First of all, I'M IN CUSCO! I'm actually on my last night in Cusco. The process of getting here was a bit tricky. Initially we were told that we would be returning to Cusco on December 18, but two months ago that was changed to December 17, and a month ago it became the 16th. The plan was for a van to pick up the people and equipment from Pantiacolla (the lowland station), and drive them a couple hours up to our station where they would unload some people and gear into our van (there were 13 people in Pantiacolla and only 5 in San Pedro). We were told that our van would be arriving at 2pm, but since we're in Peru, I didn't really expect it to show up before 3pm. Turns out it was after 5pm before anything finally showed up.The good news was that instead of two small vans, we actually had a bus! The even better news was that 13 Pantiacollans piled off and immediately scooped up all our gear and piled it onto the bus (amazing how much more quickly things happen with 13 people than with 5, especially when over a third of those Pantiacollans are big, burly guys).
This bus was wonderful. It didn't reek of coca, the aisles were clear up until the last row of seats, nearly everyone had TWO seats to themselves, and no one was shoving you aside, telling you not to step on their chickens, or handing you children to pass to the back. Plus, we got through the coca police checkpoint in about 3 minutes, instead of 2 hours. We always seemed to have the longest inspection on the Gallito de las Rocas bus, perhaps because of the smell of coca, or the fact that the leaves were still settling to the ground after all the women had frantically shoved bags of coca in any hiding place they could find. Life of luxury, that bus.
Anyways, at some point in the middle of the night one of the tires got a hole, but we didn't have a spare so the driver just filled it up with air and kept going. We stopped every hour or so to fill it up again, and each time Laura would get off to check out the situation, then report back that the hole was bigger. Great. We finally rolled into Cusco around 3am, and literally after passing under the "Bienvenidos a Cusco" sign, the driver stopped the bus and told us we were there. Umm... no. Laura tried to argue with the driver that we were still 20-30 minutes from our hostel, but the guy said he didn't want to go any further with the bad tire in case he got stranded. He told us to take a taxi the rest of the way. First of all, there were 18 of us, which is 5 taxis minimum before you even consider that we had two stations worth of equipment with us. Laura insisted that he keep going, he refused, so we all just stayed put and slept on the bus for an hour! Finally he came back, started the bus, picked up a friend or something to help him in case he got stuck, filled up the tire again, and took us to the hostel. Of course, the driver was annoyed with us by that point, so rather than pull over into the little pull-out on the one-lane road in front of our hostel, he stopped in the middle of it and told us to hurry up... even though he was blocking a line of cars. We all hauled ass and tried to empty the bus as fast as we could, but like I said, there were 18 of us, all of our personal gear, and equipment from two stations... so it took a while. It didn't help that all of the cars behind us were honking the entire time (at 4am), and the driver kept shouting at us to hurry. Sheesh! We finally got everything unloaded, and by the time we moved it all into the hostel rooms it was 4:30am! So, if anything, the hour delay on the border of Cusco meant that none of us needed to pay for a hostel room that night...
After that crazy night, the rest of the week has seemed pretty tame. One morning I went with Ian, Felicity, and Jack to Huacarpay (a lake outside of Cusco) to go birding. I saw 32 new species in 7 hours! (Oh, so I think I'm becoming a "birder"...) There were a lot of cool birds there, and it was really beautiful. Another morning I went with Ian, Felicity, and Juli to Tipon (Incan ruins and irrigation system on the way to Huacarpay). That place was amazing because it was one of the lesser visited ruins, so the place was practically empty but it had all the same stuff as the more popular sites! It was another really good morning. This morning I trekked up to Saqsaywaman, which are ruins just above Cusco (one of the popular sites where the huge statue of Jesus is). However, I heard that if you show up before 7am you don't have to pay the 40-70 sole entry fee. I left around 6am and got up there around 6:30, and sure enough there was no one at the ticket counter but the gate was wide open! Turns out that is when locals go jogging or walk their dogs. Seems fair to let them in for free early in the mornings. This was another fantastic morning because, like Tipon, the place was practially empty. I got all my exploring done in the first couple hours, then spent another couple hours sitting on some rocks overlooking the ruins and the city, and writing in my diary (which, by the way, I am nearly caught up on... if you don't count the missing month in the middle :-P ). Such a relaxing place, and way nicer for diary-writing than any of the plazas because you don't get harrassed to buy something every three minutes! It's also interesting thinking back to my trip last year - when my dad and I landed in Cusco we immediately set out on a three-hour city tour, which included Saqsaywaman. I am absolutely terrible at dealing with altitude, so I was like a zombee. I could barely put one foot in front of the other, and it was apparently noticeable because our guide decided to NOT take us through the ruins, but rather give us the tour from the flat lawn area next to the ruins that I was already struggling on. However, this year I freaking hiked 30 minutes UP to the ruins before wandering around inside of them. Take that, altitude!
So, after four and a half months of working in the cloud forest and exploring around Cusco, it's finally my last night in Peru! This turned out to be a fantastic project (I had my doubts at times). I learned a lot, got a lot of great field experience, met some great people, practiced my Spanish... and now I'm looking forward to being home for Christmas! Soft toilet paper, cheese fondue, hot showers that are more than just a dribble, couches... all wonderful things that I can't wait to have. Last year I never thought I'd return, but look what happened! Maybe I'll be back again at some point...
Finally, something you mother probably doesn't want to hear after you've been working in the cloud forest for four months:
"By the way, you might wanna make sure the washer is primed and ready to go..."
Look out, Mom, I'm coming home!!
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