And then some "stuff" happened...

I’ve decided to combine a few days together - because with one notable exception - not much has really happened.

Having had way too many early mornings and late nights, and walked a considerable number of miles, I decided to have a day off in Cusco.

Given that I’m eating at restaurants most of the time, I’m trying to get at least one healthy meal every other day or so. The traditional Peruvian diet seems to consist of meat and rice - although there are loads of roast chicken and fast food places. Feeling like I needed some veggies, I managed to find a vegetarian place. It was 6 soles (about 1.30) for bread, salad, soup, a big plate of veggies and rice, and a weird carrot / beetroot jelly, followed by a cup of tea. I was stuffed, but the food was great. To put it in perspective - that afternoon I paid 5 soles for a cup of coffee.

Apart from that I mainly loafed, although the tourist hassle thing was a bit frustrating. In the space of thirty minutes I was asked:

Nearly 30 times if I wanted a massage.
Once if I wanted an exotic massage - I didn`t inquire about the difference!
Twice if I wanted cocaine.
Four times if I wanted weed.
Twice if I wanted my shoes cleaning.
And three times to buy other random stuff.

The only thing I really wanted was a book exchange (ok - maybe some weed (that’s a joke by the way)) but I didn`t find one.

I also booked "the tourist bus" to Puno, which a few people had recommended, and which gets a good write up in the Lonely Planet. At $40 it was expensive, and in hindsight I’d have used the local buses to get me there. We stopped at quite a nice church, and a few Inca ruins - although they all seemed a bit boring after MP.

There were six people on a bus for 56, and after we arrived I met with Hyun (a Korean girl) from the bus for dinner. I had trout - which is a cross between salmon and trout - which they get from Lake Titicaca, and which tastes fantastic.

I was going to get the tourist bus to Copacabana, but slept in, so used local transport.

And here’s the one thing worth telling:

So, we set off in this cronky old bus for the five hour journey to the border, when the bus suddenly stops, the driver gets out, kicks the wheel, and then gets back in again, and sets of at about half the original speed.

About ten minutes later, he pulls over.

We have a flat tire.

There`s no spare.

So a huge argument breaks out in the middle of the road about what’s going to happen - and when I say argument, I mean people are shouting at each other, and at one point I thought it was going to come to blows.

I got my bags out of the bus, and while everyone was shouting at each other, a young guy and myself flag down a passing Collectivo. As soon as it stops, there’s a big pile on, and I just manage to get a seat.

But the colectivo doesn’t set off, and another argument starts about how much the people from the bus should pay the collectivo driver to take us to the border town.

All of the people are arguing about 2 soles (about 40 pence), and I’d have been more than happy to pay the guy so we could set off. And after a while, the argument was settled and we were on our way.

As we were driving along, I got thinking. 2 soles was nothing for me. I could have paid for everyone to get to the next town. And it really made me think, that in comparison to the rest of the people on the bus - I was stupidly (obscenely?) rich.

It was a humbling moment.