Peru & Bolivia

Huaraz 

The drive itself wasn’t great, my screen for my seat kept turning on and blinding me and the women behind me had some very important calls that she just wanted the whole ride to hear.

We arrived in Huaraz super early, so I threw on my turtle packs (one front and one back) and wandered around town, exploring a bit of the area before trying to check in early to my hostel. Fortunately, the room was open, and I checked in early and immediately took a nap to recover from the bus ride.

Refreshed, it was time for breakfast, and I went to a small café with the worst hot chocolate I’ve ever had. It literally tasted like cocoa powder and water but somehow worse. Just horrendous. 

I headed out to explore the city a bit more, first with the street not destroyed in the 1970 earthquake. Unfortunately, it was a Sunday, so everything was closed, and I extended my route to go try to climb a hill nearby. Then street dogs. Barking. Growling, and eventually one starting to attack me. It was fucking terrifying.

I managed to get away and started walking back with adrenaline coursing through my veins. I get back to my room and… the key isn’t opening the door. I’m locked out. After searching the entire hostel, I find the manager and he couldn’t open it either. Shit. There was only one option left: kick the door by the lock as hard as I can. It fucking worked. 

Dinner was next up, and it was mediocre (Huaraz is not a food destination) with stray dogs and beggars wandering the space. I finished up and went to a local market to grab some snacks for the hike the next day, ending the night with anticipation for my first hike in Peru. 

The next morning, I checked out, stashed my bag at the hostel, and headed a couple blocks down to try to catch a colectivo (a small van that makes a daily trip to the trailhead).

Then it was time for the hike. Ben vs. elevation. And elevation through some punches as I made my way up to 14,500 feet (higher than Rainier). Strava. But the views were worth it. The lake itself was beautiful and I had it all to myself, even diving in! (Twice, the first one I missed on video) Feeling like I had some extra time I decided to make the trek to Laguna Churupita and get above 15,000 feet for the first time in my life.

I managed to make it all the way there and back on questionable footing (in my running shoes no less) and slowly realized that I was running behind and at risk of missing my shuttle. 

Picking up the pace, I got back with 10 minutes to spare, got the colectivo (completely crammed), and made it back to the hostel. I snuck back into my uncleaned room for a much-needed shower and to reorganize my bag.

Hunger finally caught up with me and I started looking for places to eat. It was impossible. Everything was closed, google had wrong hours for every place, just a pain in the ass.  Eventually I settled on a pizza place nearby the hostel. Satiated, I made it back to the hostel, experienced a citywide blackout, and made it back to the bus station for the journey back to Lima (and then a flight to Arequipa) 

Arequipa

After a bus ride that would make Universal Studios jealous for its jarring bumps, I made it bright and early to Lima! Then it was time to head to Arequipa. (Looking back, I should’ve just flown from the local Huaraz airport instead of the night bus and flight) I caught a cab to the airport, got through no problem and after an hour delay was off! 

I got settled at my hostel easily; then, decided to hit the town despite my exhaustion levels as rain was forecasted for the afternoon. I started at the Arequipa market where I tried queso helado, a local dessert. Hella good and worth the 45 minutes searching for the recommended place! The city exploration continued as I checked out the Plaza de Armas and finally the cities famous monastery. I paid for a personal tour and learned the history of the monastery, and how rich families would send their daughters there to secure a way into heaven. The place was beautiful with rich colors, fantastic architecture, and an amazing fruit garden/farm as well.

The rest of the night was pretty relaxing with a good nap and a nice dinner in town, heading to bed early as I had a 2:30 AM wakeup call the next morning to go to Colca Canyon, Peru’s equivalent to the Grand Canyon. 10k feet deep!

Beep. Beep. Beep. There is no sound worse than Iphone’s alarm. Especially that early in the morning. I got my stuff together and jumped on the bus to begin the full day tour. Along the way we stopped at the volcano vista, with frigid temperatures and views of many of the area’s tallest peaks. Many were hidden behind clouds but those I could see had impressive prominence for being in the Andes. 

We went into Yanque where our group ate a quick breakfast with my first coca tea and this warm juice made with rice (I wish I could describe it; the drink was an anomaly).  Then we made our way to the canyon itself. We had various pitstops along the way for photos before reaching our true destination the Condor viewpoint!

We hiked up a half mile… and there it was. A Giant Condor! 

Or more accurately a man in a condor suit. Due to condors not being in season they decided to have people dress up as condors to help make the experience better. It was hilarious. Fortunately, just as we were leaving, two condors flew through the canyon, looping around and giving us a show. 

Riding that high our group started making our way back to Arequipa with a few more stops along the way. 

Our first stop I got to hold a baby alpaca and a cactus drink called colca. It was like a sourer kiwi. I’d have it again in a heartbeat.

We then stopped and had lunch where I ate alpaca (with mixed feelings) 

Finally, we visited a nearby hot springs for an hour. They were nice but the funniest memory of this place was seriously thinking I had lost my sunglasses for a solid 10 minutes when I was wearing them. Not my brightest moment. 

After all of that it was a long but easy drive back to the hostel. I had a nice dinner in the town square, and then grabbed some beers to try to rally people in the hostel for a fun night. Unfortunately, most people were doing the 3AM tour the next day and the night ended earlier than hoped as I packed up my bags and drifted to sleep. 

Cusco & Machu Picchu

After a nice 6am wakeup call (Seriously I hadn’t slept in past 6:30 since Lima, Lesson learned), I headed down with all my stuff only to be met by no taxi. Shit. I was already cutting it close. Luckily, the hostel got the cab taken care of and I made it to the airport with time to spare and even swing by a lounge! I ended up staying a bit too long and nearly missed my flight as the departure boards weren’t updating properly. The flight itself was much more relaxing than the lead up and I made it to the hostel with no further complications. 

With the combination of stress and exhaustion, I gave myself a break and took the rest of the morning to relax in the hostel before heading out to the main plaza for lunch. 

Then rain. Not the light rain of Seattle. A huge downpour. I got absolutely soaked. Fortunately, a cab pulled over and took me back to my hostel. There was no one around. I definitely didn’t do the best job this trip of finding social hostels and so I waited out the rain in my room.  

For dinner I decided to check out a place with some high reviews north of the hostel and proceeded to get very lost along the way. An employee eventually saw me wandering around and pointed me in the right direction. The food was mediocre. 

I made my way back to the hostel and packed up to get ready for the motivation of the trip: Machu Picchu. 

The next morning was another early wake up – 4AM to give me time for the drizzly walk down to the train station. Upon arrival I had to fill out forms and get a face cover (both things that were not clearly mentioned anywhere I read online) 

The first part of the journey was on bus, and I sat next to this awesome guy Martin, from Chicago and the conversation made the three-hour drive fly by. We then transferred onto the train (after an hour wait) and words aren’t going to do the ride justice. But I’ll try. 

It was fucking spectacular. Beautiful hills and mountains dotted with old Incan ruins and a beautiful river running next to the track. Just incredible. I had my eyes glued to the terrain for the entire time. 

Immediately upon stepping off the train I started getting hounded by tour guides telling me that I booked the wrong tour, I wouldn’t see what I wanted to see. “Blah blah blah” 

After politely telling them off, I grabbed some banana bread and waited in the bus to get to the main entrance.  After an hour I got on the insanely crammed bus, and we made our way up the switchbacks all the way to Machu Picchu itself.

It was incredible. One of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. I began the 4^th circuit on the way to Huayna Picchu (the mountain that overlooks Machu Picchu) with plans to head back and sneak onto another circuit after to see the farming area with irrigation and the famous photo spot. Strava

Along the way, I realized that my entrance time to Huayna Picchu was an hour earlier than I thought it was, so I quickly made my way through the ruins, and managed to get past the entrance just before it closed. The hike up was grueling and sketch and then the low point of the trip. 

Someone died on the trail in front of me. I tried to help with the revival efforts and warned people behind me from coming up to the spot. The trail shut down for an hour and a half as they worked to get rescue people up. But he didn’t make it. Hiking the rest of Huayna Picchu after that was just not the same, and the much smaller loss of time due to the 90-minute delay also meant I didn’t have time to explore the other regions of Machu Picchu. 

I caught a bus down, went to a restaurant where I tried guinea pig for the first time (it is just as little meat as you’d expect) and had a somber train ride (with tons of stop and massive delays) and bus ride back to Cusco. I walked the 13 minutes in pouring rain back to the hostel and just called it a day.   

I slept in past 7am for the first time in a week. And with the events of the previous day, it was very necessary. I had a hostel breakfast and then had to go get a Covid test to get into Bolivia. It was difficult navigating the full process in Spanish, but I managed to get everything done in 15 minutes and got my negative results in just two hours! US free tests are great, but it was very nice having PCR results that quickly. 

I got back to the hostel and packed everything up and headed out to explore the city! I walked around and went to the large market where I got a delicious fruit smoothie and then headed to the main plaza. I treated myself to a really nice lunch of ceviche and even a crème brulee. Then another solid rainstorm hit, and I found a random bar to hide in… one that happened to be the highest elevation Irish owned Irish pub in the world. 

A few people at a nearby table included me in their conversation and I had a great time chatting with them for an hour before I needed to head back to my hostel to get ready to fly to Bolivia. 

Then the fun of getting to Bolivia began. It started with me finding one government website that mentioned a specific form that I didn’t have, and I couldn’t manage to get to work on my phone. After an hour stressing about it, I called my dad to work on it from his computer for an hour. Only to find out I didn’t even need it. I love travel sometimes

Bolivia 

The flights to Bolivia went smoothly enough (other than the ungodly time in the morning) But upon arrival shit hit the fan. At 4AM I got off the plane and I went to go through customs. After spending 45 minutes getting all the way to the front, I was told I still needed to go to the other line first to get my visa and I needed paper copies of all of my documents. (In very fast Spanish, I had to have them repeat themselves often)

I spent the next two hours getting everything figured out thanks to a helpful airline employee and at 6:45AM I finally got out of the airport. Utterly exhausted, I grabbed a bite at the airport as I was starving and then went to the hostel and immediately passed out. 

After a decent rest I went out to explore the city in the sweltering heat and had the typical Sunday experience of being met with a bunch of closed spots. The heat finally got to me, and I found one of the only open restaurants to stop into for cool air and food. I had some of the worst chicken wings of my life and a great smoothie. (Something something take the good with the bad?) 

Another long rest behind me, I went looking for a place around town to eat and found that even at night, most were still closed. The highlight of the journey was a small concert & festival going on in the streets with music and costumes. I eventually returned to the hostel and had a burger dinner and another empty social area I headed to bed. 

Sleeping in feels so nice. Sleeping in after almost two weeks of early wake ups is godly. I got up and decided to go take a walking tour from St. Peter’s Square… with a leader that never showed up. After waiting for 30 minutes with a few other people I audibled and did a circuit of El Teleferico – the public transport gondolas of La Paz. 

It was so cool seeing the city from the sky and a friendly local on the first route excitedly told me all about his city. In rapid Spanish. I understood a third of what he said but his excitement and kindness were worth more than a few missed words. 

Then the best meal of a trip: 3 course meal of Bolivian food and a beer for $13. The only thing better than a great meal is an affordable great meal. I slept it off in a nearby park before I was awoken as some kids attempted to steal my sunglasses. 

The last few hours in La Paz I spent relaxing before heading to the bus stop to head to the Uyuni salt flats. Soon I was on my third overnight bus of the trip, and it was a party. Shots, music, and lively conversation filled the air (until a reasonable hour) and made it a fun journey. 

Two other people were joining the tour: Michel and Patrick.  The three of us had breakfast at this sketch restaurant. I swear it was just this guy’s house and he cooked out of his kitchen. We couldn’t even find him to pay! 

Our first stop: An abandon train field. Patrick took out his drone and we took videos and pictures climbing aboard the rusted train carts while learning about the mining history and corruption issues of Bolivia. Then it was time for the salt museum where we learned how the salt fields were refined to produce wholesale salt for purchase.

But the main event is what made this day special: The salt flats themselves. We drove onto this perfectly white flat area, and it was like something out of an alien planet. Just incredibly unique. Our tour guide then had us take perspective photos (as the salt is perfect for distorting depth of field) leading to some hilarious shots. 

With the backdrop, we set out a nice lunch on the flats. Then it was time.  The mirrored lake, where a couple inches of standing water create a mirror like surface. We unsuccessfully raced against a storm with the rain breaking the illusion of the mirrored ground. We waited it out for 30 minutes and were left with one of the craziest sites of my life. I’m just going to let the pictures do it justice. 

A photo/video shoot followed as well as random moments just taking it all before, we headed back towards the home base for a sunset dinner. With the wine flowing we were treated to a thunderstorm sunset with the occasional lightning strike adding to the incredibly colorful horizon. Then the second consecutive, fourth total, and hopefully last ever overnight bus. 

So, what do you do after an insane day with little to no sleep the last two nights? Bike death road of course! I headed to the hostel pick-up point and before long we were at 15,000 feet ready to descend 11k on one of the most dangerous roads in the world. 

Throwing on dirt biking helmets and clothes for protection, a bit much in the 85-90 degree heat, we began. The ride is two parts: the first is just a road section to get acclimated to the elevation and bikes, then the real section – a narrow dirt road with harrowing cliffs on one side. Clearly the second was my favorite as I absolutely sent it, with only one other rider able to keep up with me and our guide. 

The exhilaration of that long of a descent and the adrenaline of a couple small mistakes made the entire thing so much fun, even with the long waits for the rest of the group to catch up. (Don’t bike death road if you’ve never biked on dirt) – Strava

We finished up the ride and were greeted by the best site in the world – a restaurant for lunch and a large pool to cool off in. The food (and more so the water) was so needed and the only thing more enjoyable than the ride was that feeling of sinking into the pool that first time. 

We spend over an hour cooling off, chatting as a group, and having a few drinks before we were back on the bus for the long, long ride home. (Where I finally finished Shogun! The book I had been reading forever)

We get back, I say goodbye to Nate, Tim, and Antonia (the squad I had made on the ride) and jumped into bed, another 4AM wakeup call coming the next morning to fly back to Lima.