Life on the road: Peru

We've been posting about the interesting and exciting things we do and see, but what about the rest of it? How do we spend our days? We've been traveling almost three weeks, and we're starting to fall into our travel routines:

6am: wake up. Yes we like sleeping in, but it's easy to wake up at 6 when you go to sleep at 9! We got used to early times on the Inca Trail and never really shifted back. Chile is 2 hours ahead of Peru for some reason, so we've finally moved to later times!

Lay in bed, read up on guidebooks or use WiFi if we have it, get ready for the day. Purify more water with our steripen. Enjoy the hostal's breakfast. The hostals we stay in have been running ~$20 US per night total, staying in private rooms with our own bathroom.

We're pretty much alternating travel days and sightseeing days:

Travel days: make our way to the bus station and spend 5-7 hours on a bus to our next destination. Either a pretty nice double-decker "semi-cama" class with plush seats that recline far back, or a standard bus. No "chicken busses" yet but we did have a lady put her baby alpaca in the storage area of the bus to go 20 minutes down the road.

Time on the bus is spent napping (mostly Priscilla), reading guidebooks, planning and blogging (mostly Peter), staring out the window at the scenery, and maybe watching whatever bad movies are playing or tolerating too-loud music. I have a history lecture series on "the conquest of the Americas" we're also working through. Lunch is snacks, sometimes provided by the bus company.

Sightseeing days vary on where we are. Lots of walking to take in the character of a place, seeing the major sights but leaving something "for next time". Lunch is usually a local place with a 2-course set menu for around US $5 per person. Dinner usually similar. Start with a soup, then some variation on meat and rice, followed by tea (manzanilla, or chamomile, is our usual).

Back to the hostel for an early sleep and charge devices, then repeat!

What about what we see? What was typical in Peru?

• Llamas. There are llamas/alpacas/vicuñas everywhere, usually in large herds off in the distance, sometimes one or two at a tourist attraction.

• Dogs. Stray dogs everywhere, so many types. Lying on the street soaking up sun, sneaking in to cafes, sometimes following you for no obvious reason. Young dogs, old dogs, clean dogs, dirty dogs.

• In-progress/half-completed buildings. People build in installments as they can afford more building materials, and cover the exposed rebar with plastic bottles.
• Painted political or other ads. Political parties pay people to let them paint on their houses/walls.
• Walls topped with broken glass or cacti.
• Stone terraces.
• Taxis beeping gently at you to take them.
• Small shops, and vendors asking you to buy things/come to their restaurant/place of business.
• Ladies in traditional clothes selling knit souvenirs.
• Kids playing soccer.
• A surprising number of Chinese restaurants ("Chifa").

Peter