A Change In Approach

Preparation is the key to success.

This is the phrase I have adopted for the remainder of my trip. Pretty much everything that has gone wrong (and there hasn´t been many things, honest!) has been because I didn´t prepare well enough, or far enough in advance. With this in mind, and knowing that I have a mere 3 weeks remaining on my voyage, I sat down tonight to make a day-by-day itinerary for these last days.

This has me very excited! Reading through the footprint book and looking online has made me realise that these last few weeks are what I have been most looking forward to out of the whole thing. Huge high altitude lake surrounded by altiplano? Bus rides through mountains and epic scenery? Giant salt flats, silver mines, dynamite and cactii? These are the things that dreams are made of. Essentially I have decided that I have had enough of big cities, and I want to get out to where the sky is big and the landscape empty!

But how could I possibly be bored of cities? Surely they are diverse centres of culture, with varied people and characters and traditions? Are there not great architectural achievements dating back hundreds of years?

Yes, indeed, they are and there are. However, I have come to realise that really, all cities are the same. And here´s my main way of showing it: where would urban tourism be without churches and museums?

I have been in lima now for 4 or 5 days. Certainly longer than I meant to, and not because there is a lot to do (see "Preparation is the key to success", above). I took a day to explore the city centre, where there are many colonial structures and cathedrals and grand government buildings and so on. I forgot to take the battery for my camera. And you know what? It doesn´t matter! Why bother taking pictures of those buildings? Even without google I´m sure you can easily imagine what they look like. I found it more interesting when I took a random road and found myself in two distinct areas: one where they seem to sell all the football trophies and shirts for the country, and another where every single building is set aside for paper manufacturing. At least these were unexpected!

Going back slightly further (since I have nothing more to say on peru yet), let´s talk about curacao.

I was beginning, after a day or two there, to worry that I would never see a beach. This concerned me greatly, as I was in the caribbean for gods sake and I wanted to swim in the nice warm waters! I did manage to walk to the nearest beach one day, but it took me an hour and a half each way, and because it was a sunday and the beach was small, it was packed and I was already burning so I didn´t even stay long. The walk was interesting though so it was worthwhile.

However, all my hopes were exceeded when, on my last full day on curacao, I bought onto a guided bus tour which I was HIGHLY skeptical about. The guy running it (Yrae i think his name was), was legendary. Both driver and tour guide (in spanish and english!), he seemed to know everyone on the island, constantly getting waves and cheerful shouts. The tour was enlightening for me since I knew nothing about the island (shell sold their oil stuff there to the government for one guldar, approximately 25p?), and there was free drinks, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, in a big coolbox full of ice in the back. It was sad that the Curacao Liqeur factory was closed that day, but the driver got us a free taster at a tourist shop elsewhere while telling us the history. And then the beach. Ah what a nice beach it was when it wasn´t so busy! The water WAS warm. There were crabs walking along the rocks next to the beach. There was cheap food and drink. There was lots of sun. It was brilliant, and made better by Yrae giving us an extra hour before having to head back.

There were 4 other people on the bus tour and we all went out in the evening for some clubbing. All you can drink happy hour? yes please! Unfortunately we didn´t stay long after the happy hour, and the evening went rapidly downhill when I found out we were getting a taxi to a stripclub - "Campo Alegra". The guys and girl I was with were clearly excited about the prospect, and I later found out this was because they had never been to a strip club. They didn´t know how very awkward such places are. Luckily, it wasn´t expensive and the taxis were cheap so I was still pretty happy with the overall outcome of the evening.

I suspect that is enough blog for one entry. My next stop is Cuzco - I wonder how much of it I will remember from the last time I was there over 6 years ago? I will probably update the blog again within the next week!