Ahhh the magic moments in travelling. Not that I could begin to match the masterwork by Yobbo, but then anyone who goes to that sterile island off the coast of Malaysia and compounds the error by flying Qantas deserves what he gets.
I ´m sitting at an Entel terminal in La Paz airport waiting for a flight to Sucre that was supposed to depart at 9.30 – it ´s now scheduled for 2pm…. maybe. This delay is added to the train from Macchu Picchu breaking down forcing us to spend three hours in the dark talking to a couple of Hollanders, our flight from Cusco cancelled, (no explanation,just come back tomorrow), a late bus from Arequipa causing an unscheduled stopover in Puno and last but not least a flat tire on the bus to La Paz from Lake Titicaca.
Anyone would think that the trip has been a disaster, but to the contrary, we ´re loving it. Will post impressions of Peru in the next day or so.
Hey, I forgot you were in Peru! Hope you didn’t fly Qantas ;)
One afternoon, after cloud cover prevented the plane reaching Sucre, we were still able to get the morning train out of Sucre because it was 6 or 7 hours late. We arrived at La Paz over two days late, but we arrived. Most of the passengers [students from Sucre University heading for a Xmas break in Bolivia]didn’t even make it. They’d been left behind at a town in Peru at which the train stopped, and we were told it would go no further that night. The students understandably all piled off to spend the night more comfortably in friends’ homes.
Around 2.00 a.m., the train began moving. Our compartment had been cramped standing room only when we arrived there. We’d managed to book only one seat for four of us, but now there was only one other person in our carriage, a middle aged man who was fortunate enough to not know anyone in the town, so he was still on the train.
The train reached La Paz, as I said, over two days behind its scheduled arrival time. We never did find out how late the abandoned passengers were. But it was an interesting place to travel.
Sam; we booked through Qantas, no choice, but actually flew LanCHILE. Apart from the fact that we flew cattle class it wasn
Watch out for someone pointing out you have a spot of grease on part of your clothing; or the person NOT next to you who puts his hand between the arm and body of an accomplice standing between you and him, to snatch something [your wrist watch especially] so that you assume the person next to you is the one who took it; or [especially if you’re holding two heavy bags near a transport terminal] when a bucket of water is thrown from behind, hoping you’ll put the bags on the ground, turn to face your tormenter, so that his accomplice can take the lighter of the two bags, and be off before you know what’s happening; or crowds pressing, so that a skilled knife sytoke can slice open a bag/pocket without you feeling the pressure; or ANY situation in which someone with two legs and at least one usable hand, is anywhwere near you.
It’s a wonderful and safe experience if you always find out in advance which areas/tactics are currently “the latest”, and you heed the warning on Howard’s frige magnet, “Be alert, not alarmed.”