Friday, May 06, 2005
English, French, Cantonese, Spanish
Some have been inclined to call Robin and I social ringers. That may be true.
Yesterday was our last in Cuzco. We had a relaxing morning, spending most of it in an internet cafe and then splurging on a lovely lunch at a crepe restaurant near the Plaza de Armas. Something you need to know about Cuzco is that it is very much a tourist centered city. Nearly EVERYONE we have met from that area is or is studying tourism (typically a 4-5 year program at the local university) so that they can become a guide, work in the hotels, or be a server at a popular restuarant. So every one in awhile, Robin and I get approached by students who want to practice their English. This typically means spending a good half hour or so chatting in the main square about schtuff and then being offered to be taken out somewhere. The crepe restaurant was no exception. We ended up getting a quick Spanish lesson and giving a quick English lesson to our server, and made plans to meet up in the evening to check out the local night scene.
During the afternoon, we hopped on a City Tour of Cuzco and got driven around in a bus to places we could have probably simply walked to or taken a quick taxi. But at least the tour included a guide that explained what was going on...in English. The tour was alright, but after the hike to Machu Picchu, the city sites seemed a little mundane particularly because the explanations were all about the same. We really wanted to try cuy (guinea pig) in Cuzco but heard the plate was pretty big and was good for sharing. So we made some quick plans for dinner and ended up inviting 2 French guys who were staying at the same hostel we were, and a bunch of people from the tour including 2 guys from Hong Kong, 2 Dutch girls and an electrical engineer from Kentucky. The 2 Dutch girls never ended up coming, but even without them we had quite the international crew and carried conversations in French, English and Cantonese, whilst putting our heads together to work out whatever Spanish was needed to order dinner. We ended up not having cuy yesterday evening, but tried some alpaca instead. I quite liked it, though Robin claims it tasted a bit like liver.
Afterwards we met up with Danny, our server from lunch, and a friend of his and headed towards a line of bars nearby. As we walked there, we were literally surrounded by people trying to give us little flyers and tickets for free drinks to the various bars. You might think this is great, but it was actually quite frightening. They were all really aggressive and the swarm took us by complete surprise from behind - it was nuts!! Anyways, the rest of the night was less scary and we had a really good time doing a little bar-hopping. The mix in music was great! The DJs make mixes that flawlessly go from trance to hip-hop to good old 80s classics.
I do not think they measure their alcohol when they pour drinks...
.
Yesterday was our last in Cuzco. We had a relaxing morning, spending most of it in an internet cafe and then splurging on a lovely lunch at a crepe restaurant near the Plaza de Armas. Something you need to know about Cuzco is that it is very much a tourist centered city. Nearly EVERYONE we have met from that area is or is studying tourism (typically a 4-5 year program at the local university) so that they can become a guide, work in the hotels, or be a server at a popular restuarant. So every one in awhile, Robin and I get approached by students who want to practice their English. This typically means spending a good half hour or so chatting in the main square about schtuff and then being offered to be taken out somewhere. The crepe restaurant was no exception. We ended up getting a quick Spanish lesson and giving a quick English lesson to our server, and made plans to meet up in the evening to check out the local night scene.
During the afternoon, we hopped on a City Tour of Cuzco and got driven around in a bus to places we could have probably simply walked to or taken a quick taxi. But at least the tour included a guide that explained what was going on...in English. The tour was alright, but after the hike to Machu Picchu, the city sites seemed a little mundane particularly because the explanations were all about the same. We really wanted to try cuy (guinea pig) in Cuzco but heard the plate was pretty big and was good for sharing. So we made some quick plans for dinner and ended up inviting 2 French guys who were staying at the same hostel we were, and a bunch of people from the tour including 2 guys from Hong Kong, 2 Dutch girls and an electrical engineer from Kentucky. The 2 Dutch girls never ended up coming, but even without them we had quite the international crew and carried conversations in French, English and Cantonese, whilst putting our heads together to work out whatever Spanish was needed to order dinner. We ended up not having cuy yesterday evening, but tried some alpaca instead. I quite liked it, though Robin claims it tasted a bit like liver.
Afterwards we met up with Danny, our server from lunch, and a friend of his and headed towards a line of bars nearby. As we walked there, we were literally surrounded by people trying to give us little flyers and tickets for free drinks to the various bars. You might think this is great, but it was actually quite frightening. They were all really aggressive and the swarm took us by complete surprise from behind - it was nuts!! Anyways, the rest of the night was less scary and we had a really good time doing a little bar-hopping. The mix in music was great! The DJs make mixes that flawlessly go from trance to hip-hop to good old 80s classics.
I do not think they measure their alcohol when they pour drinks...
.
# posted by doris : 5:14 PM
