Day 3. Waiting...
I wake up early, 5am. It´s sunny and noisy with insects, birds and traffic and although I try my best it´s impossible to get more sleep so I shower (it´s cold!) and go for breakfast. I decide to take some of my Earl Grey tea with me as a little treat. It´s been days since I had a proper cuppa and it´s deliciously decadent! Careful brewing means I can get two good cups from one fill (I have leaf tea so I could carry more and a little tea house my mum gave me to brew it in).
There was talk of going swimming in an artificial lake today. It sounds fantastic! I arranged to call at Vicky’s at 11am. Not too early as they were out late last night. There are still hours to go so I faff around and pack up some stuff to leave at Vicky´s place so it doesn´t go mouldy in the forest. I get together my swimming stuff and the bits of paper I need to get on with my teaching assignment (one of the things I didn´t quite have time to do before I left). Finally ready, I get a three-wheeled moto-taxi into town, deciding against a ´backie´ on a scooter as I have my big rucksack.
A couple of hours on a computer in an internet café and one delicious ice-cream later and I call at Vicky´s. She is still asleep and looking somewhat groggy from a late night with lots of alcohol. She happily lets me leave my stuff and I suggest I come back later on when she´s had a chance to wake up. She suggests a café where I can get some lunch.
The café has enormous, fancy cakes topped with all manner of intricate decorations on display. It also does sandwiches. I opt for avocado and try to ensure that there is no meat or chicken or fish in it (last time I was in Spain the lentil soup has evil pepperoni in it and the potato dish came with tuna, although the café owners protested this). I am not entirely convinced the lady understood me. It turns out that she did as she brings me a delicious bap filled to bursting with ripe avocado, tasty tomato and onion. Just what I wanted and absolutely delicious!
Next I go on an anti-perspirant mission. Deodorant is all very well and good, but I´m soaked with sweat and my hippy crystal rock deodorant is just not up to the job! I´m successful but the poorer for it – gutted that the Miami airport staff confiscated the nice stuff I bought on my way into Miami (but they had guns; I wasn´t going to argue!).
I return to Vicky´s a bit later and she´s looking a lot more with it. It seems like it´s too late to go to the Lake today, though, and probably about to rain. I decide I may as well go for a swim in my hotel pool and she says she may join me later but anyway will come and call on me and we can go for dinner. Seems like a plan.
The pool is every bit as nice as I hoped. The cool water is refreshing and dappled with sunshine as it occasionally breaks through the cloud. I´ve been badly sunburned while swimming in water once before, so I get out after a little swim and hide in the shade. I´m careful to cver myself up with the light cotton sarong that I´d chucked in my bag after much deliberation as to it´s necessity. I´m glad I brought it. I decide to sit and read until I´m hot again and then get back in the water. The weather has other ideas, however. The sky darkens and I get my towel from where it´s drying and head back to my room just as the heavens open once more.
For all the destruction of the Incas and their evil inquisition, the Spanish got things right with the siesta. Giving a name to dozing in the afternoon lends it a certain formality and I feel obliged to observe the local customs.
I awake again later in the afternoon and am hungry again. I think about going into town, but Vicky said she´d come and meet me here and as we didn´t agree a time I´m inclined to wait. So I wait.
By 6.30 I decide that if she´s not here by 8pm, I´ll head into town anyway. There´s an entrance to an ant´s nest in a hole in my floor and I illegally transported a nut through America in the pocket of my bag. The ants seem to enjoy it and I watch the workers and occasional soldiers massing around it for a while.
I wake up again about half eight and decide dinner is imminent. I could eat in the hotel but no one else seems to e there so I decide to head into town. By 9pm I´m suitably dressed in long sleeves and insect repellent. I leave a not for Vicky in case she turns up and set off to find the alleged veggie restaurant listed in my guide book. I´m unsuccessful on that front, but find another one that I´ve seen the name of and venture in. They bring me a huge plate of salad and a jug of fresh araza juice (the flavour of ice-cream that I enjoyed yesterday). It´s a “local fruit” orange-yellow coloured, but I have no idea what it looks like whole. I imagine something like an apricot by the colour and delicate flavour. There´s a tv in the café it is looks like it´s showing election campaign broadcasts from each candidate, although it´s hard to tell through all the adverts. Behind it, through the open front of the café, I can watch people, scooters and moto-taxis passing by. I also spot a corner shop. The corner shop sells wafer biscuits, crisps and inca kola. Feeling well-provisioned I step out, hail a scooter and head back to the hotel.
There was talk of going swimming in an artificial lake today. It sounds fantastic! I arranged to call at Vicky’s at 11am. Not too early as they were out late last night. There are still hours to go so I faff around and pack up some stuff to leave at Vicky´s place so it doesn´t go mouldy in the forest. I get together my swimming stuff and the bits of paper I need to get on with my teaching assignment (one of the things I didn´t quite have time to do before I left). Finally ready, I get a three-wheeled moto-taxi into town, deciding against a ´backie´ on a scooter as I have my big rucksack.
A couple of hours on a computer in an internet café and one delicious ice-cream later and I call at Vicky´s. She is still asleep and looking somewhat groggy from a late night with lots of alcohol. She happily lets me leave my stuff and I suggest I come back later on when she´s had a chance to wake up. She suggests a café where I can get some lunch.
The café has enormous, fancy cakes topped with all manner of intricate decorations on display. It also does sandwiches. I opt for avocado and try to ensure that there is no meat or chicken or fish in it (last time I was in Spain the lentil soup has evil pepperoni in it and the potato dish came with tuna, although the café owners protested this). I am not entirely convinced the lady understood me. It turns out that she did as she brings me a delicious bap filled to bursting with ripe avocado, tasty tomato and onion. Just what I wanted and absolutely delicious!
Next I go on an anti-perspirant mission. Deodorant is all very well and good, but I´m soaked with sweat and my hippy crystal rock deodorant is just not up to the job! I´m successful but the poorer for it – gutted that the Miami airport staff confiscated the nice stuff I bought on my way into Miami (but they had guns; I wasn´t going to argue!).
I return to Vicky´s a bit later and she´s looking a lot more with it. It seems like it´s too late to go to the Lake today, though, and probably about to rain. I decide I may as well go for a swim in my hotel pool and she says she may join me later but anyway will come and call on me and we can go for dinner. Seems like a plan.
The pool is every bit as nice as I hoped. The cool water is refreshing and dappled with sunshine as it occasionally breaks through the cloud. I´ve been badly sunburned while swimming in water once before, so I get out after a little swim and hide in the shade. I´m careful to cver myself up with the light cotton sarong that I´d chucked in my bag after much deliberation as to it´s necessity. I´m glad I brought it. I decide to sit and read until I´m hot again and then get back in the water. The weather has other ideas, however. The sky darkens and I get my towel from where it´s drying and head back to my room just as the heavens open once more.
For all the destruction of the Incas and their evil inquisition, the Spanish got things right with the siesta. Giving a name to dozing in the afternoon lends it a certain formality and I feel obliged to observe the local customs.
I awake again later in the afternoon and am hungry again. I think about going into town, but Vicky said she´d come and meet me here and as we didn´t agree a time I´m inclined to wait. So I wait.
By 6.30 I decide that if she´s not here by 8pm, I´ll head into town anyway. There´s an entrance to an ant´s nest in a hole in my floor and I illegally transported a nut through America in the pocket of my bag. The ants seem to enjoy it and I watch the workers and occasional soldiers massing around it for a while.
I wake up again about half eight and decide dinner is imminent. I could eat in the hotel but no one else seems to e there so I decide to head into town. By 9pm I´m suitably dressed in long sleeves and insect repellent. I leave a not for Vicky in case she turns up and set off to find the alleged veggie restaurant listed in my guide book. I´m unsuccessful on that front, but find another one that I´ve seen the name of and venture in. They bring me a huge plate of salad and a jug of fresh araza juice (the flavour of ice-cream that I enjoyed yesterday). It´s a “local fruit” orange-yellow coloured, but I have no idea what it looks like whole. I imagine something like an apricot by the colour and delicate flavour. There´s a tv in the café it is looks like it´s showing election campaign broadcasts from each candidate, although it´s hard to tell through all the adverts. Behind it, through the open front of the café, I can watch people, scooters and moto-taxis passing by. I also spot a corner shop. The corner shop sells wafer biscuits, crisps and inca kola. Feeling well-provisioned I step out, hail a scooter and head back to the hotel.
posted by Naomi | 10:13 AM
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