Hay siempre un lugar en mi corazon para Sud America

      Due to a shortage of funds, I had to cut my travels one month short. I was sad to go and really bummed to miss out on Ecuador and Colombia, especially since we were supposed to meet up with friends there. I don't think I have ever NOT wanted to go back to the U.S. so much. I just wanted to lay down on the ground and hold on to Peru and never let go. Nonetheless, the past two months I've spent traveling have been the most worthwhile and inspiring adventure.

     My last few days in Peru were spent in Lima. When I first came to Peru I arrived in Lima and spent a night and a morning there. I wasn't impressed. It looked like an ugly, dirty city. Most travelers I've met don't like Lima either. It's one of those places where it's best to know someone who actually lives there that you can stay with and who can show you where to have a good time. The good thing about having low expectations is that you can be easily impressed. I actually had a good time in Lima. It's not the most interesting place historically or culturally, but I went to some nice areas.

      We stayed in the neighborhood, Miraflores. Miraflores is the nicest and safest neighborhood for tourists to stay. It is a very wealthy neighborhood and also very commercial. From Miraflores we could walk to the beach. It's honestly not the nicest beach but there was a very fancy mall built overlooking it. Considering how fancy that mall was, it was funny to see a TGI Fridays and Chili's restaurant there. The best part about Miraflores is the sandwich restaurant, La Lucha, which Mallory had been raving about since we arrived in Peru. They truly serve delicious sandwiches and fries. We also checked out the historical center and walked around looking at the historical and government buildings.

Standard protest at the Plaza de Armas

Plaza Mayor

Presidential Palace

      One day we ventured out to the next neighborhood, Barranco. It was nice to walk along the beach to get there. The first thing we did was go to the Museo de Arte Contemporanea (MAC), which we happened to stumble upon on our way. It was a really cool museum and we lucked out because that day the entrance fee was only 2 soles. I liked Barranco a lot. It was more my vibe. It was still nice and safe, but it was more bohemian and far less commercial than Miraflores. There is this cool spot by "the puente" lined with restaurants and a view of the ocean. This is where I ate the best ceviche I've ever had. I give Lima props for that.

The MAC

Barranco

View from our table at Javier's in Barranco

     On my last night in Peru, I went out with a traveler I met in Arequipa and her local friends. It was so nice to spend my last night in good company and to get to have my last conversations in Spanish. I even got to try a Peruvian drink I've never had before. I think it's called "elementario" and it is a hot alcoholic cocktail. It was nothing like I've ever drank before, but good. And boy was it strong! Of course my last night in a hostel couldn't go without a weird experience. Our dorm-mates arrived later than we did and really loudly, stumbling around the room in the dark. One of them, some drunk dude, thinking it was his bed, tried to get into my bed...twice! I was just conscious and sober enough to half-ass elbow him until he left, and then again the second time. Oh, 12-bed hostel dorm rooms. Of the many times I've spent a night in a big dorm room, that was the first time that has ever happened.

     Having arrived in Lima and then departing in Lima, I guess Mallory and I made it full circle. On June 27th in the evening we packed up our big backpacks one last time and hauled them into the taxi to the Lima international airport. I was not ready to leave yet. The decision to go home early and change my flight was a really sudden move. I was not mentally prepared to leave South America. In that long taxi ride against the rush hour traffic, it was like a montage was playing in my head of everything I love and will miss about South America. Firstly, I miss all the people that I grew to love and share my experiences with, especially the ladies that took care of me in my volunteer house in Cusco (Juliana, Yuliet, Rocio, Nelli, and Yonni). I miss my kids at the hospital I volunteered at. I miss speaking and hearing Spanish all the time. I miss salsa dancing. I miss Peruvian food and all of its salsas, particularly chimichurri. I miss Cusco and the Andes mountains and the Valle Sagrada. I miss walking everywhere. I miss the "time warp" of "traveler's time", in which you become practically BFF's with the people you spend adventuring with over a span of just a couple days. I miss seeing cholita mamas and their adorable babies. I miss being called "Carita" and "mami or mamita". I miss the sense of community in Peruvian culture and how everyone takes care of each other. I miss Peruvians' big, beautiful smiles :-D

I feel like my soul has been rejuvenated these past eight months in South America. Entonces, hay siempre un lugar en mi corazon para Sud America. Voy a regressar.

(There is always a place in my heart for South America. I will return)

Travel tips:
Hostel: Pariwana-Lima 27 soles per night in 12-bed dorm
Restaurants: La Lucha in Mira Flores, Javier's in Barranco
Museum: MAC (Museo de arte contemporanea) 2 soles on Thursdays
Bus from Arequipa to Lima: Oltursa 80 soles

Our final trek

       From La Paz, Bolivia we made our way back to our South American motherland, Peru. It was so good to be back on Peruvian soil. I just love this country so much. This time adventure awaited us in Arequipa, most famous for being the gateway to the Colca Canyon. Arequipa is known as "la ciudad blanca" (the white city) because many of its colonial buildings are made of sillar, which are bricks made of compacted volcanic ash. Hence, these buildings are white. Why volcanic ash? Because Arequipa is surrounded by volcanoes. The nearest one being Volcan Misti, which stands in the background of the city.

Peruvian-Bolivian border. I <3 Peru

Arequipa's Plaza de Armas with the snow-capped peak of

Volcan Misti in the background

La Ciudad Blanca

       My main goal in the city of Arequipa was to see Juanita, the ice mummy. Each time my friends went to Arequipa in the past, she was not at her home display case in the Museo Sanctuarios Andinos. I heard rumors that she'd be back on exhibit in June. I was so excited when we entered the museum to discover that she was back on exhibit. "Juanita" was discovered by archaeologist and mountaineer, Dr. Johan Reinhard, after whom she was named, on the summit of Volcan Ampato at 6, 380 m elevation. In fact, she was found perfectly preserved in ice, exposed in the open snow. Two weeks prior, a nearby volcano had erupted and the resulting earthquakes ejected her out of her burial site and out into open air. What luck that Dr. Johan Reinhard stumbled upon her just two weeks later!

A postcard I got at the museum. Taking photos is prohibited.

        Juanita was a chosen child from Cusco to be sacrificed to the gods (the mountains) to appease them and ensure the Incan People's safety and prosperity. There had been volcanic eruptions, which the Incas believed were expressions of the gods' anger. The "chosen" children were of nobility, educated and pure. Only the creme of the crop were chosen to be human sacrifices. Thanks to carbon dating and the perfectly preserved state of her body, Juanita was about 12 to 14 years old when she was chosen to be sacrificed. The chosen children were raised to believe that it was an honor to be sacrificed to the gods and that they themselves would join the gods in the afterlife. With her shaman entourage, Juanita trekked from Cusco to Arequipa and ascended up to the summit of Volcan Ampato, where she was given sedatives and then killed by blunt force to the head. Up at the summit she was buried with ceramic and gold offerings.

       My other goal in Arequipa was to do the free walking tour, which I didn't know existed until seeing its business card/coasters at our hostel. It is run by the same company that does the free walking tour we did in Cusco way back in November. It's appropriately called, Free Walking Tour Arequipa. We even had the same guide we had in our Cusco tour. These tours were both more commercial than historical, but nonetheless informative and enjoyable. It was mostly about showing tourists where they should go hang out in Arequipa outside of the main Plaza de Armas. I did learn a few interesting tidbits about Arequipa. For example, The original name of the city in Quechua was two words: "Ara" - "Quipay", which means "stay here". Later the Spaniards screwed up the pronunciation and the city was named "Arequipa". At least it wasn't too far off. My favorite part of the tour was going to the alpaca/llama farm and wool factory. We got to feed the llamas! We also learned about the difference in the quality of llama, alpaca, and vicuna wool. Firstly, "baby alpaca" is the best quality of alpaca wool. However it is not wool from an actual baby alpaca. After all, if you shave a baby alpaca it will die from exposure in the cold Andes highlands. "Baby alpaca" is actually the wool from the very first time a grown alpaca is sheared. Every time the alpaca is sheared afterwards, the quality of its wool decreases. Llama wool is used for more durable things. It's not soft enough to be used for clothing. The highest quality wool is from vicuna. Vicuna is a smaller cousin of the llama and alpaca. It is also a wild animal, not domesticated. There is a cap on how many vicuna can be hunted for its wool. Vicuna wool is so expensive that its value is equal to the value of gold!

Alpaca!

The 30 natural colors of alpaca wool

Vicuna wool. Feels like touching a cloud!

Weaving alpaca yarn on a loom attached to her waist

      Our main goal for the Arequipa area was to trek the Colca Canyon. Our final trek in South America :-(   Good thing it was only a 2 day trek and easier compared to other treks in Peru because I was definitely out of high altitude trekking shape by this point in our travels. We were picked up by our tour agency's bus at 3:30am and drove 3 hours to the top of the Colca Canyon. Here we stopped at the Cruz del Condor where we took photos of the canyon from up high and of the condors soaring through the canyon.

Cruz del Condor

Condor

       Then we started our trek. Day 1 was all descent, deep down to the bottom of the canyon. According to National Geographic, the Colca Canyon is the deepest canyon in the world. It is more than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the United States with a depth of just over 4, 000 m. It is arguable that Cotahuasi Canyon, the other canyon just outside of Arequipa (which is far less popular for some reason I don't know), may in fact be deeper.

The beginning of the descent into the Colca Canyon

A look down to our oasis goal

Cool rock face

       At the end of our descent, we arrived at "the oasis" at about 5 pm where we would be spending the night. The oasis even had a pool fed from the water from the river that cuts through the canyon. Most of us in our trek group got in. It would have been nicer if it wasn't winter and the warmth from the sun was still shining over us at that hour. Oh well. I'm sure it was therapeutic for our muscles anyways.

Nearing the oasis at the bottom of the canyon

       Early the next morning we started trekking back up the canyon at 5:30 am. Our guide said it was a 3 hour trek up to the top. The guys in our group made it their goal to reach the top by 2 hours. They accomplished their goal at exactly 2 hours. Well done, boys! I reached the top after them at 2 hours and 20 minutes. Eventually we regrouped with everyone as they all trickled up the trail. After regrouping we walked for 15 minutes over "Peruvian flat" (a term said by our guide as he made wavelike up and down motions with his hand, which is hilarious because the description is so true. As I've learned in my previous treks in Peru, "flat" does NOT exist) to the nearest town, Cabanaconde, for a well deserved breakfast.

View of the ascent trail from the oasis

Our group back at the top of the canyon. 

       Afterwards we stopped by a tiny town where we could check out the artisan markets and try a "Colca Sour", like a Pisco Sour but made with juice from prickly pears (cactus fruit) instead of limes. It was very tangy, but that's just how I like my fruits and Pisco coctails. Then we drove to the highest point of our trip to a vista where you could see all of the surrounding volcanoes, including Volcan Misti and Volcan Ampato. We stood at 4, 810 m above sea level and it was cold. Finally we made it to the town of Chivay where we got to soak our very sore muscles after climbing down and up that very steep canyon in the thermal baths. Thermal baths are a big plus to traveling along volcanic areas. I couldn't believe how sore my leg muscles were after that Colca Canyon trek. It was only for two days and it wasn't nearly as hard or as long as Choquequirao or the Inca Jungle trek. Nonetheless it was well worth it and we had a fantastic group. It was the best final trek I could have asked for.

Travel tips:
Bus from La Paz to Arequipa (stops in Copacabana and Puno) with Titicaca bus tours - 200 Bolivianos
Hostel in Arequipa: Wild Rover Hostel for 25 soles per person in 6 bed dorm (do not stay here if you want to be able to sleep at night)
Free Walking Tour Arequipa: meets Monday-Saturday at Plaza de San Francisco at 11:50 am
2 day Colca Canyon trek: Andina tours 110 soles
Juanita: Museo Sanctuarios Andinos -entrance 20 soles plus tip for the museum guide who takes you to see Juanita
Bar scene: Retro bar for live rock cover bands and really good pisco sours

Nice try, Death Road. Nice try.

      Another cold night bus later, we reached La Paz. I had not heard that much about La Paz from other travelers. Nothing particularly good or bad, so I didn't really know what to expect. Driving into La Paz that morning reminded me of Cusco. Like Cusco, the city of La Paz sits in a bowl up high in the Andes mountains. As our bus circled further down into the center of the bowl, I realized that unlike Cusco, La Paz is not only higher in elevation, but also huge. The urban sprawl reaches up high into the hills above the bowl. A friend once told me that at the rate Cusco's population is growing, it will look like La Paz with houses way up in the hills in 20 years. Also unlike Cusco, La Paz is surprisingly clean and has a very commercial-looking city center with high rise buildings. It was very nostalgic to see the familiar sight of native-dressed women walking around the city in their big, colorful dresses in La Paz, just as they did in Cusco. Since Evo Morales's presidency, the native people have taken back their place in La Paz and you see colorfully dressed natives walking alongside people in business suits. 

       That afternoon we caught the 3pm walking tour through La Paz Free Tours at the Plaza de San Francisco. At the plaza there is a very interesting mural. The shoe-shine boys in La Paz wear ski masks to cover their faces. At first I thought it was to protect themselves from the car pollution and the smell of the shoe polish. Our guides clarified that they cover their faces because they are ashamed of their jobs because it is considered low-class. It may sound ironic, but they painted their mural to show their pride and their sense community.

       La Paz is a juxtaposition of Spanish, Bolivian, and modern commercial infrastructure. Part of the city is built in a grid by the Spanish, while other parts of the city have winding roads and are not in a grid (built by the Bolivians), and the commercial center has modern high rise buildings. La Paz was the first city in South America to win its independence from Spain, even before the rest of Bolivia. Why? the Bolivianos used the war tactic of blockading the top of the bowl where the city sits to cut the city off and starve the Spaniards until they surrendered. It was a very effective strategy. They still use this strategy when there is a big revolt and it still works. 

Presidential palace

      At the Plaza de Armas next to the Presidential Palace we saw soldiers guarding a memorial for Los Disparacidos (the people who "disappeared" during the military dictatorship of the late 1970s-1980s). To this day, the Ministry of Justice will not release information about Los Disparacidos, so there is not even an estimate of how many people "disappeared." 

Memorial

       The most interesting building we saw, right in the center of downtown in front of the beautiful Plaza de San Pedro, was San Pedro Prison. It was the most unique prison I have ever seen or heard of, and it is no ordinary prison. In fact, you can't really tell it is a prison. It looks like any other official building with police guards. San Pedro is famous because it is run like a micro-city with its own micro-economy. Bolivia is a very poor country so there are no state funds to provide for the inmates. Inmates have to pay an entrance fee and have to buy their own cells. Within the walls, prisoners own shops, restaurants, etc. and even work for each other in order to make money to buy their own food and pay for their homes. These "cells" range from tiny cramped spaces shared by five people if you are very poor to penthouse apartments with jacuzzi's and big screen televisions. Basically, if you're rich and come into San Pedro Prison with money, you're set and can live in luxury inside. Many prisoners' families live with them inside the prison! A few years ago, San Pedro Prison was a very popular tourist destination. You could do a tour, and if you paid enough you could even spend the night! These tours were started by an English inmate named Thomas MacFadden. He was arrested for cocaine trafficking. Now he is one of the wealthiest prisoners in San Pedro. The book, Marching Powder is about his story. You can't do tours anymore, supposedly. San Pedro Prison is also infamous for the production and trafficking of the best cocaine in Bolivia (Yes, the inmates produce and sell cocaine within the prison walls) and for corruption of the police force. 

San Pedro Prison. 

(Doesn't look like a prison, right?!)

      Another interesting spot we saw was the mercado de brujas, or Witches Market, where you can buy your standard llama fetus and Incan trinkets for luck and blessings. Although Bolivia is a very Catholic society, most Bolivianos still practice pagan Incan traditions and rituals. The most common one is the worship of Pachamama (mother earth), which is not too far off from the worship of the Virgin Mary in Latin American culture. For example, construction workers today still will not build a building unless the proper offerings (llama fetus, blood, coca leaves, etc.) have been made to Pachamama and buried in the foundation. 

Witches Market. 

Come get your llama fetus!

      We ended the walking tour on top of a hill with a 360 degree panoramic view of La Paz. In the distance you can see the snow-capped Volcan Illimani, a dormant volcano. I forgot the name of this hill, but the locals refer to it as the "love nest" because many couples canoodle up there. 

View of Volcan Illimani from the "love nest"

       The following day we woke up early to face another adventure. The one adventure in South America that I had been nervously anticipating: mountain biking down the World's Most Dangerous Road, also fondly known as Death Road. We booked the trip through Gravity Assisted Mountain Biking, the first company that started this trip, and the most legitimate (also the most expensive). From downtown La Paz we had a 1 hour bus ride to the top of Death Road at just above 4,000 m in elevation and with snowy mountains all around us. 

Our first stop at the very beginning of the road

       The very beginning of the 4-5 hour downhill bike ride was on nice, paved two-way highway that lazily wound through these snowy mountains with plenty of room for cars to drive around us. Once we reached the gravel, things got a little more interesting. We really only had a few simple rules to follow: ride in single file with plenty of space in between each rider, go slow, easy on the brakes, you need a little momentum to ride over the gravel, and above all DO NOT DO ANYTHING STUPID. This would guarantee our survival.  Apparently I was not nervous enough that day and should have displayed a little more caution. I was having fun riding on the gravel, but I took a particularly gravelly turn too fast (I should have slowed down sooner) and got too close to Mallory who was riding in front of me. I didn't want to maneuver around her cliffside, so I went mountainside and ran into bigger gravel and rocks. I tried to ride it out but I couldn't get control, so I hit the brakes and flew over my handlebars as my bike crashed into the mountain face. I landed on my chest and forearms face-down, but perfectly fine. Talk about a lucky fall! I got away with just a bump on the head and some scrapes and bruises, not even any active bleeding. Nice try, Death Road. Nice try. I picked up my bike to find that the handlebars twisted and got stuck behind my seat. With a hard pull, it was back to normal and I had our tail-end guide check my bike for me. It was fine. I was fine...with the exception that I was now scared as shit. I was at the front group of riders, but after that spill I stayed back nice and slow through the rest of the ride. It was muy tranquilo and quite enjoyable. The further we descended, the hotter the weather was, and before we knew it we were surrounded by jungle. We started above 4,000 m and ended at the bottom of the south Yungi Valley at 1,500 m. At the tiny jungle town at the end of the road, we had celebratory beers (much needed beers) and toasted to our survival. 

Getting ready to ride through the gravel and a cloud

Pulling over to let a truck pass

The section of the road called "the Devil's Tail"

On the edge

From snow-capped mountains to jungle

Survivors!

The adventure wasn't over yet. We drove to a beautiful animal refuge park called La Senda Verde. It was started by a Bolivian couple who retired and originally just wanted to live in the jungle self-sustainably. They adopted a monkey that was being mistreated as a pet. There is a big problem in the Bolivian jungle with people taking in animals as pets
without taking good care of them. Before they knew it, one thing led to another, and the couple had rescued a bunch of different animals.

To help fund and support the refuge, La Senda Verde is an eco-lodge where tourists can stay the night or visit and eat at its restaurant, and has a volunteer program. It's a really impressive organization. If you have any interest in volunteering to help rehabilitate these animals or want more information, click here La Senda Verde.




      For some reason, I didn't really think about how we would get back to La Paz after biking. Turns out we hadn't survived Death Road quite yet. We still had to board the bus and drive back up Death Road to get back to La Paz... in the dark. Scariest bus ride ever. But we had a great driver and we made it back to La Paz in one piece. What a day!

Travel tips:

Hostel in La Paz: Pirwa hostel 44 bolivianos per night in big dorm

Gravity Assisted Biking tours: US $110 from 7:30am to 9:00pm

La Paz Free Tours meets Monday-Saturday at 11am and 3pm in front of Iglesia de San Francisco

La Senda Verde ecolodge, volunteer organization, and animal refuge: La Senda Verde