Honking, the new language of Cuzco
Laura and I woke up today both a little sick. Laura has been sick for a day or two and I think I´m coming down with it. We decided to do an easy bicycle ride on a route the tour operator had recommended the last time we rented bicycles.
It started out a little crazy. There were Peruvians parading aroudn the main sqaure with signs and dances and banners. I think it might have something to do with the upcoming election but I´m not sure. I had to walk my bike through the crowd, though Laura managed to stay on hers. We turned off of the main plaza onto a street choked with cars. I remained walking on the sidewalk with my bike. We decided to turn off and made it up the hill to the Avenue de Cultura, the street we were taking out of town. As I tried to get my bike going on the hill someone approached me to sell me postcards. He told me he´d give me a really good price. I´m not sure how much he would have had to paid me to stop struggling with my bike, go dig out money from the backback that Laura was carrying and then carry around some random postcards for the rest of the ride. Sometimes people have no conception of when you might possibly be interested in buying something. I almost fell over on him as he walked up the steep hill beside me as I tried to get going. I´ve enjoyed talking to people selling me things, but I do have my limits. We made it to the Avenue de Cultura, with Laura way out ahead, clearly more comfortable weaving in and out between cars people and potholes. The road was mostly downhill so the biking was minimal, but trying to pay attention to collectivos(van taxis), buses, taxis parked on the curb, and random people running in the street was more than I can handle. Honking seemed like a new form of communication with some honks meaning ¨I´m here¨ others meaning Ï have room in my collectivo for you¨and some people maybe thinking, what the hell is this gringa doing on the road.I couldn´t believe the tourist company had specifically given us a map and told us to go down this road. I was terrified. Laura who has been on the cycling team a little longer didn´t seem to mind as much as we had a discussion about the relative safety of cycling in the United States versus Peru. On the way back Laura could tell I was scared and we took a lot of side streets to avoid traffic. We realized that food was really cheap far away from tourists with a lunch menu only 60 cents for an entire meal. Once we were on smaller streets I calmed down and enjoyed looking at Cuzco. At least we had completely excaped the tourists.
It started out a little crazy. There were Peruvians parading aroudn the main sqaure with signs and dances and banners. I think it might have something to do with the upcoming election but I´m not sure. I had to walk my bike through the crowd, though Laura managed to stay on hers. We turned off of the main plaza onto a street choked with cars. I remained walking on the sidewalk with my bike. We decided to turn off and made it up the hill to the Avenue de Cultura, the street we were taking out of town. As I tried to get my bike going on the hill someone approached me to sell me postcards. He told me he´d give me a really good price. I´m not sure how much he would have had to paid me to stop struggling with my bike, go dig out money from the backback that Laura was carrying and then carry around some random postcards for the rest of the ride. Sometimes people have no conception of when you might possibly be interested in buying something. I almost fell over on him as he walked up the steep hill beside me as I tried to get going. I´ve enjoyed talking to people selling me things, but I do have my limits. We made it to the Avenue de Cultura, with Laura way out ahead, clearly more comfortable weaving in and out between cars people and potholes. The road was mostly downhill so the biking was minimal, but trying to pay attention to collectivos(van taxis), buses, taxis parked on the curb, and random people running in the street was more than I can handle. Honking seemed like a new form of communication with some honks meaning ¨I´m here¨ others meaning Ï have room in my collectivo for you¨and some people maybe thinking, what the hell is this gringa doing on the road.I couldn´t believe the tourist company had specifically given us a map and told us to go down this road. I was terrified. Laura who has been on the cycling team a little longer didn´t seem to mind as much as we had a discussion about the relative safety of cycling in the United States versus Peru. On the way back Laura could tell I was scared and we took a lot of side streets to avoid traffic. We realized that food was really cheap far away from tourists with a lunch menu only 60 cents for an entire meal. Once we were on smaller streets I calmed down and enjoyed looking at Cuzco. At least we had completely excaped the tourists.
posted by Cammie at 10:58 AM
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