American Culture: Juli 2012

I just left Peru after about two and a half weeks of travel, so it’s a good time to share a snapshot of my exhausting, exhilarating, and overall ridiculously fun adventures.

This picture pretty much sums it up: beautiful landscapes and great friends.

Honduras, Peru, and Ecuador – A Snapshot

So what exactly have I been doing that last 19 days? Well, here is the short version:

July 1^st-ish: Two hours after my final Spanish class, I shared a heart wrenching goodbye-for-one-year with Alissa, my girlfriend of two years, and took a bus to Tegucigalpa, Honduras, where I flew through Panama and onto Lima, Peru
July 2-3^rd: Explored Lima with Aaron Morris and Nick Etzel, my travel partners for the second part of this South American adventure.
July 3^rd-7^th: Took a 19 hour bus to Arequipa, Peru, enjoyed a wonderful 4^th of July celebration and trekked for three days through the Canyon del Colca.
July 8^th-13^th: Caught a 5 hour bus to Cusco, Peru, toured the legendary city of Cusco and trekked for four days to Machu Picchu.
July 14-15^th: Rested from the Machu Picchu adventure, and hopped on a short 5 hours to Puno, Peru to visit Lake Titicaca (the world’s largest high-altitude lake).
July 16^th-18^th: Completed a rewarding journey of over 1,770 miles from Puno, Peru to Guayaquil, Ecuador. This included two overnight busses of 19+ hours. Quite ridiculous.
July 19-22nd^th: Currently lounging on the beaches of Montanita, Ecuador, with plans to visit Quito, the Amazing Jungle, Cuenca, and all kinds of other Ecuadorian wonders.

The Weather: It's winter in the Southern Hemisphere right now, meaning that temperatures have dropped into the 60's-80's. Pretty freezing. Actually we have gotten pretty cold in Cuzco and Puno, where the elevation topped 13,000 feet and temperatures were just above freezing during the night.

The Budget Part: Usually we stay in hostels priced around $8 a night (with breakfast, wi-fi and hot water included), spend $1.50-$4 each for lunch and dinner, and take 20 hour buses for $20.

Juice, Jam, Coca Tea, Toast = A wonderful start to a cold morning in Cusco.

So there it is. The mysteries of the last 19 days unraveled for the world to see. I figured I’d also go a bit more in depth of the two best parts of the trip so far: The Canyon del Colca near Arequipa, Peru, and Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley of the Incas.

Arequipa and Canyon Country

Colca Canyon is the 3^rd most visited place in Peru, which makes sense as it is about twice as deep as the Grand Canyon (13,650 feet at the deepest point). It is also home to some of the strongest indigenous groups in Peru, and is the perfect place to escape the rigors of modern life and lose oneself in the beauty of nature and indigenous culture.

We left on July 5^th for a three day trekking trip through the canyon, with a group that was essentially a mini United Nations, (with 3 people from the US, 2 from England, 2 from Poland, 2 from Holland, and one from Colombia). We spent the first day trekking for four hours into the depths of the canyon, where we took a break for lunch and an afternoon exploring exotic local fruits.

Exotic new fruit, plus some of the best avocados in the world.

Quick Sidennote: Lunchand Dinner in Peru have been marvelous. Usually we are treated to two courses; the first a rich vegetable/meat soup, and the second a main dish with rice, vegetables, and meat topped off by a steaming mug of coca tea. Breakfast has been simple but filling: toast with butter and jam, eggs, and more coca tea.

The next morning we trekked another four hours to a local oasis, where we swam, ate more fruit, and played a friendly game of soccer with our fellow trekkers. Yes, I will admit that we were all bested by Thomas, a 55 year old Polish soccer wizard. After another tasty Peruvian meal, we hit the sheets early and readied for a 4:45am wake-up call. Remember that second deepest canyon in the world we had trekked down into? Now it was time to go back up. Don’t worry, it was a shallow section of the canyon at depths of only 7,000 feet. Two punishing hours of later, we were out of the canyon and on our way back to Arequipa.

Canyon Trek highlights? Exotic Cactus Fruit, New International Friends, and World Class-Trekking

Cusco, Machu Picchu, and the Sacred Valley of the Incas

Quick but substantive backstory: Incan cities, buildings and roads were dismantled by the Spanish during their conquest of the Incan Empire. This was no easy task, seeing as the Incans had built over 40,000 km of roads in extremely mountainous areas (twice as many as the Romans, who built in mostly flat areas). Machu Picchu was one of many provincial capitals in the empire, but was left intact because the Spanish never discovered its remote location.

That green clearing is Machu Picchu. No wonder the Spanish never discovered it's location.

So obviously it wouldn’t be a blog about a trip to Peru without a section talking about Machu Picchu. The city is itself a story of Peru’s history and people, both modern and ancient. So here is the story of our four day “Jungle Trek” to Machu Picchu

Day 1: Same type of rich group diversity (3 Americans, 1 Chilean, 2 Swedish, 1 British, 2 Dutch, etc.), same flavorful Peruvian food (and was able to eat vegetarian the whole trip), but a whole new adventure. We spent the first part of the day biking 33 miles from glacier laced peaks down to lush rainforest (a drop of over 8,000 feet, and then had an hour and a half of group-bonding through white-water rafting in the Urubamba River (part of the headwaters of the Amazon).
Day 2: And then it was time for trekking. Basically we hiked for about 18 kilometers, crossing sections of Inca trail, small coffee plantations, and learning lessons about Incan culture and Peruvian geography.
Day 3: And then it was time for more trekking. I hiked for about 18 km, while the other guys ziplined and hiked about half that distance(when your girlfriend’s Mom works for a zip lining business, it’s not worth the money). By the end of the day we had hiked all the way around Machu Picchu (which we could see perched upon a nearby mountain), and into Machu Picchu town.
Day 4: And then it was time for climbing. We woke up at 4:20am, make it to the gate of Machu Picchu (open at 5am) by 4:50am, and were about 100^th in line. But a short 45 minute sprint-climb later, we had moved up to second set of gates, and 20^th in line. After entering we spent about an hour taking pictures and waiting for the rest of the group, three hours touring Machu Picchu with our guide, and then another 3-4 hours climbing Machu Picchu Mountain.

110% worth it.

Machu Picchu Jungle Trek highlights? Whitewater Rafting, Biking, Late Night Card Games, and Making it up the top of Machu Picchu Mountain.

Final Thoughts: Ecuador and the Ethics of Traveling

So now I’m resting near the beaches of Ecuador (actually recovering from a nasty Manta Ray sting), and I’ve had a lot of time to think about traveling. In fact, it’s quite strange to me. I’ve never done a trip quite like this. I’ve lived places (Australia for four months, Kenya for 3, Honduras for 1), and I’ve been places for a short time (Tanzania, China, Cambodia, each for one week or less), but I’ve never stayed in one place for so long and only been a … traveler.

Of course I’ve seen amazing things, I’ve been able to practice Spanish often, and I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. But I’m not connected to the community of Peru. I’m not with a family, I haven’t made true local friends, I’m just… passing though. I’m traveling, well, for myself. It’s a great experience, but I actually feel a bit selfish. It’s something that I’m going to strongly reflect on in the future, but I don’t know how often I could do this type of traveling. Would love to talk to someone with more experience on this specific issue.

I loved seeing this mural, but it would mean more if I knew the back stories of the local community.

But, in the end, I’m safe, I’m having a wonderful time, and I’ll be excited to be back home after two more weeks exploring the Amazon Jungle and other beautiful places in Ecuador.

Much love from Peru and Ecuador,

Kurt

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