Nausea and Hard Feelings

Last night, I survived a nightbus from Cusco to Arequipa. This entailed sitting/trying to sleep on a bus/trying desperately not to throw up as we wound through mountainous terrain for about 9 hours. We took a nice bus line, Cruz del Sur, in hopes that the higher bus fee would ward off any thieves (they can be kind of common on night buses) and were rewarded with a dinner (which I could not eat due to my stomach tying itself into knots), a second story view of various mountains/town lights at night, a movie, and reclining chairs. It was pretty snazzy, if I do say so myself. However, one thing that distressed me was that the bathrooms on board were proclaimed to be "Urine Only" bathrooms. Now, I'm not sure if this is a problem for Peruvians who have been raised driving crazy mountain roads/eating food that my stomach could not begin to digest, but for tourists, this is an issue. For someone like me, who was certain she may throw up at any given time, knowing that I could not ran back to the bathroom and throw up to my heart's content in said bathroom was rather distressing. Instead, the welcome video at the beginning of the bus ride told me, "Should you have other bathroom needs, please tell a Cruz del Sur attendant. We will tell the driver to pull off to a place on the highway where your needs can be met more suitably." So, what I want to know is, if I had felt a sudden need to puke, would the entire bus have pulled over on a windy mountainous road with no guardrail so that my bathroom needs could be met more suitably by a cliffside? And if the bus had pulled over, would it have done it quickly enough for me to not vomit all over everyone within ten feet of me? Luckily, I did not have to test Cruz del Sur's promise. But I might tomorrow night, or the night after, or the night after that...if Amy and I want to head up the coast as planned, going by bus is really the only affordable way to do it. Pray for me, okay guys? Thanks.

On another note, something I've really been wanting to write about lately is the bizarre and somewhat distressing relationship between tourists and Cusco locals. Now, I understand that we probably get a bit frustrating...we're all over Cusco, not knowing Spanish and filling up tables in the restaurants and confusedly walking in front of taxis saying "The map says such and such attraction is this way!" But for the most part, I don't think we mean anyone any harm. Not only that, but we provide Cusco with 85% of its income...Cusco NEEDS tourism. And many tourists come to Cusco to volunteer as well as sight-see...most of the tourists I have met have genuinely wanted to helped the Cusquenians...we DO have more money and we DO have more resources, and unlike many people who just sit in the states waiting for interest to accumulate in their trust funds, we actually go out into the world and distribute our money! And so many volunteers want to connect with the locals and form genuine friendships. However, (and this does not go for all Peruvians, or even Cusquenians, but does apply to the majority I have met) so many of the locals here are just out to rip us tourists off. It's impossible to sit in the Plaza de Armas without having about fifteen locals coming up to you in a 20 minute period asking you if they can sell you fingerpuppet dolls or a hat with llamas on it or shine your shoes. I always say, "No, gracias" as politely as possible, but they are so persistant...often they won't go away unless you yell (which I did once and it made me feel like shit) or completely ignore them, either of which is very rude. I don't like feeling like a rude person! I don't want to be a rude person! But I feel like I have to be. And then they feel justified in treating me like a bitchy tourist. It's a vicious cycle. A few days ago, Amy and I had some guy walk up to us on the street. He said something we couldn't understand and then smacked Amy on her wrist. Before either of us could react, he came up to me and hit me on my shoulder. And these were not gentle hits...these were I'm-trying-to-inflict-pain And then he just made a disgusted face and walked away! I have no idea what to think about this. The only thing that separated us from the other people on the street (and there were lots of other people) was that we were white.

Another example...last night Amy and I caught a taxi to take us to the bus station, a ride that should not have been more than 5 soles. Usually when you catch a cab, you negotiate with the driver before you get in, and only once you two have agreed on a price do you accept the ride. Amy hailed the cab and asked "How many soles?" but instead of giving her an answer, he hopped out of the cab and took our backpacks and made small talk until we were in the cab...then he said "Ten soles." Amy and I said no because we knew the price was too high, but he repeated "Ten" and we were already in the cab. I was so mad and so tired of feeling like I was being ripped off all the time (this is after we almost got robbed a couple weekends ago...I'll tell that story later), so once the cab got to the bus station and the man gave us our bags back, I only gave him 6 soles. He looked at me confusedly and I said, "That's all I have." He said it was our fault, and I felt bad so I dug around in my pocket and found him another sol and repeated that that was all I had. He knew I was lying. I knew I was lying. But I didn't budge...he was trying to rip us off, and I wasn't going to let him. I shouldn't have even given him 7...the ride was worth 4 or 5. But I left the situation feeling like the bad guy. I wanted to yell at him and demand to know if he thought I was stupid, but I didn't. It's clear that he did...or he thought I was too passive to fight with him. I don't like having to fight. *sigh* Anyway, people keep telling me that things will be better now that I'm out of Cusco...I guess we'll see? Gotta go, more later.

written by

kfox on July 6, 2010 from Arequipa, Peru

from the travel blog: Peru Adventure!

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