Ótrúleg ferðasaga

Amerískur vinnufélagi minn, hann Scot, er á ferð í suður-ameríku. Hann ætlar að ganga Inka-slóðina (Inka-trail) og þurfti að sjálfsögðu að taka nokkur tengiflug á leið sinni frá Íslandi. Hann fór héðan mánudaginn 15. maí s.l. og á fimmtudaginn fengum við eftirfarandi póst frá honum, athugið að þegar þetta er skrifað er ferðin rétt að byrja (!) :

cusco is definitely a strange place. besides biting my lungs for lack
of oxygen, the charming, simple but compelling city is colored in the red mud from the clay used to make the roof shinges and bricks...and the doors and ceilings are sooooo low in their houses...

i am in a little house now that has dirt on the floor, 2 dogs (one with only 3 legs) sleeping in the doorway, children playing in the school clothes outside before they catch their bus, with a roof overhead that consists of nothing more than corrugated fiberglass, and yet, this is an internet cafe (minus the cafe) with a dozen computers in stalls about 40 cm wide on old, old wooden shelves. a clash of cultures to be sure.

the people here are beautiful. i don't know if the spanish conquistadores killed all the ugly Inkas, but like lots of sheeshy small tourist towns i have visited----the locals are attractive.it is cold, my feet are complaining.

but that speaks nothing of the complaint my wallet has had over the last two nights of sleeping in airports. one flight was overbooked and that cascaded into an avalanche of problems.

the alternative flight was a race to catch up with my original itinerary...
but the alternative flight landed in another city! I rented a car to catch up at the original airport, but the destination airport was undergoing a massive renovation and the signs for the rental car returns were almost nonexistant. while i was driving around, and missing my 2nd flight, some man at an intersection backs up to avoid the construction bulldozer coming down the street, and he backed into my rental car. as i was taking down his license plate, he got back in his car and drove away. of course, i did not take out insurance for the small connection drive between airports.

needless to say, my luggage did not catch up with me. it is lost somewhere probably in venezuela...and the south american airline representatives wanted cash to change all my connecting flights (there were three). but they would not give a receipt, so when I passed
to the next airport, they wanted the change fee again...and they would keep half of the fee, and only record the other half as paid in the registry for my tickets.

i don't know if my luggage will arrive before we head up the
hill to machu pichu. all i have are the gifts i brought with me, one nice bottle of rum
i bought at duty free airport in caracas... my work files, and a fairly interesting story.

shoes, underwear, socks, sleeping bag...all is missing. hiking will be interesting : ---)...

my underwear are currently in ... what day did i leave? monday... they are in day 4.

bless, this is a great oppurtunity to remember that the golf balls in my life are health and friends.

bien saludes, amigos.


Við vonum bara að hann komist heill til baka!!!