As many of you know, I decided to break tradition this year and spend the holidays away from my family and friends (except for Danny and Pam) and travel to Peru for 18 days for both Christmas and New Years. This being a life-long goal, or at least since I started discovering travel and knew what Peru had to offer and since opportunity knocked, I opened the door with arms wide open. Not to mention that I would be traveling with two of my closest friends, one of which was kind enough to open the comfort and sincerity of her family to us and introduce us to her family in Peru... THANK YOU PAM!
Initially I did not know what to think or expect, but once I arrived in Lima for the first 4 days of the trip, I started t resonate a lot with my living in Guadalajara. The city is very similar and the area that we were "living" in with our adoptive grandparents for the trip reminded me alot of walking around many parts of Mexico. The people, the food, the authenticity and the comfort that a different pace of life brings were all a few of the things that made me feel like it was a place I could remain at for ages from the get go. We spent Christmas eve enjoying a wonderful home-made Peruvian meal with an amazing rice dish that we had to get the recipe for. Although there were no pinatas, posadas nor tamales, welcoming Chirstmas in a different style was great, although I did miss my gramas tamales. The next couple of days in Lima were spent visisting the local market and seeing what we could find to see and/or eat; picarones (donut like fried dough with syrup), cebiche (peruvian style with sweet potato and seaweed), tortas (aka cake, not big mexican sandwiches and random fresh fruit and helado (always room for some ice cream)!
Next stop was Cusco for one night before starting the Inca Trail. The one thing that stuck for the first Cusco night was a headache. The slight change in altitude to 3800 meters from sea level caused a bit of a lingering pain in the temple area as well as slight drowsiness and blurry vision. Luckily, Coca Tea was readily available- we were welcomed by one cup of tea when checking in, of course I had about 6 and then had to pee every 5 minutes.. and I was able to bring some back home with me.
The 4 day hike on the Inca Trail was nothing short of amazing. Not only do I generally enjoy the outdoors, history and meeting people, but I was also very pleased with the opportunity to reflect on life in the comfort of nature. With the guidance of the Pacha Mama ( Mother Earth in Quechua) I made it up to 4200 meters in altitude after 2 days of rain with a fatigued knee and a 20lb back pack to the enlightening city of Machu Picchu. It was surreal. Even before arriving to Machu Picchu being in between massive peaks that make up the Andes and standing ABOVE the clouds (this doesn't happen unless I'm on a plane) was a beauty, but standing at the Puerta del Sol overlooking the Incan City of Machu Picchu was a revelation. You take it in and look at it and it still seems unreal, especially after hiking 44km.
After Machu Pichu we take a train back to Cusco and its time to celebrate New Years. We take a shower (after 5 days of not doing so, it felt damn good- although my own scent, and the scent of others, was starting to grow on me, LITERALLY) I also didn't shave for 1 week prior to departing for Peru and I didnt take a razor with me on the trip... Dinner was so memorable. We were thinking a nice sit down dinner, something to bring in the new year, but after turning left out of our hotel and onto the rainy streets, we were greeted by an abundance of street vendors selling "sanguiches" and "anticuchos" (cow heart skewers) we ate a lot of them and were pleasantly plump!
The night proceeded to celebrate new years with some of the friends we made during our hike. Meeting point: The golden Arches- McD's (yuck), but a landmark nonetheless. After polishing off a Camelback full of Vodka Redbull, a few beers and 2L bottle full of rum and coke (this was amongst a few of us), we were definitely welcoming the new year staying up until 4am. there is a tradition in Cusco in celebrating the new year where you RUN around the town square 12 times with empty luggage for good luck in travels in the coming year, sounded appealing and we tried. Except for the 1000's of people trying to do the same so the run was more of a wander and so we did one lap and counted that as 12. hope its not only January that I am given good luck for, otherwise I gotta get traveling....
2 days later we were off to Lake Titicaca. This was amazing. seeing a different way of life in modern society that wants nothing more than to continue living life like they do. On floating islands made of reed. eating mainly fish and only solar powered electricity operating the bare minimum. while on the island we got a break down of their day to day lives and got to tour in their "Mercedes" of transportation, a large reed boat with 2 levels. In this region of Peru we were meant to try Guinea Pig, but we failed.. it was raining and wandering around the streets of Puno wasnt the most recommended thing to do according to Lonely Planet.
After the islands we head back to Lima for the last leg of our trip. It was a lot of winding down, but also trying to eat all of the Peruvian eats that were on the list that we created. I am proud to say that we ate nearly all of the typical Peruvian dishes and eats that there are... a lot of thanks to Pam's Grama, a great cook she is. While back in Peru we did a bit of shopping and spent some time on the roads of the city. If you think the 405 is bad or driving in Tijuana or Manhattan is bad, go drive in Lima. This is definitely the place for a driver with a big, stubborn ego... "I own the road" is the mentality that the 8 million people in the city have. Interesting experience.
Upon return to the states, it had not set in that I had just traveled to a revered place of the world. One of the 7 new wonders of the world. a place that many people will never see. a country rich in culture, food and topographical beauty. I had visited Peru and was excited that I would be able to share my experience with others. Equally as much as I enjoy hearing stories of friends and family who travel to new and unknown places, I wanted to share and will continue to do so as long as the memories are fresh. If any of you are considering a trip to south america, do not leave Peru out of your plans. You will not regret visiting a beautiful country with great things to offer. Now, where to next?
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