There'll be days like this...

So I'm in Cusco, which has an altitude that is rather uncomfortable. These past few days haven't been the best on the trip. But parts of them were somewhat amusing.

Nazca was great. I got a flight to Lima from Iquitos then bused it the following day down to Nazca. The Peruvian lanscape is somewhat surreal, desert like and barren, nothing like what I expected. Was six hours to Nazca, followed by a nice dinner with some people from the bus. The following morning I went out to the airport for the flight over the lines.

The lines are really interesting, though the flight was in the tiniest plane I have ever been in (a cute little four seater) and the flight takes about half an hour with the pilot pointing out the different lines and shapes as we went over them. The flight is a bit rough as they tlit the plane left and right so everyone can get a good look at the different patterns. The landscape is primarily platue but with a few hills rising out of the lanscape. And barren until you get to the irrigated farming areas which look so out of place.

Spent the afternoon wandering around with one of the people I had dinner with the night before, then caught the bus to Cusco.

Worst. Bustrip. Ever. Many of you know I do suffer from nausea on buses, particularly buses which are crowded, poorly ventilated and go on dodgey windy roads. Well, the road to Cusco is windy and mountainous. Got on the bus, to find it nearly full which wasn't too bad, I crawled into my seat and managed to doze for a bit.

I was woken at about 1230am with everyone getting off the bus and the attendant speaking loudly and quickly in Spanish. I managed to ask a nice Canadian couple what was happening and discovered that the bus had broken down and we all had to pile onto another bus.

Which would have been fine, had the bus had enough room for all of us. I got on realised that there was no bathroom on the bus, nor were there enough seats. I then got back onto the broken bus which is where all the gringo's (the Canadian couple, two Irish girls and about half a dozen Japanese people) were and decided that staying with the people who I could talk to in time of crisis (plus had bathroom access, given I wasn't feeling all that well) was probably a wise move. We then freewheeled back down the mountain and then waited until they called another bus.

Buses in the early hours of the morning are *freezing* when they are not turned on, particluarly when they are up a mountain. So I tried (being the operative word) to sleep on the bus, feeling more and more ill and cold. The next bus arrived at around 3am, we then swapped buses and were on our way, but not until I had lost most of my afternoon snack. Oh and the second bus didn't have enough seats either, so a bunch of people sat in the front of the bus near the driver, the attendants sat literally on top of luggage and on each other up the back. And Peruvian buses, unlike Brazillian buses, don't stop for food and bathroom breaks, you get given sandwiches, which of course, I cannot eat. So essentially I didn't eat for about 24hours, which given my stomach was probably a wise move.

So about 4 and a half hours late we got to Cuzco. Myself and the Irish girls decided to share a cab to a hostel. It was okay, the bed was warm and they had hot water (bliss!). We stumbled to find dinner then got to bed at the ripe old hour of 7pm. Because you know we like to party hard.

We all woke up at 2am, and then for the next hour my upper back decided that unless I stood up that it would give me the most intense horrible pain I have ever experienced. I am not exagerating, having my wisdom teeth pulled was much more enjoyable. Yay for panadine forte!

Got up and went for breakfast, I had Mate de Cocoa (Cocoa leaf tea) which is supposed to help with Altitude sickness which I seem to have. This means at the moment I am nauseous- which intally was put down to the evil bus, but given I didn't keep breakfast down, I think has got to do with being up high. I am slightly dehydrated. I am hungry- though there seems little point to eating and I can't take my vitamins because I'm still on the anti malerials. I'm tired- even after a 3 hour kip this arvo and breathing is difficult. Okay so the breathing thing isn't a new thing for me but it's still annoying. It's like having a bad asthma patch plus an nasty virus all at once.

Part of me is "screw Macchu Picchu, get me back to sea level" but hopefully everything should settle over the next couple of days. Anyone wishing to donate to the "lets buy moonbug flights for the rest of the trip so she doesn't have to take the bus" fund would be highly appreciated :P

We found another hostel this morning as well, which is newer and alot nicer than the one we stayed in last night and in a better location close to the main square. Oh and I got my bag slashed too. They didn't take anything however I've decided that my nice bag from Argentina is not rectifiable and will be left behind.

I've found a disadvantage to my Veganwares Microfibre boots, every single shoe shine boy asks if they can polish them. No you can't, leather polish will screw up my nice cow free shoes thank you very much. I wonder how you can say "No, my shoes aren't leather" in Spanish?

Oh and after some googling Nevryn came up with the english name for the family of lisa fish. It's the mullet.

On the upside blogger has decided to work again- yay!