Random observations from the half way mark...

- Cath has discovered that there is such a thing as too much cheese. In Chile, cheese seems to be part of every meal.
- Roadsigns are purely recommendations, nobody follows them even when there are traffic police standing on the side of the road next to them.
- Attractive Latino women lose some of their appeal when you see them squat and pee in the street (This is common everywhere outside of major cities, both boys and girls)
- Car horns can mean a myriad of things for instance:
= I am approaching a T intersection with a stop sign but am not stopping so I am letting you know that I am passing straight through (first beep has right of way?)
= Get out of the way
= The light turned green less than 1 second ago and I am not moving so get out of the way
= There is a child, person, pig, donkey, alpaca on the side of the road
= I am overtaking you
= I am passing a bus parked on the side of the road
= I am a taxi and I want your attention (this can be any number of bird like noises for horns including some that sound like a wolf whistle)o
Suffice to say, its a pretty noisy place, we had an Italian fellow from Rome tell us that they use the horn a lot here so that should give you some indication.

- Flushing the toilet is optional, Cath has had a few surprises but thinks this is more a tourist problem than a local one.
- Do not order anything a la carte unless you really aren´t hungry. You can get a 2 or 3 course meal with choices for every serving for a third the price of a single a la carte dish.
- More people speak some English in Peru than they do in Chile
- A tour with an English speaking guide does not actually mean you will get an English speaking guide, Agencies will tell you anything to sell you a tour.
- Children can really make a place, the kids are really beautiful here when they aren´t trying to sell you finger puppets, postcards or beanies on the street.
- American 16 year old tour groups are painful.
- If you return to a hotel after a tour with a night away you seem to get upgraded with either, a TV or a bigger TV, a bigger room, better towels, shampoo in the shower - this has happened to us four times already!

written by  Cath & Andy on April 27, 2007 from Puno, Peru
from the travel blog: A journey to the alter and South America
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