Kuelap, Peru (Feb 2005)

The trip didn't start out well. Here are some journal notes:

it didn't start out to be a pleasurable trip. the late girl who couldn't talk about her feelings. who was society's product. wearing her fashionable clothes. the smooth talking tour operator who cheats and takes advantage of the local people - Carlos Burga. the driver who did not fill up the tank before he came to work. having to go to ronald's house to pick him up - our young tour guide. him not speaking english. the bumpy road. having to sit in the middle and being rolled from one side to the other. not having enough room for my legs. not having enough fresh air. the driver driving too fast on the curves, breaking too hard. not getting any emotional understanding from the psychologist. not getting any physical connection from the two females on either side of me.

The trip started out in Chachapoyas. Here is a pic of the city I took a couple days ago to see if I could catch the rainbow with my cam.

Jorge, the owner of the hotel I stayed in, told me to tell Rosa to come at 7:30. She came at about 8:00. Around 7:45 he called the driver and told him to come at 8:15. The driver came around 8:20 with the slick hotel owner from xxx hotel who is ripping off the local people, according to Berlin, who works for Jorge now. Berlin said, for example, that the owner of xxx doesn't pay the employees, bought a van and didn't pay the bank so they repossesed it. Berlin said people go to the guy crying for him to pay them and he owes local people thousands of dollars.

Then we had to wait for Roxanna. Ronald, the guide, climbed in the back of the station wagon. Sorry I never got a pic of him in there. The slick hotel owner gave him one blanket to sit on, but Ronald's head was always bumping against the side. I feel sorry for him now. He said he gets paid 20 soles, about 6 dollars for the whole day's trip, plus I gave him a tip and Peter did too. But the psychologist didn't. I don't know about the preppy looking girl.

Then we drive to get gas, and I am thinking, why didn't he fill up before he came to pick us up? Probably because he never has money for gas till he gets paid in the morning from the slick hotel owner. I am still trying to figure out why the slick hotel owner came with the driver to our hotel. I really hate tours. More on that later!

Well I have been up since like 3 and it is 5 now, so I will just start putting some pics on...

Core Components of EQI.org

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Ronald sitting under a tree while we waited for the rain to stop. + the rest of the group.

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We really look like stupid tourists, don't we!

It was hard for me to figure out this picture when I got back to the hotel. I thought it should be turned on it's side. But what is happening is that I am on the edge of the cliff looking at the wall on the left. We are so high we the clouds are right there. It is very easy to fall right off the edge and the girls kept getting scared when I walked up to the edge. Of course this just made me do it more. And once I sat on the edge with my feet hanging over just to shock them and prove I wasn't afraid. The grass you see is the edge where I am standing. lol So yeah, I guess I was pretty close to falling off! It looks more like a bush growing upwards, but it was just the grass. That wall is about four stories high.

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I got this off the web... It looks like the same view, but you can tell what is happening more clearly.

Rosa

This pic is from the day before when we met on the way to Huancas.

Roxanna, Ronald, Rosa

Peter

He said he is getting tired of Australia. It is getting too much like the USA. Same feelings I have.

Why I hate to go on tours

You have to obey. You have to follow along. They tell you come on, and "you can't go there" and come with us. You can't stay and look at something as long as you want. You have to go along with the crowd. You don't set your own pace. The tourguide does. The group does. They pressure you. Come on they say. They get tired of always waiting for you. Then they start to judge you and make fun of you and mock you. And say things like, Where is Steve? He is always the last one.

Here is another pic I got from the web. It shows one of the houses. There were about 40 of these. It was a really interesting place.