I have realized on this trip that I am not the type of person who should be big into international traveling, because everything that I want to avoid happening while I’m overseas always ends up happening. When I arrived in Peru, I didn’t have any cash on me, purposefully, because I knew that the exchangers always ripped you off. So I waited until I needed to take money out when I got to Cusco. So on my very first day, I went to the travel agent to book my trip to Macchu Picchu, and he asked for it in cash (not to be a creep but because they charged 8% to charge a credit card). So I headed over to the ATM and took out $270. Risky move, but it had to be done. So the next morning, I open to wallet to take out some petty cash for lunch, and my credit card wasn’t there, someone had taken it or I had left it at the ATM. I saw my destiny flash before my eyes: I would become one of the street beggars that came to Peru, but couldn’t afford to get home, so they sold chocolate candies on the street until they could afford their plane ticket. There surely were no other options. It turns out, that I have a bomb ass mom who found a way to wire me money so that I could afford to eat lunch that day…and also buy a sweet looking scrunchie, which is clearly also a corporal need. The second unfortunate incident happened on my way back from the clinic yesterday. Now my friend Janny and I had been going around parts of the city with two other Peruvian nurses giving vaccinations to elderly people all day. It was bananas because we literally went door to door and sometimes broke an entry to ask if any elderly people wanted to be vaccinated for Influenza. I did not give any vaccines, but I did take down everyone’s information, which was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my 21 years of life. I asked for their names, address and ID number and they would say the most insane names I’d ever as fast as they could while my brain weeped. I was fairly certain before I left that all the males were named Paco and all the women were named Maria. My mistake. On a side note, what was both funny and sad was that we encountered probably 4-5 men who said that could not be vaccinated because they were drunk…SIR IT IS 9 IN THE MORNING, PLEASE HAVE A JUICE. So after walking the streets of dirty Zarzuela for 4 hours, we could finally head back into town to grab a bite to eat. I’m literally starving at this point because all we have for breakfast at my host family is juice and bread. Now Janny and I saw this bus that wasn’t the one we were told to use, but it had a bus stop near where we both lived. So we’re feeling hip and local, and decide to go aboard this mystery bus. It turns out that this bus had other plans for us; it took us all the way down the mountain and into boonies of Cusco, where the buses refueled and where white girls like me were forced to pump gas for the rest of their lives Now I was pretty scared, don’t get me wrong, but the emotion that had overcome me was hanger, which I believe to be the strongest of the human emotions. Now Janny, sweet sweet Janny, was trying to be super positive about the situation, saying that it was such a funny and unique experience, while I’m enfuriated and attempting to cuss out the bus drivers in Spanish, which probably to them sounded like human garbage. Oh well, probably for the best. So we eventually found a bus to take us somewhat close to where we were trying to be, and by the time we got back it was 2:30,and at this point I could no longer pretend to be human, I was full animal mode. I became a primate. The first snack stand I found, I raided it for all of its dirty treasure. I think I even managed to buy pizza chips. I’m not sure, it was all a blur. Then I went home and laid in the same position for the rest of the night, asking Peru to have mercy on me. I don’t mean to sound negative, it’s just been a very funny first week for me in terms of travel mistakes. The good thing is I’ve got a great family that’s always watching after me, and I always meet good friends so that I don’t have to go on a 2 hour bus ride down a mountain alone.
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