Travel Day/s from H·E· Double L...

The next morning, Daniel and I woke up early to pack our bags. We were on the same flight back to Quito. We said goodbye to Natalie and Myriam and headed to the Baltra Airport and flew back to mainland Ecuador. When we arrived in Quito, I had a few hours to kill before my flight to Peru so we took a taxi into town and hung out for a while before I had to return to the airport. I said goodbye to Daniel and away I went!

My flight to Lima landed at around midnight and this is when the fiasco started. I went to the LAN (airline) ticket counter to see about a flight to Juliaca. My plan was to fly to Juliaca and bus to Puno so that I could visit Lake Titicaca and from there bus to Cuzco to get ready for my big Machu Picchu hike. At this point, I am exhausted and my stomach is a mess (I was trying to avoid pulling a "Charlotte"- TMI right?). I purchased a ticket to Juliaca for what I thought was 6:00 a.m. (a mere 6 hours later) and decided to stay awake and high-tail it out of Lima, which I have heard is, for lack of a better word, the armpit of Peru. When you enter through security at the Lima airport, you have to have a scanable sticker that proves that you´ve paid the airport tax. I paid and scanned through, but then realized that my flight was for 6 p.m....what??? Crap-damn military time-I didn´t pay attention. I knew there was a flight at 6 a.m. so I tried to go standby and couldn´t get on. Double crap. Now, I am stuck inside the security area and they can´t change my ticket at the gate - LAME LAN! I had to exit to change my flight AND pay a change fee AND pay the tax again. Triple crap = SHXX! I was so over it at this point that I decided to go straight to Cuzco. Very shortly thereafter, I was on the plane and was in Cuzco by 7 a.m.

When I arrived in Cuzco, I was a zombie - exhaused, stomach was going crazy and the plane dropped me into the heavens as Cuzco´s elevation is 3400m or 11,150 feet - my head ached. I was bombarded by the taxi drivers and ended up getting ripped off by some taxi driver that charged me $5 USD to get to the center when it should cost more like $1.50 USD - jerk - it´s about the principal, not the amount. I was so tired, I couldn´t think to do the conversion to soles.

I had the taxi drop me off at a hotel that was recommended in my handy little lonley planet book. The hotel was full...WHAT? Are you kidding me? Agrrrr! The lady in the office was nice enough to let me leave my bag while I walked around to find a room. I asked around at about 4 places and finally found one. This was a brutal process because I would literally take 10 steps and I had to rest - Who took away the air??? I went back to get my bag and left it at the hotel. Unfortunately, my room wasn´t ready yet. I did the zombie walk around the town and saw a massage place. I treated myself to a 1 hour, $16 massage - so cheap and so worth it!

I went to a little cafe for lunch and there I met Cristian from Chile. We ended up hanging out and how I managed the strength to go on a horseback riding tour is beyond me. We went to the Inca ruins, Templo de la Luna. I don´t really even remember it. We ate dinner, I went back to my room and took my emergency perscription of Cipro (I finally gave in to the stomach monster - it got me...) and went to bed. I slept 10 hours that night. What a process. I get exhausted just writing about it - I am going to take a nap now!