Peru--Week One

I won't waste your time. So far my impression of Peruvian cities: Filthy, noisy & crowded. I feel like the last two decades of healthy living has been undone in one week of breathing diesel fumes and drinking hot tea out of plastic cups. Yeah, it's relatively cheap and although poor by western standards, the people here are not hungry or homeless. Cell phones are everywhere even if WiFi is hard to come by. And everyone has their hand out, even in the remote mountain towns. .50 centimos to use the toilet and that doesn't include tp. You'd better come prepared with your own! And you can't put it in the toilet anywhere in the country, it must go in the garbage pail. Obviously it isn't about the price just the overall feeling of greed and being targeted everywhere.

They drive like maniacs and for whatever reason feel compelled to constantly beep their horns. It's incessant and about to make me go loony. I'm grateful to have been invited North by a Brit I met in Lima to trek in the Huascaran National Park. We opted for the four day/three night Santa Cruz trek. High up in the Andes, not a man-made sound outside of our small group of eight including the guide and the donkey man. No horns, airplanes or cell service. It was so serene! And since it is low (rainy) season we got a decent price that included a guide, equipment, burros to carry everything and all our meals. Unlike any other experience I've had here thus far, the dinner food was rather decent. Hot vegetable noodle soup every night and dinner usually of rice and potatoes (in some form) vegetables and for the others, meat. If I liked eggs, breakfast would probably have been edible too. Instead I was forced to endure a traditional Peruvian breakfast of crappy bread and jam. And that was my lunch as well although a couple times I got some sort of flavorless, white, squeaky cheese instead. Lunch didn't really matter much anyhow because I suffered terribly from altitude sickness the first two days and barely made it up the mountain the second day. I had to stop about every 10 feet to recover from the feeling of nausea and dizziness. Plus my muscles were extremely fatigued not having slept more than about 10 hours in a week. Never can I remember ever feeling so weak, feeble and helpless. I was ready to quit: Lay down on the mountain and freeze to death over the night. The guide was great though and stuck with me the entire time, even when I had to lay down in a sunny spot and take a nap. He ended up carrying my day pack and water which were fairly heavy. When I finally did make it to the top the views were spectacular! And the sound of the glacier snow cracking excited us in hopes of seeing an avalanche. It would have been quite a site to see the snow fall off the mountain into the beautiful blue-green lake below. But it was not to be.

Chewing coco leaves didn't help and I didn't bring altitude sickness pills because the man at the booking agency said we'd be camping no higher than 4250. Well, I've hiked at 7500 feet before and didn't suffer from altitude sickness plus I was informed that it doesn't start until 8,000'. As we realized later, sitting around the dinner table with the others, he hadn't put a quantifier on it and was obviously meaning meters. Multiply that by 3.3 and we camped at nearly 14,000 feet, about 1500 feet lower than the highest peak we climbed. Ah, it was all starting to make sense now! That would also explain the ice on our tents in the morning. The third day was much better in terms of how I felt, warmer weather and the beauty of the hike. The towering Andes, glacier rivers, water cascading over boulders, lined by trees with bromeliads growing on them and an enormous waterfall gushing down. It was a mesmerizing sight and we couldn't have had a better campsite. We had had perfect weather too, not a drop of rain the entire trip even though we are in the rainy season. The last day was only a couple hours walk and when it ended I was very sad. Despite the fact that I felt less than 100% I still enjoyed the trek immensely and felt I had just seen the best part of the country. I dreaded the return to the noise and current crumbling ruins that comprise the rest of the country. The bus ride back to Huarez was interesting to say the least; both the 1.5 hour bumpy ride down the dirt and rock serpentine mountain portion and second half where we got dumped off in a town and ended up taking the public "bus" another hour back to the city. It was an authentic experience to say the least!

Back in Huarez it is two days before Christmas. The weather is warm and there is little evidence of the holiday here. The stray dogs everywhere (but no cats, why?) make me miss my pooch so very much. Wi-Fi is sketchy at best so I'm hoping to be able to keep my Christmas Skype date with my son. Having arrived in SA without a plan I'm happy to say that I now have one: enter cities only long enough to arrange my next trek. Next stop is Huachchina for sand boarding then Cuzco, Machu Picchu and Arequipa then zig-zag through Chile & Argentina. Unfortunately the buses don't run on Christmas eve and my transfer would be in Lima on the 24th so I may be here for a couple more days. I think it is a better option than being stuck in Lima for even a day.

Merry Christmas!

A Beginning and an End

It seems to have taken a long time but the day has finally arrived. Tuesday, December 9th I left for Peru. Much thanks to Garth for the Delta Buddy Pass that allowed me to fly affordably the 11 hour flight from Portland to Lima via ATL (not to mention all the back and forth until I actually got on that final flight!). A layover in Atlanta, allowing me a nice visit with my cousin Bob. It was good to spend some time with family I hadn't seen in a couple years. I'd like to also publicly extend my thanks to the many kind people that have allowed me to stay with them over the past two months and have gone out of their way to help me in various ways. I feel so honored and blessed to have so many wonderful, authentic and benevolent people in my life!

Six of these folks joined me for a 'last supper' at Bridgeport Brewery in Portland. Good bye was much more difficult for me this time around, not because the friendships are deeper than the ones from the east but because of the actual finality of it. When I left MD the immediate adventure was focused in the USA and it seemed more like a beginning. But now, without a phone and uncertainty of the duration, I've left not only my friends and family back east but new, budding friendships, my baby and my puppy. I don't know if I'll ever see Bear again. He is nearly 13 and I'll be gone a long time. And to be honest, the responsibility level my son has displayed since I moved out has been very disappointing so I also worry about him a great deal. Now it feels like 'the end' and before leaving Portland I spent a few days mourning and feeling maudlin. Not to mention I'm a bit tired and weary from all my recent travels and would be somewhat content to settle down somewhere and "grow moss". I know this due to my anxiety levels being very high. There are a lot of factors at play including South America being waaay out of my comfort zone and for the first time I understand why people say I'm brave. Not feeling it right now...spent the better part of Tuesday springing saltwater from my eyes. It's a foreign feeling as I'm normally super excited for any sort of adventure and even when I spent 16 months in Europe in my 20's, I never experienced anything even remotely like this. I'm hoping peace comes once I get going.

My last weeks in the US included another trip to Napa for five days, soaking in hot springs and cycling 27 miles from St. Helena over quiet streets, past beautiful vineyards and through quaint towns (Yountsville is my favorite) to Napa where I stayed with a friend. Back in Portland, board games, dinners with friends and an evening of dancing and immense fun while listening to my longtime friend Justin Sheehy perform filled my time (thank you for creating a new meaning/memory for the song Wild World!). Clay and I started Thanksgiving with the Turkey Trot. In 52 minutes we jogged about three of the four miles through Washington Park and ending at the zoo. This is significant since Clay isn't a runner and I've slacked off considerably since the Electric Run in early October. I was very proud of him! Despite my frustrations he really is an awesome person. Then we had dinner and played games with 40 friends and strangers. Friday a small group of us went to the lighting of the Christmas tree ceremony in downtown PDX. Just one year earlier Clay and I rode to Ohio with my best friend and spent the weekend with family in what was one of my most enjoyable Thanksgiving holidays in many, many years. Interesting how much difference one year makes...

I'm convinced that the delay in Atlanta was by God's design. After five days, including an overnight in the airport and in the same clothes since I left Oregon (but clean underwear!) I was more than ready to leave. The second to last person to make it on the plane and a two hour departure delay but I finally landed safely in the southern hemisphere. Unfortunately my backpack didn't and I'm long overdue for a shower and some clean clothes. It's been so long in the making it doesn't seem real. Although I shared a cab and the taxi driver tried to rip us off. Now I'm just trying to focus on the exciting parts, like the fact that it is almost summer here, the upcoming hike to Machu Picchu and trying my hand at sand boarding in Huacachina. At the same time I'm kicking myself for dragging my feet and not being able to get my visa for Brazil before I left. This means, if I can't get it in Peru then I will miss Carnival in Rio, which is a major bucket list item--along with the Amazon rain forest in Brazil. Grrr!