Travel With Betsy

laugh……really hard.

I have been laughing…..really hard……for days as we have traveled up and down and up and down and up through the Andes Mountains in Peru. Yesterday, we hit about 14,000 feet, (not even our highest spot so far) to stop in front of a very picturesque picnic area overlooking Lake Titicaca…..

….to have lunch. I looked around at the 17 of us who are on this adventure together with the fine guides of Gate 1 Travel. We were all bundled up with down jackets, our heads wrapped in scarves to protect us from the wind and unending dust, eating with one hand, and holding on to the containers of our box lunches with the other to insure that they didn’t fly away. I stood in the middle of the group, surveyed this comical scene, and just started laughing. I couldn’t stop.

Then, I went to the bathroom at our stopping location and took the allotted piece of toilet tissue that went with the 1 Sol (about 30 cents) I paid to use the toilet, out of the tiny box next to the metal door of the bathroom…..

….did my business and threw the toilet tissue in the garbage pail next to the toilet, as is the custom everywhere in Peru, even in our very fine 4 and 5 star hotels. The plumbing here is not strong enough to process toilet tissue. Makes you wonder how they process anything more than peepee. As I came out of my tiny stall, I watched, as the attendant went to each small toilet stall with a bucket and fished out the toilet paper that people had forgotten to throw in the small trash cans. Once again, I looked around and started to laugh. I couldn’t stop.

Then, last night we finally came to the 5 star hotel destination in Lake Titicaca where we would spend 2 nights at about 10,000 feet. We were so excited at the prospect of a good night’s sleep. Sleep does not come easily at high elevations. By now, we have both had more than a few rough nights. I went to the room first after dinner and lay down on my bed hoping for sleep. Then, Jody came and lay down on her bed. The room was hot. We had no control of the temperature. We couldn’t open the windows. And, to top if off, we were provided down comforters as sheets. I heard Jody muttering, “What the hell”.  I looked at her and mentioned that we could be in the Swiss Alps with this massive covering, and we both just melted into laughter.   I couldn’t stop.

I’m still laughing!

So, here’s the first thing I have learned about myself so far on this trip. High elevations make me giddy. I couldn’t figure it out at first, but that’s my conclusion. If I want a good laugh, I can just head to the highest elevation that is near me and let loose.

I have also learned that, just like my blow up back pillow, my body, particularly my feet, swell up like water balloons. And, whatever is being harbored in my sinuses leaks out of my nose and eyes as fast as I can mop it up with a tissue. The last, and most important, is that alcohol and high elevations don’t mix. This grand mixture leads to sleepless nights, leg cramps and a light hangover. Even the 1 glass of wine that I am having now gives me an unpleasant vision of my night ahead. But, I’m still having it.

We have also learned that taking organized tours leads to many hours on the bus as we move from place to place and many early mornings as we get our luggage ready to put out for pick up in the morning.

This is not making us laugh…..

But it’s all part of the adventure and, now that we are this far in, we realize that it’s probably the only way to see all of the things we wanted to see here. Sites are very far apart. So, despite it all, we are having a good time in our first 6 days here in Peru and have seen an unbelievable amount of beautiful scenery, wildlife and very diverse towns…..and, of course, have met some very nice people.

I am going to give you some detail about these places in the next few posts. But, for now, I am heading to bed in hopes that I can sleep. We have a wake up call at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning so that we can get our luggage out for pick up at 6:45. We are leaving for the Sacred Valley tomorrow at 7:30.   So, it will be an early one. Jody and I have decided that we are going to share one of my Ambien pills so that we can get some sleep.

So, as I am thinking about this schedule of events, once again, I am laughing. And, I am mopping my nose and eyes and trying to relieve cramps in my legs……

Still laughing……really hard…….!

This entry was posted on September 15, 2016 at 1:38 am and is filed under Group Travel, South America, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.