November 3, 2011
Not too much to report from the front lines here but I will be on a few of the islands on Lake Titicaca for a couple days and will not have internet access so I thought I would put up a blog entry for today.
Thursday I get up and head out at 5:15am and see no taxis on the road. I see one taxi and the guy is sleeping in it and I'm not sure if he is just waiting for a passenger or wants to sleep for another few more hours so after looking into his window for 5 minutes and not seeing him move I decide not to wake him and another taxi drives by and I wave him down and tell him "Terminal terreste. Cuanto cuesta?". Well I always say this and they always know to take me to the main long distance bus terminal but this guy has a look of confusion on his face so I pull out my LP guidebook and show him on the map where it is written as "terminal terreste" and he is still confused. After a few minutes the sleeping taxi guys wakes up after hearing us and says something to the other guy (obviously giving him instructions or resolving the issue of terminal terreste) and the guy shakes his head indicating he now knows what I mean. I certainly can't figure out why a taxi driver in any of these latin countries would not know "Terminal terreste". I have always used it and they have always known where to go.
Percy who purchased my bus ticket and tour package for me told me to be down at the bus station at 5:45am since that is when they start loading passengers and the bus is suppose to leave at 6:15am. Well I get on board and wait until 6:15am and we aren't moving. After a few more minutes I hear the odd person in the back yell out "VAMOS!!!" and every few minutes after 6:15am someone else yells out "VAMOS!". At 6:30am I realize they are waiting for those "late" local passengers who haven't arrived yet even though they know the bus leaves at 6:15am. At 6:30am I am joining in by yelling out a "VAMOS!!"- WE GO!!!
Just after 6:30am and the wheels start moving. There is no leg room on these buses and Percy told me it was a 6 hour bus ride so we leave at 6:30am and get to Puno at 12:30 or 1pm where my guide "Alvaro" would meet me at the bus station. After 5 hours with my legs cramped I decide I will just "take the pain" since it will be just another hour to Puno according to Percy but I check my LP book just as a backup and it says 10 hours! So I get out of my seat and go into the drivers booth where I can stand and stretch my poor knees. I ask the driver how much farther and he tells me 3 more hours!
So I arrive in Puno at 2:45pm and realize I missed my tour for Sillustani and meet up with Alvaro. He tries to tell me the bus driver is slow which is why I didn't make it. Sure a 15 minute late start but he did drive normally and it was his partner "Percy" who got it wrong saying I would have 2 hours to place my bags at a suitable accommodation before heading out on the tour. Alvaro says since I paid them 35 soles for the tour that has already gone that I can stay tonight at his hotel for free. But an hour later he changes it and says maybe I can pay for tonight and on Saturday when I return from the islands of Lake Titicaca I can stay for free. I tell him that I will stay for free tonight at his hotel and pay him on Saturday since as far as I am concerned they owe me 35 soles. He reluctanctly agrees but I can tell he really wants me to give him the money now so he doesn't have to worry about collecting on Saturday so I decide to pay him for tonight. I give him 50 soles and he doesn't even have change at the hotel and promises to give me my change tomorrow morning when we meet to go to the boat.
Puno is a sleepy little town and is more a meeting point before heading out to the islands of Lake Titicaca and not a lot to do. On one side of Puno is Lake Titicaca and on the other side is surrounded by mountains. Lake Titicaca is suppose to be the highest lake (in elevation) in the world. Puno is 3800 meters above sea level and during the bus ride I could feel my breathing becoming a little harder so took one of my sorojchi pills and felt better. On the pills I bought it doesn't tell you anything so I don't know if this thins your blood or what but just helps you adjust to the new altitude.
I walked around and saw a restaurant which says "Cafe bar rock" and I go in and ask if they have "cafe" and the guy says no and I think to myself "Of course you don't. Now why would I assume you have cafe just because it is in the name of your restaurant. Silly me!". One strategy that never fails when searching for real coffee is to look for places that look a little posher with glass doors and modern decor since they always have coffee machines and those little "hole in the wall" local outfits never have a coffee machine but just instant crapola (dirty water taste) but they advertise it as coffee. I now know the difference for spotting places that serve real coffee before going in!!
As George W Bush so eloquently said "We got an old saying in Texas. Fool me once.... shame on?..... shame on?...(Big pause).......Fool me, can't get fooled again!! Yeah that's it!".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjmjqlOPd6A
Brace yourself for another one of my complaints. I notice most people never get out of your way on the sidewalks or anywhere and seem to not care less about others. I know in Canada we are very "conscious" of others and even if we are in a deep conversation with someone on the sidewalk we see in the corner of our eyes people walking towards us and we ALWAYS move aside to let them through (just our courteous way). I guess I am so use to that behaviour and I am shocked that people won't move a muscle for anyone down here. Sure a few will but I find most won't. Even on the bus today the woman beside me has her bag on the floor in front of her blocking me in and I am by the window and her kid is crawling all over the place and I say "con permiso" (excuse me) and she doesn't lift a finger or her bag and just waves me through so I have to jump over her bag without landing on her kid and she is too lazy to get up since most of us in Canada always get up to let people out from their seats on buses or theaters etc.... These are some cultural differences that I could never get use to down here. It is almost like a "look after number one" type of mentality and it won't change any time soon. I am sure many of you from other countries that are reading this are just thinking that I am "bitching" and you would be absolutely right!!
After walking around Puno a little while and realizing it isn't that exciting I waited until 6pm when it got dark and decided to use that time to check out the "Coca" museum since my guide book says it is open to 8pm. well I got there at 6:20pm and they were closed with 4 pad locks on it so I decided to call it a night. Abdulla from Saudi Arabia who I met on my Machu Pichu tour had told me to check out the "Coca" museum when I am in La Paz since he said it was good and gives you a complete history about it. So I will see that coca museum instead.
Friday morning at 7:45am I will be meeting up with Alvaro and he will take me down to the boat for my tour and I will be staying with a family on an island over night on Friday. I am sure they don't speak english and I am sure we will have LOTS to talk about lol! Since I missed the Sillustani tour I am going to try to catch an early boat back on Saturday afternoon and hopefully check out that site since I don't want to waste too much time in Puno. Bottom line... it is very boring!
Not too much to report from the front lines here but I will be on a few of the islands on Lake Titicaca for a couple days and will not have internet access so I thought I would put up a blog entry for today.
Thursday I get up and head out at 5:15am and see no taxis on the road. I see one taxi and the guy is sleeping in it and I'm not sure if he is just waiting for a passenger or wants to sleep for another few more hours so after looking into his window for 5 minutes and not seeing him move I decide not to wake him and another taxi drives by and I wave him down and tell him "Terminal terreste. Cuanto cuesta?". Well I always say this and they always know to take me to the main long distance bus terminal but this guy has a look of confusion on his face so I pull out my LP guidebook and show him on the map where it is written as "terminal terreste" and he is still confused. After a few minutes the sleeping taxi guys wakes up after hearing us and says something to the other guy (obviously giving him instructions or resolving the issue of terminal terreste) and the guy shakes his head indicating he now knows what I mean. I certainly can't figure out why a taxi driver in any of these latin countries would not know "Terminal terreste". I have always used it and they have always known where to go.
Percy who purchased my bus ticket and tour package for me told me to be down at the bus station at 5:45am since that is when they start loading passengers and the bus is suppose to leave at 6:15am. Well I get on board and wait until 6:15am and we aren't moving. After a few more minutes I hear the odd person in the back yell out "VAMOS!!!" and every few minutes after 6:15am someone else yells out "VAMOS!". At 6:30am I realize they are waiting for those "late" local passengers who haven't arrived yet even though they know the bus leaves at 6:15am. At 6:30am I am joining in by yelling out a "VAMOS!!"- WE GO!!!
Just after 6:30am and the wheels start moving. There is no leg room on these buses and Percy told me it was a 6 hour bus ride so we leave at 6:30am and get to Puno at 12:30 or 1pm where my guide "Alvaro" would meet me at the bus station. After 5 hours with my legs cramped I decide I will just "take the pain" since it will be just another hour to Puno according to Percy but I check my LP book just as a backup and it says 10 hours! So I get out of my seat and go into the drivers booth where I can stand and stretch my poor knees. I ask the driver how much farther and he tells me 3 more hours!
So I arrive in Puno at 2:45pm and realize I missed my tour for Sillustani and meet up with Alvaro. He tries to tell me the bus driver is slow which is why I didn't make it. Sure a 15 minute late start but he did drive normally and it was his partner "Percy" who got it wrong saying I would have 2 hours to place my bags at a suitable accommodation before heading out on the tour. Alvaro says since I paid them 35 soles for the tour that has already gone that I can stay tonight at his hotel for free. But an hour later he changes it and says maybe I can pay for tonight and on Saturday when I return from the islands of Lake Titicaca I can stay for free. I tell him that I will stay for free tonight at his hotel and pay him on Saturday since as far as I am concerned they owe me 35 soles. He reluctanctly agrees but I can tell he really wants me to give him the money now so he doesn't have to worry about collecting on Saturday so I decide to pay him for tonight. I give him 50 soles and he doesn't even have change at the hotel and promises to give me my change tomorrow morning when we meet to go to the boat.
Puno is a sleepy little town and is more a meeting point before heading out to the islands of Lake Titicaca and not a lot to do. On one side of Puno is Lake Titicaca and on the other side is surrounded by mountains. Lake Titicaca is suppose to be the highest lake (in elevation) in the world. Puno is 3800 meters above sea level and during the bus ride I could feel my breathing becoming a little harder so took one of my sorojchi pills and felt better. On the pills I bought it doesn't tell you anything so I don't know if this thins your blood or what but just helps you adjust to the new altitude.
I walked around and saw a restaurant which says "Cafe bar rock" and I go in and ask if they have "cafe" and the guy says no and I think to myself "Of course you don't. Now why would I assume you have cafe just because it is in the name of your restaurant. Silly me!". One strategy that never fails when searching for real coffee is to look for places that look a little posher with glass doors and modern decor since they always have coffee machines and those little "hole in the wall" local outfits never have a coffee machine but just instant crapola (dirty water taste) but they advertise it as coffee. I now know the difference for spotting places that serve real coffee before going in!!
As George W Bush so eloquently said "We got an old saying in Texas. Fool me once.... shame on?..... shame on?...(Big pause).......Fool me, can't get fooled again!! Yeah that's it!".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjmjqlOPd6A
Brace yourself for another one of my complaints. I notice most people never get out of your way on the sidewalks or anywhere and seem to not care less about others. I know in Canada we are very "conscious" of others and even if we are in a deep conversation with someone on the sidewalk we see in the corner of our eyes people walking towards us and we ALWAYS move aside to let them through (just our courteous way). I guess I am so use to that behaviour and I am shocked that people won't move a muscle for anyone down here. Sure a few will but I find most won't. Even on the bus today the woman beside me has her bag on the floor in front of her blocking me in and I am by the window and her kid is crawling all over the place and I say "con permiso" (excuse me) and she doesn't lift a finger or her bag and just waves me through so I have to jump over her bag without landing on her kid and she is too lazy to get up since most of us in Canada always get up to let people out from their seats on buses or theaters etc.... These are some cultural differences that I could never get use to down here. It is almost like a "look after number one" type of mentality and it won't change any time soon. I am sure many of you from other countries that are reading this are just thinking that I am "bitching" and you would be absolutely right!!
After walking around Puno a little while and realizing it isn't that exciting I waited until 6pm when it got dark and decided to use that time to check out the "Coca" museum since my guide book says it is open to 8pm. well I got there at 6:20pm and they were closed with 4 pad locks on it so I decided to call it a night. Abdulla from Saudi Arabia who I met on my Machu Pichu tour had told me to check out the "Coca" museum when I am in La Paz since he said it was good and gives you a complete history about it. So I will see that coca museum instead.
Friday morning at 7:45am I will be meeting up with Alvaro and he will take me down to the boat for my tour and I will be staying with a family on an island over night on Friday. I am sure they don't speak english and I am sure we will have LOTS to talk about lol! Since I missed the Sillustani tour I am going to try to catch an early boat back on Saturday afternoon and hopefully check out that site since I don't want to waste too much time in Puno. Bottom line... it is very boring!
