Unforgiving Heat

Three days in the jungle may have cured me from jungle fever. After leaving my new friend behind, Jenny the travel agent's friend came to pick me up at the hostel. She asked me to send her immigration papers to her sister in California. What? I said yes but found it pretty remarkable she trusted me with such sensitive information.

She called a cab and we picked up my jungle buddies Nabeel and Varun from Australia (although they are Sri Lankan and Indian, respectively). We took an overnight bus where there were supposedly "camas" but it was a reclining chair. The bus was broiling hot. The heater was on the entire time! We got picked by a cab driver when we arrived at Puerto Maldonado. It was a sweltering, unforgiving heat. The temperature said 28 degree celsius but the humidity made it feel like it was 1000 degrees.

We took a 25 minute boat ride to our resort in the jungle. I got my own room, with my own hammock. Although I was never really alone, given all the creepy crawlers that made their way into my room. The first day we had an impossible itinerary - 3km walk and canoeing in a river to the lake. Lunch made it worth it. Chicken, rice, olives, and egg wrapped in a banana leaf. Disneyland was pretty spot on with the jungle cruise. But I must admit, it was peaceful. We ate great food, and I got to nap on a hammock and fall asleep in silence sprinkled with jungle sounds.

The group that stayed in the jungle was hilarious and who would you least expect. Me (I love being clean), the Australian party boys (Varun is a salesman for a renewable energy company and Nabeel is getting an advanced degree in workers' compensation management. I'm pretty sure I saw through his shirt that Nabeel has nipple piercings, so there's that), a German girl from Iran that works in IT, and another law student from Germany named Verena Rudolph. She will also be finding out her results this November like me. Her friend Paula was probably the most into the jungle but even she hit her limit.

Day 2 we kayaked to monkey island. Everyone was two per kayak, except for me, Varun, and Nabeel. It was pretty silly, our paddling was a disaster, and we were the last to make it to the island. Three months out of the year, monkey island is underwater so the monkeys swing from tree to tree. The monkeys got a little too close for comfort for me. We also saw some "natives" where they face-painted us (I was horrified), sang songs, had us dance and play games, and shoot a bow and arrow. It was cultural appropriation at its finest and it made me uncomfortable.

That night we went on a night hike to see tarantulas, tree lizards, and jumping spiders. Jonathan the tour guide kept hitting on me and it was very barf worthy. No gracias dude. He asked if I was married and when I said no he asked if I was a lesbian. Classy!

Day 3 we fished, did the canopy bridge, and zip lined! All in all it was fun, minus the mosquito bites. They ate the part where my ankle hits my sock. I must have missed it with the insect repellant. I doused myself in Off and sunscreen the entire time! The jungle made me miss Cusco.

We had a final dinner with the boys and Maryam and we drank beers and talked shit before the bus. That final boat ride off the jungle/Amazon felt like what it must feel like to get kicked off Big Brother. The German girls missed their earlier bus and joined us. Our bus left 30 minutes early. How is that possible/even a thing? We were supposed to get in at 6am but ended up getting in at 8:45am since the bus kept breaking down. Somehow the bus ride home was worse than the way in. I was dirty, sticky, and the bus was even hotter. I vaguely remember Verena coming up to us when we were sleeping, freaking out about how it was dark and the bus was broken down and we were in the middle of nowhere but I couldn't be bothered. It did make me laugh when she kept saying "Where are we? Why won't anyone say what's going on?" She was right, there was definitely no "We're sorry for the interruption" announcements.

We had planned to get breakfast, but I had to go back to the hostel to briefly steal their internet, grab my pack, and take a taxi to the airport. I (of course) had accidentally thrown away my plane ticket that Jenny bought for me from Cusco to Lima. At the airport I had to check with every teller to find my flight. It was the last one I checked! He told me I was the last one to check in (but pssssh I had fifteen minutes to spare). The best part was when I went to the Peru tourist info booth and told the guy I lost my ticket. He was definitely the same guy I spoke to at Machu Picchu when I lost my train ticket. Same guy! If he remembered, he probably thought I was nuts (when really I'm just careless).

I cried on the plane to Lima (isn't there an SNL skit about that?) thinking about what a year 2017 will be. I'm in my late 20s now! I landed in Lima, got a cab for 50 soles, unpacked and immediately headed to the water. There were so many families out. I walked up and down the beach, treated my mosquito bites to salt water and watched the surfers, paragliders, and circus people bouncing/balancing/backflipping in the park. Miraflores is beautiful. I'm not ready for my adventure to end. Real life is too hard. I'm happy I get to see Morgan, Andy, and Ryan when I get home. I've had a wonderful, enriching time. I'm leaving Peru inspired and ready for change, recognizing the hard stuff has to come before the good stuff.

Querencia!

Cuy

I had a perfect last day in Cusco. Mick Williams the Australian sat down next to me at breakfast, and we chatted about our lives, Trump, and our plans for the day. We both were taking the night bus out, so we had eleven hours to kill. We went to San Pedro market and had juice from the juice ladies. We walked around the shops, he told me his favorite colors were red, black, and white, but not together. We people watched at a restaurant with a balcony overlooking Plaza de Armas while drinking beers.

He asked me who I would invite to a dinner party, and I said Thomas Jefferson, my dad, Oprah, Sheryl Sandberg, and Noor. He said I could have Noor join without it counting as one of the five. We went to the bank, where he told me he had commitment issues. In high school, his girlfriend slept with his best friend. Yikes! We went to Jenny's to pay her for my plane ticket from Cusco to Lima. The conversation never stopped flowing. He was vulnerable, interesting, but not showy. We sat on a bench where people tried to sell us stuff. He got his shoes cleaned for five soles even though they weren't the type of shoes that could really be shined. I laughed.

We tried to go to a lounge bar but got kicked out since they were cleaning it. We joked about me dying in the jungle and he said a beautiful eulogy for me - that I was open, giving, uninhibited, willing to learn. It touched me that in such a short amount of time I was able to leave that impression on a stranger. I took him to garbage river and he told me he thought I'd be a great travel companion. We took the flier for a chocolate tasting place and he bought us a sample plate. We talked about our relationships, traveling, music, our parents, our best friends. He looked up a place on tripadvisor and we headed to fancy restaurant in our travel clothes and drank piscos and ate cuy (guinea pig!) and told stories. We then had to jet back to our hostel to grab our bags. We didn't get a chance to say goodbye, and I felt bad I wasn't able to wish him well since we had such a lovely day.

Magic

It's my birthday! Day 3 was the longest of the trek. Nilton, one of our guides, said that Day 1 was the training day, Day 2 was the challenge, Day 3 was historical, and Day 4 was magic.

For our Day 3 lunch, Jesus made us a beautiful cake as a surprise. But how? How did he frost it? I was very impressed. During tea, we figured out the tips to distribute to the guides, porters, head porter, and chefs. Mark from Arizona made a speech, and Gina from Colombia translated.

We woke up at 3:30am to begin our final two hours to Machu Picchu. It was dark and rainy when we began, and I was thankful for the head lamp that Ryan and Lealah got me for my birthday. It was somewhat of a race to the top and it was discouraging how cloudy it was at the sungate.

We did a two hour tour of the ruins, and I took lots of llama selfies. Want to know how the terraces on the ruins stay trimmed? LLAMAS! Afterwards, we had an hour and a half to ourselves. I trekked back up to the main place where people take the quintessential Machu Picchu pic with Chris and Erjela. We were each other's photographers. They took a great photo with the South African flag. I sat looking at the ruins, in disbelief that I had hiked up to the place that I envisioned myself going to since 2008. I'm happy that I have the means and belief in myself to do these things.

Then we made it to the first real toilet for days. Best sole I ever spent! The bathrooms along the trek were awful - not just because of the squatting but also because of the smell. On my way out of the bathroom, I ran into a girl from school in the bathroom line. What a small world!

We took a 25 minute bus ride down the mountain to a little town and had our final lunch together. I had a much deserved ice cold beer. Then I explored the little town, bought postcards, and took photos of the stray animals. While in the process of taking an adorable photo of a kitten, I lost my bus ticket! But I couldn't be mad because that kitten was just too dang cute. Plus the bus station printed out another one for me, no problem.

I bought a bocadillo and a chocolate bar and felt content. At the train station, our bus left early with only eight of us on it. The South Africans asked me about my thoughts on Black Lives Matter and I told them about how I fully support the movement. Erjela told me she had friends that were against it. They showed me wedding photos and I asked them about the #feesmustfall protests that were happening at the South African universities. I really liked them.

When we got off the train we met our next bus driver to Cusco. I was the only one in the group that spoke a bit of Spanish so I explained that were were missing people and led the group to get out of the pouring rain. It worked! That Spanish vocab coming through - words such as "return" and "wait" are game changers. They ended up putting us on a different bus and our driver waited for Gina, Mark, Vic, Danny, and Jackson to arrive.

My shower back at the hostel was 45 mins long and heavenly. I couldn't fall asleep because I was too excited about what I accomplished. I woke up this morning smiling since I am the birthday girl! I looked into hiking Colca and then heading to Huacachina before Lima. But the bus tour companies have started closing down for Christmas. I dropped off my trek clothes for laundry (although I probably should have burned them) and then wrote postcards.

I did a two hour walking tour and at the end the guide gave me two pisco sours, since it was my birthday. The group wanted to go to a travel company, and I ended up jumping on board with two Australians' plans to go to the jungle. For three days and two nights, including two overnight buses, it was only $228. So cheap! I'm excited for the spontaneity. Tonight a group of us is going to dinner and hopefully drink more piscos. After booking the jungle, I drank a beer on a balcony overlooking the main square and ate ceviche with the Australians. One of them said "I don't think I've ever said this about a Western country, but I feel bad for you all that Trump is president." You're telling me dude!

It has shaped up to be a wonderful birthday and I was able to temporarily forget the many challenges that my 28th year with bring. How did I get so old? But I am grateful. I leave for the jungle tomorrow!

Radical

Day two is done! Our guide gently woke us up at 5:30am with our choice of tea, coffee, or hot chocolate. We adjusted our aching bodies while the drink cooled. It was relaxing and peaceful and much better than my iPhone alarm. For breakfast we had toast and jam, yogurt and granola, fruit, and a crepe.

Today we reached the summit of our hike. We hiked for uphill seven hours. It was essentially an all day stairmasters. We met our 21 man crew and each told us where they were from, how old they were, and their name. Our oldest porter is 72! We then went around and introduced ourselves in Spanish. We took a group photo and the guide said "say Saul is metrosexual" and everyone laughed. I tried not to get too San Francisco but I wasn't into it.

Lunch was amazing and I am learning it is the best meal of the day. We had this wanton like thing with chicken inside, corn soup, then pasta with carrots and squash, and then a typical Peruvian dish which is like stirfry with al paca, peas, onions, and french fries. We finished it off with rice and pumpkin paste/sauce.

At the summit we took lots of photos. I chatted with the Irish couple, Sean and Dirjte, for an hour. They are from Northern Ireland - the first I've met. I asked them if they had heard of Paul Murphy, the politician I met on the Camino. Sean couldn't believe it! Apparently Paul is on the far left and wears jeans and a t-shirt to parliament. Sean kept saying Paul was "a radical." Sean told me Paul is well-liked for his work on the water tax. He explained that when the economy was down, the Irish government was forced by the EU to create taxes to help with the deficit, such as the "household" tax and the water tax. Both the rich and the poor are very against the water tax. Paul and his party organized a protest that involved surrounding the minister of water's house. Paul was arrested for false imprisonment, since the lady couldn't get out of her house. Sean said it was ridiculous because the protest was only an hour long. Radical!

After the summit, we hiked to our secluded campground, which was entirely down hill. I refilled my water and put in my special pills. Last night I forgot and then had to pay 10 soles for 1 liter (and then subsequently spilled half of it when I improperly closed my camelback). Knucklehead!

Our campground is next to a waterfall. There have been many along the trek. I love that it drowns out all noise, both externally and internally. I'm exhausted and looking forward to dinner. My legs are shaking!

Glamping

Day one of the Inca Trail complete. My heart is full from accomplishing one of my oldest dreams!

The company supplied a much nicer bus than the Rainbow nonsense. I sat next to Jackson, a biologist that works for the park reserve in Flagstaff, Arizona. He came with his mom and stepdad. His mom looks like a hippie and keeps losing stuff at every stop.

We ate breakfast in a quaint little town and two South Africans sat at my table. They were beyond precious. They are taking two honeymoons - one the girl (whose name I can't pronounce! I hate myself) planned as a surprise, which was the trip to Peru, and the second Chris will plan in South Africa. So sweet! They met in their third year at college and after about a month she figured they wouldn't make it, and so they made a deal to skydive for their one year anniversary. They did! Chris isn't fond of traveling but does it for her. I can tell he loves her very much.

I can't forget about my crazy last minute rushing around last night! I wanted clean clothes, so I went to two places, one that charged me 30 soles and the other 20. I went to the market to get water and then bought a day pack (very touristy, but still cute) that I haggled down from 28 to 25. Then I went to the bank atm to get out 400 soles. After my barfing episodes, I decided to hire a porter to carry my bag. I didn't want to, but the altitude! I blame the altitude. I knew the guide would charge a bit more for last minute but it was worth it. We have to carry our sleeping bag and mattress pad and even though I left some stuff at the hostel and had my daypack, it still weighed 10 kilos! And the max was 8 kilos. But he said it was ok and we agreed on 300 soles, which is about $100. Not bad for four days! I lucked out and am feeling a million times better.

Our two guides are great. We stopped for lunch and all the porters clapped for us. They are incredible men. They carry all our equipment and run ahead of us so camp will be ready in time. We had a tent with a table and chairs and silverware and even a tablecloth. We had avocado today! We also had chicken noodle soup, salmon with orange sauce, veggies, rice, and tea. It was perfect and we were all happy.

We take lots of breaks for learning and climbing. A family is here from San Jose! Too funny. Now we are at camp, where our tents were already set up for us. I'm sharing my tent with Cynthia, the daughter of the San Jose couple. The bathroom is free here, but along the way has been 1 sole. We are nestled in a valley and the stream is right by our tents. The South African took a cute polaroid of me journaling.

Delicate Flower

Rainbow Mountain was a bit of a disaster. We took off in a janky van at 3am. I was carsick but managed to rest. Before we had the car pick us up, I met an obnoxious American named Stephen. While we were waiting on a street corner, every taxi cab driver honked at us. He leaned over to me, clearly annoyed and mumbled something. I replied, "Gotta respect the hustle." And then he said "No." We went on to talk about how the village women came into Cusco to sell potatoes and that he wondered how much they actually made and if it was worthwhile. It sounded like he was making a "find a better job" argument and I hated him.

When we arrived to a small village town for breakfast our tour guide asked us for donations for the local farmers. Stephen asked how much of our tour price went to the villagers and he said none and then Stephen threw a fit and starting talking about ecotourism and Ecuador and then he DIDN'T DONATE and I was like man you're killing my buzz.

Rainbow Mountain was hands down the hardest hike I have ever done. The altitude absolutely killed me! All the way to the top was 5,000 kilometers. After the first huge hill, which was really a mountain, I vommed. The German guy felt really bad for me and told me I had to go one step at a time and so I did.

There was an option to rent a horse for 80 soles but that option was frightening. Although every time I saw someone pass me on a horse I felt sicker and couldn't tell if I was green from envy or green from the altitude. The altitude sickness was like a headache that comes on after a final, but with a stomach ache and dizziness.

I walked with a really sweet guy who was British but lived in Canada. His excitement about traveling was contagious. He kept talking about how fortunate we were to have the means and the time to travel, and everytime me and the German wanted to die he told us "Fortune favors the brave."

At the top, the rainbow mountains were covered in fog, and I laughed. I saw a girl get sick a little. It was so unbelievably hard. It felt like I was out of breath like when I run a half marathon. Oh and it hailed too! It was a crazy day.

On the way down, we appreciated the views, since we couldn't really before, and took breaks and played with stray dogs and I tried to explain to them how Trump got elected.

We went back to the same village farm house for lunch and the second I entered I had to excuse myself and I vomitted right in front of the farmer's front door. But then I ate and everyone was like how were you so sick and the Briton called me a delicate flower and everyone laughed.

 What Rainbow should have looked like

 My view of Rainbow