Hola, my last day in Peru. I leave Puno at 14:00 to go to Juliaca and catch my plane to Lima. Then I go from Lima home. I woke up to cloudy skies and looks like rain. Peru is crying that I have to leave! It has been a great trip! I was thinking about what I will remember and was thinking about all these horns as I lay in bed this morning. Lima is 8 million people. Trujillo is 1 million. Cusco is about 300,000 people and Puno is 200,000 people. But they all have one thing in common. . well, two. . . dogs and horns. Dogs are everywhere! And everyone uses the horn constantly! Mom you would hate it. Your nerves would be shot! I mean, constantly. Even driving outside the cities. From Cusco to Calca and Ollantaytambo to Cusco and then Cusco to Puno, the drivers would honk to get dogs to move out of the way. They would honk to tell people walking on the road they were coming. to say they were passing. There does seem to be some sort of system, but it never stops. Even all night in the cities, I´d hear horns honking. When I think of Peru and cities I will think of the traffic and the horns.
And the markets. Seeing all this meat and random things being sold outside. It is a site to see. Trujillo and Lima do have malls and stores, but Cusco and Puno for the most part have a lot of outside selling. Especially Puno. If time permits, I am going to walk around some more in the local areas today and see what other good pictures I can get. Am not sure I will be able to beat the sheep´s head. That was pretty classic and especially since it was not in the true market, but just on the side of a random street.
The people are also what will stick with me. From the local villagers I met on the Lares trek to the locals on the islands of Lake Titicaca, to my fellow travelers. Whenever you travel, and especially alone, you meet such interesting people from all over the world. From the Japanese couple that was at MP and then with me in Puno, to the Korean girls studying in the states, to the British group traveling around the world, to the South African couple I visited with at WaynaPicchu. You not only experience the culture of where you are, but you share in cultures from the homelands of your other travelers. Every time I have traveled alone I have met the most interesting people and at least the majority of them label me as brave, which is just funny to me. But traveling with a group or alone you are sure to meet and interact with such a wide array of people and it always adds to the experience.
Peruvian food has been fine, but I will not miss it. Yesterday when I was eating the scrumptous popcorn from a roadside vendor down by the port, I craved a diet coke for the first time since I left the states. Which for those of you who know me well probably cannot believe that I haven´t had but one diet coke (and it was really coke zero) since I left. But I haven´t. Now, I do plan on hitting cinnabon tomorrow morning at 08:00 when I get to Atlanta and having a cinnamon roll and a diet coke and it will be oh so good! Also, just checked email and my upgrade to first class from Lima to Atlanta is confirmed. . . Sweet! The lesson here people is always fly the same airline! You will get the points, become medallion level frequent flyer and get bumped up for free without asking!
Okay, enough for now. I´ve got 4 hours left in Puno so I am off to wander the city.
Adios
