somewhere under the sky

arriving

when we arrived in La Paz, Bolivia, we got off the bus in a crowded, narrow street. after moving out of the congestion, the three of us stood around, quite obviously looking for a taxi. a policeman came up to us and said, are you looking for a taxi? we said yes, and we showed him on the map the hostel we were looking for. he helped us get a safe taxi, and told the taxi driver where we wanted to go. it was a fabulous welcome, i´ve never felt so safe and cared for. Paul pointed out that maybe Bolivia takes such good care of her tourists because she needs the money they bring. this could be, but regardless it was wonderful.

when i arrived back in Cusco, Peru, it was midnight and i got off the bus into a sleepy terminal. i walked toward the exit, and was suddenly swarmed with taxi drivers. it was amazing really, i felt like fresh meat being thrown to the dogs. they weren´t aggressive, but they wanted my business so 4, 5, 6 came up to me at once and the crowd of other taxistas lurked behind the more forward ones. one sleepy fellow was sitting on a bench, eyes half closed,head hanging low, but when he saw he leapt up and barked "taxi?" poor guys.

posted by leah v @ 9:41 AM