Peru Things to Do List
I’ve had a month to plan and prepare for this trip. I finished up the penultimate draft of my Mexican-American civil rights novel, Soda Springs, late last month and began the agonizing process of sending out query letters to find an agent. Then I set to work on the trip: researched language schools, figured out a basic travel plan, listed in tedious detail all the things we had to do before departure day. Ah, yes, the best-laid plans of mice and men . . .There’s a lesson here: it really does pay to plan ahead – because no matter what you do, it all comes down to a wild rush in the final days. Today, for instance, my Peru things to do list starts like this: We checked the US Centers for Disease Control to find out what medical precautions we need to take. OK: we took care of the three shots a couple of weeks ago, but we needed prescriptions for acetazolamide, the pills everyone says we need to fight off high-altitude sickness. (Cusco is at 11,000 feet.) That called for doctor’s appointments. OK. there went ten days. We finally got our prescriptions and I hustled off to the drug store today to get them filled. They don’t keep the stuff in stock; they have to order it. Besides Ann’s doctor prescribed one dosage, and mine another, plus five times as many pills. This pharmacist and I had a friendly chat about that, and since she never deals with this medicine for this problem, we spent a goodly amount of time figuring out what we really need. Got that done. Now all I have to do is go back when the pills come in. Tomorrow, they say. Let’s hope. Next item on my Peru things to do list: my branch bank in the grocery store where I do my shopping. We plan to take our spending money in cash. The guidebooks say foreigners pay significant currency conversion fees, VISA surcharges, or even higher rates for cashing travelers’ cheques. Simple task: but wait, the guidebooks and folks I’ve talked to in Peru say I need new bills – banks and businesses there may refuse to cash the old, dirty, written-on ones I typically use. The problem? The branch bank doesn’t have new bills. They specialize in dirty old crappy ones; the well-worn kind they throw away at the fancier casinos, I guess. Next stop: the “real” bank some miles away. Guess what? No new bills either. But they can order them. They’ll be here by Friday. Good enough – too bad we’ll be out of town Friday. I’ll pick them up Monday. Probably won’t have anything else to do anyway. So it goes: even simple tasks take longer to get done that you expect. Then there are the other things that weren't on my Peru things to do list, that I couldn’t plan for. For example, the nasty note two weeks ago from our homeowners’ association saying my pony wall out front of the house is an unsightly, disgusting disgrace, and I’d better get it painted. And, by the way, I’ve got two weeks to let them know what I’m doing about it. Frankly, the wall isn’t that bad, but it was on our to-do list, so we moved it to the top. We called around, got bids, choked at the prices, and agreed with a local contractor. They’re out there this very moment fixing it. Then came Ken Burns’ newest production on PBS: The War, a 14-hour production on World War II, given to us in 2-hour doses four days this week, and three next. Its not on my Peru things to do list, but we don’t want to miss it – we lived for three years on Guadalcanal, traveled many times to Tarawa, lived in Leyte (where McArthur returned to honor his famous pledge, “I Shall Return”), and have several friends who survived the Bataan Death March. All these episodes have been prominently featured on the series. It’s a fascinating story, one I wouldn’t want to miss, and we aren’t complaining, but it’s been taking away our evenings.That point again: things crop up at the last minute before an adventure like this one. Try to do as much as you can as early as you can. --Posted by Terry, September 26
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