Day 5: Interlude @ Agua Calientes, Peru

half day left at Machu Picchu, went to the Hot Springs but left because it smelled like someone had eggs and farted in my face. didn`t do much else besides shop, so here are some of my tangent notes from my journal that don`t belong anywhere, except in a narcicisstic blog. if they don`t entertain anybody my consolation is this upsidedown question mark:  ¿   in fact i`ll throw in the matching exclamation mark too:  ¡

• there are eucalyptus trees here that have not experinced bush fires, they are Aryan. very tall, very straight, very white.
• killed a spider, now there`s a shoe-print on the ceiling and its cousins are after me (all cousins will seek vengeance, my Lebanese students taught me that much)
• haven`t been bitten by mossie yet. in preparation for South America i soaked my clothes in military grade permytherin (gracias ebay)
• PS- i`m not being a paranoid hypochondriac, in Trinidad i marinated myself with Deet and still had 36 bites. on one leg. i am their ultimate aphrodisiac. i am their Moroccan saffron, their Johnny Walker Blue, i am the Bella to their Edward Cullen
• PPS- threw that last reference in there because it`s so ridiculous/accessible. frankly Twilight is a manual for stalkers with a poorly plagiarised Buffy narrative. i have elitist views on what constitutes as Literature and make no apologies. i enjoy Harry Potter and Lady Gaga but also recognise that just because Macdonald`s is the #1 restaurants, it does not make it cuisine.
• there are 5,000 species of potatoes and 1,000 species of corn in Peru. the botanist who is cataloguing their fancy latin names is now 250 years old and has not yet finished the job
• practised my spanish on a couple at the markets. after 20 minutes they realised i was not speaking portugese and i realised they were Brazilian. we then communicated in Pictionary form
• dogs here are smart. they know when to cross roads instead of dashing around flailing arms everywhere. i learnt to follow the dogs instead of the crossing signs
• they live up to their red-blooded reputation. at the departures gate people wail their goodbyes and at arrivals there are papal welcomings. i walked into a couple who continued making out.
• guide goes, "oh we don`t use sticks to climb mountains here" and gives a naughty giggle. "only the very, very old do." he looks at some backpackers who have one for each hand like they`re off skiing and continues to say, "my mother is 85 and doesn`t use one." everytime he asks if we need more time before continuing i know he is refraining from another chortle
• South Americans could never be communists no matter what Cuba and Venezuela think. it`s because of their interior decorating. every place i`ve been to, hotel, cathedral, restaurant, has been designed by Carson. the details are amazing. toilet roll holders are specially designed, hand-woven baskets hold your soaps, your keys are hung on interesting ornaments. you`d have to kill their character in order to have them fit in with grey, rectangular, cloned designs of the commies
• of course, they could be Couture-Socialists. yay!

Peru is a place of double-edged swords. its coca are a gift and a shame. it is a well visited, remote land. its people are full of resilience in equal measure with despair. sometimes it can be a little overwhelming. it is astonishing in its beauty and it is astonishing in its poverty and the intensity of one highlights the other. tomorrow is Puno, and though technically on the Peruvian side in my mind it is the start of Bolivia thematically. Farewell Peru.