The Struggles of Disposable Friendship - Part 1

Well today I turn 24 years old and once again I am not with friends and family for a second year. Though it is just a date and I will be seeing family and friends next month when I return. I have found it hard this leg of the trip traveling the gringo trial. Here you do not get to practice your Spanish as much but you meet so many people traveling. It is a struggle though to go from once city to another and only have that short window of friendship until you leave to the next place.

In Huancayo I met a lot of people and made some really good friends, but that was because we were together for a good week. On my travels on the gringo trail I have meet even more people but you do not have the chance to make strong friendships with them.

After everyone left Huancayo to head out to there adventures withdrawal from travelers started to sink in. The next week I was the only one in the Hostel and the only saving grace was the Spanish courses I was taking and Nilda (the woman who was taking care of the Hostel). At that point I could not wait to go back to Lima even though I knew there was not much for me to do in Lima. I made good friends in Lima and I would be able to hangout with Marcela before she goes.

When I returned to Lima Marcela and I got to hangout out at the beach and I got to hangout with her family. At the beach it was good to relax and hear the waves crashing into the shore and spoil myself with cerveza (beer but in Spanish sounds better) and good food. I also got to go out to a disco club with my new Peruvian friends and to a jazz concert. The jazz concert was awesome because the band fused jazz with traditional Peruvian music. The energy of the place was strong and everyone was in a good mood. Then we headed to a disco club where I was complimented on my dance moves which I beg to differ.

After an eventful week in Lima I wanted to get back on the road again and start to see new sites. I finally got word on my volunteer work in Moyobamba. I will be heading there in May but might head in that direction earlier to explore more of the jungle there. So with a lot of good energy I headed to Arequipa or also known as the White City. All the good energy seem to leave with the ensuing bus trip there. I was in a bus for 15 hours and did not reach Arequipa till 12 at night. The first night I did not get rest because of the condition of the room. It was not a friendly atmosphere and was not inviting but I pushed through it and managed to get some sleep.

The next morning I headed down to the Main square to get some breakfast and then to look for a new Hostel to stay in. I was also looking for a tourist agency that was called Colca Trek and found it (so I thought). The guy at that offered the tour to the Cocla Canyon seemed very nice but all over the place. He also offed me a good deal on climbing up El Misti which is a dormant Volcano near Arequipa. Since I was going to use his services he gave me a good deal on the Hostel that his brother runs in the place his agency is located.

I told him that I needed to look for a camping store to find supplies and he offered to show me around. To my surprise I found the real Colca Trek that I was looking for. I had already paid my money to the other agency and was not expecting to get it back. So I said nothing and went with his services anyways. The next day I headed to the Colca Canyon and had to get up at 2:45 am. The guy said I it would be fine to sleep in the bus but it was so ridged I don´t know how anyone could sleep.

The first stop on the road to the Canyon was breakfast and there you get to talk to the others that are with on the tour. I meet a couple that was from England and were on a few week holiday going on the gringo trail. I also meet another couple that was from Denmark and have been traveling around the world for the past 8 months. Then we all headed to the Condor lookout to hopefully see Condors flying. Luckily for us there was Condors flying and they are huge. They do not fly like other birds do, they do not flap their wings. They use the thermals of the earth to glide around and only flap very little. The are very majestic when they fly and the swoop very low to the ground and get very close to you. The males have long white feathers that streak down to the wings. It is a very exciting site to see them flying and circling to get height.

Then it was off to the Canyon where we were going to meet our guides. This is where I found out that it was a good thing that I went with the services I had paid for then going with the other agency. The agencies like to make it look like they have their own guides but in reality they use freelance guides and divide you up to the varies guides. The other company chargers a lot more because it is more "Personal" but you get the same treatment. Luckily for our group we got a guide named Miguel and he knew how to guide very well. He explained to us all the animals that we would see in the canyon and explained the culture of the area. He also warned us that the first day is the hardest and he was not lying.

The first part of the trek is down hill and it really does a number on your knees. You are walking 16 kms and going down 1000m altitude. Though our guide knew how to keep the energy of the group going and made sure that everyone was in a good mood. When we finally got to the bottom of the hill we then had to go up hill which was a task because you are so exhausted from going down hill. But it was nice to work different muscles then your knees. Our guide took us through small towns and explained much of the culture and took us to a museum that gave us Checha. Checha is a beer that is just made with corn, flour and water and everyday the drink gets stronger.

After the drinks we head back on the trail again and I made good friends with the Danish couple, the British couple and an guy from Amsterdam. We all got along well and when we finally made it to the hostel we all sat near the pool together and shared stories of our travels and what our lives are like outside of traveling. We had a good pasta dinner and our guide made sure that we sat together and we all laughed and joked around before bed. The next morning our group got up at 5 in the morning so that we could beat the sun going up the hill to exit the canyon. The guy from Amsterdam and I decide to trek ahead of the group and never stop walking. Here is where I started to really feel the affects of altitude but what was suppose to that three hours to trek the other guy and I made it in two hours.

The others where only a half an hour behind us and we all had a good rest and then walked to breakfast in a small town near the canyon. After breakfast our group then headed to too other small varies towns to have lunch and do varies tourist activities like taking pictures with hawks and llamas and alpaca. Then back in Arequipa the British couple and I decided to ask the guide out for drinks in which he accepted. He knew a good bar in town and we headed there and had some good beers. The bartender was very friendly and even gave a us a little trinket and some free food. I was a good surprise and when every I am in Arequipa again I will defiantly return. Especially for the pisco mojito.

In all the trip was very exciting, had amazing views of the canyon and our guide made it very informative. The sad part about the trip is the realization that the towns in the canyon will be ghost towns in the future due to global warming (no glaciers no water) and the children of the town not returning. But we got to see the technology that helped the Inkas dominant the area, the people of the Colca canyon were the ones that developed the aqueduct system that the Inkas used to water their crops. It was a very impressive and sophisticated system and unbelievable how they harnessed the water of the glaciers.

The next day after the Colca trek I was suppose to hike up El Misti but there was a change of plans. When I got back to the Hostel I talked with the agency guy and found out that the other guys that were going to head up El Misti got sick and that they were not going to be able to go up tomorrow. I said it was fine but told him that he had till three the next day to either confirm with the other guys or find someone new. The problem with El Misti is that barely anyone goes up it because it is very high and you cannot do it on your own. Guides will only go up if their are two people. So the next day I walked around Arequipa and did some site seeing. When I returned to the Hostel I asked if I was going to climb or not and the guy did not give me a straight answer. His story seemed to change that he was waiting for other to confirm and the guys that got sick still wanted to go. At that point I had enough and asked for the money back considering the contract was void. He did not like that and started to play nice guy and said other agencies would not do what he is doing. Then started to suggest other hikes and told him that I did not have the time to do it and that I wanted my money back. I got most of it back and he only took a little bit of it and at that point I didn't care I just wanted to get going with my trip.

I did learn a lesson that I need to shop around a little bit more to find tours in the area and to always to confirm with the agencies if I am going or not. So I took this lesson with me to Puno and made sure to look around. Though I looked around for hostels more then I did agencies but I was told that the agency that I was offered to me to go to the floating islands was good so I took it. The hotel I stayed at on the other hand was very nice and I took this as a point to spoil myself. I have been watching my money very well and decided that I would get some luxury while I was here. So I took a nice warm bath which is very hard to come by in Perú. Most showers in Perú are stand up and you have to turn on a separate piece of equipment to get heated water. At the hotel it was like home and I enjoyed every bit of it.

The next day I had a very excellent breakfast and then got picked up to head down to the port and to get on a boat and sail off to the floating islands in the highest lake in the world. On the floating islands we learned how and why the people of the islands came to live in the lake. The people there left the mainland because there was war with the Inkas and they fled first on boats that where made of reefs and were the houses of the people. Then they started to construct the islands using the reefs roots and tying them together. They then placed many layers on layers of reefs on top of the roots and constructed houses on top. It was awesome how they constructed the houses but the islands were very touristy and it was good I did not stay on the islands.

After the islands we headed to two other islands that were located in the lake and were going to stay on one of them. But that adventure I will leave for the next most post as I will head to search for prices to travel to Machu Pichu and enjoy my day of birth.