Wow! What a weekend. Too much to write and my 24 hour days just turned into about 20 hours of work load. Should work out.... 3 hours to sleep and an hour to eat inbetween :)!
Getting right to it... We'll start with Friday afternoon/evening. I met with Alfonso at 3:30 to start getting our supplies set up so we could take our trek to deliver our materials for "Sense the World". He told me his wife was away working so we'd need to get everything ready that evening. We went to his house and laid out all of the materials in different "stations" so we could bag up the school supplies and basic necessities such a soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, vitamins, etc. We started bagging and got about half way done when we realized we didn't have enough soap & shampoo packs so I suggested we go buy the rest... thinking it would be just a few extra soles and a quick stop at the shop up the street and we'd be back. 5:00ish- we start out to get a few more packs of soap. 5:15 we get to the supply store and they no longer have the bulk soap we bought b/c a hotel came to purchase all of the rest of the soap. No problem, we'll just spend a little bit extra to get the brand that IS avaliable... Checking out like I said is quite the process... after four different stations and them gathering our soap & shampoo we are off...almost done (so I think). We get to the car when Alfonso "remembers" that we want to take candy to the kids...he explains to me they never have candy...again, no problem... just a little extra money. 5:45 we get to the candy shop when he decides we need cookies and water for the journey since it will be a long one. Okay... pack it up, I mean what is a JOURNEY without cookies and water, afterall they are the essentials, right? 6:00...Off to home to finish working.... not quite. Alfonso gets a phone call that he owes money to a bank that needs to be paid before they close at 7:00. He explains to me that he doesn't have the money because he just got his tour bus fixed (it had been broken) therefore he hadn't had any work. So we start out on a journey to find a few of his friends he could borrow money from. We go all over and he can't get ahold of any of his friends...so I do what anyone would do in this situation and offer to lend him the money. 6:30 we start out looking for a bank so I could withdrawl a bit of money. We get to the bank and I wait in line to use the ATM... not really paying attention to anyone around me. I get up to the machine and realize the gentleman in front of me had left his bank card. I tried to run after him but couldn't catch up to him in the hussle and bussle of the busy street. Realizing we were on a tight schedule I took the card back to the bank and turned it into a security guard. Simple as that right... explain the situation and be on my way... haha... yeah right. It drew quite a crowd and they wanted to give me an award for turning it in...explaining that I was in a hurry and I just need to get money and go they had me fill out some forms, sign and be on my way. As i was getting money out of the ATM one of the gentleman kept yelling out in a thick accent "this lady is lovely JUST lovely". Embarrased I took my money and ran.....
....6:45 we are back in the car and on our way. To the bank to pay the fine and back home to finish the materials... BUT.... to get to the bank quickly requires that we take a right. That normally wouldn't be a problem but on this given day in this given moment there happens to be a traffic police in the middle of the road directing traffic straight for no apparent reason. Alfonso decided to ignore the traffic police that is blowing a whistle in the middle of the street and directing us straight and took the right. Hmmm... I thought....that seemed wrong, but who am i the foreign gringa to know what is going on around me. We continue on straight until we get to a light a block and a half away. Suddenly I hear a whistle being blow quite obnoxiously...getting closer and closer. It was then that I realized that we were getting pulled over by an officer...by foot. He caught up to us and we were stuck with the cars in front of us. Once again thinking to myself...this should be no problem since Alfonso himself told me that he is a police....found out pretty quickly that there are different kinds of police in Cuzco and they do not mix. 6:50 the police starts yelling at Alfonso and jumps in the car with us. Interesting. This is one of those moments I described when you think "where am I & what is going on?" Go with this one Lindy.... They start arguing because Alfonso is telling the police that before we get escorted to the police station that we need to go pay his bill at the bank. The police says no. Who wins? The driver of course..... so off to the bank dodging traffic to get there before the doors close. 6:59 (no exaggeration) We get to the bank and Alfonso runs in with the money... I sit quietly in the car with the police and wait, as I am told. 7:15 next stop... police station. I wait in the car as told. A few police come out to the car and ask why the gringa is sitting in it. He explains we are working on a project & shows them his police badge... and once again they disappear into the police station. Around 8:00 Alfonso emerges from the station with a ticket and we are on our way. He makes a few calls and explains to me... "I'll take care of this on Monday, my boss can over-ride it". Great, I think.....are we going home to do the materials now?
8:30-9:15 we finish packing up the rest of the bags of material and Alfonso takes me back to my place...."get some rest for tomorrow.... when we take the adventure" The adventure, I thougth to myself has already begun my friend.
So I do as I'm told and get in my bed get some sleep and set my alarm to 5:00am to start THE REAL ADVENTURE..........
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment