Cusco costs...

By the time we arrived at Cusco we were all a bit tired, the journey was with a different bus company and the profits were definitely not re-invested into suspension! That along with a bus full of American highschool students didn´t help. We did however stop at a viewpoint when we were close to Cusco. I say viewpoint what I actually mean was a mugging point. SELL SELL SELL!! Locals in costumes ´selling´the opportunity to take a pic of them, stalls of alpaca fur goods etc etc. We should have seen it as a warning. One lady did something unheard of really, she GAVE Bodhi a hat...gratis? for free? Didn´t even ask for money for it, probably just thought he was cute? I was wrong footed!

We made it into Cusco and I started the perpetual taxi price haggle game. The guy wanted 10 solés but I offered 5. We walked away. Then out of nowhere 2 drivers came at me offering 7 sol´s, 6 solés...haggle war began! lol! I couldn´t realy be too bothered really so just settled with 6 solés guy and off we went for the hostel.

Cusco seemed much more ´traditional´than the rest of the places we´d been to. The other places seemed ´colonially spanish´whereas Cusco had a definite Inkan feel to it, we were positive. The Hostel was in the artisan area of Cusco, San Blas. We headed through the back roads of cusco which were all cobbled stones and tight as hell, strange road rules here. The Hostel was called Hospidaje Familiar Kuntur Wasi and when we arrived we were fairly happy until the woman there stated the huge list of extras! 5 Solés for using the kitchen...1 solés for hot water.....2 solés for internet etc etc etc....

We dropped the bags and headed downhill towards the Plaza del armas to get a bite to eat (habitual?) but instead of the sleepy town we were expected we were hit with it...TOURISTA! "wanna buy a doll?"..."wanna buy a painting?"...wanna buy a....wanna buy a....wanna buy a....
It didn´t abate all night, we dipped into a pizza place to eat thinking we´d escape but no. The litte buggers camne to the table!! We ´hid´at the pizza place for a while and even that cost us. We paid 130 solés for the food and drink! Compare that to the 20 solés we´re used to paying up to now and you can tell that we weren´t happy! Turning to get back to our room we realised that all those steps we came down now needed to be climbed! Sh*t!! Sweaty and tired we got back and figured we could hit the sack and get some well earned rest. Bodhi had other ideas. He was that overtired he just went on one. He cried...cried....cried....and cried! The woman who owned the hostel even came and knocked on the door to ask if we needed any help. I managed to wrap him up well and took him out in the side streets pushing him in the stroller until he fell fast asleep - eventually.

The next day we decided to use the Macpac baby carrier, those stairs were just too much for us last night. We found a good German Café and filled up for the day on bread, avocado, eggs and coffee. Bodhi ate his banana and seemed a happy little bunny - stark contrast from last night! We decided to walk to the square via side streets and slowly began to relax into the place and see past the commercial cancer that was so evident last night. It really is a pretty town. We actually bought the girls some traditional peruvian dolls from one lady and then started quizzing her about the blanket she was carrying her child in. It´s a traditional ´Manta´which is a blanket tied in a special way to carry children so...off we went and duly bought one! 20 solés...bloody life saver! Now Bodhi can sleep while we walk around and we don´t need to take the pushchair everywere. After doing some jobs, buying the ´Boletta touristica´which allows us to visit various Inka sites, getting mney from the ATM, buying flights to Lima (we decided it was just too much for Bo to do a 22 hour trip on a bus!...at least that´s what claire´s telling herself! lol!) we headed back to a little place in the back streets we´d seen for lunch...15 solés - much better. There is an Inka ruin on the edge of Cusco called Saqsayhuaman so we trekked off up there for the afternoon and started to feel a lot less claustaphobic as we walked around...until Bodhi started again. He gets so overtired! Out came the manta, we wrapped him up and walked around before he fell fast asleep all snug in his little blanket haven.

We´d booked a cab for the following day to take us to Ollantaytambo as we just wanted to get there quick and easy and the option of local buses to Pisac then to Ollantaytambo with Bo and all the bags, or even the Collectivos, seemed too much hard work. This option left us with a free morning so off we headed for another start at the German Cafe, a look around the shops and back alleys. I very nearly even bought a Peruvian trilby!! Thought it would be very fetching on the allotment ;o) but as Claire pointed out they´re made of felt and would just die in the rain...but...watch this space...

Pooooono!

Well, we managed to get up and sorted pretty darn quick...and yes I did say darn! We jumpèd in the smallest taxi in the world but managed to fit in then headed off to the bus station were we´d decided not to go VIP as the trip was only 5 or 6 hours and it wasn´t too bad. Managed to finish reading the worst book in the world.... "All quiet on the Orient Express"...don´t even bother!
The scenery en route was great. It seemed that we were getting more ´into´ Peru. Snowcapped mountains, large plains dotted with ancient looking sollitary train tracks disappearing into the distance whilst herds of Alpacas grazed away happily unaware of their date with the dinner plate.

We arrived in Puno to be met with the sea of clay brick made houses, a plethora of mud based development. It wasn´t inspiring. They say don´t judge a town by it´s bus station but it´s hard not to. This place seemed...rough. The taxi ride to the Hostal wasn´t any better. We were dropped off on the train tracks going through the town trying to decide if we were, indeed, on the wrong side of the tracks?

The Hostal itself was OK, it was one of those hostals that grows on you I think. Initially I thought, great another dive. But to be honest everything we needed was there and I soon grew to like the place and it´s eccentric owner Alfredo! Imagine a typically french bloke, minus the onions but with the black berét and the big black handlebar moustache...in Peru! We headed straight out to eat as, again, I´d not eaten on the journey. We decided on a veggie restaurant as we both fancied something good and wholesome and....well...we didn´t get it did we. What we actually got was a plate full of veggies between 2 pieces of bread which tasted like the owner didn´t own a fridge so preserved everything in salt! It was quite frankly disgusting!

On we went and had an amble through the town which was quite nice actually, standard Plaza del Armas with Cathedral, and lots of cafés, restaurant and bars. We stopped at one, Inka Café, and chilled in the plush and colourful settees whilst we had a coffee...amd maybe a beer? We joined a table occupied by and American couple...I know, but they seemed nice enough. It turns out that A) they´d sailed a friends boat down from Ecuador to Peru and were now just chilling and heading back to the U.S. visiting places en route and B) They loved Bodhi and the idea that we were travelling with him and C) The bloke was just recobvering from being violently ill the past few days!! ooh eck! We said our goodbyes and decided an early night was needed so we headed back to the hostal and popped in a DVD and chilled in our ´lounge´area which as it turned out we shared with a couple who were in the next room. I think we´re still trying to work out if the ladies were parters or not...we´re playing the guess the sexuality game...oh dear. They were actually there when we got back but left fairly quickly so we could watch the DVD and chill with some left over beers from the night before in Arequipa.

Puno is much higher than anywhere we´d been before (3,800m) so altitude is an issue as well as the colder nights. So little Bo was at the forfront of our minds during this part of the trip. He seemed fine so far. But...tonight he was going to be a worry! It was colder than anywhere so Bo had been wrapped up much more and had his sleeping bag but throughout the night he was constantly sneezing. We decided to put the little bloke in our bed with us so we could guarantee he´d be warm and then we could judge the temperature of Puno nights and make sure he was sorted tomorrow.

We didn´t sleep.

Have you ever tried to sleep with a little person there? Bloody hell ya spend most of your time making sure you don´t roll over and crush the wee blighter! Well, it was a long night for us both and to make things worse when we got up Bo was still sneezing and he didn´t look 100%. He even sneezed up a bit of blood but I was quick to reassure claire that it was not because of Altitude. It was a strange situation to be in, I KNEW it wasn´t altitude (Pulminary Oedema, fluid on the lung due to altitude, can lead people to cough up pink sputum -´coughing up blood´) I absolutely KNEW it. I mean, both me and claire had both had blocked noses the past few days and this was probably just Bo´s turn but....I felt really uncomfortable so we decided to just knock altitude out of the equation and take him down the next day. So that meant we couldn´t visit the islands and the people out there who were apparently really interesting but hey, we knew that this trip was about constant risk assessments and there would be sacrifices to be made to ensure things went well. This was just one of those times.

So we spent the day chilling, had a good lunch and evening meal...seems like a trend forming...food? Had a look through the town a bit further, checked out Lake Titikaka, changed some money and had an early night. In the mean time little Bodhi had decided he was MUCH better now and was on top of the world, almost literally!

Tomorrow...Cusco!

And onto Arequipa.

We managed to arrange to meet up with Lucy and her boyfriend Joe in Lima which was quite cool. Didn´t know how I´d feel after not seeing Lucy for over 3 years, we only met in China for a couple of days where a crowd of us hung out and generally had a great time, so I thought it may be a bit...strange...

Turns out I was wrong, she´s a cool girl and it looks like she´s picked a good bloke in Joe. They´ve had a great time travelling around the world together. We met up in Barranco and had lunch at a recommended local Cervicha place. It´s Pery´s version of suchi I guess? Raw squid ´cooked´in lemon juice with red onion to start - delicious! Off we went after that for a bit of shopping and a general wander around Lima with them before saying our goodbyes and going to get ready. Our overnight bus left at 8pm do we still had LOTS to do!

As we both knew this trip had to have compromises in order to make the whole thing safe and comfortable for Bodhi. Whereas in the past we would rock up to any city, bags on our back, trawl through a dew hostels until one caught our attention. Nowadays we had to look up on the web, phone, e-mail, ask about facilities check double check and then turn up. The same went for travelling. Sharing local buses with the peruvians and their chickens was out, booking 1st class with complimentory drink was in - viva la tourista!!

Saying that, it was still hard work. Planning the feeds, packing the bags, timing the bus...it´s exhausting! We were OK though, we´d arranged our hostel well in advance asked all the right questions, booked a taxi to pick us up at Arequipa bus station, everything was sorted...or was it?

No.

After the tortuous journey (trying to sleep with a small child in your arms - not actually possibly I´ve found) we arrived in Arequipa and....no taxi! bugger....right, go and sort that one out.
Sorted, now...get to the hostel. Open hostel door. Greeted by friendly woman. Informed no double room as booked, however she had a hovel for us....urgh!
FRANTIC run around Arequipa, in the heat, after that journey, knowing I needed to sort this quick so looking for a new place. Finally found a lovely place called ´La Posada del Virrey´and had a lovely courtyard for us to chill out in...not after throwing bags into a corner and having a hissy fit...emotions....little bastards.

OK, chilled a while then decided it was time to eat. We´d sorted Bo, after finding out there was no microwave in the hostel...milton and boiling water in pans it is then....bugger, nothings easy is it? We heading around the corner to a local place suggested by Maria, the hostel owner. I´m not sure if it was the fact we´d sorted it all out and had relaxed but we just didn´t notice. We ordered the local meñu and sat waiting. And noticing. The flies. The food on the sides. The fridge, turned off. The frst course, sopa, came - dishwater with a bone in it. "No señora, no para mi, soy vegetariano" Phew escaped that, unlucky claire ;0) She fished about with it for a few minutes then the segunda came....it was supposed to be fish and I suppose it was once upon a time but right now...it looked like road kill...now how do you suppose a fish got on the road to become road kill? The Chicha being served in empty jam jars was only a pre-cursor to what came next....sharing the dining table with el cock-o-roacha!! LA QUENTA!! I don´t think we ran...but we may have?

Afetr that we decided to head into the Playa del armas, which seems to be the centre of all Peruvian towns, a town square I guess? This one has a lovely white Cathedral surounded by shops and restaurants all set around a park. It was quite idylic so we found a cafe on one of the balconies, had drinks, Bo puked, we went back the hostel, perfect end to the day! lmao!

The next day was a really good day, chilled and contrasted in everyway to the day before. It started well with a good solid breakfast on another of the balcony cafés overlooking the square. We had a rough plan to the day, change some money, buy a few bits from the supermercado, book our next hostel and the bus and taxi for tomorrow. If time allowed go visit the Monasterio de Santa Catalina, a nunnery set up in the 18th century for rich spaniards to send their second born daughters to, It had remained closed to the outside world up until 1970´s nd now it´s open to tourists...not sure which was better?

We got most of our jobs done, things booked and stuff bought and decided to try another balcony restaurant for lunch. This time however the peace and tranquility was abruptly smashed by the sounds of voices on loudspeakersm horns, drums and shouts from what was a substantial crowd...we were witnessing a people´s protest!! Hundreds, if not thousands, of farmers from all around the Arequipa were narching up and down the streets with their protests at losing their jobs recently (I think down to a government change or policy?) Well, I jumped into Jimmy Olsen mode....snap snap snap!! I felt like I was a bloody corrsespondant for the guardian or something snapping away trying to capture the moment - it was great!

Once the excitement had subsided, we wound our way through the cobbled streets and courtyards of Santa Catalina. Completely chilled out and soaking up the sun and calming atmosphere surrounding us. It was a great day all round. All that remained now was to head back, pack up and have beer in the courtyard until the taxi arrived the following morning. Which we duly did with full gusto - nowt beats a beer in the dusk of an exotic far flung country.

Welcome to Lima

I think most of us slept pretty well last night and we all emerged from our room into the Hostel which didn´t really reveal itself to us last night in the dark, or if it did we were too tired to notice. I carried Bo out into the hallway and past the dining table where a team of Chilean badminton players were sat eating their breakfast, seriously - you couldn´t make it up could ya? A cursory ´hola´, ´Buenos Dias´and I sheepishly walked past, ignoring the óoh, es pequeno bebe blanco´. I wasn´t ready to speak spanish, not yet.

Luckily there is a small courtyard between the kitchen and the dining table so I camped myself there until Claire arrived moment later. We sat there taking it all in I think. Not quite sure where exactly we were, what to do or what came next. By this time I´d manage to work out that the spanish speakers were in fact the Chilean Badminton players and not staff members and I´d managed to work out who worked here so, with a deep breath, I walked over and....spoke to him...in spanish - ooh eck! It was OK actually, didn´t understand every word he said and I don´t supose he understood me totally but I managed to ask him if we could add another night to our booking, to which he told me the woman who deals with that would be in later about 8.30am, and I asked if breakfast was included with our room - it was, Result!

We then managed to eat breakfast (fruit juice, coffee, bread and jam) in between cleaning and sterilising all the bottles and feeding Bo. It was quite impressive. By 8am we´d all eaten. All bottle were sterilised and we were ready to walk. Melissa, the owners daughter who sorted bookings etc, came in shortly after so we managed to sort the room and glean some info from here about the area. We headed off to the supermarket and local plaza in Barranco about 9am, bit of a mistake really as most things were shut! (Looks like they don´t rise until 10am!), We managed to head down to the beach but were MOST unimpressed! Dirty looking sand (could have been shale we didn´t bother to go all the way down as it would have meant crossing the main road which was the size of a motorway! So we headed back, the supermarket was open so we stocked up on toiletries and water and once back at the hostel we boiled the water and made up Bo´s bottles for the day.

Although we´d slept well enough we still had that ´lagged´feeling, if ya know what I mean? By the time we´d pootled around the hostel for a bit it was geting on for lunch time so we decided to head up to Miraflores, the ´uptown´area which catered for tourists. I know its just semantics to some but I never consider myself a ´tourist´, not in the conventional sense of the word at least. I always seek out the hidden places, the local bars, eat at those dirty stall with the locals not with the tipping brigade. Not with folks who pay the equivelant of a months local wages for a nights stay at the Marriot. So I wasn´t looking forward to the walk to be honest - think that makes me some kind of snob!? lmao!!

We headed out and it soon became apparent that the attention on this trip was all gonna be sucked up a certain little fella....little Bo...A.K.A. ´El pequeno bebe blanco!´ (The little white baby!) All along the walk people would be looking, smiling, cooing. Woman would be seen tapping their husbands and making them soak in the site of the funny white baby! It was quite funny to be honest.

The walk itself wasn´t particularly interesting but once we got to Miraflores you could see the difference. Being greeted by ´Pizza Hut´for a start! We walked pastt he park which was immaculate and could be seen being attended to by official ´park attendants´, never saw them in Barranco ;o) But, amongst all the tourist traps we spotted on the opposite side of the road a tiny, easily missed and unassuming place that reminded us of all those little places we´d eaten at in other countries, the greek family run taverna, the chinese stalls in the side streets of Beijing, they all have a certain ´feel´about them and this place obviously had it. We could tell even from the wrong side of the road. We crossed quickly and soon sat down amongst the peruvians.

Just sitting there we could see that this place was were all the local workers came after servicing the needs of the gringos. The place was obviously run by the same family with the grandma, wife in the kitchen while the husband flitted between helping to cook, serving and taking orders. The owner came quickly and I started the spanish, wish I could talk it better! I managed to ask about the menú (They have a set menu with a limited choice of starter and main and a drink) They had 2 options, which I could not make out the difference, so we decided to go with the 7 solés version (about a couple of quid). I ordered 2 bottles of water while we started to try and work out what was on the board!! We must have sat there for about 15 mins, slowly trying translate what was on the Menú. We worked out that the main was steak, fried fish, chicken and another (can´t remember what!) but the starters were more difficult so I asked the guy which ones had no meat in them and if any were vegetarian or had fish but no meat. It wasn´t perfect but we managed to work out that there was chicken soup, fried calamari and a potato dish which we knew was vegetarian but we weren´t exactly sure what it was!? We dove straight in there and ordered a squid starter, the potato thing and the fried fish main. We then got handed the drink, a sweet thick liquid. Not unpleasant but very sweet! Then Claire´s potato starter came out. Basically slices of boiled potato layered on a plate with a cold sauce covering it. IT was actually very nice - think I liked it more than claire. Then the best dish of them all came the squid. Fine slices covered in crunchy coating and deep fried and served with salad, sauce some small nut type things - sweetcorn kernals maybe? I thought it was all just fantastic! I could have just eaten that again but we´d ordered the fish, and who knows maybe that would be just as good? It wasn´t. Don´t get me wrong it wasn´t horrible, just a bit of a let down after the squid. It was a piece of fried fish with rice and some beans in a sauce...bit bland if I´m gonna be honest but we ate it, paid up, thanked the family and duly headed back to the hostel.

Claire was getting grumpy at this stage, as she always does when she´s tired, and starting to pick at me - cow! lmao! So I suggested she went and lay down for a while ´I won´t sleep, never do´. Yeah, right. She disappeared into the room and didn´t appear again for a few hours. I managed to do a bit. Got Bo to sleep, checked e-mails etc and even managed to read half my book before Claire woke. We all showered, Bo with me which was funny - he prefers baths I think ;o) Basically had a lazy day while we recover from the journey, normally takes a few days. In the meantime we got some news that a family friend of Claire´s was visiting his daughter in Bolivia and would like it if we went to see them somewhere. We´re still in the process of trying to see if it could work but I love the randomness of it if we could sort it out! If we do go, it may mean cutting a section of our trip down. Not sure which bit, so watch this space!

Settling in

So, we´re here. What´s happened, how did the trip go??

To be completely honest the start of the trip didn´t bode too well for me as we flew straight after my 2 night shifts - 2 night shifts where I didn´t sleep because some inconsiderate bar stewards decided to have fires! How rude, did they not know I was going away? Anyway, long story short, I managed to leave work at 4am after pretty much no sleep the previous 24 hours. Drove to Claire´s mum´s and we all headed off to Heathrow with our bags a plenty. It all went like clockwork really, boarded in time, fed Bo and got our Bassinet sorted (a clip on bed for him, brilliant!) but then, "Meal sir?"
"Yes, please. Claire will have the Chicken but I´ve ordered the vegetarian option"
"Oh, I´m sorry sir we haven´t received any vegetarian requests"
"Ah......bugger....."
So that was it, no sleep for the past 2 days, sat on a plane with 16 hours travelling ahead of us and they have no food for me - classic!
Luckily enough, 20 mins later one of the cabin crew returned and informed me that they found me an extra vegetarian meal of which I was grateful for, because as it turned out it would be the last substantial meal until we arrived in Lima!! Bloody Airlines!

We arrive in Lima, no problems, and made our way to the exit where we were expecting out taxi to have arrived. Bodhi was still asleep in the pushchair so it actually went pretty smoothly. Arriving at exotic airports, for some reason, is always scarey for me. The hustle and bustle, the heat, humidity, the noises of foreign conversations and strange faces all seem a bit too much and hit you all at once - it´s never a gradual thing. This time however, I had Claire and Bodhi with me and that responsibilty added to the unease so when I could not see my name being held aloft by a friendly taxi driver who would ease all the pain and whisk us off to the sanctuary of our hostel well, lets just say it seemed and age!

Soon enough though we were being driven through the ubiquitous poorly surfaced roads, avoiding pot holes whilst the neon adverts and western influenced posters whizz by accompanied by the sounds of horns hanging in the air. We were dropped off at the hostel in Barranco easily enough and after haggling with the taxi driver who tried to rip us off for $5 (did I mention I was expectinga nice driver?) we found ourself in the room, laying on the bed, surrounded by half open rucsacks and slowly drifting off to sleep listening to Bo, contentedly sleeping in his travel cot....god I was tired!

Arrived safe and sound!

Well, we´re finally here! We arrived about 9.30pm local time last night after a monumental journey! I´ll blog about that later this entry is just to reassure you we´re all still alive!! Tired...but alive!

The final countdown...

Well, we're almost there. I've packed the bags, printed off the flight details, got insurance, have changed money and have booked our first few nights accomodation in Lima (www.operu.com) along with a taxi to pick us up - I figure the normal headrush of landing in a new and exotic airport, the run through the crowds, avoidance of the scam drivers and the bartering of fares to a hostel, then ensuring they're actually taking you to the hostel you want rather than their friends hostel will all be a bit too much for us with a little un!

The bags lay at work now ready for me to load the car up when I finish early hours tomorrow morning. It's a 4am finish, drive to claires Mum's (She's looking after our cat and chickens while we're away!) pick up Claire and Bo, get driven to Heathrow in time for our 7.30am check in.

If I'm completely honest I'm not at all anxious as I expected to be? (Don't think I can say the same for Claire?) I've prepared myself and am quite happy with all our preperations. We've bought a folding buggy for Bo so he can sleep while we're out and about. We've sorted sterilising bottles by taking my MSR stove to boil water for milk, have a drybag which we will fill with water and milton tablets and pop the bottles in (It being a dry bag means we can close it up and take it with us if the need arises!)

Just got the last prep to do - pack our hand luggage then it's a final night shift at the fire station before heading off.

Wish us luck!! I'll keep the updates as regular as possible :oD