WEATHER: Hot and 30C
HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Doing nothing
WORD OF THE DAY: Are you still reading that book…..
There were no activities planned for today. No wakeup time for breakfast. It was literally a day of rest by the sea, and what a place to spend it. My night’s sleep last night was okay. I did keep waking up, I don’t think the ‘blanket” mattress was thick enough as a mattress, so it was a restless sleep every time I went to turn over. That’s okay; I will suck it up tonight and then be able to but a mattress in Cuzco.
Breakfast was cereal and a few eggs cooked and slapped on bread to start the day and then free time. The ‘office’ had some work to do, so I collected what I needed and headed to the restaurant that overlooked the sea and spent a few hours getting some things up to date. My hand written diary was at bursting point with tickets, beer labels, postcards, entry tickets etc… shoved in there as I get them, so I went through it all, stuck in what I wanted in the diary, separated the rest and put them in my ‘postage’ bag that I will send from Cuzco in a few day’s time. I have worked out as I am not doing the Inca Trail I get 9 nights in Cuzco, so I will be able to get a lot done while I am there and this will hopefully include uploading pictures to Facebook. My other duties included updating my finances and completing yesterday’s blog. Tick tick tick all done just in time for lunch.
Lunch was prepared by Gray, which I can see will be the usual salad, cheese and some form of meat, which is just fine by me. The bread is sugary like Africa though and just as small, the size of your palm, no exaggeration, so I think I will just stick with salads and use the condiments. Can’t go wrong with salads for lunch.
I was talking to Gray about the mattress situation and he said follow him, so he showed me his ‘secret’ locker and he pulled out a self-inflatable mattress and he said I could borrow it for the WHOLE trip! Oh Gray, you are a life saver and skipped straight to my tent and set my bed up for tonight. It was so comfy and I can’t wait to get to bed tonight. Sad how something as simple as a blow up mattress can make the hardy traveler!!! THANKS GRAY!!!
For whatever reason I was on Struggle Street after lunch. I tried to read my book in the sun for around 30 minutes and then had to go for a lay down in the tent. I was knackered. I was surprised the tent was so cool, but we did have the front door facing the ocean and there was a wonderful breeze coming through, natural air-conditioning!! And the new mattress was pure HEAVEN. A little cloud lining underneath me and I was instantly asleep. I still have no watch and as there was no phone reception, so my mobiles were on the truck. The whole day according to time was a blur. No watch, no internet, no Wi-Fi, no networks hence no phones, it felt we were a million miles away and on another planet. It was a liberating feeling and nerve wracking all at the same time! So this is what it was like back in the 80’s!!!! Who can remember?
Kate come into the tent and mention Omar and Nicola were going for a walk to some of the Inca Ruins we could see from the camp and to check out the other side of the bay. Since I had done SFA (Sweet F@*K All) all day, I thought it best I actually get off my butt and do something. So it was good to go for a walk, even if it was all up hill, the view from the other side was just magic and at 5pm we got some pretty cool colored photos.
Back to camp and to the smell of dinner cooking. Tucan have an oven and Gray was cooking roast beef, potatoes and veggies. Who would think you would get a roast meal in the middle of nowhere camping! There is nothing like the smell of a roast cooking and we were all salivating just smelling it, oh except Malar, Liz and Paul who are vegetarians….. More meat for us I say!!!!
I have also spoken to Mark and Gray about my Brazil visa, the damn thorn in my side and we think that Buenos Aires is definetly the way to go, and when we leave Ushuaia it literally is just a 4 day drive to get to BA. I wouldn’t be missing much, so I am going to fly that component so it gives me an extra 4 days up my sleeve to submit my passport to the consulate and get my visa. I am totally happy with this plan, as when the crew arrives in BA we are there for another 4 nights, so I may be able to pop over to Montevideo for the day or something once I get my passport back. We also need a Paraguay visa, but we all need to get one, so we will be doing that in La Paz as they will process them for us overnight and apparently the Venezuela visas can be done as we pass the border and don’t have to be pre-done. This only applies if you are coming in by air or sea. So I am in a much better place knowing this and am happy with the plan!
Tomorrow we head to Arequipa and start heading into altitudes. Arequipa is only 2200m, but I am not sure how I am going to cope with long times in altitudes, so I have started to take some altitude pills this afternoon, prevention is the key with the only main side effects are pins and needles in your fingers and toes. I think I can cope with that, as long as they don’t fall off!
After showering in the treated salt water, actually saying good night tonight (no smoke bomb) it was time to hit the hay, and my little piece of sleeping heaven thanks to my blow up mattress and Gray once again! You’re a champ. A good night’s rest equals a happy Bernie and a happy Bernie keeps everyone else happy. Kate came with me tonight and we both stayed up and read for a while. I seem to be going to sleep before Kate and as usual I said goodnight and fell asleep. At one point I rolled over and she was still awake and reading…. Must be a good book. I awoke again at 2am and she was STILL reading. Her book was that good she just couldn’t put the thing down – fruit cake; thank goodness I don’t sit next to her on the truck during the day to hear her snoring from lack of sleep from the night before. Kate seems to think that me blogging about her reading that my readers will think that she is a smart cookie, we’ll let me tell you words can be deceiving but we have said on quite a few occasions similar things and think very similar so great minds must think alike and we will just stick to that.
So my second night camping and I am nearly back into the swing. The only thing is that after tomorrow we don’t see the tents for around another 4 weeks. No complaints from me. The second section of the tour has a lot of camping and then after Rio we are majority back in hotels again.
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