Day 12 continued (1-22-10)
I tried to go to bed but some of the people who I share a room with didn´t show me any respect. They kept coming in and out of the room, turning on the lights to search for things and I don´t know. It really frustrated me. Finally they appeared to be done with this nonsense. Turns out they made friends with girls in the hostel and decided to hang out in the common room that is next to my room. They were very noisy so I couldn´t fall asleep. I tried to ask them nicely if they could be quieter but that didn´t work. 30 minutes later, I went out and asked them to move somewhere else. So they did but that lasted for what they prob assumed was the time it would take me to fall asleep. The hostel really needs quiet hours and I fully plan to mention in my comments. Eventually after all this madness, I fell asleep.
Day 13 (1-23-10)
I woke up at like 5:30-40ish to some Peruvian men thinking it was cool to watch tv. I will not miss this hostel. Maybe if I had a private room, it would be different but who would have thought it was like this. I tried to fall back asleep but was relatively unsuccessful. I got dressed and went to check things online before my cab came.
On my cab ride to the train station, I passed a lot of potential photos. The combination of the windy road and my cab driver´s driving made me feel a little not good but I survived. I got to the train station and ran into my Brazilian friends. It was nice. We talked and shared horror stories of our nights. When I went to check the time, I realized I didn´t have my phone. Did I leave at the hostel, in the cab or was it stolen? I couldn´t remember. This was bad. Caro and Mario tried to calm me down which helped. We then ran into Chileans who Caro and Mario met the day before. They tried to help me. Most people didn´t signal on their phone. Eventually one of the people who work on the train helped me. He asked a friend and he called the hostel. They found it. I had left it by the computer due to dashing out in a rush and being so tired. This was instant relief. I told the group the good news and we all were happy. We all talked for a bit before Caro and Mario had to leave on an earlier train.
I waited for my train with the Chilean women because they were on my train. All the trains were delayed because of the heavy rain last night. Two after the original departure time, we headed out. I was seated with two other Americans. They are out of college. One is working as a freelance writer and photographer in Buenos Aires (pretty cool). She and I exchanged info in between taking lots and lots of photos from the train.
After 40ish minutes, our train stopped. No one seemed to know why. Eventually, I learned that there was major landslides blocking a section of the track. So we waited to see what was going to happen. I played some Texas Hold Em with the Americans. After 45 minutes, we finally started to move again. But that was short lived. We only pulled into a place so we could get buses. We were given a choice, go to Cusco and try another day or bus it for an hour to another train to take us the rest of the way. As the Italian who I met in Lima said to me, I may die tomorrow (his twisted way of saying Carpe Diem). So I said to myself, I am going for it. While we waited for the buses, I took some pictures of whatever town we were in. The picture above is of a nice woman who allowed the photo (it is currently unedited so that will happen in a few weeks).
I finally got on a bus. After an hour or so, we got another train. At this rate, I had maybe a few hours there but that is better than nothing, right? We had heavy delays getting out of this station too. I sat with two woman from Southern California, Martha and Danielle, and a New Zealander named Ara. They were enjoyable company considering the circumstances. We talked about a wide range of things. I also taught them some stuff about their cameras since they had some questions. Turns out within an hour or so, another landslide had happened. We were about 20 km away from Aguas Calientes. But we couldn´t go any further. I guess we were lucky that we were not there when it happened. People are currently trapped at Machu Picchu. Luckily I had no travel plans that got messed up through this. I plan to try again next weekend (I have to go to the office tomorrow to figure out what to do). It sucked but that is a part of the adventure.
On the train back to the station we got this second train, I met two people who had been doing volunteer work here so I got a suggestion that I am going to try out since I haven´t heard back from this other one. Martha and Danielle and I chatted some more. They are in some kind of medical field but I couldn´t figure it out. But when I mentioned that I had Crohn´s, they became very insistant that I get off Gluten. I plan to investigate this more. The change would not happen till after I get back at the soonest. We then had to get back a bus to get back to Cusco. I mostly tried to sleep with the aide of the music of Explosions in the Sky. Eventually, Martha and I swapped iPods. She has a good taste in music including cds I want and she wanted some of mine.
We ended up at the Peru Rail office (where I need to go tomorrow to get either my money back or try to change my ticket till next Saturday (I am thinking the landslides will be cleared by then). The SoCal girls and Igrabbed a cab since their hotel is near my hostel. We went to grabbed dinner. Martha played the role of interrogator but I am used to it. I also showed them the photo album that I am traveling around. After, we said bye and good luck on things. I might try to see if they are around tomorrow. I came back and checked facebook. I had to let people down by not going to Machu Picchu. I then uploaded while the people who woke me up this morning are watching Peruvian music videos. I will tell them to turn it down so I can sleep.
Plan for Sunday
Wake up. Try to go the Peru Rail office early to figure out what to do, then check out this volunteer opportunity. Then hopefully going to Skype.
