Day 2: Hikin'

I was definitely nervous about the physical demands of this trek. I’d heard the trek on average described as “doable but difficult”. I did a trek in the northern Andes back in July. It was just two weeks after I’d run a marathon and the 2 hike was very hard. I was worried because I hadn’t done any real physical activity since that hike in July. Mono took a toll on my body. Even at the end of November I could still feel the sickness effecting me. The lack of exercise plus left over mono plus the altitude was a big enough threat to make me start running up and down stairs two weeks before the hike. I thought it might be too late to get in shape, but at least I could shock my legs and get the initial soreness out of the way.

It seemed to work because I didn’t have too hard a time with the incredibly steep, never ending mountains. Day two, our first day of real hiking. The hiking part was definitely challenging, but we took so may breaks at first it was manageable. It seemed like every half an hour we resting. And not just taking quick breathers, we were literally taking a load off. The locals have built a whole system around where the gringos take breaks on their treks. There where hammocks and women selling refreshments every mile.

We had a guide named Luis who led us up the right paths and told us when to take a break. I think their rule as guides is to take it easy on the gringos unless specifically asked other wise. All of the boys were complaining after the first few stops that they didn’t like resting so much. Steph was the only one who admitted she liked all the down time. As far as she was concerned, she worked her butt off all year in an office and only gets two precious weeks off which she was using in in Peru. Since all she does is work, work, work, she wasn’t thrilled that her vacation was strenuous. All the Lucchessi brothers wanted to do was hike harder, drink harder, do everything and sleep as little as possible. All Steph wanted to do was relax, do nothing and sleep 14 hours a day.

The boys raced ahead and Steph took her time with Luis in the back. Luis’ English was okay, but not great. Steph took 3 years of high school Spanish and wasn’t afraid to use it, so they actually had a great time hiking and practicing their language skills. It was really entertaining to her some of the stuff that came out of this girls mouth in an attempt to communicate. I have to love her for trying though. That is the way to learn a language, not to be afraid of making mistakes and just dive in and talk. It was actually noticeable the amount of Spanish she picked up just from two weeks of traveling. Steph is the kind of person I believe could pick up a language in a relatively short amount of time if fully emerged. Luis, our guide, had an English level that passable but relied on the Spanish speakers in the group to help translate. I wonder if they gave us a guide who was still working on his English because they new we had 4 bilingual people in the group. We actually had more Spanish speakers than non Spanish speakers. There was so much double language going on that sometimes I forgot to translate for the non Spanish speakers.

With the boys way ahead and Steph bringing up the rear, I found myself somewhere in-between. For a lot of the hiking I was on my own. I didn’t mind. We were with the group 24 hours a day, a little me time was nice. Especially since given the altitude it made breathing let alone a making conversation very difficult while hiking.

Day 2: Winding down

Towards the end of the second day, we found ourselves in the valley of the river Urubamba. We had to cross the river in a two person cart connected by a cable. Of all the things we did on our trip, this is the one that made me the most nervous. I have been in Peru long enough to witness many contraptions such as that one fail. And there are no lawsuits or insurance these companies have to deal with, which is in no way reassuring. Plus, the guide told us some had died on it just 6 months ago. After all had crossed safely, I realized it wasn’t as bad as it seemed. And that 400 meters down the river there was a regular suspension bridge we could have crossed. In the end I’m glad I crossed on the zip line.

The day concluded with our arrival at a hot spring. The hot spring was so much better than what I had imagined. It was obviously created for and maintained by the money of tourists. It was one of the nicest looking spa’s I’ve seen in my life, let alone Peru. It was clear spring water in natural rock pools. You could bury your feel in the pebbles that made up the floor. The pools backed up into rock cliffs jetting strait up and the view looking out from the other side of pools was breathtaking. Lush green jungle mountains, high and mighty, mysterious yet inviting. We were in the hot springs as the sun went down and misty clouds settled on the mountain tops.

This fantasy land wasn’t without flaw. Since it was in jungle part of the mountains, there were massive amounts of mosquitoes. I have a personal vendetta against mosquitoes to the point where I actually make myself paranoid. It’s true, there were mosquitoes everywhere and if you stood outside of the pool, they attacked your bikini exposed skin within seconds.

I had this image of arriving at the hot springs on the second day, exhausted and cold. I pictured soaking my aching bones in the warm waters with a cold beer I hand. Not only was not tired or sore from the trek so far, it wasn’t even cold. At home when I’m too hot in my Jacuzzi, I do an in and out routine to keep myself from over heating. But because of all the mosquitoes, I kept every part of my body underwater, no matter how hot I felt. And they wouldn’t let us bring the beer bottles by the pool. So every 10 minutes or so, I would jump out of the hot springs, sprint over to my stuff and dance around while pounding my beer because if I stayed stationary the mosquitoes would bite me.

The hot springs weren’t perfect, but I still loved them.

From the hot springs, we were bused into a small village a few miles away. At the hot springs I had drank two 22 ounce beers. At dinner in the town I had a Brazilian cocktail which was pretty strong . That combined with the altitude and the heat from the hot springs, I was really feeling the alcohol. Right as I realized how much the alcohol was hitting me, I also realized my camera was gone. I had definitely left it in the locket at the hot springs. Luis wasted no time in finding a taxi to take us back. He didn’t seem annoyed in the least that I interrupted his dinner. I was really grateful at how he didn’t make me feel guilty. Since we were the last to leave the place they had padlocked the gate at the lockers. I told the security guard I could jump it and he said if I could I was more than welcome to try. I got in no problem, retrieved my camera and impressed the hell out of the security guard.

Back at the restaurant my food was waiting for me. All the hiking, drinking and camera excitement had left me famished. I was so consumed with consuming my food that as I finished I was surprised by a restaurant workers coming towards our table with a birthday cake with candles and singing. I wondered who’s birthday it was without my knowing and before I could ask, they set down the cake in front of me and I realized everyone was singing and looking at me. Very confused, I looked at my friends and told them it wasn’t my birthday, but they just kept singing as if they knew what they were doing. I thought maybe they told the restaurant it was my birthday to get a free cake, so I didn’t say anything more about it not being my birthday.

Turns out, since my friends weren’t here for my birthday back in September, they wanted to celebrate with me 2 months after the fact. It sounds a like a silly thing to do, and it was. But it touched me so much that the thought even occurred to them to try such an elaborate scheme while doing a 4 day trek. When I went to find a camera, they went to find me a cake.

That night the boys went out only until midnight and Steph and I went strait to bed. That was the only night we had to share with a room with Dave and Dan who made us feel good because they went to bed even earlier than we did every night. That night it was hot. We didn’t want to open the windows cause there were no screens and we didn’t want to get eaten by moquitoes. I had killed seven in the room before I got into bed and knew I didn’t kill them all and the paranoia of being bit in the middle of the night didn’t help when I was trying to fall asleep.

Steph and I shared a bedroom one summer in Rhode Island. It was similar in the nights where it was hot and humid and uncomfortable to sleep. We remedied that by sleeping as naked as necessary. The hottest night of the trip was also the only night we shared a room with the Bullon brothers and so therefore had to keep our clothes on. Even though it was the worst of the night sleeps, it was definitely one of the best days, maybe second only to the Machu Picchu day.

Day 3: Hike Till You Drop

I smiled so much on my trip that my face hurt at the end of the days. The cast of Characters we had along for the ride should get their own sitcom. I love Steph because she isn’t over sensitive and, like me, can be made fun of all day long and laugh along with it instead of getting upset. Steph totally got the bulk of the teasing on the trip. It started with her packing. I told steph she was gonna need a back pack for the hiking. She said she didn’t have one so I arranged for her to borrow a friends in Lima. Steph arrives in Peru with a huge rolly, red, suitcase. She brought more clothes for a two week trip than I did my two year service, and I am not over exaggerating.

I questioned her repeatedly why she brought so much stuff. She brought 3 different winter coats, 5 pairs of jeans (I don’t even own 5 pairs of jeans), zebra print flats and fancy to the knee leather boots. She got nicknamed Paris right off the bat. But she realized that for the day hikes, she didn’t have anything to carry her stuff. She found a white hefty garbage back and figured she’s carry that up the mountain. She went from Paris to Hobo overnight. Everyone made fun of her for carrying a plastic bag and told her it wouldn’t last, but she showed them. The plastic bag ended up working great.

Eric even switched to a plastic bag half way through the trek but it didn’t work out as well as Steph’s and he complained like everyone thought Steph would do.

The third day was a day of all hiking. After a three hour climb 800 meters strait up, we reached the top pf a mountain and an old Inca watch post where from you could see the ruins of Machu Picchu. We had a sack lunch there and enjoyed the amazing view. The Lucchessi brothers kept things interesting by syncing their ipods to the theme of the Indiana Jones movie and running around the Inca ruins. At one point, Ryan put his Nalgene on an altar rock and reenacted the scene from the movie where he takes the idol by switching his Nalgene bottle with a his lunch sack and then mimicking escaping from several booby traps.

After lunch we descended the mountain finally arriving in Hidroelectica where we took a train to Aguas Calientes. Aguas Calientes is the town at the base of Machu Picchu that who’s sole function in this world is to cater to tourists. The hostel we stayed in was far cry from the $1000 a night luxury eco lodge I stayed in with my parents 6 months before, but it was still really nice. Our room was right on top of a violently rushing river and the sound of water was defining, but still really cool.

In Aguas we were given the fanciest meal of our trip and our last meal with Luis. It seemed like a special night. Our group got along really well and everyone bonded during our 3 day adventure. It was really nice to share that night with my friends. We knew that we had the crown Jewel of our trip the next day, Machu Picchu.

We had to wake up at 4:45 to get make to the ruins for sunrise. This was the one night the boys went to bed early. Just like the last time I was in Aguas Calientes, I woke up in the middle of the night sick and spent an hour in the bathroom. Maybe that night was worse than the one that was hot with the mosquitoes. But I don’t know. After I was done in the bathroom I feel right asleep and slept soundly with the sound of rushing water filling our room.

Machu Picchu

For some one who spends her peace corps career sleeping in till 9 every morning, this trip was a shock to my system. Every morning we were up at 6, except for the day we went to Machu Picchu when we woke up at 4:45 to try and get there for sunrise. I knew it was silly, cause all the mornings had been cloudy and rainy, but we still rushed out of our hostel like a bat out of hell. The boys didn’t even eat breakfast. When we got there it was raining and clouds were sitting on top off the hills so you couldn’t see anything 50 feet away from your face. When it came to be the hour for the sun to rise, nothing happened. It was just like some one was turning on a dimmer switch as the sky went from gray to slightly brighter gray. I could I have stayed in Lima to see that effect. I was thankful that I had been there in June with my parents to see the sun rise over the adjacent mountains. It was so beautiful and mystical but I was also grateful I could be there in December with the mist and fog on the mountains. That too was beautiful and mystical in another way.

In the morning Luis gave us the tour of the sacred city. It was a better, more thorough tour than I had with my parents in June, so it wasn’t all a re-run. We took about 1,000 pictures. Then the boys and I climbed Wayna Picchu, a steep mountain that over looks the ruins. Me and my dad did it two weeks before I ran a marathon and I remember feeling like my heart was going to jump out of my chest. Even though I was no where near in shape the way I was when I climbed it with my dad, but it didn’t even feel challenging this time around. I credit that to the fact that I had been acclimated to the altitude and was actually able to breath this time.

The sun came out around 9 o’clock in the morning and we enjoyed the rest of the warm day and the beautiful views that revealed themselves after the clouds lifted.

On top of the mountain Ryan pulled out an Almond Joy candy bar that he had been saving since Lima. He went out to a club and danced all night with the candy bar in his shirt pocket and then slept that night without taking it out. There was no real significance behind the candy bar, only that it was ours and we were going to share it as a victory celebration at Machu Picchu. So we ceremoniously feed each other the candy bar because we are complete weirdoes.

We wanted to hike beer up and enjoy a well deserved refreshment from atop Wayno Picchu, but we didn’t get our act together the night before.

All the boys wanted to stay at Machu Picchu as long as humanly possible. We were on the first bus up and they wanted to be on the last bus down. Stephanie however, had no desire to spend the entire day amongst a pile of rocks. Since I had already been to Machu Picchu, I offered to go down to Aguas Calientes and spend the rest of the day doing whatever she wanted.

We had Lunch at the hotel where my parents and I stayed. I ordered a dish that I had been dreaming about for six months, beef tenderloin in a elderberry sauce with a quinoa soufflé. We enjoyed the tranquil setting of the luxury hotel that contrasted the crowded town of Aguas Calientes and it’s slew of cheap hostels.

We decided to top off our Machu Picchu experience by getting a well deserved, full body message. Meanwhile, back at Ruins, the boys were synchronizing their ipods and running around again to the theme of Indiana Jones. They stayed until the last bus back down to Aguas Calientes where we all met up in the evening and recounted how we had spent the rest of the day.

At 6:30 we boarded a train back to Cusco. The landscape was dark and quite and the train comfortable and peaceful. The entire group for the first time on the trip was silent and lost in thought of the days events. Everyone agreed that we picked the perfect tour and the past 4 days had been one of the most unique experiences of our lives.

Since we had been up since 4:45 in the morning and had a day filled of mountain climbing and excitement, one might assume that this would be the night the boys would take it easy and go to bed. No No No. The boys had big plans for Cusco that night. After we got off the train in Ollantaytambo and onto a bus, every one fell asleep except for me, Ryan and Rico who were all drinking beer in the back and obnoxiously quoting every movie we could think of. The fun came to a screeching halt when we got to the hostel in Cusco and Ryan realized he had left his wallet and passport on the train. Operation Get Ryan’s Stuff Back was underway. I made about 10 phone calls and did all I could do for the night. But it was nearly midnight and there we would have to wait for the next day. We would have to put our plans to leave for Lake Titicaca in the morning on hold until we got everything back.

Cusco to Puno

It’s never fun when somebody looses something on vacation. Ryan had left not only his wallet but his passport as well on the bus. His somberness was contagious and we had all gone to bed a little worried, but hopeful none the less. The next morning all of the phone calls I made paid off. A man brought over all of Ryan’s things in the morning. While the terror one feels when loosing something is awful, the relief that person feels once the items are recovered are so much sweeter.

We had one last breakfast in Cusco with Bullon brothers before we parted ways. The Lucchessi brothers and Bullon brothers really hit it off and were sad to say goodbye. The 5 of us continuing on to Puno had an 8 hour bus ride ahead of us.

Because of the wallet incident, our departure time was pushed back and all of the nice tourist busses had already left in the morning, which mean we had to take a local bus. My friends had the good fortune of seeing a bit more of the “real Peru”. This run down bus stopped every 15 minutes, often times at the side of the road, to pick up and drop off passengers. The people that got off and on were traditional Andean folk, many of them unshowered and lugging on bundles of produce and occasionally animals.

We were in the back of the bus and drinking heavily. At one point, two Peruvian gentlemen filled the last two seats next to Ryan, Steph and Eric, and they offered them a beer and attempted conversation. Rico and I were sitting together in front of them and laughing hysterically at Stephanie and Eric’s attempt to speak Spanish. But I have to give them credit for trying.

The bus stopped so many times it was hard to remain patient. My friends didn’t seem to mind and actually enjoyed their local experience. And finally after a very long bus ride we arrived in Puno and saw the dark outline of Lake Titicaca. Puno is so poor that unlike uber-touristy cusco, we were able to afford a hotel for the same price we paid for a hostel in Cusco. It was after 10 by the time we arrived so Steph went strait to bed and the rest of us went out for a drink.

Lake Titicaca

6:30 the next morning, we were up and ready to take our tour of lake Titicaca. We were picked up from our hotel and boarded a small comfortable boat. Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world that straddles the border of Peru and Bolivia.

We were all so excited to be on a boat. In our trip so far we had taken so many types of transportation: Planes, trains, cars, zip lines, paragliding, walking, hiking swimming, and how we were adding boat.

Just 45 minutes off the shore of Puno, we reached the floating Uros Islands. These Islands have been around for hundreds of years and are made up of reeds that grow all over the lake. Not only are the islands comprised of reeds but the houses and just about everything else on the Islands are made from these reeds too. They even eat them! We got to try them and they are pretty tastey actually.

Eric, could not seem to wrap his brain around the concept of living on a floating island and didn’t understand why these people didn’t just move to the mainland. I tried to explain to him that he was using his US mentality to try to make sense of the Andean culture. To me it was simple. These people don’t leave the house when they turn 18. Their whole life is their family and they stay with them from cradle to gave. Leaving home is mutinous. But still, it seemed to me the Uros existence on the island was no longer about tradition and all about tourism.

After the floating islands we got back on the boat and went into the lake another 2 hours till we got to a natural island named Taquile which has about 3,000 inhabitants. The City of Puno is incredible isolated. It’s 12,500 feet up in the Andes mountains and very inaccessible. These people were living on an island, 3hours away on a modern boat from Puno. This island is probably the most remote place I have ever been in my life. It was pretty crazy.

My group seemed to love Puno and Lake Titicaca. They thought it was mystical and beautiful. I don’t know why, but Puno made me feel weird. I wasn’t a happy, relaxed tourist as I had been in all the other places we had visited. I couldn’t shake the idea from my head that this place was hopeless from a development standpoint. These people lived so poorly and isolated that I couldn't foresee their situation improving in my lifetime.

The original Inca gods are said to have emerged from the waters of Lake Titicaca. For the Andean people, the lake is wrought with folklore and legend. Stephanie loved the floating Islands and Eric was fascinated with the stone arches and history of Taquile island. Lake Titicaca was exactly what I was expecting. And while others were blown away by it’s awesomeness, I must admit that I didn’t find it all that impressive.

There was very little to see or do in the town of Puno. We took some recommendations from our Lonely planet book and went to bars and restaurants. Since Puno was so poor, everything was very cheap, espeically in comparison to Cusco. We ate some of the best food we had on the entire trip in Puno. The boys found their favorite bar in all of Peru there as well.

Saturday night was the boys last day in Peru. They had a flight our Puno at 9 on Sunday morning back to Lima. From Lima they stopped in El Salvedor and finally arrived in San Francisco around midnight. All three of the boys had work that Monday morning. Most people I know, would want a good nights sleep before that, but the Lucchessi brothers. They didn’t sleep at all. Instead, they drank all night long. Ryan knocked on my door at 5 in the morning to tell me all about he was the only white guy in the entire club and amazing his night had been.
They were so drunk at 7 in the morning when the van for the airport came to pick them up. It’s a wonder at all they made every single one of their connections. I was very sad to see them go. There wasn’t a moment with these boys that I wasn’t smiling of laughing. They were the best travel companions I could have asked for.
Stephanie was relieved to see them go so she could start phase II of our trip: the relaxing phase.

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.