Wandering

My dad arrived here in Boston this morning, after getting delayed in LA for 12 hours yesterday, and having to take an overnight flight from west coast to east. So my duty today was to help my dad stay awake all day — so he can combat his jetlag, and adjust quickly to Boston time — by touring the city with him, and elbowing him at the firssigns of chluffing. An in this noble endeavour — i.e. in my "jetlag duty" — I believe I was quite successful. We managed to see a few of Boston's sights, and my dad lasted until the evening.

For the first time since I arrived here in BA — over a week ago — today it stopped raining, and the sun came out! Yay — good weather at last (it's been wet and freezing all week, until now). So with the sun finally shining, I decided it was time to immediately seize the day, by seizing one of the free bikes that they have at The Clan, and to take myself on a bike tour around the city. As Master Yoda would say: "good this weather finally is, so ride a bicycle you must".

After my amazing breakfast this morning, I was ready to go out and explore Santiago, the city that I'd just arrived in late last night, and easily the furthest place south that I've been so far, in South America. I was planning to head straight to the downtown area, to start taking care of some housekeeping tasks that needed to be done. But I ended up spending several hours just walking around, staring in awe at this city, that's nothing like anywhere else I've been in South America. This place is really, really... well, really nice! It's so neat, the people are so trendy, the buildings are so grand, the buses and trains are so new — it's like being somewhere in Europe. A whole different world to PEB (Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador). A world called the Western world. The world that people like you and I live in. People from Santiago live in it too.

After the all-night affair that was last night, I took it nice and easy today. Got up waaay too early (like, 9:30am) so I could catch the Secret Garden laundry service, as well as their rooftop breakfast. Hey, let's face it, everything that happens at that place, happens on the roof. Considering my physical and mental state today, it made a perfect day for staggering around the streets of Quito, getting acquainted with a city that seemed to be just as tired and hung-over from a big Friday night as I was. That's right: nice place, but absolutely dead on a Saturday.

There are many strange and intriguing stray people wandering around Cusco. But there are even more stray dogs. Here in Cusco, and in many other cities in Peru (and in Mexico), the "perros callejeros" (lit: "street dogs") are everywhere. It's not something that you see in Western cities, where we have dog-tag laws, council patrols, and "the pounds" (i.e. lost dog homes). But in Latin American cities, you can barely walk one block without passing a canine vagabond or two.

Just for a bit of a laugh, an Irish guy at Loki walked down to the Plaza de Armas (main square of Cusco) with me this morning, to introduce me to the insane amount of tourist-hassling that goes on in this city. However, instead of letting these people get on my nerves, I decided to turn the tables a bit, and to get on their nerves, by playing an evil little game.

Ayacuchamay is a plaza and lookout area, on a hill that overlooks the whole town and the surrounding mountains. This morning, I met up with my mate Abimael, and the two of us — as well as Cath and Gaz — went up to the lookout. From the top of the hilltop tower, you get an excellent view of everything that is Ayacucho. Nice clear day too, so we could see the mountains, as they stretched on to the horizon.

Getting to downtown Lima from Miraflores is very easy, as there are combis (minibuses) going up and down Av. Arequipa all day. Av. Arequipa is the long, wide, straight boulevard that connects these two important areas. This afternoon, I hopped on a combi into the downtown area, and checked out what there is to see around there.