Travelin´ thru...

I have left Bolivia. Which is sad because it was really cool there. I am now in Arequipa, Peru, just fo one day before I begin the most arduous part of my trip; at least 2, and possibly 3, nights on a bus. In a row. At least in Peru the buses are nice. At least when you pay for a better company. Yesterday I took the cheapest bus I found from Puno, near the border of Bolivia, to Arequipa, and we ended up waiting 1.5 hours to try to find more passengers, and then 30 minutes at some checkpoint for Go-knows-why (I had decided at that point that I just didn´t care, there was nothing I coul do, and that was what I got for saving $1.60 on the trip). I didn´t need to get to Arequipa at any specific time so it wasn´t a big deal.

Its actually amazing I got to Arequipa at all. For the past 2 weeks apparently there´d been a lot of bus blockades and the road I needed to take from Puno to Arequipa (Also the route from Puno to Lima) had been blocked. Thank god I didn´t know that until I had boarded my tourist bus in Copacobana, Bolivia, that would take us over the Bolivian border to Puno in Peru. Because I would have been stressing over my travel plans if I had known, and in the end it all worked out. In South America, blockades are a way of life. They are actually even more common in Bolivia, usually done by the indiginous people (and according to my host sister, with little result). The week I left my family in Cochabamba, there were lots of blockades, althought never on the route that I took...although that is a blog entry for another time. I hve most of my experiences written down in my diary - its the first time I´m actually keeping a good one of a trip, but I have no time to use the internet, or at times not access! Maybe tomorrow when I´m in Lima waiting to change buses for my 2 miserable bus trip days.

As for the blockades, we had to wait about 15 minutes in town midway between the Peru/Bolivia border and Puno. Teachers were marching becacause the government is asking them to take a test to continue to be teachers, even ones who have been teachers fo a long time. Once the march was over, traffic started moving, and we passed rocks and big bricks of mud that had been placed on the road to stop traffi. We were just really lucky we didn´t have to wait long there, and yesterday the government talked with whoever about whatever, and all the roads are fine. Can you imagine if all the highways in the US were blocked for weeks?

From what I´ve seen of Arequipa, it is very beautiful, but much more modern than what I am used to after 6 weeks in Bolivia. There´s a big, famous monstery here I´m excited to visit. I think that I might have been happy studying or volunteering here, but at the same time its a little less comfortable than the other places I´ve stayed because its bigge, and because Peru just feels a little sketchier than Ecuador or Bolivia. Of course, whenever you are used to a place you like it more (or, you get bored sick of the place and hate it). In any case I probably could have stayed another day or two here, but I already bought my bus tickets out. Which took forever because...because its South America. The company I am going with has a computer system in its huge, separate terminal, but the one window that could sell me a ticket from Lima (remember, I´m in Arequipa) was closed, so after I waited and looked bored and frustrated, a really nice guyat the window next door used his cell phone for like 20 minutes to call the main office and hand wrote me my ticket...then we had to go to another building so I could use my credit card (the first time in 7 weeks I´ve been able to use it!)...the whole thing took far longer than it should have. But I am excited about what I have planned to do in Ecuador...which changes daily, as I sit on one bus or another and write out different itineraries for the 2 weeks I will have. I actuall ejoy all the plnning, it would drive other people crazy. That is the benefit of traveling alone - I can be as crazy as I want about how much I am squeezing in a minumum amount of time.

I´ve been sitting here for 2 hours trying to make reservations and plans for the next few weeks so its time to get moving (my fingers are cold, which happens to me when I´m home and sit at the computer all day).