Greetings from PERU!!! i am hoping this won’t be my last post for a while, but since I’m heading to Bolivia where i’ve heard the WiFi is spotty at best, I anticipate that it’ll be a while before I update since I plan to spend around 3 weeks there.. nonetheless, i’ll continue to write and just do a massive catchup when i finally connect
BUT ANYWAY.. Peru has been amazing.. great food, beautiful nature, lots of nice people… i’m really sad I don’t have a ton of time to spend here since I have to work my way down to Santiago by December 26 to catch a flight to BA and there’s so much to see in between.. and since I’ve already visited in 2012 and did the Salkantay Trek (which was amazing.. but definitely a one & done thing) as well as Cusco & Lima & Ica.. i figured i could kind of breeze by this time around.. but still… pooooop
I’ve been spending the last two weeks doing lots of trekking in Huaraz and Arequipa.. which has made me feel really good and healthy (and also helps with getting a firm ass)… as well as taking long bus rides.. which does not make me feel nearly as healthy, especially cus i end up consuming like 23849732948 calories (What is it about bus/car rides that make you want to just eat the shittiest food?) but i guess if i want to maintain my applebum, i gotta work those legs and eat lots of food CUS AINT NOBODY EVER WROTE A SONG ABOUT A FLAT ASS AMIRIITE?!?!
I ended up going straight from mainland Ecuador down to Huaraz after meeting some nice Aussie boys on my flight.. Jude, Billy and Marcus :) i meant to only walk with them to the bus station, but when they told me the were heading which i initially was going to skip, i decided to tagalong since its always better to have good company on long bus rides. they were really entertaining and made the hours fly by… which was good cus it was a 36 hour transit… but its alright cus Peruvian buses are pretty luxurious.. with hostesses providing u snacks and super reclining seats :)
Huaraz was great.. like i said, i was going to originally skip it, but i met a girl who told me the Santa Cruz trek was phenomenal so i was going to do it but when i got there, i realized it was rainy season and i know myself, and i know ii would be miserable if i was wet and cold so i opted to do little day treks instead whcih meant i had to sadly depart from teh Aussie boys :( since the city is quite high, i wanted a bit of time to acclimate so i started off doing laguna wilcacocha, which was about 3900 meters (12800 feet).. the lake itself wasn’t very pretty, but the walk was really nice since you’re going thru little Peruvian villages and it was a good, easy hike to start off with
The next day, two girls in my room, Dittee and Virginie asked if i wanted to join their trek to Laguna Charup and i agreed.. i was a bit nervous since the max height was 4,450 meters (14,600 feet), which would be the highest i’ve ever done at that point… it was a bit hard, but lots of fun and the lake was stunning…. like something out of a fairy tale. the best part was towards the end of the trek where it went straight up and we had to use a rope to pull ourselves up and scramble on the rocks.. sadly it cost me my favorite tights, but totally worth the fun adventure :)
I started feeling a bit under the weather so I took a rest day, then I finally hiked up Laguna 69 which was sosososososososos beautiful. and pretty fucking difficult. we climbed 800 meters overall and reached a max height of 4,600 meters.. which is definitely the highest i’ve ever been. it was a bit of a struggle, especially the last uphill bit, but i did ittttttt.. and it was worth it. the lake is an astonishing turquoise color due to the cooper minerals in the water and its surrounded by beautiful glaciers.. UNFUCKINGREAL. to celebrate my victory, i jumped into the freezing cold water.. it was cold for the first 5 seconds, then i went completely numb.. afterwards it was fineee and i motivated two other boys to do it so that was a nice victory :)
Unsurprisingly, I felt pretty shitty the next day. I was contemplating on spending another day in Huaraz but I decided to push through and head to Arequipa vis-a-vis Lima. Unfortunately, I didn't read the bus schedule properly and ended up missing the connecting bus so I spent the night in Lima, which turned out to be a saving grace because my fever broke and I was able to run a few errands.. like replacing my tights. AND EATING delicious foods. SOSOSO good. especially after just eating bananas and soda crackers for 2 days...
After eating my way through Lima, I finally made it to Arequipa, aka the city of eternal blue skies. I had a strange first day... some nice old man chased after me to hand me a beer as i was walking to the hostel with my heavy bag and invited me to grab lunch with him and his buddies... it was a lot of fun but after lunch some guy tried to steal my phone but i instinctively screamed and managed to kick him in the balls (with my hiking boots no less) so he ended up on the floor and a group of people came to check up on me and it was all gravy.. i thought it was actually pretty hilarious.. and it quickly went from being OMG how nice are peopel to WTF peopel are terribleeee. but WHATEVER. shit happens... its all apart of traveling.
ANYWAY, as soon as i got to the hostel i signed up for the 3 day/2 night Colca Canyon hike since i was told the 2 day/1 night option was too exhausting since you get rushed off everywhere. The hike was departing at 3AM that night so I took a quick nap before pick up timee.. i tried to sleep on the bus, but it was pretty chilly so i was a bit tired.. luckily the first two days were pretty much downhill trekking, which was a bit hard on my knees but it was only 3 hours a day, so i can't really complain.. plus i spent one full afternoon basking in what they called "the oasis" which was a beautiful little hostel complete with a pool right in the middle of the canyon with the really nice people in my group. which was perfect considering it was super hot in the middle of the day. AND the Aussie ended up randomly showing up towards the middle of the night, which was a nice surprise, and we hung around the campfire at night..
The next day my group woke up bright and early on the final day to start trekking at 5AM so we woudl beat the heat.. it took me about 2.5hours to get up 1200meters.. the hike itself was completely straight up.. no plateaus or downhill, but it wasn't so badd.. especially in comparison to Laguna 69. i treated myself to a nice chocolate bar post hike.. which was deeelicious.. #earnedit
ANYWHOSE.. afterwards we chased down so llamas but i was so exhausted that i ended up falling asleep the whole ride back.. im now trying to sort some visa stuff from Australia and Brazil which is stressing me out a ton, but i'm trying to be positiveeeeee and stuffsssss. Heading to Lake Titicaca tomorrow (HAHAHA i still can't stop laughing everytime i mention that name.. i know i have the sense of a humor of a teenage boy) but it should be amazing!!! hopeful updates soon.. but not holding my breath :(