What Was That All About?

Imagine you’re on a vacation in Cusco, Peru. Imagine you book a city tour on the side of your main tour through your tour company. Not with your tour company specifically, but through another company that your tour company works with. Imagine that they are supposed to pick you up at your hotel and take you to the cathedral and several historic Inca sites.

Now imagine that the small bus shows up. Two people are on it. Imagine that the guide who met you doesn’t mention what is going on. Imagine the bus goes all round the neighborhood of your hotel in Cusco for the next hour picking up people as the guide hops on and off the bus, running to the next stop to have people ready. Imagine that this guide never does say anything about what is going on or how this all is going to work.

Imagine after an hour the small bus finally pulls up to let you off outside the cathedral…which is five blocks from your hotel. Imagine that no one else on the bus is actually on your tour. In fact, this guide isn’t your guide. The entire bus of people other than those picked up at your hotel are there for a different tour. The guide is a guide for that tour, not yours. Your guide has been waiting at the cathedral five blocks from your hotel and has in fact started your tour a half hour beforehand. Imagine how you could have been on time for your tour if you’d simply walked the five blocks from your hotel and ignored the provided transportation, if only someone had told you.

Imagine that the small bus had passed the cathedral twice during that hour picking up all those other people.

Wouldn’t you be wondering what all that was about? Wouldn’t you wonder what the heck that other tour company was doing? Even if your tour was great once you were on it, wouldn’t that small bus ride be a bit weird?