My Travels in Peru: Part 3

Bit of a delay with getting these last pictures up, apologies.

So for the last part of my journey, and the reason for having traveled to Peru, was to do a five day four night hike starting just outside of Cusco and finishing at Machu Picchu. For about $500, we got meals, tents, hotel for the last night, entrance to Machu Picchu, men to carry our bags, a guide, and other things I'm currently forgetting. It was well worth it I must say.

Getting ready to start hiking.

Mint leaves. If I recall correctly, when smelled, smelled helped with respiration at such high altitudes.

There were beautiful plants everywhere.

Here is a well maintained aqueduct that was originally installed by the Incas.

Resting after the first day.

My Travels in: Peru Part 2

I adopted the motto "the more you try and plan a vacation, the less control you have over it" after finishing my first back packing trip. I applied this to my adventure in Peru, hopped onto a friend's hiking plan, and left it at that.

After my first day walking around Cusco, which was actually part of my "plan" since I needed to adjust to the altitude, it began to dawn on me just how far I'd gone in the opposite direction on the planning scale. While I spent weeks preparing for South East Asia, I had five days planned out of my two week stay in Cusco, which were planned by other people! To remedy the situation, I came to both a long and short term solution. Long term being, screw my motto, short term, find a tourism agency and get myself some day trips planned.

On my walk back to the hotel on the second day, I popped into a random tourism agency and sat down to discuss my options for the day and a half free that I had until my friends arrived. Ten minutes later I walked out with a full day tour of the Sacred Valley including Pisac, Ollantaytambo, and Chinchero, and a half day tour of Moray and the Salineras.

Around 10am the next morning we rolled into Pisac. Rolling in with us came the rain. I talked with my tour guide and he said it was a coin flip whether the weather would be bright and sunny or icy cold rain. It appeared we'd lost the coin flip. As much as I try and have a positive outlook, sight seeing on a cold rainy day where clouds blanket everything there is to see sucks.

We huddled in our rain jackets as our guide quickly explained the historical site Pisac. He asked if we'd like to spend time exploring the area but everyone opted to head  back to the bus. Luckily, this was the lowest point in the entire trip, and the weather improved immensely from that point forward.

  

The tour consisted of lunch and the place we stopped at was charging almost $17! I knew there had to be somewhere else to eat so I walked back out the door, across the street, and got a three course meal for less than $2. One of the great perks of speaking Spanish.

The rain continued but at a continuously decreasing pace. People were still walking  around with their ridiculous plastic ponchos as we headed into Ollantaytombo.

 This is one of the many amazing things that the Incas did. This is a food storage place that's high up in the mountains where it's cold and the food can be preserved.

My Travels in: Peru Part 1

So, I turned 24, and then I got on a plane for Peru. Vacation!

I originally planned a hike from ocean to ocean hike in Panama but it fell through for various reasons. While planning it, I asked a family friend what suggestions he had for hiking and he mentioned he was heading to Peru to hike and that was that, I bought my ticket shortly thereafter.

I gave myself two lazy days to acclimate to the altitude in Cusco. During this time I roamed the city and took pictures. I also have a side story I wrote about the joys of speaking the language while traveling.

Speaking the Language

In 2011, I headed to South East Asia for two months of backpacking. Before heading off, I was looking at travel quotes one day and quickly fell in love with "Traveling is like speaking with men of different centuries." One small kink in the quote, I couldn't speak to these men whose native languages included Thai and Vietnamese. I realized quickly upon arrival, and for the next two months, that I would have to rely on Pictionary, charades, pointing, and other means of communication that would make me appear as if I hadn't evolved the ability to speak yet.

Although I faced this amazing obstacle, for the most part I was able to enjoy myself while traveling. However, I was unable to delve deeper than superficial relationships with the locals that I met. How amazing the times I stopped to ask some men for directions and they invited me for drinks and food or the time I was invited to meet a book seller's family would have been if I could have spoken with them.

I got a second opportunity to speak with men of different centuries but this time, I had a grasp of the language, Spanish. Panama has been an amazing opportunity to improve my grasp of the language, and although there are many great examples in Panama, I believe an example while traveling in Peru would suit this article well.

Panama isn't known for their cold weather so I was unable to fully prepare for my trip to Peru before boarding the plane. To remedy this I made a list of items to purchase: gloves, scarf, hat, and thick socks.  A friend of mine told me to take the first days in Cusco slow to adjust to the altitude so I took this opportunity to explore the city and try and cross off my to-buy list.

My general method for conquering cities is to head out without direction, going whichever way seems most interesting. After walking for some time with sporadic turns here and there, I found myself in a clothing market. I found a booth with some clothing that appealed to me and proceeded to chat while looking at clothing.

The conversation started off slowly, with the lady assuming I didn't really speak Spanish. However, as we continued to talk, she realized I spoke a descent bit, and the conversation took off. Eventually we ended up discussing her major and she told me she was studying tourism. She'd be heading off in a few days with an Archeology professor to check out some ruins and she invited me along. The total cost? $4. I contemplated the offer but sadly realized that I already had plans that day.

As disappointed as I was after having the encounter, I was also excited. My chat hadn't occurred by chance, it was based in the fact that I could speak the language! This was the first encounter, but it wouldn't be the last. There will be many more men of different centuries to converse with and treasures to uncover.

Pictures!

For less than $2, a 3 course meal. These were absolutely amazing and everywhere in Cusco.

Forgive and Forget

This is a bit more of a raw post about it all, so expect some language. 

With our hike finished it was time to return to the modern world. This white van, seating about fifteen people, would be our transportation back. Besides the people, there were hiking bags for each individual, kitchen gear for the chefs who cooked for us, and as is typical in the countryside, three more guys standing up in the "aisle" that ran near the sliding door. 

With the inside loaded, and another mound of gear piled on top of the van, we took off. In general, the roads are rather awful. For almost the entire trip from start to finish, drop offs of several hundred feet would be visible out of the van. As each switchback was passed, the direction, right or left, of the drop off would change. And of course, the road was wide enough for one way traffic, even though the road went both ways. 

We drove uneventfully for some time until we came across a fresh landslide. There was a bulldozer and some men out clearing the landslide so that the road could be reconstructed and traffic could continue. We sat and watched for some time, unable to pass the bulldozer. 

As we sat, I began to contemplate the physics of the matter. If you've ever been out on a frozen pond, you'll know the safety advice of laying out flat if the ice should become questionable. This is because while standing, all of your weight only passes through two points, each of your feet. If you lay out flat, however, your weight is more widely dispersed and the chance of ice breaking is less and survival greater. We sat in the van and discussed such matters and decided it was best to walk around the bulldozer if it should come to that and let the van pass, without a heavy load, separately. Instead of four points, four wheels, bearing the load, it would be each individual walking separately, and the van just about empty. 

As we were coming to a conclusion however, the men working with the bulldozer signaled we could pass and so the van started forward. We began to talk more hurriedly and started shouting in English to our guide, and in Spanish to the driver, that we'd like to walk. Without consulting us the driver continued on, without a word of comfort or anything to let us know he knew what he was doing. 

I began to have a full on meltdown at this point. I was right near the back door and tried to unlock it and hop out but it wouldn't open. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. I looked out the window and the tires were inches from the drop off. If the shoulder decided to give way at that point, it would have been death. Fuck fuck fuck. The lady to my left, I am unsure how, but motherly instincts kicked in, and she held me and calmed me and managed to bring me down from many fucks, to about two. (Thank you Belgian women wherever you are.) 

With a combination of all the metaphors in the world of time slowing down, and yada yada, we finally passed the curve. Various words were said, I managed to not curse out the driver for not considering our lives at all, and was only able to muster a "necesita escucharnos" (You need to listen to us) I spent the rest of the drive contemplating how Id make sure the driver lost his job and other horrible things directed at him. 

As we got out of the van at our destination, I got his name, picture, and licence plate so that I could make sure the trekking company knew how much of a terrible driver they had. But, I decided to give myself several days to contemplate how I would handle the situation. 

The next step in our tour was to head to a hot spring to relax (I know, shut up). And originally I decided against it, wanting to sit and have my own pity party but eventually I caved and went with the group. 

While there, sitting in the hot springs, unable to contemplate anything else besides my life flashing before my eyes, the words of Gandhi drifted into my head. As much as I wanted to hate and be angry and make sure the driver got what he deserved, "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." And I hadn't even lost an eye. If I wrote the email, he could very well lose his job, his family on to the street, or worse. And I didn't want to be responsible for that. And so upon returning to where we were staying for the night, I tore up the paper with his name and license plate and deleted the pictures on my camera. 

While I can't say I've managed to forgive and forget just yet, I feel much better for having not tried to make the whole world blind.