Market In Perú

Travelling is always an adventure. Whether you are across the world or just across town, there are little anecdotes to be told. Let’s share them!

I’d like to ask a few travellers to tell me their best anecdotes on the road or abroad. On top of my mind, I’m thinking of:

Gail, who backpacked around the world quite a lot (and visit her for her great pictures!)
Renny and Diane, who always seem to be exploring awesome places in Norway
Bluefish, who is getting to know Denmark with her European hubby
Max, my favorite Portuguese girl
Linguist-In-Waiting, who traveled to Europe last summer
The Spitting Vessel, who seem to know so much about the world
Seraphine, who has just been in Costa Rica
An Argentinian family in Waterloo, Canada, who is bound to have some anecdotes! I´m sure the Zieglers family, also from Argentina, has some cool stories as well.
Agnes at her CosmicTreeHouse, and her love for India

Meanwhile, here are a few of mine.

• In Lima (Perú), we took a taxi to go to the bus station. The ride was smooth, we were joking around with the driver, when suddenly, the car stopped in the middle of the freeway. Ooops. No more gas. Fortunately, a cop was nearby and got us into another taxi, while making sure we were not ran over!
• In Monteverde (Costa Rica), every night there were a sloth in a tree right in front of the hostel. We took many pictures and nothing would disturb it! It just moved slowly from tree to tree, just a few meters from us. I had never seen one in the wild like that and found it quite cool.
  
• At the Bolivian border, when one of the migracíon officer took my French passport, he asked me if I was a descendant of Napoleon Bonaparte. I was not sure whether it was good or bad and smile mysteriously. Then I got my exit stamp. Phew.
  
• In Arequipa (Perú), we heard a guy screaming “caramelo con leche” all day, from the busy street downstairs. Eventually, we saw him: dressed as a green Santa Claus, he was standing in the middle of the traffic, selling candies. For the first two days we were at the hostel, he worked (i.e. screamed “caramelo con leche” on top of his lungs) until 10 pm. Our last day in Arequipa, we went to see him. He was a very friendly guy who had been working selling candies for over 20 years! Just imagine, standing in the middle of the traffic everyday for 9 or 10 hours, selling candies for a few cents… We bought some and they were delicious by the way.
• So far, our longest bus ride was over 16 hours, to cover the 1,000 kilometres between Lima and Arequipa. We left at 6 pm and arrived around 10 am the next day. The scenery was awesome but sitting in a bus for so long is difficult! That said, we have done worse: 30 hours between Arica and Santiago in Chile in 2002, 48 hours from Ottawa to the Mexican border in Texas in 2003, and 3 days from Sydney to Perth in Australia in 2003.

So, write about your best travel story, whether it´s a three pages adventure or a two-line anecdotes, and let´s share the world together!

I´ll send a postcard from wherever I am to the best ones.

Have fun!

Related Posts

1. The Food Saga: The Sweets
2. Southern Hemisphere: Lima, Perú
3. Perú To Bolivia
4. The Food Saga: The Chicken Era
5. Por La Carretera – Arequipa