#73 - Paddy´s

15/04/2011

Woke up and had a nice breakfast - coffee, bread, jam and juice. All included in the $9 per night fee.
Score.

I then went to pay the rest of the fee for Machu Picchu - $290 in cash. What annoyed me was that the ATM machines only distributed a maximum of $200 at a time so I had to withdraw it in two separate transactions, each costing $3!
The company then briefed me on what the trip will entail and I am now more excited that I already was. Apparently the second day is all uphill and pretty horrific.

Lunch was a burger, a pitcher of lemonade and three scoops of ice cream in a waffle cone. For the equivalent of 3 quid.
Not bad.

I decided to go to the main square so walked up and wow, it is beautiful.
There´s a cathedral and lots more archaic church-like buildings, and the square has a fountain in the middle. It is truly lovely.
The down side was that, being white, I was hounded by street vendors selling art, crafts, knitted hats and gloves, food and more. It was pretty annoying but I ended up buying two paintings for 110soles (about 22 pounds) when the guy orginally quoted 90soles for one. I also bought some Ray Ban sunglasses for 60soles, reduced from 100 thanks to my new haggling skills.
I was pretty pleased with myself.

I then saw a pub that I had read about in the guidebook - Paddy´s Irish Pub. I just had to go in.
It´s decorated similarly to a trad English pub and sells pints of Abbot Ale and Old Speckles Hen - I think they have run out of Guinness. I tried both and they really haven´t travelled well unfortunately - they weren´t too great. Also, the woman pulling the pints clearly had no idea how to and was removing some of the head with a spoon.
Oh dear oh dear.

The pub was full of gringos which was nice - I got talking to some women from England, Ireland and Canada who are on a package holiday. They were nice and it was nice to talk English for once.

I spent the afternoon there and then went to get some food - a smoothie and a burger for a ridiculously cheap price. I need to cut down on the burgers but I´m not eating between meals (got to watch what I spend) so I´m relaxed.

I went back to Paddy´s in the evening and met a French-Canadian guy from Montreal. He was a nice guy and introduced me to some Peruvians that he had met. He also, having done the Inca trail a few days ago, reiterated that the second day is very tough.
I stayed with him and his friends and we had some drinks before going to a discoteque. I probably had a couple more than I should have and really didn´t feel great afterwards, perhaps partly due to the two pints resting in my stomach from the afternoon.

I got back to the hostel later than the curfew but the guy still let me in which was a big relief.
My first night out as a backpacker was eventful and given the chance again, I´d have certainly drunk less but these are the experiences you go through.

JG