This morning breakfast was again bread and toast with jam. There was also some sort of meat, but it looked very processed like bologna so I didn't touch it. I had two hours of private Spanish lessons with different teachers which was quite enjoyable. What was not so great is that I couldn't connect to the wifi at the office again! So I returned home for lunch which was a nice light chicken and vegetable soup and tamales. The tamales were wrapped in corn husks and my understanding is they're basically ground corn and wheat with a little bit of meat mixed in and then boiled in the husks. It was pretty good, but rather dense.
I returned to Maximo for my Spanish class and another attempt at the wifi, which failed. So now I'm back home using the ethernet cable.
On my taxi ride this morning, I took a few photos of the trip. I'm not totally comfortable whipping out my phone while walking down the street, so these are in a taxi while moving, just to give you an idea of the city, and what they typical taxi looks like.
This is a fountain I pass by. I couldn't tell you more than that.
Going down a street
More street. The vehicle is either a large taxi, or it could be a bus. Yeah, there's a reason why I don't take the bus.
More street and the back of a typical taxi. Most are tiny little hatchbacks which are rather ancient. Some even have spoilers and seem to have been lowered (or maybe they just broke).
And I can't remember if I posted this yet or not, but this is the view from the stairs of my house looking across the street.
I haven't discussed the taxis and driving much. Maximo tells us we shouldn't pay more than 2.50 soles, but 3 seems to be more typical (or I'm just a naive gringa). I've even had a few taxis that won't take me for less than 3.50. I'm cheap, so of course I turn them down. We do live a ways out of town, so I can understand. Driving here is very interesting. There are more taxis than private cars. Some roads have lanes, but most don't, so it's just kinda drive wherever you please. Horns? Used all the time. "move over" "get out of the road" "need a ride?" "hello" "I'm bored" are all good reasons to honk. Every single taxi driver seems to think they have the right of way. They're comfortable driving extremely close to each other and I think some intersections don't have any sort of controlled right of way. The smaller roads are very bumpy. Considering the driving, I haven't seen much body damage on the cars, maybe just some scrapes from doors hitting curbs. I did however walk past quite a few mechanics the other day.
Dinner's not for another 3 hours or so, so I stopped by a small shop nearby for chocolate. I got a Peruvian/S American chocolate (courtesy of Nestle). I took a picture, but can't email it without wifi (although luckily my phone will connect to the wifi at the office). So I will upload that later.
I almost forgot, the trip I want to do next weekend to Lake Titicaca might be canceled! There are riots in the local city over there because I believe the Bolivians are wanting to mine in Peru, or something like that. I'm hoping it will be cleared up by then, but it doesn't sound promising. I may have to splurge for the jungle trip instead. Here is info on the rioting. http://www.plenglish.com/index.php?id=291255&task=view&option=com_content
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