yo yo peru

South America » Peru
March 21st 2007

Published: March 21st 2007

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Peru

The llama and Machu Pichu.

Peru turned out to be two things for me: a country full of incas and full of parties. i had a good time seeing ruins and doing some great hiking to get there and after my adventures in ecuador, i was ready to relax and have a good time.
i came from ecuador traveling with this english girl. we started out together solely because we were heading in the same direction but in the end we continued to travel together not because we were great friends but because we kept heading in the same direction. it was kinda funny.
the first stop was on peru's northern coast in the small fishing/surfing town of huanchaco. ironically, the land west of the peruvian andes is complete desert. this area was completely dry. the locals survived largely off the sea and still used traditional hand-made reed boats. they would cruise the coast and then ride them in on the waves at sunset. it was really cool to be out surfing in the late afternoon and watch these guys cruise in on their reed boats. i spent a day going to these cool ruins but besides that, i didnt do much besides hang out

Huacachina

The Dunes.

on the beach and eat. it was nice but it was good to get moving on.
from there we headed to lima. as i got farther along in my trip i began to look forward to the capitals more and more. in many of the countries i went to, the capital would be the only place where you could find certain things (due to the concentration of affluence that you find in capital cities). i looked forward to the capitals for milk shakes, movies, and ethnic foods (other than pizza). so for lima, i did just that: i ate ethnic food, i went to the big screen, and i had milkshakes, lots of them. i also spent a good amount of time trying to get things sorted. i took care of getting more money for my deflated bank account so i could keep on traveling (thanks grandma betty) and some issues concerning my dental insurance claim. after 2 days, i had had enough with boring lima.
i left that morning feeling good and making fun of the english girl that i was traveling with. she was obsessed with security. she put bag covers not only on her big bag but

Huacachina

This is the top of the big sand dune we boarded down. Its a long way down.

also on her little bag. not only did she wear a money belt but she wore a james bond money case on her ankle. i even took a picture of that one. we hopped on a bus and headed south to ica. the bus was a local bus that made lots if stops on the way and had a huge change over of people. half way through the trip i had this really great realization. i had been traveling for 8 months and had been completely free of any type of problems. i had not once been robbed, held up, or mugged. i was lucky, but better than that i felt confident. i was doing it right. as i was having these thought i went to get something out of my backpack and was slapped with the realization that my bag had been stolen. i was sitting in the window seat with my bag in between my leg and the window and my friend separating me from the aisle. some clever bastard reached under my seat and pulled my bag out behind me and timed it perfectly so he could quickly get off at the next stop. i felt like

Huacachina

The dune group.

a jerk for being so confident and making fun of my friend's apparently not so overdone safety concerns. i lost a nice jacket, a nice backpack, and my camera. i got lucky. i was wearing my passport and money around my waist and had for some reason taken my ipod out and decided to rest it on my lap. however, i felt the luckiest over my pictures. i had four months of pictures (the only copies) that i had been carrying around with me. three hours before boarding the bus, i mailed them home. i was lucky. everything, including a passport is replaceable ... pictures are not.
we hit ica and i headed to a police station to file a report for my insurance. after the incredibly dodgy police station that lacked even internet, we headed to the little town of huacachina. this little place was a real gem of peru. it was so cool and fun. it is located in the middle a bunch of huge sand dunes and the buildings were built around this little oasis. it was only for backpackers and i was happy of it. during the day we would relax by the pool. afternoon would

Huacachina

One of the girls sand boarding down a dune.

come about and we would hop on a sand dune and go sand dunning. the dune buggy would stop for some sand boarding and the sunset. huacachina contained only one real bar where the 20 backpackers at huacachina would hang out. this bar was really cool. apparently the owner was a big pot head ... every night he put a big bowl of pot out free for the smoking. there was a baby monkey that ran around the bar and loved being played with. i loved playing with him until he bit my finger and i was afraid he gave me rabies. by the time i left huacachina, i knew everybody that worked at the bar and every other backpacker in the town.
after huacachina i headed farther down the coast to the nasca lines. the nasca lines are these ancient and mysterious crazy designs that have been drawn into the desert sands with rocks. there are aliens, birds, monkeys and huge lines. these drawings are so big they can only be seen from a plane. so i did just that, i hopped on a plane. it was pretty cool. after the flight we went to this cool planetarium where

Nasca Lines

In the air.

we learned that all the lines matched up with the star constellations. we headed out to use these incredible telescopes to check out the stars. ironically, it rains for 20 minutes a year in this part of peru and it was raining for the 20 mins i was trying to see the stars.
that night we moved further south and headed to arequipa. by the way, i left the english girl in huacachina and in arequipa i meet up with a girl from colorado. we spent the next week or so traveling together. the two of us had a really good time together ... she was like a big sister. arequipa was a beautiful colonial town. however, it mainly served as the base for a hike down into colca canyon and a place where i would be able to buy a camera. so, we spent some time checking out the sites and organizing our tour into colca canyon.
colca canyon ended up being a great little trek. colca canyon is notable for three reasons: it is the second deepest canyon in the world, it is twice as deep as the grand canyon (man it was deeeep), and it is home

Nasca Lines

Taken from the air. Unfortunately, my disposable camera couldn't pick up the animals drawn into the sands. However, it got the big "landing strips" that align to the stars.

to huge condors. myself and the coloradan girl had a great time climbing around that canyon. our trek was thee days and we went all the way down it and all the way back up. man, we walked a lot. we were also able to stay in some really cool places. both nights we stayed in these little huts that lacked electricity. the little settlements were right next to hot springs which made for some good relaxation after a long days hike.
we got back from the hike on thanksgiving day. it was my first big family holiday ever away from home. it was kinda sad, but over all it wasnt to bad. you really just dont realize it is a holiday. we had alpaca meat for lunch and because we were unable to find a traditional dinner we decided to settle on some really bad mexican food. after arequipa we headed to cusco.
cusco served as the base for my inca trail to machu pichu. cusco is a big party town and is pretty rich due to the huge tourist industry for machu pichu. i had a few days in cusco before i was to start on my inca

Colca Canyon

Colca Canyon, home of the condor and twice as deep as the Grand Canyon.

trail trek so i took a day trip to a local market, partied, and got myself ready to go. the inca trail was amazing. it was a four day hike to machu pichu where we would pass by random incan ruins on the way. at nights we would camp at beautiful place with some beautiful vistas. i ended up, due to a lack of knowledge, going with a fairly expensive company that catered to older people with money. at first i was bumbed, but, i soon realized it was a great break from the stoner backpacker conversation and ... the three course meals were amazing. my group was awesome. i got to know some really interesting people with amazing stories and amazing careers. we had south africans and english turned israeli, an argentine turned american who's father knew el che and castro, and two awesome girls that i had a blast with. we also had a pretty intelligent group with grads from cambridge, USC, columbia, and washington u. it made for good conversation and good fun. we arrived at machu pichu and spent the whole day exploring the site. it was agreat time.
after cusco i headed down to lake

Colca Canyon

The coveted condor.

titicaca ... the highest navigable lake in the world ... also the lake where incan mythology states that the human race came from. my first day i took a tour to the floating islands called the uros. there people live on man made reed floating islands as they have for thousands of years. sounds cool? kinda, but it was pretty touristy. the second day i headed out to some islands,taquile and amantani, that were farther into the lake, islands that almost straddled the bolivian-peruvian boarder. i stayed at a locals house with a few other tourist that headed out. these islands, with the exception of a few tourist, are pretty much stuck in the far past. tradition rides strong and most houses are still mud brick and dirt floor with out electricity. andean indians are known for there traditional and highly regional dress and amantani proved no different. every man on the island wore a santa clause type hat. if you are single your cap was solid red. if you are married then your cap was solid red with a large white band across the middle. it was a cool little excursion.
i returned to puno, my base for exploring

Colca Canyon

Amanda on our second day hitting the trail.

the lake and i got some sleep and then headed out for bolivia the next day. i was filled with excitement for bolivia. i was begining to regain my excitement for travel, an excitement that had been worn thin after months on the road. i had high expectations for bolivia and bolivia did not fail me. to be continued ....

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