Thursday, July 30, 1998

Miss K on the Verge of Coming Home (or a nervous breakdown)

Hola!

Well, I think it is official: I have a cold, proof that I'm not pregnant and some digestive irregularities... I'm ready to come home. (I apologize if that was too much information for most of you but I swear, travelers talk about these types of things more often than the weather).

Just now I was sitting in the Plaza de Armas soaking in the sun and trying toH just chill out when this truck advertising the circus came by. It has cages with live tigers, lions and bears in the back and plays the most irritating prerecorded advertisement. I tried to ignore it but it kept circling the Plaza and I was forced to come in here to send an email. The only redeeming thing about this circus is that they claim they will have a chupacabra!

Monday, Marina (one of the Habitat people - she's only 16!) and I went rafting on the Urubamba river. You know what? It sucked. It took a long time to get there. When we did, we were part of a caravan of rafts and since ours had the rescue equipment we had to wait for everyone else. The river was kind of low so there were only a few exciting points. Plus, there were two women from Texas in the front, then Marina and I, then three big old Peruvian gordos that would hardly row. I am sure I am a much stronger person for hauling these guys down the river.

We though that Tuesday we would hang around town and watch the celebrations for Independence day but guess what? They had all the festivities on Monday when we were on our river trip. Heck.

Yesterday, we went on a hike to see some of the ruins right around Cusco. It was pretty fun, although (Chandrika, you will be happy to know) we couldn't figure out where we were supposed to be going and got a little lost.

Marina left this morning so I am left in the hostal with a woman named Sue who is also from SF. The hostal name is Amaru (as in Tupac Amaru, the last Inca ruler). Every time I exchange traveler's checks and they ask me where I'm staying I say Hotal Amparu (as in Amparu El-Sibai - that's for the work crowd). It's making me really confused. It's an okay place for the five whole dollars I pay per night but I'm looking forward to only having to share my bathroom with two people and to having a toilet with a seat. (I think that when you go to purchase a toilet in Peru, seats are sold separately - it can be the only explanation for the proliferation of toilets without seats in hostals, restaurants, etc.)

I think I'm going to try and take the local bus to the ruins at Ollantaytambo tomorrow but it all depends on how I feel. Saturday I fly back to Lima (I was disappeared off my first flight but they found me another) and Monday I come back to SF. I have to confirm that flight - it is part of my Central American tour package which takes me 12 hours to reach SF. I think I get in around 11pm.

I'll try to check this one more time tomorrow night before I go. Otherwise, I'll most of you in less than a week. Yeah!

"California here I come, right back where I started from..."

Love,
Kristian

PS - Mom, I'll get my flight information confirmed and then send you a message from Magali's house in Lima. Unless I'm coming in earlier than I think, I'll call you Tuesday morning.

No comments: