Day 11- Puerto Maldonado-Cuzco, Peru

After enjoying our final breakfast at the Corto Maltes lodge, we got our stuff ready to go in our backpacks and said our goodbyes. I was a little sad to say goodbye to Luci, I really did view her as a friend and she was so interesting to talk to, I was sad to think I'll likely never see her again. The canoe motor driver put our things into the boat, and for a minute there was a struggle trying to maintain balance on the boat so it wouldn't tip over! Once we worked it out, we all headed on the 45 minute ride down the Madre de Dios river, out of the jungle, and back towards the small town of Puerto Maldonado. At the dock we were met by a girl working for the tour company, and she helped us put our bags into the van. Before taking us to the airport she said we would get to explore the town a little. We then stopped in the middle of a busy street in the central part of the town. She led us around the open air markets to get a feel for the town. It was definitely a new experience for me. We were the only foreign people in sight as we walked around the open air markets, taking in all the sights and action around us. The dusty streets were full of motor bikes, carts, and vendors. The different stands for things like fresh fruit, meat, fish, clothes and jewelry lined the streets, and continued back underneath many more tents. I saw a wide variety of things being sold- it ranged from pirated Spanish DVDs and colorful clothes to live chickens, bunnies and puppies. (I hope the puppies were being sold as pets, but I doubt the rabbits were!) There were also massive fish just laying on tables with flies swarming them. It was loud, busy, colorful, and a lot for the eyes to take in. Once we had our fill of exploring in the heat, we were taken to the little Puerto Maldonado airport. It was oppressively hot in there, and since it was basically outside, the only cool air was coming from the fans on the ceiling, but it didn't help much. John and I had about 2 hours to kill before our flight, and since the airport was one large room, there wasn't much to do besides read and write postcards.

Once our flight came and left, we were back in Cuzco- and back to comfortable temperatures! At the Cuzco airport we were more or less assaulted by the many people trying to sell tours or trips to Machu Picchu. I wish I could have worn a t-shirt that said "I already went" or something. Would've been nice. We went out to get a cab, and since the last time we took a cab into the city from this airport we were basically jipped, we were resolute in our price negotiations with the cab drivers. We started at 30 soles and after getting rejected by some I talked it down to about half that. It was nice that we knew the tricks they try to pull, since we're basically pros now, haha. We found ourselves back in the Plaza San Francisco, and back in our old hostel, Pirwa Colonial. They let us store our luggage there and we headed out to get lunch at the empanada place John is obsessed with for one last time. We then wandered around the Plaza de Armas some more. I saw the evil little girls again, and tried to avoid them. They scare me a bit. Anyways, we kept strolling around central Cuzco. During this time sales girls ran up to us frequently and we were probably offered about 30 different chances to get a massage or a manicure. It was fairly annoying, but a little funny. I guess they thought John's nails were looking bad. At one point a guy came up to John and asked if he was an American, and upon saying yes, offered him some illegal stuff. We of course denied this offer, and left that area right away. It was a bit humorous though that he assumed American = go for it.

Since we had a lot of time before our night bus, we went back to the hostel and spent time hanging out on the top floor. We played some pool (I lost) and darts (I won!), and then spent some time reading and writing. For dinner we found a place earlier that offered a 5 course meal for only 15 soles (2.50$), so we returned there. I was amazed at how much food we got, and at such a great price! I will miss that about Peru for sure. After that we got our backpacks and cabbed it to the bus station. We waited for a little, and then got on our two story bus. Our assigned seats were luckily "bus-cama" seats (the label for a bus seat that reclines back into a 'bed' or a lounge chair sort of thing), and we were in front of a group of Canadians about my age. We started chatting with them about their travel experiences, and it was fun to swap stories. Before the bus left the station though, a woman decided to have a hissy fit. We think that in Peru, the wealthier people normally sit on the bottom floor because the seats are a tiny bit more spacious. On this bus though, they were all the same. The woman didn't realize this, and so thought the company was degrading her by making her sit on the top floor, and in a small seat. She started screaming and yelling in Spanish, and I caught that she said "you have cheated me!!"/"Me ha engañado!!" and she also said something derogatory towards Argentinians? Not sure why. She was so mad that she screamed "Stop this bus!!!!/Pare este autobús!!!" and would not allow the bus to leave until her little problem was fixed. Basically the workers convinced her all the seats were the same, they were not cheating her, etc. yet she was still extremely angry, throwing a little temper tantrum for all of us. I can't believe what a snobby and inconsiderate person she was, thinking that the whole bus was happy to stop and wait for her to throw a fit before we were finally allowed to leave. It was actually really funny though. The Canadians got a big kick out of it and so did I. The rest of the night was spent attempting to fall asleep on a cold and uncomfortable bus ride through the narrow mountain roads on the way to Puno.