You make me feel like blogging, I wanna blog the night away

Not really or I would blog more often. But I am waiting for Ro to do whatever it is she does so I am here in a net café and suppose I should update this.

Weeeeellllllll! We are in Cusco, our most touristy destination so far. Actually I really like it! It is a beautiful city and although there is a McDonalds around the main plaza, it is so discreet that I didn't even realise what kind of establishment it was until someone told me. The Plaza de Armas is an absolute cracker - Peru seems to do plazas quite well. The only problem is that you are constantly attacked by people offering massages, meals and cheap paintings. There are so many people selling so many paintings and they are so cheap that Ro suspects they are paint-by-numbers jobs executed by slave children and I suppose there is no reason why she might be wrong.

FACT ABOUT PERU! They looove Aerosmith.

We went to the Nazca lines and despite my initial reservations (not so much about the lines but about spending money; four months of travel have not cooled off my inherent stinginess) they were grrrrreat. Really they were. The plane made both of us feel a little sick though; I was quite pleased it was only a half hour flight. But apart from the surprising clutch of nausea it was grand. The spaceman! So creepy! The hummingbird! So elaborate! The tree! Less interesting but aesthetically pleasing. In fact I bought a little wire-cut necklace of it from an old hippie who told me that he was a true artisan and all the other guys running jewellery stalls were hacks. He showed me how he cut the necklaces which was genuinely quite impressive.

I also bought a Nazca Lines tourist shirt which Ro has since been mocking me for(my thriftiness apparently does not extend to vile tourist parephernalia). Personally I think it is very cool. It has pictures of the Inca astrological calendar on it, which is a bit silly because it has since been debunked that the Nazca lines were supposed to represent the calendar, but I rather think this adds to its charm.

That afternoon... we went swimming! There was a pool at our hostel. It was such a great hostel, in fact, that we are now staying at their sister hostel in Cusco. Also very nice (probably not as nice but the people are good.) And we made friends with a wacky Englishman called Rob who works as an English teacher in Saudi Arabia and played Connect 4 with him. I was amazing at it to be honest. Ro also managed to make the boy who worked at the hostel fall in love with her so nice one, Ro.

Oh but the bus to Cusco was a NIGHTMARE. Probably the worst bus trip yet. It was supposed to leave Nazca at 8 but we were informed it wouldn't leave until 9. This was actually good news because we had just realised that we left our bathers and towels back at the hostel, so we ran back to get them. We didn't eat dinner because they usually give that to you on the bus, but they screwed up and didn't get me a vegetarian meal (even though it said on my ticket, 'VEGETARIAN'. So dinner was a miniscule packet of plain potato chips until morning, when I recieved a chemical-tasting sliver of orange cake and half a foam cup of lukewarm black instant coffee. "Breakfast," apparently.

I couldn't eat dessert either because it was a cup full of gelatinous crap (possibly jelly). Ro wasn't very tempted by hers either and left it on her tray. Later it fell off the tray and much much later, twelve hours later in fact, I found it for her! In the lining of the lovely felt hat I had bought for Mark in La Paz.

There was a poor dear little thing sitting behind us, about four years old, who had been on the bus since Lima. She didn't cry and hardly whimpered but periodically vomited while her mum held up a plastic bag and sprinted off to the toilet with it. It was a really nauseating journey, actually. Ro and I were both quite motion sick and people seemed to be rushing to the loo left right and centre. We were on the top (most overnight buses are double deckers, and the plebs like us go on the top) but when we got out of the bus for a wee break there was a monumental pile of vomit sitting outside the toilet. One must train oneself not to require said facility on these journeys.

We took some Phenergan which helped with the motion sicky and got me four hours of sleep. Shame the trip was thirteen hours long, really. We were meant to arrive at 10 - in fact I've heard of people doing the trip in 9 hours - but we didn't get to the station until 12.30. Then we got absolutely flooded by taxi touts, who are a bit dodgy in Peru, so you have to check their lanyard thingy. We were with two other Aussies and a legitimate yet sneaky taxidriver tried to charge us 20 soles ($8?) to go to the station. But soon enough he seemed willing enough to take us there for 8 soles.

THEN our room at the hostel wasn't ready! Was a bit annoying but didn't matter too much since I was so hungry I couldn't speak by this stage. So we went to a café that served all-day breakfast and I ate scrambled eggs and drank coffee and felt magnificent (comparatively). Anyway, I guess that was the end of the tearful journey and things were much happier from then on in.

We haven't done much in Cusco yet! We'll go to Macchu Picchu soon OBVS. It's a good place just to wander though, and there are an obscene amount of markets. There is some really great international food, too. We went to a brilliant Israeli restaurant the other day. 10 soles ($4) for a semi-set menu - I got hummus and pita, falafel with fries and salad, a drink and a pancake with dulce de leche all of which was brilliantly tasty. Oh and they gave us a starter of bread and dip too as if all that other stuff wasn't enough. And there is a pretty famous place called Jack's that you have to queue up to get into, but the food is great, the milkshakes excellent and the servings obscenely generous (I couldn't finish my meal, which typically is not a common scenario in my life).

There are many humourous tourists here, up to their eyeballs in khaki for no apparent reason (disguising themnselves from the llamas I suppose) with enormous SLRS just waiting to be liberated from their ostentatiously knifeable shoulder straps. In fact I've never been in such a touristy place in my life. There are lots of little alleyways full of gringo hangouts and the occasional person offering to sell you marijuana. Apparently they offer cocaine too, but it hasn't happened to me yet. In fact the only times anyone's offered drugs have been when I'm hanging out with someone of the male persuasion. Perhaps in Peruvian culture it is considered unladylike to snort stimulants from a toilet seat. Anyway, I find the sells slightly amusing as they tend to come from people whose main line of work is touting. "Dinner amigos! Very good, very cheap! Happy hour! I give you free Pisco Sour!" And then sotto voce, "I sell you weed, good weed for you amigo."

I have so much crap in my pack and I don't want to get rid of ANY of it. Travelling is traumatic. I have two pairs of silly trousers now. And the top section of my back is overflowing with ludicrous gifts. Oh well. When I get back to BA I can get rid of my cold weather gear. I guess.

Man. Who needs a drink?

Love love love
Lion