Peru Travel Diary Part 3

21.10. 9:46
Where do I even start? It’s almost been a month since I last wrote. I’m way busier than I thought I would be. Before I left, I thought I would work on my projects daily. Now I’m glad if I’m able to update this diary. I’m on the plane to Mexico right now, and I’ll try to catch you up on the last couple of weeks in Peru.

My last entry was the day before the Colca Canyon, so I’ll start there. It honestly feels like forever ago when I had to wake up very early to head to the canyon. I booked a tour through the host I volunteered with because she was able to get me a better price. The ride to the canyon was very bumpy. The streets in Peru are in really bad condition.

The worst thing, though, was all the bends in the road. It was so winding that I got really sick. I seriously thought I was going to throw up, so I let the tour guide know. It didn’t help that I was seated in the last row. The guide was very helpful. He gave me a piece of paper soaked in alcohol to smell, and it helped a bit. I was surprised this happened because although I used to experience this a lot as a kid and on boat rides, it hadn’t happened to me in years. After a couple of hours, we arrived at a viewpoint to watch the huge Andean condors, the main reason why people book this tour.

After watching them for a while, we made our way to a beautiful spot where we had breakfast. Then, we started the two-hour hike along the canyon. It was beautiful, but not particularly impressive. The bus was waiting for us when we finished, and we continued to a lunch spot. I didn’t book lunch but brought my own food because I found it very overpriced. Fun fact: No one in my group had lunch; everyone brought their own food. Afterwards, we continued to another viewpoint and then to a so-called national park. In fact, we just stopped in the middle of the street to watch some vicuñas (wild relatives of alpacas). We also went to some thermal baths, but I can’t remember if it was before or after lunch. The thermal baths are not what you might imagine if you’re European; they are just some small heated pools outside. It’s kinda strange that people do this when it’s already very hot outside.

We got back to Arequipa at around 5 p.m. I went home to rest a bit, and that evening, I cooked two Austrian soups for dinner for the first time. My roommate helped me. Our host wasn’t here, so we just cooked for ourselves and her daughter and played some games afterwards.

For the rest of the week, I did my volunteer work as usual and organised a few things for my travels. I had another volunteer position lined up in Ica, but the person didn’t respond to me, so I contacted the app’s support team. Eventually, he responded but didn’t answer my questions and disappeared again. Two days before I was due to arrive, I had a feeling I should look for alternatives, so I started contacting people on Couchsurfing. I quickly found someone who would host me and cancelled the volunteering arrangement.
The bus ride from Arequipa to Ica was the longest bus ride of my life: 15 hours. But I have to say that it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I booked with the best bus company in Peru and, like the other buses I’d taken before, it was extremely comfortable. They even gave us a bag with water and snacks. I left Arequipa on the 30th of September and arrived in Ica on the 1st of October.
The Couchsurfing guy picked me up and put me in his hostel. He was very nice. He explained everything about Ica: where I could find vegetarian food, which areas to avoid, which places I should visit and so on. Finally, I had a chance to rest for a bit, and later, he introduced me to a friend. I don’t usually include these things in my travel diary, but because it might be impossible to leave this out later, I’m just gonna say for now that I liked his friend a lot.
In the afternoon, I visited a place just outside the city called Witch Town. Apparently, witchcraft was practised there centuries ago, so I visited the witchcraft-themed park and a place with a strange tree.

After I got back, the Couchsurfing guy and some of his friends took me to a place where they sold coconuts on the street. It was the first time I had drunk straight from a coconut, and it was delicious.

The following afternoon, I made my way to the main tourist attraction: the sand dunes in Huacachina, where you can go sandboarding or sand skiing. My sister did this on her world trip two years ago, and she told me it had been the highlight of her trip. I wasn’t sure whether to try it because of my knee injury. Ever since my accident seven years ago, I hadn’t been skiing. I took a mototaxi to the town (my first time taking one) and asked a guy I saw on the street waxing boards about sand skiing and told him about my concerns. He referred me to another guy who turned out to be a tour guide and was just about to set off on a tour. He said I should join right away, and I think that was exactly what I needed: no time to think about it. So, 30 minutes later, I was standing on the first hill, and I still can’t believe I did it. It felt freeing, and I was so proud of myself.

We went from one hill to another, always in a sand buggy that went very fast to add some excitement. When the sun set, our guide lit a small bonfire and we watched the sunset before heading back to the entrance of the dunes, where we could go down one last time. I honestly didn’t want to push my luck, considering that I hadn’t done my knee exercises in ages, so I walked down this last hill, as did another guy in my group. It was a very special experience.

The next day, I went out to get breakfast and met the Couchsurfing guy on the way. I asked him for a recommendation, and he just said I should come with him. He was in a rush to pick up two tourists for a tour in his mototaxi, which he had parked at his house a bit outside the city. I didn’t know where we were going. I thought he would show me a place where I could have breakfast. Instead, we took a colectivo taxi to his house, and he taught me how to drive a mototaxi. What a crazy experience! That’s why I love meeting locals; I’m sure not many people can say that they’ve driven a mototaxi in Peru.

Later that day, I hung out with his friends again, and the next day it was already time for me to leave Ica. I took a bus to Paracas, where I had my next volunteering position. I was excited to go there because it was by the beach, but unfortunately, this was the first time the first a place I’d visited had disappointed me. It was the ugliest beach I’ve ever seen in my life. There was rubbish everywhere, and the smell was disgusting. Disappointed, I settled into the hostel, where I was meant to stay for eight days and share a room. They told me I’d be sharing the room with one person, but they put another person in the room the following day. Although they were nice, it was a bit uncomfortable, especially because there were no wardrobes. My job was to help prepare and serve breakfast to the guests. I only had to work five days, so I decided to go back to Ica for the other two days before my Couchsurfing stay in Pisco.
The tasks were easy enough. They left me in charge on my second day, and the boss said that she would miss me after just one hour of working with me. Even though the room and the beach weren’t what I expected, there was still something good about the experience: one of my roommates became a very close friend. The other one didn’t like Paracas either and decided to leave the following day, so we ended up having the room to ourselves. We had such a strong connection; I’d never met anyone so similar to me. We ended up getting matching tattoos for free because a coworker who did tattoos told us he’d do them for free if we brought someone else along, so we found two other girls. My new friend even came back to Ica with me. After the two days in Ica, unfortunately, we had to go our separate ways. It turned out that she had travelled a similar route to mine, only in the other direction. So she went to Arequipa, while I went to Pisco.

There weren’t many things to do in Paracas. I did the boat tour to the Ballestas Islands, where I could see the Candelabra of Paraca, something like a Nazca line. (I skipped the famous Nazca lines because I didn’t want to pay $200 for a flight and pollute the air just to see them.) We also saw a penguin, lots of sea lions and a dolphin. Another day, my friend and I rented a scooter and went to the famous Paracas National Reserve, where there were some nice beaches. It was my first time riding a scooter since I was a teenager. It was very fun!

In Pisco, I found the best Couchsurfing host ever. Her name was also Caro, and I stayed with her and her boyfriend. I had my own room, bathroom and terrace, even though I’d expected to sleep on their couch. They even gave me breakfast, lunch and dinner. They lived above their restaurant on the third floor, whilst renting out rooms on the second floor via Airbnb. Caro went for a walk on the beach with me, and although it still wasn’t a nice beach, it was better than the one in Paracas. The only sad thing was that we had to walk past dead birds. And I mean a sea of dead birds. Due to the weather phenomenon known as “El Niño”, the water is getting warmer and the fish are moving deeper or farther away from the shore, so the birds can’t find food anymore. They told me that the water was five degrees warmer than it used to be a couple of years ago. It also upset me to see all the rubbish on the ground (something I noticed everywhere in Peru), and I shared that with Caro. She thinks in a similar way to me and ended up offering me the opportunity to stay with them, work a bit in the restaurant to cover my rent, and organise beach clean-ups. She told me that she knew the town’s mayor. Obviously, she knew I was travelling at the moment, so she said that if I ever wanted to do that in the future, I’d be very welcome. I was so happy. Whilst I don’t see my future in Pisco, this was exactly what I was hoping for: meeting locals and finding opportunities to start a life somewhere. I just never expected it to happen this quickly. The hostel in Paracas also asked me whether I was planning to go to Cusco or Lima. They had other hostels there and would love for me to work at one of them. So one thing I can say after these six and a half weeks in Peru is that I wouldn’t have to worry about finding somewhere to stay or finding a job.

The day after my arrival, Caro arranged for us to visit a nice beach about 20 minutes outside of Pisco. A friend of a friend picked us up with his four-wheel-drive vehicle so we could drive across the sand to reach the beach, as there was no road access. He and his friend went there almost every day to surf. The beach was beautiful; there was no one else around. The guys brought an extra surfboard and taught me how to surf. This had been on my bucket list for a long time, and I still can’t believe how life works. I just got my first surfing lesson for free. It was physically exhausting, but I kept trying for ages, and even though I didn’t manage to stand up properly (I think I’ll have to work on my fitness for that), I did well and I really liked it. I also swam a bit, and we had music and snacks. I remember sitting in the sand next to Caro, looking at this beautiful, deserted beach, watching the guys surf and thinking to myself: “This is like a movie. My life is like a movie. I can’t believe that this is my life.” I’m so proud of living my dream.

I spent my last few days in Peru in Ica and Lima. In Lima, I joined an activity organised by CISV, the international peace organisation I’m involved with every now and then. [LINK AUSTRALIA CISV]. I’ll be the leader of the Peruvian delegation at a camp in Lima at the end of this year, and at the activity I got to know two of my delegates. The other two live in Cajamarca, and I’ll get to know them in December.

Time flew by quickly. I can’t believe I’m already sitting on the plane to Mexico. It’s been 18 years since I last was in Mexico, and I will be reunited with the host family I stayed with when I came to Mexico in 2008 to participate in a CISV camp. Getting on the plane was a very strange feeling. I was so happy knowing I would not only see them again but also see my younger sister later on. At the same time, I was sad to leave Peru, even though I know I’ll be back in six weeks.

Things I want to be honest about: From the outside, it always looks as though everything is easy and fun, and people wonder how I afford this. But don’t be fooled: travelling on a budget comes at a price. There’s so much to organise: sending out requests for volunteering opportunities and Couchsurfing stays, waiting for replies that don’t come 90% of the time, booking bus rides, researching cheap tour options, managing different currencies, dealing with last-minute changes, and so on. It takes a lot of energy and often leaves me with no motivation to write my diary or work on my projects. But I don’t want this to sound like a complaint. I’m so happy I get to do this, and I know I’m very privileged to be able to do it. So I enjoy every moment as best as I can.

There’s another hard reality I didn’t expect: having all my family and friends in a different time zone can be a challenge sometimes. There are so many days when I’d love to call them at night and tell them about my day, but I can’t because it’s two or three a.m. there and they’re sleeping. The only time I can call them is in the morning, but that’s usually when I go on tours or meet locals. I’m glad, though, that I have made new friends in the same time zone.

The third challenge is maintaining a routine. I really notice how much I miss having some sort of routine. I haven’t done my shoulder and knee exercises in ages, and especially my shoulder lets me know about it. I would love to meditate more and eat healthier food, but I really struggle to manage that. The biggest problem is that I hardly have access to a kitchen because I’m moving around every few days. I noticed that in Arequipa, where I stayed for two weeks, it was much easier because I was able to buy groceries for a couple of days and cook what I liked. As always, I’m gonna be blatantly honest: it’s been less than two months since I left Spain, but I wouldn’t mind finding a place where I’d like to settle down sooner rather than later. It would be so nice to have a home with all my things, so I could pack light when travelling for a while and then come back home. It’s ironic because everyone knows I’m travelling very light, but I’d still like it to travel with even less. And it would be nice not to have to pack and unpack every couple of days. Whilst I haven’t found that place yet, I have a feeling it could be Peru. People tell me that the north has really nice beaches, so I guess I’ll find out when I come back.