Roadside families near Cuzco.
Several women, their children and the family llamas.
The women spun wool, hand-knit various items to sell to the tourists in the occasional cars or vans that were sightseeing along the dirt road.
I had joined a day-long Sacred Valley of the Inca van tour that had about seven fellow travelers in it. Curious and humorous thing that happened on our way back to Cuzco: Our van was a new VW (very impressive compared to other vehicles in Cuzco at the time I was there). Our Peruvian driver/guide was proud to drive such a nice vehicle. Plus, he narrated in English (sorta), and that also gave him status among his peers. Trouble was, the guy didn't know how to drive. Seriously. On our way back, we were on a narrow dirt road on the side of a mountain. It was dark. He had the headlights on (the only source of illumination within miles). It was raining. As we got close to the occasional other vehicle approaching us, both drivers turned their headlights off. OFF! Black as pitch, and they turned their lights off?
Back at the Main Plaza, I gave our driver a generous tip. Not because he was a good driver, and not because he was a particularly good narrator. I gave him a tip because he got me back alive. That was worth something to me.
Charlie
What a great story...it would have been awful if you went off the cliff and you had already tipped the driver...as you know T-I-P is an acronym for To Insure Promptness...so you probably should have given him a TIS in advance...to insure survival! But alas even without the tis you made it safe and sound.
Now about the photos...love 'em all!
The first is so cool...how many people get to travel with a never ending supply of wool...its like a never ending gobstopper!
The next two are so precious...the clothing colors and style just shout Peru and the looks on both of their faces are priceless.
The last, the "Our Gang" shot is wonderful with the great colors they wear...I hope you gave the little girl a pair of shoes as it does look like she's barefooted.
I have never been to Peru but if and when I do I hope to have an adventure even 1/10th as cool as this was Charlie!
Eric
Thanks, Eric.
Not that I'm trying to torture you (well, yes, I suppose I am )- but from Lima I flew to Guyaquil, Ecuador, signed up with a local agency for a 2-week cruise of the Galapagos Islands, flew to the islands and joined seven other foreigners on a converted 40-foot fishing boat. We ate and slept on the boat, and sailed to several of the islands where we anchored in shallow lagoons (all boats had to do that to avoid contamination of the individual islands), took a small dinghy ashore, and investigated the wildlife and all the lava flows.
Life's a beach. A black sand beach in some cases .
Charlie
Charlie Shugart wrote:
Thanks, Eric.
Not that I'm trying to torture you (well, yes, I suppose I am )- but from Lima I flew to Guyaquil, Ecuador, signed up with a local agency for a 2-week cruise of the Galapagos Islands, flew to the islands and joined seven other foreigners on a converted 40-foot fishing boat. We ate and slept on the boat, and sailed to several of the islands where we anchored in shallow lagoons (all boats had to do that to avoid contamination of the individual islands), took a small dinghy ashore, and investigated the wildlife and all the lava flows.
Life's a beach. A black sand beach in some cases .
Charlie...Show more →
Remember Gardner McKay in "I sailed to Tahiti with an all girl crew"...well that's what I'm picturing so don't blow it and talk about swarthy sailors, OK?
I miss the fact I didn't travel to out of the way places before they became more developed. I would have loved to see old China, Africa and S. America before it became so chic to do so and all the "charm" was removed.
Eric
Mar 31, 2012 at 02:52 PM
Thomas Sanders Offline • • • • • • Upload & Sell: Off
Thanks Tom, Ron and Kenny.
No, the driver didn't play a flute (while he was driving).
Oh, one other thing about his driving that amused me: I suspect this was the first time he'd ever driven a car that had windshield wipers- that actually worked. Every 5 or 10 minutes he'd turn the wipers on for 2 or 3 swipes (when it wasn't raining). And when it WAS raining, every 5 or 10 minutes he'd turn the wipers off for several seconds.
Other observations made me suspect that perhaps nobody in the country knew how to drive. Example: when I left my Lima pension for the airport to fly to Ecuador, my taxi driver picked me up at the designated time. Half-way to the airport he stopped and bought about 5 gallons of gas.
Wonderful people the Peruvians- but the industrial revolution arrived a bit late for them, I suspect. And when I was there they were still trying to catch up .
Charlie
)- but from Lima I flew to Guyaquil, Ecuador, signed up with a local agency for a 2-week cruise of the Galapagos Islands, flew to the islands and joined seven other foreigners on a converted 40-foot fishing boat. We ate and slept on the boat, and sailed to several of the islands where we anchored in shallow lagoons (all boats had to do that to avoid contamination of the individual islands), took a small dinghy ashore, and investigated the wildlife and all the lava flows.
.
That would have made my day 