Peru July 23

Day 2 of our hike, and it was an emotional roller coaster. Our spirits were high as kites at times and then would dip to the depths of hell in a heartbeat. We woke up, had oatmeal and left for Choco, which was supposed to be about 3 hours away. Our muscles were sore and feet hurting and the climb to Choco was almost all uphill. We had decided that morning that we would get a mule in Choco for safety reasons, not because we were hurting and sadly out of shape after the easiest day of the hike. We ended up making it to Choco in about 3 hours 15 minutes, which was good. We got there at about 12:15 and bought some treats from the tiny, crappy, overpriced shop in the plaza. We talked to a guy about getting a mule and he said he’d be back in a couple minutes. The guy came back. No mules. Shit. We were tiered, hurting ex-high school athletes who just simply wanted an animal to carry our heavy packs for us up the mountains. And that, my friends, is what is known as The Beginning of the Emotional Roller Coaster that was Day 2, Colca Trek. We were bummed but decided to go on. We asked where the trail continued on to Chacas and the guy we were talking to pointed us in a direction. We found a small trail that took us up terraces and then disappeared. Low spirits. Vaughn had to run back down to Choco and ask where the trailhead was again. He came back to me and said he asked 4 ppl and none of them knew. There was even a lady who, when Vaughn asked, turned to her 5 year old daughter and asked her. Luckily, on our way back down Vaughn spotted another trail that we decided to take. It was the steepest trail ever and looked like it wasn’t going where we wanted it to. We pondered hiking back to Cabanaconde a couple times because we though we were lost, but we kept going. Lower spirits. We hiked up this path through an old abandoned little town, an abandoned post office and a couple big crosses. We kept looking across the canyon at trails thinking we took the wrong one. Even lower spirits. We took a break (not very uncommon that day) and I decided to go a little further on the trail w/o my pack to see if the trail we were on connected with a trail we saw that went in the direction we wanted. And it did!! High spirits!! I came back and told Vaughn and we were ready to go. Unfortunately, the connection had a split, one that went down and one that went up, both in the direction we wanted. Low spirits. If anybody is wondering, this is where Jesus came into play. We were right next to a cross and Vaughn said if the rock he throws at the base of the cross bounces left, we go down; and if it bounces right, we go up. It bounced right, some may even say it struck emphatically to the right like a bolt of lightning. So we took that path and it was correct! I guess all that praying I’ve been doing the past 20 years finally helped me. Unfortunately, Jesus sent us on the second steepest hike I’ve ever done; second only behind the one we did to get to his cross. Spirits rose and fell along the way as cramps and doubts came and left. We are now camping at a wide, flat part of the path. We had rice with curry and carrots for dinner and I’m now going to sleep so I can wake up as sore as I’ve ever been. By the way, my two big toenails are about to pop off because they keep hitting the front of my shoes. Buenos night!

Peru July 22

We took the 5:00 am bus to Cabanaconde. It was very bumpy and very packed (ppl filling the aisles standing). We arrived around 11:30 and went to see Pablo (his real name), who Pablo (Edwin) told us to see. He pointed us in the right direction and also advised we get a mule at Choco. We began by hiking down passed gorgeous terraces and mountains. We passed a couple locals, one being a cute young lady with a bull. We saw here before we saw the bull and she told us to watch out for it because it’s dangerous. So Vaughn freaked out like a little girl and ran off the path while the lady went and got her bull out of the way for us. So courteous. And of course, since I didn’t understand a word the lady said, I freaked out because Vaughn did. And that’s the ONLY reason why!! We kept hiking and ended up running into more bulls which we freaked out about too. This time the bulls had no owners nearby. An old man walked by, right passed the bulls, while we stood frozen in shear terror. We decided to try walking past them, but ended up having the bulls run in our direction. This caused Vaughn to shutter in fear and hop a stone wall, with his heavy pack on, into someone’s terrace. And of course, since I didn’t want Vaughn to feel as if he were in this all by himself, I had to hop the wall as well, and act like I was scared (which of course I wasn’t). We ended up climbing up terraces behind the stone walls to get around the bulls. We then asked some locals where the path was we were on our way again, 30 minutes after the beginning of the whole bull encounter. We ended up following a skinny, rocky road all the way down to the Rio Colca river, passing breathtaking views, interesting grass patterns, a stray mule and a broken down, torn apart truck from at least a couple years ago. Our destination was a bridge on the river. After about 4 ½ hours we began to realize why there is an “ex” in front of the high school athletes. Our feet and muscles started hurting. I got 2 blisters, one which popped before we even got there, and the other just hurt like shit. We finally turned a corner and saw the ridge. It was the beautiful thing I have ever seen (ugly bridge but it meant we could get off our feet). When we reached the bridge, some guy who is the head of a couple ppl working on the bridge, came and said we can camp on the bridge or in a cave on the side of the mountain over the river, if we wanted. We are men, so we chose the cave. So we set up camp in our 6’ by 8’ cave on the side of a cliff over a river. This guy who told us we could camp there came out like 6 times and would whistle at us from the bridge to come talk to him. It was a very creepy situation and Vaughn and I were sure we were gonna get robbed or killed in our sleep. We had spaghetti and sauce for dinner, which was quite good, and then went to sleep, not knowing if we were gonna wake up ever again.

Peru July 21

We arrived in Arequipa bus station around 9 am. We took a taxi into town and it was 5 soles total. Which meant 1 sole per person. Which meant about 33 cents in dollars for a 7-8 minute cab ride. We finally decided on a hostel called La Reyna. It was right across the street from the Monaserio de Santa Catalina. Different Santa unfortunately. It was also a block away from the main plaza of the city, which is quite gorgeous. We had only 4 beds for 5 ppl, but we did have a balcony that looked out over the monastery thing and the city one way, and a mountain and El Misti the other way. It also had about 8 more levels up higher with better views as you went up. It was 13 soles a piece per night, which, divided by three is about $4.30 per night. God I love this place, Jew Heaven. After we checked in we left and had a pre-lunch snack at this café that is worked by all orphan children and one adult. I had a delicious Empinada for 2.50 soles. I splurged because I was helping the children. Vaughn and I then split from the rest of the group to go shopping and to figure out our Colca Canyon hike. We made no progress before lunch at all. We met back up with Hannah, Sarah and Steven and ate lunch at a little nicer restaurant. I had al paca medallions with mashed taters and veggies. I ate all the veggies!!! And the meal was a little expensive, but good. Vaughn and I then went our separate ways again to figure out our trip. We ended up talking to Pablo (whose real name is Edwin, but for some reason we liked to call him Pablo). He was very helpful and told us to come back at 5:00 for the maps of the canyon. So we went out and bought most of what we needed for the trek, finished off by a power shopping spree at the El Super (Arequipan Kroger). We went back at 5:00 and got the maps and some advice, one being to get a mule when we get to Choco because a steep pass is right after it. But, since Vaughn and I are ex-high school athletes (which means we can do anything), we thought to ourselves we wouldn’t need a mule because we are too cool. So we thanked Pablo and left to go to dinner with the group. We ended up going to a restaurant with a 5.50 sole special. I got a huge bowl of delicious unknown soup, a quite tasty steak (decent size), 5 fries and some rice. Not back for $2.00. After dinner Vaughn and I remembered that we needed a pot for the trip. After an hour or so of looking through malls and lit up streets, we decided to go to this one last store and then give up. Low and behold, the store had a pot in our price range!!! We went to bed around 10 because we had to wake up at 5:00 am for our bus to Cabanaconde.

Peru July 20

Ok, I wrote too much on the first day because I had a lot of down time. That won’t happen again. I woke up, ready for a nice hot shower. Well, what I didn’t know is there was no hot water. So I took my first running shower ever. I did not stop moving once. I then watched some soccer and took a cab to the airport. I waited there for 20 minutes until it said on the screen that Vaughn’s plane had arrived. I got all excited and jumped up to go wait for him at the ”Domestic Arrivals” gate. Then I waited some more. And after that, some more. After 45 minutes of waiting after Vaughn’s plane arrived, I decided I would go look elsewhere for him in case I was in the wrong spot. Right when I bent over to pick up my bags, low and behold, Vaughn arrives. Finally. He arrived with three friends: Sarah, Hanna and Steven. They were very nice people and they were coming to Arequipa with us. So we hopped in a cab to find a bus station in downtown Lima (so sketchy by the way) and we ended up riding Cromotex, a member of the prestigious Marco Polo bus family. Unfortunately, we had to wait a couple hours until our bus left. So, since we were hungry, we decided to ask someone where a good place to eat is. Vaughn found a guy and asked him which way we should go to find a decent place to eat, and the guy responded with something along these lines, “I wouldn’t go that way (pointing down the street) because there is a good chance you might get stabbed, and that way (pointing up the street) has less of a chance of a stabbing.” Needless to say we decided to stay the bus station. When we got on the bus, it was a lot nicer than expected. The seats were nice (not as roomy as preferred though), it was a double-decker, and 90’s movie theme songs’ music videos were playing on the television. HEAVEN!!! And then, before I could bask in the pure magnificence of the Lion King, Top Gun and Titanic music videos, the lady put in the most amazing (cheesiest) informational video on Marco Polo buses that I have ever seen!! And you think that’s impressive, after it I watched my first Japanese movie about alien dogs, dubbed over in Spanish!!! I must have just been killed and sent to walk through the Golden Gates!!! The dinner was quite good actually. It was some sort of chicken dish with potatoes and rice, and a tiny head of broccoli (just the way I like it). And we all slept like shit on the bus overnight.

Peru July 19

Two girls just walked by in all black and with cowboy hats on so I decided to start writing. The plane to Philly was nice and it went by quickly. From Philly we departed early on a small little jet. I sat next to a guy who works at University of Maryland in the housing department who was flying to New Jersey to go see a Yankees/Tigers game. Interesting fellow he was. We got stuck in a line of planes and I ended up falling asleep before we even took off. Like I said, interesting fellow. I woke up later in mid-air to find that we had waited in line 40+ minutes for our plane’s turn to blast off!! Bump that. So I just went back to sleep. So now I’m in Newark airport (which is like a mall by the way) sitting at my gate people watching and trying not to fall asleep. And that brings us back to where we began, the two absurdly goofy looking women in cowboy hats. Now a guy w/ a red mohawk type doo just walked by and stared at me. It could have been bc I was staring right back at him, but I’m gonna say it’s b/c I look damn good right now.
So the flight wasn’t aweful. I did find out though that on four hours of sleep I hate children. I was almost asleep before we took off and then we started moving. I never knew a moving plane could get kids so excited. They were yelling and screaming and waking me up. And that was nothing compared to the indescribable chaos that occurred when we took off. So on four hours of sleep with a pounding headache and a 7 hour flight ahead of me to a country in which I don’t speak their language, I had my first EVER thoughts of smothering a child (or 6). But only till they pass out. Watch out fatherhood. But, against all odds, I made it through the flight with Butch and Sundance, Tom Hanks and J.D. and Turk, not to mention a crying baby most of the flight. I had a lovely lady and her daughter next to me. I think the lady’s name was Reyna and she was going to see her family in Peru, where she was raised, for the fist time in 20 years!! She was nice enough to help me get through the airport, which I needed because of my only Spanish being gracias, denada and numbers 1-29. We got split up at the very end when I had to find my cab the hostel sent. The second I stepped foot outside the main lobby I was swamped by taxi drivers asking me if I needed a taxi. I was literally asked by about 25 taxi drivers within the three minutes it took me to find my needle in the haystack of taxi drivers. His name… Henry. He had no sign but he somehow overheard me asking another driver about Pay Purix, my hostel. He yelled my name, and although it was in broken English, it was the most beautiful “Forrest!” I have ever heard in my life. I had found my taxi!! It turned out Henry was part of the family that owned the hostel and he walked me about ten minutes away from the airport to the taxi in Lima in the middle of the night. Sketchy. But we got their and the taxi ride was like taking a taxi in India. At 11:30 at night we somehow managed to honk about 6 times, break hard about 4 times and almost get in about 3 crashes, all on a 3 minute taxi ride with only seeing 2 cars. I did make it to the hostel though and was greeted by Erik, Henry’s older brother who was very nice. He showed me around the place which is very colorful and pretty nice. Unfortunately, Erik made the mistake of challenging me to ping pong after he saw how crappy I was at pool. Big mistake. And somehow, on my first night I met a pretty English girl from Wales. Good way to finish off the first day.