Our last day in Cusco was definitely a nice rest, meandering through the markets, getting massages ($9 for an hour, full body- not bad!) eating, and planning our route that would eventually get us back to Lima. Peru is big, much bigger than the small central american countries I´m used to, which unfortunately meant we would need to take not one but two overnight buses. From the minute we left Cusco we were on the go go go. And I take it back, we did end up seeing the Frenchies again- twice actually, once at the bus station on the way out of Cusco, and once more in a most random place. The first overnight bus was almost, not quite, but almost Sabrina´s bus horror story from her trip to Peru come to life for us. There actually were cockroaches on the floor by my broken seat, so we moved across the aisle next to the only window which we fought our fellow passengers to keep open all night to try to get rid of the stink and muggyness. I took two benadryl, and had I not, I wouldn´t have slept a wink. Needless to say we paid more for the nicer bus the next time.
Arequipa is the gateway to Colca Canyon, the 2nd deepest canyon in the world, they say. I´m thankful for tours sometimes, because it takes so much planning stress off my shoulders, and after a long night on a bus the best thing we could have possibly seen in the morning when we arrived at the bus station was a sign with our names on it, ready to take us where we needed to go. Actually the sign read "Jakeline, Nathan, Barry" or was it "Danny" that time? They never could get Daryl's name right. He started going by Darío because it was easier.
Colca was kind of a whirlwind trip with lots of driving time but it suited us since we were still tired from hiking so much and not having slept well. At one point we stopped at a pass that we decided was over 16,000 ft, after a lot of confusing math. There were volcanoes in every direction, and it was a natural habitat for Vicuñas, one of the 4 types of llamas, the others being llamas, alpacas, and .... something else. We learned how to distinguish between them and what they were useful for, including fir, packing, and of course eating. We also got to try some alpaca in Chivay, where we stayed the night, and it was quite delicious. The cuy (guinea pig) on the other hand, had too many little bones to make it worth eating, otherwise I´d say it tasted like chicken. It´s a delicacy here. We hit up the hot springs in Chivay and enjoyed watching a folkloric dance during dinner before heading for some much needed sleep. This would be the only of the surrounding 3 nights that we would spend in a bed rather than a bus. Our tour drove us along the rim of the canyon, stopping in tiny villages, one of which had domesticated some birds of prey, and Nate got to hold an eagle of some sort on his arm. Mom, you would´ve geeked. The climax of the canyon tour is stopping at "Cruz del Condor" which is a point on the edge of the canyon where people gather to watch the condors ride the thermal waves up out of the canyon in the morning. We saw a few from far away, even in my zoom lense they looked like butterflies, but luckily one gave us a great grand finale. It rose up directly in front of us and over our heads. It did strike us as a bit strange that we were so excited to see giant ugly vultures, but they really were an impressive size, and I got some great photos. Their wingspan can be up to 3 meters wide, but with virtually no claws to speak of they cannot be birds of prey. They find something dead and circle it for up to 5 days to make sure it is dead before they go in for their feast. Yuck. But apparently we had great luck to see 4 condors, as many people come and go without seeing any at all.
We spent a rather nice afternoon in Arequipa (the "White City") we only saw a couple white buildings, but the center plaza was really nice and we enjoyed pizza and beer on a terrace while the sun set. Our overnight bus experience this time was much better with Cruz del Sur bus line, they even fed us and gave us pillows and blankets. The difference between the two bus rides was like sleeping in an awful dorm to graduating to a private room, so much better. We woke up in Ica this time, where we planned on getting a ride to the desert and doing some sandboarding, then heading to Paracas on the coast to find a hotel. Lucky for us a man seemed to read our thoughts and presented us with a tour option with exactly what we wanted, included sightseeing in Paracas and a good deal at a nice hotel. DONE. We spent that day at a desert oasis called Huacachina (wakacheena), where we sat by the pool, ate, and admired the sand dunes surrounding us. The dune-buggy/sandboarding tour was at 4pm since it's too hot to go during the day. I decided I'm just not the right person to recount the stories of our crazy adventures sometimes, because they seem to frighten me a lot more than they do the guys. So I will tell you that it was actually kind of terrifying, zooming over giant sand dunes not quite knowing how steep the drop will be on the other side, plus we were in the back which mean getting thrown around and losing my stomach with every bump. Sandboarding proved much more intimidating than my experience in Brazil, bigger, steeper, and for some reason more difficult. The boards are crap, but I just can't do the sideways thing, and I was too scared to go face first on my stomach, so it was kind of a fail for me. Daryl was good at it, Nate is fearless so he just tried everything. Walked away with some whiplash unfortunately but bottom line is we all walked away. Watched the sunset over the dunes before heading back and on to Paracas.
Being on the coast, we began, and haven't stopped really, eating ceviche and fresh seafood every day. We did a boat tour of Islas Ballestas, breeding ground for Peruvian Boobys, sea lions, even Humbolt Penguins! Those guys were cute. We also did a tour of the nearby desert reserve where somewhere there was a salt mine. The roads were all made of salt rather than paved, we tasted it, definitely salt! I like how resourceful they are around here. Mind you this is where the desert meets the sea, so we ended up having lunch in a tiny place with just a couple restaurants surrounding a small fishing harbor. After a delicious seafood meal we actually ran into the Frenchies again, most random. Two nights in Paracas ended our tour of Peru, and we headed back to Lima.
Daryl went straight to the airport to catch his flight, and Nate and I went to our friend Carlos' house. We lunched with friends of ours who worked at Alpine Meadows with us and are now staying with our friend Ximena again. Yesterday was such a fun day! We went to the beach, ate piles of ceviche, this was about the time that I decided it was my birthday. I spent my birthday on a beach in Costa Rica last year, and this year it will be spent in the cold of Montana, so why not start celebrating early? We had a birthday brownie on the beach, then went home to take hot showers! My second of the trip. We made tequeños, somewhat of a mix of cultures- little wontons stuffed with caprese makings, fried, and then dipped in guacamole- yum! Definitely bringing that one home. Then we went out to a nice part of Lima overlooking the ocean and had dessert- hot chocolate, oreo cheesecake and tiramisu. They told the waiters it was my birthday and I got a candle and they sang to me in Spanglish! It was definitely a fun birthday. Lima has been more fun that I expected and it's been really great to stay with friends and experience it as a guest rather than a tourist. Tomorrow night is our last night and then we will be back Stateside!
In the end, Peru really was different than I expected. I've had more coca cola and candy bars in the last two weeks than in the last 2 years. I've been reminded of some things I really enjoy and take for granted- hot water, toilet seats, toilet paper, the comfort and privacy of my home, non-humid climates. Just to name a few. Peru is a place that I don't think I really need to come back to, but I'm so glad I was able to experience it with my favorite travel buddies! Until next time...
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