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Peru 2 - 'As I was saying...'
Right, well as the title suggests, this saying has begun to get on our nerves a bit. This is because our tour guide, Jenni, used this saying as a preface to every sentence, and I do mean every sentence.
We decided to take a tour after arriving at Cusco on the advice of Veronica, who we met at the airport. We hadn't booked a hotel in advance, so we decided to seek the advice of one of the many hotel agents who were ast the airport. Veronica arranged the hotel and the transfer, and led us to a taxi for the 20 minute drive.
The hotel was in a reasonably good area, and was well enough appointed for what we wanted. As we were tired, Veronica suggested coming back the next day to tell us about the tours and options available. Though we had been happy going it alone, our conversations with other travellers had suggested that here in Cusco, and Macha Picchu to come, we would see more on an organised tour.
Veronica duly turned up next morning, and on her advice, we booked our City Tour, to be followed by an overnight stay in Aguas Caliente, the village which caters for tourists visiting Macha Picchu. Those of you who speak Spanish will recognise that Aguas Caliente means 'Hot Water' or 'Hot Water', more about this later.
Anyway, the city tour is a tour of the city, plus the four or five Inca sites which lie within 10km of the city. Included in the tour are several museum and church visits, and an evening of traditional dancing in a local theatre.
First shock is that all of these require the visitor to purchase a tourist ticket - this is a single ticket which gives entry to most of the main attractions. You can't buy individual entry to the sites, the full ticket must be bought, but as it includes entry to Macha Picchu, well, we soon convinced ourselves that it was worth it.
The problem was Jenni.
Stalin could have learned lessons from that girl. As we were the only English speakers, apart from a young Japanese girl (more about her later), Jenni started her tour in Spanish, then translated to what she classed as English. Well, she started off with a list of rules, mainly about the dire consequences of not sticking to her schedule, or keeping up with her commentary. 'Be one minute late back to the bus, and we will not stop to pick you up, I have a schedule to keep to' being one of her favourite lines.
Nevertheless, the local Inca sites were interesting enough, with or without commentary. I know she was trying hard to impart her information to us, but after a while, her constant, 'Jenni's group, this way' or 'As I was saying...' or dire threats to those who dawdled or who didn't get on the bus quick enough, grated on our nerves.
The tour though was interesting, and worth the effort.
Our next day was scheduled to be rest day, before we tackled the very early start and train ride to Macha Picchu, which deserves a page of its own. Suffice to say that we used the rest day to visit many of the more local attractions of Cusco.
The next blog will be about our visit to Machu Picchu, and our meeting with Gai Jin, (Japanese for 'foreigner'), the young Japanese girl who we oroiginally met on this city tour. See you all soon.
We decided to take a tour after arriving at Cusco on the advice of Veronica, who we met at the airport. We hadn't booked a hotel in advance, so we decided to seek the advice of one of the many hotel agents who were ast the airport. Veronica arranged the hotel and the transfer, and led us to a taxi for the 20 minute drive.
The hotel was in a reasonably good area, and was well enough appointed for what we wanted. As we were tired, Veronica suggested coming back the next day to tell us about the tours and options available. Though we had been happy going it alone, our conversations with other travellers had suggested that here in Cusco, and Macha Picchu to come, we would see more on an organised tour.
Veronica duly turned up next morning, and on her advice, we booked our City Tour, to be followed by an overnight stay in Aguas Caliente, the village which caters for tourists visiting Macha Picchu. Those of you who speak Spanish will recognise that Aguas Caliente means 'Hot Water' or 'Hot Water', more about this later.
Anyway, the city tour is a tour of the city, plus the four or five Inca sites which lie within 10km of the city. Included in the tour are several museum and church visits, and an evening of traditional dancing in a local theatre.
First shock is that all of these require the visitor to purchase a tourist ticket - this is a single ticket which gives entry to most of the main attractions. You can't buy individual entry to the sites, the full ticket must be bought, but as it includes entry to Macha Picchu, well, we soon convinced ourselves that it was worth it.
The problem was Jenni.
Stalin could have learned lessons from that girl. As we were the only English speakers, apart from a young Japanese girl (more about her later), Jenni started her tour in Spanish, then translated to what she classed as English. Well, she started off with a list of rules, mainly about the dire consequences of not sticking to her schedule, or keeping up with her commentary. 'Be one minute late back to the bus, and we will not stop to pick you up, I have a schedule to keep to' being one of her favourite lines.
Nevertheless, the local Inca sites were interesting enough, with or without commentary. I know she was trying hard to impart her information to us, but after a while, her constant, 'Jenni's group, this way' or 'As I was saying...' or dire threats to those who dawdled or who didn't get on the bus quick enough, grated on our nerves.
The tour though was interesting, and worth the effort.
Our next day was scheduled to be rest day, before we tackled the very early start and train ride to Macha Picchu, which deserves a page of its own. Suffice to say that we used the rest day to visit many of the more local attractions of Cusco.
The next blog will be about our visit to Machu Picchu, and our meeting with Gai Jin, (Japanese for 'foreigner'), the young Japanese girl who we oroiginally met on this city tour. See you all soon.
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John&Lynnette |
Latest page update: made by John&Lynnette
, Aug 15 2008, 5:05 PM EDT
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