunties lives in, about an hour away from La Serena where they grow all the pisco grapes. Lot's of hills, but nice and green. That whole area is really fertile and they said they have something like 300 kinds of potatoes o,O and heaps of corn. The corn there is fucking massive though, never tasted that =( Lot's and lots of farms that are still plowed by hand and with those ox with the wooden bar thingoes. Heavy work, long days, the tour guide said they work 6 days a week and on Sunday they go to church in the morning and then go into town and get wasted on pisco XD
That night we arrived back to our original hotel and they had changed our room and this one was even better ^.^ BUT NO WIFI noooooo, lol but most of the restaurants in Cuzco have free wifi XD Cuzco's pretty much just a tourist town so it was really safe and people constatnly asking us if we wanted to buy their beanies or paintings, silver jewlery or scarves. They're really chill though, they don't harass you like in other countries, polite no and they go away after a few more tries of seeling u shit. But u sure can haggle them down by more than 34 of what they originally asked. I don't like buying shit but mums a sucker for that crap, not my style and I don't like buying souvenirs but she got plenty of little knick knacks.
We had Wed/Thur in Cuzco and then had to fly out Friday but I got hellllla sick wed. I was feeling kinda lethargic in the morning and not hungry but mum wanted to go get lunch so she draged me along. I threw up in the restaurant =.= In the toilet of course =P lol but we went back to the hotel after that and I just slept all arvo and night and mum forced me out thursday lol. I ate a slice of toast for breakfast but erghhh, did not feel okay and still felt weak but mum was all excited because there was a protest going on outside. They sure do their protests early in Peru though o,O They started at like 8.30am and we caught up with them again at 11am and they were still going around the city. They were demanding a lower cost of living in Cuzco, it's one of the more expensive cities because of the tourism there and I think a few other people were asking for other things like no airplanes at night. It was interesting though, 99% of the portesters were all old, like grown ups. I don't think I even saw 10 young people. There was also heaps of ladies who came down in traditional dress with alpacas and baby sheep to take pics with toursists so I got a few XD SOOOO CUTEEEEE
Again we spent most the day in the hotel and came out for lunch and dinner but I so wasn't up for it. Lol we didn't go to any museums, didn't go in the massive old churches, or to the markets, but we walked around the main plaza a bunch. Oh wellllll. And now here we are, on the plane. I'm feeling a lot better but I still get the feeling of wanting to upchuck every now and then but I haven't.
Hmm what else. As a generalisation, the people in Cuzco were heaps nice and have like a humble vibe. Chileans generally are fucking arrogant pricks who are always trying to show each other up and don't take kindly to people who don't act that way (which is why they fucking hate Peruvians). It's been kinda ergh for me in Chile, it doesn't really matter coz I don't need to interact with many people other than family really and those who I have talked to are more chill because they've been musoes or buskers, but people don't like that I'm not loud and heaps chatty and pushy. I've had one cousin tell me off for it a few times already, he says I need to come back to Aus more chilean, but I suppose tha't just me, I'm the same in aus haha. More introverted than not but meh. Fuck him. If I spoke my mind all the time I'd be fighting with people all the time.
Hmm anddddd who the fuck knew, there's a whole high fashion Alpaca industry o,O
Blah once we land in Santiago it's going to be about 4am and our next domestic flight isn't until 1030am =(
blah. I should probs try to sleep.
So one day I was hanging out with Kurt and we realised that there are some pretty wacky sayings in the spanish language.
Each Spanish speaking country has their own sayings, metaphors and similies but these are a few that I have collected over the last year or so.
Every time I hear my mum or grandma say a new one I text Kurt XD It has become somewhat of a little tradition for me now =]
Saying: La negrita astuta vende fruta.
Direct Translation: The (Astute, cunning, sly, crafty, fraudulent) cute/little black girl sells fruit.
Meaning: This saying is said as a sort of warning that you are/someone else is a cocktease
Saying: No calientes el agua (si no vas a tomar té)
Direct Translation: Don't heat the water if you're not going to drink tea
Meaning: This is also a sort of warning to someone who is being a cocktease. Kind of like, don't flirt and lead someone on if you have no intention of hooking up with them. It is also a play on words because in Spanish (Chilean at least) the word calentar (to heat) is also used informally as a way to say 'make horny'. So 'estoy caliente' = I'm hot BUT it means I'm horny. If you wanted to say I'm hot (because of the weather) you would say 'tengo calor'
Tongue Twister: Tres tristes tigres trigo trillaron tranquilos tragaron
Translation: Three sad tigers, wheat they threshed (To separate the grain from the straw or husks by mechanical beating), calmly they swallowed.
Tongue Twister:Pedro Pablo Pérez Pereira pobre pintor portugués pinta paisajes por poca plata para pasar por París
Translation: Pedro Pablo Pérez Pereira poor Portugese painter paints landscapes for little money to pass through Paris.
Saying:Buscarle la quinta pata al gato
Direct Translation:To look for the 5th leg of the cat
Meaning: Looking for problems when there clearly aren't any in that situation, so you're over thinking it and overcomplicating yourself.
Saying: Para ser bella hay que ver estrellas
Direct Translation: To be beautiful you have to see stars
Meaning: I'm guessing this is a fairly old saying because my grandad said it to me once, I kind of fell in love with this little rhyme/mantra. It means that no pain is too great to endure in order to look your best, this particularly refers to women having to wear painful shoes (stilettos) because it makes their legs look hot, wearing tight clothing to show off curves, waxing, plucking, dying hair, and I suppose nowadays you could extend that into getting cosmetic surgery. Just to clarify, my grandad wasn't a dick, I remember the saying coming up because we were watching a show with really attractive women and I was in awe of them and he explained that constructed superficial beauty comes at a price =) Oh and if you don't get the imagery, it's based on seeing "stars" when you hit your head/get dizzy, like if you've ever seen the cartoon representation of stars around the head when they get hit.
*To be continued
