The Last Few Relaxing Days

The next few days with Steph was the complete opposite of the way we had been traveling with the boys. We planned nothing and did nothing especially. We spent a day in the City of Arequipa, a beautiful colonial city that made a Puno a distant memory. We spent our time there reading in parks and sitting in restaurants playing cards.

Then we finally descended down the mountains on an overnight bus and back to the coastal desert. We went to Ica, 300 kilometers south of Lima. Ica is known for the famous Nazca Lines, the Balleros Islands aka the poor mans Galapagos and it’s Peru’s wine producing region. Steph and I saw none of that. Instead, we spent the rest of our trip in a desert Oasis known as Huacachina. We laid by the pool for a few days doing nothing besides reading, playing cards and getting to know the fellow travelers.

One of my favorite parts of traveling is meeting new people. But since we were with such a big group for most of our trip, I didn’t interact with many other people than the boys and Steph. Huacachina provided me with the opportunity to make up for the past week of being antisocial.
On the third day we finally did something. We dune buggying and sand boarding. It was really fun and since it is so close to Lima, can’t wait to go back and do it again.

Our epic journey ended very uneventfully. While I would have preferred a bit more excitement on the last leg of our trip, Steph was content with amount of nothingness that we accomplished. After our trip around Peru, Steph saw Lima with brand new eyes. When she first arrived, she didn’t think Lima was all that nice. But after being up in the Andes and seeing places like the tiny villages outside Machu Picchu and “cities” like Puno, Lima seemed like the hub of modernity. Indeed it is for Peru. I can only imagine how she felt when she arrived back in LA.

As for me, I was very sad to say goodbye. Steph is one of my best friends and I’m so fortunate to have been able to share my time in the Peace Corps and in Peru with her.