presea vale presea

WARNING: some of the following events are not true… no questions please

I’m not much for all out partying anymore, but last Friday I felt it was time to let loose. After traveling for a few months and not “knowing” anyone- Piero’s birthday was the perfect chance to take advantage of all you can drink drinks until 2am and celebrate good times. I met with Cameron, a much too much chemically charged gringo, and shortly after 2am found myself in a cop car on the way to the police station. Seems like a well lit park outside the club wasn’t the best place for us to open secret pockets and unroll magazine articles- for the police immediately grabbed and threw us into the car, cruising off to the police station before we could bribe them. Along with the cocaine, crack, marijuana, speed, and heroine they pulled from my purse, they managed to take most of my money and my camera while I was in the bathroom getting rid of the worms from the ice I had collected at the bar. Cameron, however, made away with his hidden stash of over the counter pharmacy pills. I successfully brought down Piero’s party at the bar with a call from the police to his cell phone. He of course was clueless as to what had happened and rushed over thinking that I had been kidnapped and raped. After paying my bail to get me out from behind bars he and his girlfriend kindly took me back to his parents home with 3 obnoxious barking dogs that alerted the entire family that we had arrived at 6am. Later that morning I made a great 2nd impression with his parents running down the stairs, through the living room, bedrooms, and kitchen time and time again with a full mouth and hands of whatever decided to ruin my stomach the night before. Shamefully, I got my things together and moved into a hostal as soon as I could stomach moving that far. Cameron and I met on Sunday to roam the city for his car. Positive he had parked it only blocks away from the bar, now all he had were his keys- the car had mysteriously disappeared. I took my stolen camera opportunity to upgrade at a nearby market, while Cameron… -well its not nearly as easy to upgrade that sort of car.
So, after dropping far too much money in Lima and being incredibly sick 94% of the time I was there decorating monuments, sidewalks, and taxis, I can honestly say that I liked it. It is a great city, with far too many women (7-1 ratio) and much too cold during this part of the year, but it had good flavor, spirit and well, I can’t explain it, but Lima was good. J
Monday I headed to Ica, where I just so happened to stumble upon a festival held the 3rd Monday of October each year- Senor de Luren. I, with a couple of Israelis, a Swede, an Aussie and a whole lot of Peruanos, was able to enjoy a lengthy procession of thousands of people stampeding through the streets of Ica, starting at 7pm and ending at noon the following day. I stayed in nearby Huacachina where the claim to fame is sandboarding. Huacachina, a town of 27 people, attracts many tourists year round for its fabulous bright, sunny skies and surrounding mountainous sand dunes. Although I’ve never snowboarded before I found sandboarding quite fun and I’m proud to say that I got the hang of it rather quickly. I’m happy to report that my color returned with a couple sun-filled days at the pool and I even landed myself a massage by one of the workers. It was only relaxing for about the first 2 minutes though, he said it was a special Peruvian massage but I abruptly ended his “specialty” when the masseuse unzipped and pulled down his pants.
I felt much better after meeting another traveler…just 3 weeks ago she had all of her things stolen from a hostal in Africa, and after replacing her passport, camera, clothes, bank card… everything- last week, on a tour boat in the Galapagos Islands, her boat sank. She only has the clothes which she jumped off the boat and swam to safety in. Now this girl’s back at square 1. That story sure beats sickness, crappy bus rides and a stolen camera. Glad to be wearing my shoes at the moment.
Now, I’m in Cusco after a 15 hour ride on an “Imperial Service” bus- which did nothing for comfort because the roads are so incredibly steep and windy that the whole time my body was shifting between me and the guy next to me. I did get to travel with a couple Israelis though and the entire bus even played speed bingo, which will do wonders for learning Spanish numbers. I cooked for myself for the first time in months here in Cusco- that made me super happy, walked the city just a bit, for my head is starting to fill up with congestion. I was told that Cusco is brilliant for nightlife, but it rained last night and was terribly cold. I am saving myself for my journey to Machu Picchu tomorrow. I leave in a couple hours to head in that direction.
If I make it out of Peru without getting all my things stolen I shall move on to Bolivia. Not exactly part of my master plan, but with all the fantastic things I’ve heard about that country since I’ve been in South America, I don’t want to regret not going- and I think I would if I didn’t. I still plan to be in Argentina the first week in November..haha… wish me luck!