Dear anonymous,
February 2011
I had already been to Colombia the previous year but I had a couple friends there that I wanted to go back and visit. I also wanted to see more of the countryside of Colombia and not just the cities. It was perfect timing because my friend was working in a hostel in the coffee land of Colombia. I flew into Bogota and then went right to the bus station and got on a bus to the town closet to where she was. She wasn’t expecting me that night but I decided to go directly there. I surprised her after hiring an expensive taxi to take me straight there and not wait until the morning for another bus. I was kind of in a hurry because she was having major guy problems and I too was having some problems right before I left…so we definitely needed some girl time. I went horseback riding, which made me never want to do it again, especially after hearing about another tourist dying while riding in that area. It was a well needed girl’s break. We binged on chocolate cake, alcohol, food and cigarettes. I stayed there with her for 2 weeks then we went to Medellin to see another friend and also went to some hot springs and soaked in the hot volcanic water and then treated ourselves to massages. After Medellin we went to Cali, the salsa capital of the world where I took salsa lessons of course. After, she went back to coffee country and I went back to Bogota to catch my flight, although it wasn’t that easy.
You can’t rely on anything to be on time in South America and I don’t know why I thought that leaving 7 hours ahead of my flight would be sufficient, apparently I needed a whole day, and I ended up missing my flight. After sleeping in the airport and causing a lot of drama, I finally got on my flight to Lima, Peru where I was meeting Jefferson. I was nervous that I was not going to be able to get a flight to meet him but it worked out pretty well .I ended up flying in about 15 min before he did. We arrived in Lima just in time for Carnival. It was a much different experience than it was the year before in Ecuador. It was a lot more fun. There were huge parades of people covered in paint in the street throwing and rubbing paint all over each other. By midday my boyfriend and I were covered as well. There were plenty of fireworks and bands and paper mached floats. The tradition originally was to throw water at people but they stopped doing that because they didn’t want to waste water so having water is like a treat during carnival so everyone is yelling in the streets “AGUA< AGUA!” so someone will drop water down from the balconies or wherever. The funniest thing was when we were all in the main Square and a fire truck pulled up and everyone started chanting “AGUA AGUA AGUA” we were right in front of the fire truck and I was like Oh my god there going to hose us with that big hose! So we sort of hid behind the cars when they started spraying water all over people. Brightly covered painted people were climbing all over the fire truck like they ve never had water before. Then people started jumping of peoples cars that were parked in the square and denting them! I thought it was fucked up at first been then I was like well it’s their stupid fault for leaving it parked there during Carnival!
After Lima, we took a five hour bus to a desert town called Huacachina. I was amazed by the desert in Peru. I had never seen desert before so this was big first to me. Huge rolling sand dunes as big as mountains cover most of Peru and was mesmerizing as we hauled it through on a big bus filled with tons of people getting on and off constantly. From the bus in Ica we had to take a tuc tuc ( small motorized enclosed scooter) into our final destination. The town of Huacachina is centered around a natural lake which is uncommon in the middle of the desert. There isn’t much to do there besides try some locally made wines and try a little sand boarding. We searched a couple hostels and hotels until we found one perfectly nestled right under a huge dune and it caught our eye because of the refreshing looking pool. After being on a bus for 7 hours stopping and going in the desert with tons of people and no air conditioning all we could think about was diving straight in with a national beer sitting on the ledge. We chugged down a few beers as the sun was setting and then hiked it up the side of the dune to watch the sunset of the dessert. It was an amazing view with others taking pictures of each other and overlooking the small town. A sandstorm hit and so we ran down the side quickly and back to our hotel. We were very hungry after a long day and it wasn’t hard to find something to eat right away with so little options. Almost every restaurant offered the same menu so we sat down at one that had a three course special. One of their specialties is huancaina. It’s very simple but tasty. It’s basically boiled peeled potatoes covered in a cheese sauce with chopped boiled eggs and cut up olives. I drank that down with their national soda Inca Kola, a bright yellow colored fizzy drink (very sweet). While checking out, I noticed they carried wines that were produced in the area. I was curious to try some of the local wine, so we bought 2 bottles! Nothing better to go with some red wine but to accompany it with chocolate so we went on a chocolate hunt but in the end all we could find was Peanut M&M’s and Snickers, which really isn’t the worst case, although I was craving chocolate tort or a creamy brownie J I was very impressed with the wine and will search for it again although probably rather difficult.
The next day we attempted sand boarding and to no avail I ended up in a crash with a dislocated back, but that didn’t stop me from trying it again, and I would probably have another go at it again! It was a lot of fun. We sped through the dunes on a dune buggy while losing a few items on the way. We arrived to the first dune that was rather big and the Guide told us that we should go down on our stomachs the first time. It was fun but I was ready to get up on my feet and go down. I went down the first time without falling at all, only ripping my pants at the end when I tumbled over, haha. I got whiplash when I fell so the next time I went down on my stomach and then ending up colliding with my boyfriend towards the end. I had a mouthful of sand and lost my breath for about 30 seconds. They had to call for the buggy to come get me and someone gave me some water to wash my mouth out. It hurt at the time but was a great experience. That morning a had gotten a questionable massage from a huge fat Peruvian who tried to take it too far, so I was a little disappointed after the crash that another massage was probably out of the question!
After Huacachina we tried our luck going last minute to Nasca to try and view the Nasca lines by airplane. All the airplanes leave early in the morning so we had missed any chance but it was also a little over budget for back packers. It used to be dirt cheap to do but now the Government is regulating the airlines and so that cut out a chunk of the shoddy companies that use to fly. It is good they are a little more safety conscious but I want to have my fun! The Nasca lines are perfectly even lines that the Incans formed thousands of years ago with small rocks. To this day they are protected and in good condition and are observed by every traveler through Peru. The only thing that destroyed them was us modern day people by throwing the Pan American highway right through it! God, we suck! The formations help to tell direction and there are also images of sacred animals. The only thing we did was took a tour through the museum and went up a tower to view 3 of the images.
We arrived in the city of Arequipa after and wandered through the streets bargaining with street vendors and sampling foods like Llama and Cuy (guinea pig). From there we took a tour to the Colca Canyon, the world’s 2nd largest canyon. We stopped at many view points along the way to take pictures and to drink coca tea, chew coca leaves and eat coca candies to prevent altitude sickness which can be a huge problem especially for a big group of people traveling together. I felt very awake once I got to the highest peak at 5000m above sea level. There are many rituals that the natives do that you can notice along the way like stacking rocks in the shape of a pyramid as a sacrifice to the nature. We got to stack our own at the top but I had to do it quickly and get back into the van because the altitude sucked all the energy out of me. We spent two whole days touring around the canyon, hiking and relaxing in hot springs. We went to dinner with the group and watched native tribal dances with travelers trying to mock their dancing techniques. After, we wanted to escape from the group so we went to a pizza bar that I had my eye on. I knew it would be good and it was. We drank a couple Pisco Sours each and devoured a tres leches dessert. Everything was all good until I asked the women if we could turn on CNN. That’s when things took a turn and we watched over and over again Japan being taking out by the Tsunami. On the news they were talking about how the Tsunami was heading our way! I was a bit frightened but relieved by the fact that we had just left the coast and we were pretty far inland. None the less, the disaster was horrifying and threatening to the entire world. Thankfully the tsunami subsided with little damage to the rest of the world. Most of the Pacific coast did evacuate for a few days. Our flights out of Lima were up and running in little time. I was thinking we might have to change our plans to leave later.
The town of Puno is located on the Peruvian side of the famous Lake Titicaca. Lake Titicaca is surrounded by Bolivia and Peru so you can take a straw made boat over to the Bolivian side if you’d like. The lake is the biggest navigable lake in the world. Unfortunately I didn’t get to see much of it. As soon as I got to the town of Puno, I got every traveler’s nightmare, a stomach virus. Not to go into much gruesome detail but at first I thought it was just diarrhea because the week before I was having trouble going to the bathroom at all. So once I started going, I didn’t stop for 2 days straight every 20 minutes. I was completely dehydrated sucking down all the Gatorade and Chicken soup I could but to no relief I just kept going. I felt bad because Jefferson sat in the room with me for the whole day while I went to the bathroom every 20 minutes but he was a good nurse getting me whatever I needed. I pushed him out of the room the next day and made him go take a tour of the lake without me. We had plans to leave that night to get on an overnight 8 hour bus. I knew it would be impossible if I still felt the same I knew I should have seen a doctor. After he left I mustered up the strength to get out of bed and go see a doctor. With very little strength I helped myself up on the busy streets asking people where the nearest doctor was. Of course because I was in South America nothing opens on time or when it should so finally someone kindly told me that everything would be closed at that hour! I hailed the next taxi and told him to take me to the closet doctor. He said the hospital would be too busy and I would have to wait a long time so he dropped me off at the clinic. Although the visit would cost more, I didn’t care I just wanted it to stop. The doctor fixed me up with some meds and sent me back out into the streets still with little energy. He said I had a stomach virus and also asked me not so professional questions like “do you have a boyfriend” and so on, haha. After 3 very big kisses on my face he sent me packing with 3 prescriptions to be filled. I went back to the nice pharmacist I met the night before and she helped me out. I felt a manicure and pedicure was a must after all the trauma I had been through JWithin no time I was back to feeling normal and on an 8 hour overnight bus, with a seat right next to the bathroom. Fortunately, I didn’t have to use it at all, not once! The joke was that now when I think of the city of Puno all I will think is how it should really be spelled “Poo-no”!
I was happy to get the hell out of Poooo-no and change the vibe in Cusco. We arrived at our hostel-world recommended hostel in the un-drivable streets of Cusco. Our taxi took us as far as he could and carried my luggage to the door. The night attendant took us to our room that had the comfiest bed I had ever stayed in while traveling. I was in a deep dream drooling all over my pillows when I heard loud banging on the ceiling. I went to the reception and with my most famous grumpy morning face I asked if they could please stop whatever was going on the floor above us. The women asked if we could switch rooms because they were doing construction up there and didn’t want to disturb us. I was very hesitant to leave my very comfortable bed but she promised us a prettier room, and it was, but the bed wasn’t nearly as comfortable. Out of the window was a gorgeous view of the shining lights of Cusco at night. The roof top had a breathtaking view and you can see how Cusco is formed in the shape of a Jaguar (not the carJ). That day we went to a few of the museums but mostly did some shopping. I was starving after only eating chicken broth and Gatorade for 4 days. We came across the plaza and low and behold I saw the first thing that I was going to eat after my 4 day fast, MCDONALDS. The quality of Mcdonald’s varies in all countries but Peru Mcdonalds was pretty damn good and probably because I hadn’t eaten in 4 days. Our next destination from Cusco was to Macchu Picchu. We stopped by a few tour agencies to weigh the pricing options but we realized that we couldn’t get the price we wanted so we went to talk to the lady at our hostel. She said that everything was sold out for the next day and that if we wanted to go we would have to run right now to the train station which closed at 10:00 and it was now 9:45. We took off running and made it just as they were taking down their sign and closing the door. We begged for them to open the door and they kindly did but rushed us into buying some pricey train tickets. I don’t mind spoiling myself once in a while especially when it comes to seeing one of the 7 wonders of the world. The next morning we took a cab to the train station at 5:00 a.m. The train ride is probably half the fun of going to Machu Picchu unless of course you’re going to do the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu which doesn’t sound like a pleasant 4 days to me! I prefer to ride in style. You can’t go all the way to Machu Picchu by train but you get off in a very small town called Aguas Calientes. From there you can take a bus up to the ruins. We didn’t go to Machu Picchu straight away. We decided we would get up before the sun the next day. That night we soaked in Hot Springs and drank 2 boxes of wine while listening to babbling Argentinians converse in very small bathing suits. Everyone commented about how smart we were for bringing our umbrella into the pool because it was raining. We stayed until the very last minute when they drained us completely out of the pool. Later that night we chowed down on stone oven pizza and plenty of Piscos Sours. Regretting those Piscos Sours the next morning at 5.00 a m we left to catch the bus up to the famous ruins. When we arrived the line was already 2 blocks long. Later on we realized there was no reason to be up that early because it was too foggy to even see the sunrise.
Words and pictures can’t explain the beauty of Macchu Picchu. The energy of the land is something that can only be felt in person. I didn’t want to leave. We sat and stared at the ancient ruins for hours and talked with a few other travelers. We took a tour with some folks that were willing to split the cost of the tour guide with us. Forcing ourselves to leave we hiked down the side of the mountain for about 45 minutes until we came to the foot bridge above the gushing rapids. It was quite scary looking down into the water thinking about how fast you would die if you suddenly fell in. We went back to our hotel and gathered our things to prepare to leave for the train ride back to Cusco. I slept the entire way. Waking back up in the bustling city put me in a bit of a funk after seeing such a beautiful wonder that day. Luckily as we Irish would have it, it was St. Patrick’s day. We went into 1 of the 2 Irish pubs located right across the street from one another and inhaled Beef stew with fresh bread without breathing. A couple of brewski’s later we couldn’t keep our heads up from exhaustion. We slept soundly that night and didn’t take for granted the bed knowing that we were going to be on a 24 hour bus ride back to Lima the next night.
We ordered the best bus seats money can buy to get us back to Lima. We went above our budget to buy seats that turn into full beds when reclined. They were supposed to deliver the tickets to us but once again, timing is never reliable in South America. Jefferson had ended up taking 2 taxis to the bus station to pick up our tickets and returned later with shortness of breath with tickets in hand. I bought my family 20 Peruvian handmade beanies from a lady sewing on the street right outside my hostel while I waited for Jefferson. We left with our entire luggage in tow on our backs and descended down every single crumbling staircase, finally making it to the square. We went back to the same pub we were at the night before to have some burgers and beer before the nightmare bus ride. Usually I like to try new restaurants but when you have a long bus ride ahead of you, you stick to what you know will not make you sick, usually that’s “gringo” (sorry to those of you Europeans that have to deal with being called a Gringo too!) owned establishments. Jefferson watched our stuff as we hung out in the pub waiting to go to the bus station while I ventured out for sleeping pills to get me through the bus ride (note to self: don’t leave home without your sleeping pills!) Usually before a bus ride I go to the driver and tell him to please drive safely because GOD (because they love GOD) would not want us to get in an accident. I didn’t do that this time because this company is highly reputable and closely monitored by the higher ups (literally radar is watching the bus the whole time). We got on the bus (CRUZ DEL SUR) and got comfy for the long haul in our oversized bed seats. I got everything prepared as I usually do when on a long ride. IE: face mask, head phones, ipod, ear plugs, neck pillow, extra blankets, extra sweatshirt, snacks, water, hat, passport inside pants next to crotch in case the bus gets held up and robbed, which brings me to dispersion of cash throughout my body, pepper spray, gloves, socks, bus flip flops handy for bathroom use, change ready to give to poor women and men trying to sell sodas and homemade goodies, travel games, sleeping pills in close proximity to mouth, bag locked to chair so none steals it when I’m sleeping, mints for when you wake up and can’t brush your teeth, book, flashlight, aaaaaaand…that’s all. Jefferson makes fun of me for everything I have to do before I can finally sit back and relax but really I can never relax on a bus and end up overdosing on sleeping pills to get me through without a panic attack from being trapped in a moving bus that most likely the driver is drunk (not this night however). I figure if I take sleeping pills and I’m asleep during an accident I will never know and won’t suffer.
The ride wasn’t half as bad as I thought it was going to be. I prepared for the worst. After a full dinner served to us, a game of bingo, a good movie, and a long snooze, I woke up to us being about 1 hour away from Lima right on time. I couldn’t believe it, bus rides usually never go that smoothly. I was even feeling refreshed and ready to take on the day. We had a taxi driver take us to a recommendable hostel. I’m not sure who recommended it but after I saw it I recommended that it should be shut down after seeing the mattress infestation of bed bugs. They moved us to another new room with I still could not sleep a wink. That night we had gone to a Cuban salsa dance club and then walked around the new town of Lima. We were sad that we hadn’t stayed in the Barranco area of Lima like we had when we first arrived. The Barranco has a lot more character but we wanted to try something different. The next day Jefferson left in the morning for his flight back to Quito. I had one more day and wanted to a see the Historic part of Lima. I took the metro down and wandered the streets as macho men whistled and hooted and hollered at me. I forgot how awful the men are when you are traveling by yourself as a women and how peaceful it is when you are traveling with a man. I just ignored them and walked quickly through the streets like I was on a mission. I saw the president’s house and had the best Ice Cream in all of South America and then tried to get back promptly to my hostel to make my flight that night. You can never leave early enough to be on time and I almost ended up losing my flight again thanks to an unknowledgeable and disoriented taxi driver. I ended up throwing whatever change I had on me at him and started running toward my hostel. I made it just on time with a little time left to get a sandwich at the airport until they started calling my yname over the loud speaker. I hopped in my seat and reminisced about my lovely fast paced travels through Peru. I compared and analyzed the culture, food, people, scenery, government, so on and on, to other countries that I have visited. Peru has a special place in my heart and a lot to offer to curious traveler. Forever more I will crave the flavor of a good Peruvian Pisco Sour and a Causa and remember the feeling I had when the fog cleared out over one of the seven wonders of the world, Machu Pichhu. Viva La Vida! Viva Pura!
With love,
Sarah
