Day 6

We felt very lazy and didn't wake up until 8 tis morning. I took a nice, (rare,) long, hot shower. My lips look like the canyon we are going to see soon, so the shower was extra helpful. After a nice breakfast ont he terrace of our hostel, we went to the bus station and got the last tickets for the bus to Chivay. We hung out for a while and then boarded the bus.

The 11:45am bus left on time at 12pm, and it was going quite smoothly, until around 12:30pm when the steering stopped functioning. We waited about 20 minutes for the mechanic, who fixed the problem in only 30 minutes. I was very impressed until we broke down 20 minutes later. We then waited for another bus to pick us up. As we got on, I went to pee, and then got in line. The gentelman that I am let the 4 women in front of me go first. Bad call. 2 of them got seats in the smaller bus; I did not. We got going at 2pm, and I and two other (guys) were forced to stand the whole time. I did get a nice chance to observe everything around me. This included the old indigenous couple who had a box of chicks with them, although te box was a little old and wet and kept breaking, so i had to pick up the chicks and return them occasionally. On the other side there was a mother and her 1- and 3. year old sons. The 1 year old cried a lot and slept the rest, but the 3 year old found an unbelievable complex and fasciniating toy: my shoelaces. I let him play a while, since his knots were not that great, and eventually he untied me. Around 4 a very nice woman offered me an orange but I, presumably delirious from standing for so long, refused, thinking that I couldn't eat fruit. Damn it.

Finally we arrived at about 4:40. Well-rested Berry caught us a cab while I sat down. We went to the hostel, and a ten year old girl gav us a room, bargaining quite professionally over price. After a long dinner with a heated conversation, we went shopping. Berry began to fell poorly around right here. See later. I can't tell you about the shopping yet, since it has to be a surprise, but we spent quite a wihle barganing there. As an aside, I absolutely hate bargaining and feel ridiculous when we do, or at elast that's how it was at the beginning. Now I've realized that that is built into the price. I still feel odd doing it. After shopping, we went to bed.