My first few weeks in Peru

I am two and a half weeks into my Peru trip so far, and there is so much I can write about that it’s overwhelming and intimidating to think about! I wish I could have written this sooner, but there is only so much time in the day to spend writing a blog, and only so much internet access. 

I will try to write with a balance of brevity and sharing the important details. 

After spending a lovely week in Orlando visiting my sister, brother-in-law, and their two precious daughters, I flew to Lima, Peru. I arrived in the evening and was greeted at the airport by my couch surfing host, Ingrid. She took me to her very humble apartment where we spent a couple hours speaking only in Spanish, then went to sleep. The next day, I boarded a bus to Puno, which is on Lake Titicaca on the border of Peru and Bolivia, where I was to meet up with my girlfriend Mary and her friend Juanita.  It was supposed to be a 23 hour non-stop bus ride, but ended up being a 27 hr bus ride with three bus changes due to my first bus breaking down a few hours into it. I finally arrived in Puno, two and a half days after leaving Florida, only to find that Mary and Juanita were not at our hostel. Unfortunately, I could not tell them what time I would be arriving, so they did not know when to expect me. So I waited in our hostel for another couple hours until FINALLY being reunited with my girlfriend after 2 months of being apart.

We spent three days in Puno, did a boat tour of Lake Titicaca, walked through some old Spanish cathedrals, and took it easy while we acclimated to the altitude (12,000ft). Puno is not a very exciting or pretty city, so we headed out to Arequipa, Peru’s 2^nd largest city. It’s also known as the “white city” due to a certain type of white rock found there that most of the buildings are made out of. It’s beautiful, has a nice downtown and plaza, and is overlooked by three or four towering volcanoes. We met some rock climbers there, and they took us climbing two days in a row on the outskirts of the city. 

After a few days there, we took a bus up to Cuzco. I was very excited to see this city since I had heard so many glowing reviews about it. And everyone was right, it’s a beautiful city with a lot of life. It’s also very touristy, since it’s the starting point for Machu Picchu! We spent just one night in Cuzco before embarking on a four-day Inca Jungle Trek to Machu Picchu.

Day one of our trek consisted of cycling down a windy mountain highway, starting very high in the clouds and descending thousands of feet over a few hours. We had amazing views of the Andes, they looked exactly how I imagined them to be. That night, we were put in a hostel where Mary and I bonded with many of our group members. There were around 15 of us, most of them around our age, and from all over the world. Everyone was nice and lovely and we made some great friends in that group!

Day two was nine hours of hiking through forests and through canyons and along rivers, seeing many of Peru’s local crops (bananas, coffee, corn, and coca). Our guide, a Peruvian man named Guido, spoke English well enough to educate us along the hike. Again, the views of the Andes were spectacular. Later on in the hike, we had to cross a deep canyon. The problem is, there is no bridge. So the locals built a metal basket that is suspended by metal cable connected by pullies on either end of the canyon. We sat 2-3 people at a time in this very small basket (with nothing to secure us in it!), and men on either side of the canyon pulled us across! It was a rush, but I made sure not to let my fear of heights overpower the experience! (I took video of our passage across the canyon, so I’ll be sure to share it once I have a chance to upload it) The hike ended at some hot springs, which was a great way to relax our tired muscles. 

Day three was a more mellow hike than day two. Again, we hiked through the mountains, saw great views, learned more from our guide, and we ended in the town of Aguas Calientes, which is just outside Machu Picchu.

On day four, we woke up at 4am to begin our ascent up 1,800 steps to Machu Picchu. We arrived at the top hoping to be rewarded with stunning views of the ruins, but instead were “rewarded” with the sight of a modern gateway building, a line to wait in, and no ruins. Luckily we only had to wait there about 10 minutes before they opened the gates and let us in. Guido gave us a two-hour tour of the ruins, educating us on the history, the culture, and the architecture. Then, many of us climbed to the top of Mount Machu Picchu, the highest peak in the nearby area. After climbing for about an hour and ten minutes, we reached the top and had the most amazing views of not only Machu Picchu, but all the surrounding mountains. Mary and I packed a lunch and ate with a better view than most restaurants in the world can offer. By around 2pm, we returned to the ruins and found that the crowds had seriously died down and it was very quiet. We enjoyed casually strolling the grounds, taking many photos, stalking grazing llamas, and soaking it all in while we could before having to leave. We were both blown away with the whole experience of the day. Luckily it’s a world heritage site, which means nothing can be built there, not even bathrooms, so it’s very preserved and uncorrupted by tourism. We left at 4pm, ate dinner in Aguas Calientes, and took a train and a bus back to Cuzco and returned to our hostel there. 

We spent another few days in the beautiful city of Cuzco, but most of our time was spent at our hostel. It is run by a young Austrian couple who are very sweet, and they allow people to volunteer there in exchange for lodging/food. The volunteers there were all fun, lovely people, and we decided to spend a day painting one of the rooms in the hostel with the other volunteers. We were fed for the day and given two free nights of lodging! 

Juanita, after spending several months traveling around South America, had to head to Lima to fly out to England, so Mary and I joined her on a 23 hour bus ride to Lima. Juanita left early this morning, and to quote Timon and Pumba, “our trio’s down to two”. She is one of Mary’s dearest friends, someone I’d spent my last year in Korea hearing wonderful things about. So it was so nice being able to travel with her these last two and a half weeks and finally get to know her in person and not through stories.

Mary and I will soon be heading East into the Amazon to work on a small family farm in the jungle. We don’t know how long we will be there, I guess it depends on how we like it, and how long we can handle the rough jungle life! (I would like to think I am tough enough to handle it, but I do also like feeling clean at the end of the day, having internet, and a clean toilet, so we’ll see…)

So that’s it for now. Once we get to the farm, internet will be very scarce, so don’t expect to hear from me too often. But of course I will try to get online every few days to at least tell the world that I am alive and well.