Peru

It was not a vacation in the typical sense. We did have some relaxing days but it felt like we were constantly moving. Even the first day we got to Cuzco took some effort. We got to the Curaçao airport around 4pm and flew to Bogota and then to Lima... arriving in Lima at 1AM. Our flight to Cuzco was scheduled to leave at 5:40AM the same day so we "slept" in the airport. Sleeping included walking around listlessly, reading books and eating Subway at 3:30AM. It was tasty though! When we finally did get to Cuzco and checked into our hotel, and even though we were tired, we pushed on and walked around the town the whole day.

Cuzco is a smaller city but it has a lot of cool restaurants and places to hang out. There are many museums and parks and although it is at a very high altitude and a bit cold, we all adjusted pretty well. The architecture reminded me a lot of Mexico, especially the part of Mexico where the Monarch butterflies migrate to. It was that same kind of cold and had some of the same raw beauty as well.

It was great to be on the trip with Mike and Brian. Mike was hilarious. I think that most people would get annoyed by being constantly approached to buy things from people in the street. Not Mike. He would start conversations with them. "Wow, the instrument you are selling is very nice. Did you make it yourself? How does it sound? Oh, will you play it for us? No, I don't want to buy it. It's beautiful though. Here's a tip for playing for us. No, I don't want to buy the instrument... unless your prices is in smiles. Do you accept smiles for payment?"

It didn't matter what the person was selling, Mike was genuinely interested in the person and even though he didn't buy anything, everyone, even the person selling had a good time. We learned a lot of things from people doing that as well. We'd ask for recommendations on where to eat and what to visit. Before this trip I would probably have just ignored the person because I'm not interested in what they are trying to sell. I'm not saying that I won't do that anymore but there's nothing wrong with having a good conversation with them and sharing a laugh. There are many ways to interact with people and why not try different ways? That's probably one of the biggest things I took away from this trip.

On the 2nd day we were there, we decided to take a horseback riding tour of the Sacred Valley which we were technically already in. They informed us that it would be a 4 hour tour and it sounded like we would ride horses between each of the ruins. Mike and Brian both wanted to have a tour guide and told me to make sure to get a guide that could do it in English and so I made sure to stress that at the booking office. They drove us up the mountain to where the horses were stationed and there were 2 Dutch girls there were going on the tour as well already there waiting. We got on the horses and the horse guide didn't give us any instructions except to follow the path up the mountain. None of us are professional jockeys by any means and our horses mostly did what they wanted. My horse, Aguila, was usually leading the group but he would frequently veer off the path to eat and when a horse passed him, he would zoom past. The good thing was the landscape was pristine and the horse guide kept the horses in line. At one point, however, I decided to take my jacket off, which was dangling off the back side of my camera bag. When I started doing this, it scared the horse and Aguila started jumping around and almost threw me off. Luckily I held on tight until he calmed down. I really want to learn how to ride a horse. I think it would be awesome.

So after 15-20 minutes of riding, we got off our horses and the tour guide came, speaking Spanish to everyone like it was his first language... because it was haha. And then he says to us in Spanish, "Who here speaks Spanish?" to which I responded that I did but that the others didn't. "Oh, great, you can translate for me. Ready?" "Wait, wait, wait. I specifically told them that we needed an English speaking guide." "Well, I speak Spanish... so what are we going to do?" Since I knew I had been very clear in the office about the guide, in my mind I had a few explicatives to share with him in English and Spanish but I just didn't say anything for a second. "Alright, how about we-" "Just kidding, I can do the tour in English. You should have seen your face."

Our guide's name was Jorge and though he assured us that he wasn't gay, (and I don't even know how it came up so often in the conversations) he definitely talked about anal sex a lot. "What's the best way to avoid pregnancy?" "Condom? Abstinence?" "No, no, no! Anal." He was a funny guy that's for sure but he knew his stuff too. We ended up walking for 30-45 minutes to the first ruin and 10 minutes to the next and he told us about the Incan culture and about the vast variety of crops they can grow there. I believe he said there are over 1000 different kinds of potatoes and corn that are grown in Peru because the land is so rich in nutrients. He told us about the relationships between the gods and how they came in pairs but they also were grouped in sets and how different animals would represent different realms: the Condor represented the heavens, the Puma the terrestrial, and the Snake the underworld. As we were walking to each place, Jorge would tell me everything in Spanish and then he would tell Mike and Brian in English once we arrived. So I got a lot of history in both languages :-).

We took a collectivo (small bus) back to the horses and did another 10 minute ride to where we would walk the rest of the trip. Mike, Brian and I had to laugh that the tour was called a horseback riding tour when 3 hours of it was walking and maybe 1 hour was actually on the horse but it was a lot of fun nonetheless. After we had seen the next ruin site where there was an altar that llamas, women and children used to be sacrificed upon, Jorge brought us to his "brother's" house to have lunch. This was probably my favorite part of the tour because it was so local. We entered a small hut with a dirt floor and two picnic tables and benches. There were 3 or 4 ladies preparing food and their families coming in and out of the house. I imagine they sleep in that room as well. There were ducks outside, a cat, dog and guinea pig roaming freely in the house and then there was us. While we were waiting for the food, Jorge's baby's momma stopped in with their child, Apu, which means holy mountain, and he told us many stories and after each story he would say "Cheers! Cheers!" We must have toasted 15-20 times in the hour that we were there.

The food was delicious. It was chicken with rice, fries and yuca. They even had pica (diced onions and peppers) to put on top. All the food I had in Peru was amazing. Cerviche is the best! I even tried guinea pig (a little chewy but good), many different types of corn, tamales from the street, coco tea and different kinds of fruit too! I digress though. The rest of the tour was fun but those were the main highlights.

The next day we thought it would be good to go to Peru Treks to pay the rest of our trip for the Inca Trail. When we got there, they said that they only accepted cash and they were very clear in the emails and the website about that even though they had specially emailed Mike that it would be fine to pay with credit card. Mike was perturbed but calm, Brian was pissed and had to go into another room and maybe since I didn't have any previous contact with them, I didn't care either way. We also found out that we had looked at the dates wrong and wouldn't be leaving tomorrow [Sunday] but would be leaving Monday... which meant that we had to find another place to stay for one night because our hotel was booked. We handled it like pros though and went to the ATM to get the money and found out that the hostel one building down was available, and much cheaper and would give us a wake up call.

"This is great. Can you wake us up at 5AM? Sweet."

Monday morning...
*Knock *Knock.
"Falta _ para las seis."
"Chin, what did he say?"
"I don't know, I only heard something about '6.' I'll go to the front and check what time it is."
...
"Guys! It's 5:40! Get ready!"

We all scrambled to get our bags together and get outside because Peru Treks was supposed to pick us up between 5:20-6:00AM. After 10 minutes of a bit of stress trying to figure out if they had left without us, the bus came and picked us up and we were off to the Inca Trail.

Even though I have learned it many times over, in life, you need to roll with the punches... especially when you are traveling. You can plan things as much as you want but there are always things that are in other people's hands and you have no power to do anything.

The end of a long trail is not the goal; the steps along the way mean so much more. In our 4 day hike on the Inca Trail, we camped in the heart of the mountains where you could see a glacier in the distance and millions of stars at night. We walked the same steps the Incas had walked over 500 years ago and learned about their beliefs and customs. We chewed coca leaves to help with the altitude as they did when they walked.

Every day we woke up at 5AM or earlier and hiked for 5-8 hours. The first day everyone stuck together and our tour guide, Edwin, educated us along the way. He encouraged us to go slowly and enjoy the "nah-ture" because yes, you could get there in 4 hours if you ran nonstop the whole time but we had 4 days to get there. All the days after that, everyone could go at their own pace and we had meeting points along the trail every hour or so. It was very cold and very hot in the same day. We hiked 1000 meters straight up on the 2nd day right through the clouds and attempted to do handstands in front of the ruins. They said that this would be the hardest part of the hike but the 3rd day was much harder for me because we were going down and it was rough on my knees. I was very thankful for the stellar group of people we had in our group though. We sang songs and told stories. We helped each other when we fell and we laughed when Mike almost fell straight into the abyss but caught himself with his walking stick which he thereafter rightfully named "Lifesaver." We smelled awful together, ate together and drank together. It was a really wonderful experience and it was tough. Not only are you hiking, you are carrying your pack and fighting the altitude, your body's desire to give up and being constantly tired. Even when you had a good sleep, your body reminded you that you hadn't walked this much since you worked at that restaurant and were on your feet for 9 hours straight. I made it a point to focus on my breathing when I was walking and to make small goals (keep going for the next 10 minutes / I'll rest at that tree at the top of these stairs / I can go further... I'll rest at that next tree).

Going to Lima was an adventure as well. We woke up at 5AM to go to the airport and the flight was delayed 4 hours. My friend from Mexico, Rayme, had messaged me that he was going to pick me up. Turns out the airport couldn't tell him when our flight would arrive and he had arranged to have his friend, Andrea, pick us up since he doesn't have a car. So she showed up but then had to leave to go to class and called another friend to wait for us there with a sign. So when we finally got there, Rayme, Andrea and Andrea's friend were all there with a white board sign that said Jhon Chil - hilarious. We all went to Miraflores to eat and then went to the hotel to relax for a bit. It was nice to be in a nice hotel again and take a good shower. We got to watch Me, Myself and Irene before Rayme met up with us again and then went out for the evening. It was cool to walk around the city. We only had to walk 10 or so blocks and we arrived at the JFK park where we saw old people dancing and playing music. After watching them for a bit, we crossed the street and ate some pizza at a restaurant where there are a lot of bars. Then we took a taxi to Andrea's house and went to her friend's party which was a lot of fun.

The next day we slept in and then walked around downtown and china town, bought shirts, tried a bunch of street food, had cerviche at restaurant by stadium, watched a soccer match Alianza Lima, then went to the Corridor for light dinner and sangria and went clubbing. Then we made our way back to Curaçao which was 14 hours in airports and flying. Good to be home.