Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Peru-sing through Peru...

I know- so cheesy, but I couldn´t resist :) But, it is actually almost true. Since leaving Mancora earlier in the month I feel like it has been a whirlwind tour of Peru. Maybe that´s just because the bus journeys have gotten longer, and more frequent, as my time winds down. Having a deadline of a flight home is great stimulant to get your ass moving, but at the same time is a frustrating contradiction of the way we have been travelling.

Since leaving the dusty town of Mancora, we stopped at another beach town called Huanchaco. We ended up going there on a whim, because when we arrived in Trujillo in the morning the city didn´t look that cool, and we thought we´d give it a try. We made the right choice! Huanchaco was cute and very well-groomed, very different from many beach towns we have seen. I immediately loved that there was a boardwalk that went all the way down the stretch of the beach. We spent a few lovely days there and even took some time to see some ruins nearby. Who knew that right there was the largest adobe city in the world? Yes, that´s right...A little place called Chan-Chan. I wanted to go check the place out but we really had no idea what was in store for us. We were blown away by how huge the sight was, and that only a very small fraction is even restored. Walking through the restored section was pretty impressive. Giant adobe walls arranged in a maze-like pattern surrounding big open squares and even a pond! Carved into many of the adobe walls were intricate patterns and drawings of animals. It was pretty damn cool...

After enjoying the beach for a while it was then time to get back into the mountains, so from Huanchaco we went to a mountain town called Huaraz. The surrounding towering snow-capped peaks of the Andes really make this town. The main thing to do there is hiking and trekking, so we did a few day hikes on our own. The hike up Lago Churup was difficult and crazy, but beautiful. The final altitude of the lake was about 4400 meters (14, 435ft.), and because we got off trail towards the end of our hike we actually ended up on a peak looking down at the lake. So, technically we were higher then that...The altitude usually makes one pretty breathless, but this time my reaction was a bit different. My legs felt like lead that just couldn´t be persuaded to move, and my chest just felt all heavy. At one point I really thought I was going to pass out. I for sure thought this was a sign that I should turn around, but Adrian´s drive to reach the top and his motivation pushed me on. I fell for the ¨Let´s just hike to that tree and rest...Let´s just hike to that rock and rest¨. In the end I was very glad that he pushed me on, because I did get past it and eventually felt better and reached the top. The whole hike was pretty stunning- I have never done a hike where huge snow-capped rocky peaks are just off in the near distance.

After Huaraz we pushed on to Lima for one day, and then on to Cusco- just a short 22 hour bus ride! The bus ride was not as bad I was expecting, and we arrived in the very high city of Cusco a few days ago (3300 meters). Deciding to get to Machu Picchu and be back in Cusco for Christmas, we decided to move on the next day. Tomorrow we go to the site of Machu Picchu nice and early...I am very excited to see it, so I hope it will be impressive!

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