While I was living in Chicago, I had been studying online through colleges in Wyoming since the tuition was cheaper than studying in Chicago. As I progressed toward my degree, the possible classes that I could take online became fewer and fewer, and eventually, I had to take classes in person which meant that I had to move to Laramie, WY, to continue going to class.

In between the spring semester of 2011, which I took online while living in Chicago, and the fall semester (when I would have to be in Wyoming) I had a summer off. I had decided that I wanted to travel while simultaneously improving my terrible Spanish skills and it worked out that I would go to South America.

I didn’t plan everything out and instead opted to just go there without any plans and see where the wind blew me. As such, I purchased a flight into Lima, Peru, and I purchased a flight out of Bogota, Columbia, about 3 months afterwards. What happened between the 2 events would be up to destiny to decide.

I drove back home from Chicago and visited my family before going to the airport and flying to Lima.

My first destination was my host’s house that I had found through Couchsurfing. I had tried using Couchsurfing in the past, but due to me having no reviews, it was hard to find people to host me (which was understandable). But I had luckily found someone prior to my departure that was okay with me having no reviews and he gave me his address. I had no idea how to get there, and with me being in unfamiliar territory using a language that I could barely understand (2 years of high school Spanish had not left me well prepared), I opted to just take a taxi. I knew I was getting the “tourist tax” and paying out the nose, but whatever.

The taxi driver and I got into his car and we proceeded to speed through the city, zipping and swerving in between other vehicles on the road. The drive quite crazily down there!

We got to the area where my host was supposed to live, and it proved hard to find his house. He lived well into the eastern edge of the city, which was a bit less developed and, to put it lightly, didn’t look like a place where one would want to walk around at night. In addition to that, house numbers were sparse and the streets themselves were not very clearly marked. I also did not bring my phone with me and couldn’t call him. Luckily, the taxi driver was accommodating enough and used his phone to call and ask exactly where to go and after a few minutes of confusion we found the place and I went inside.

My host invited me inside and introduced me to the few other people who were there. He had several other guests over as well, which is why I guess he didn’t mind letting someone with no reviews as he just kind of let anyone come in and chill, and he really only ensured that his bedroom door was locked while he was absent. The place was packed, but that was okay. I met a few other cool people and had my first break getting a Couchsurfing host.

That being said, I was kind of intimidated by the whole experience of being in another country where I couldn’t communicate all too well. I spent first day or two just casually walking around the area around the house and not being too bold. I did hang out with the other guests who were there, and they busied themselves with making jewelry from strings (they actually patterned it very well) and selling it on the streets. It was not allowed to sell stuff like that, though, so they worked in a team. They had a blanket that unfolded and presented all their wares when they laid it down. A couple others would go to the end of the streets and watch for the police; if they saw any, they would make a signal and the sellers would roll up the blanket and the police would be none the wiser. It was interesting, but it’s not quite what I had in mind when I wanted to visit Peru; however, I was still just a bit too timid to venture out on my own. After a couple days, though, Cale come to stay.

Cale was another American who had been traveling in South America for a while by that point. He spotted me walking around the house and just assumed that I was staying at the same place since I was likely the only other gringo in the area. Like I did, he was having troubles initially finding the place, but luckily for him, I was also staying there and showed him the place. After that, Cale gave me the quick rundown on how to handle myself in Peru with such things as like how much one should pay for a multitude of different things (so I would know if I was being ripped off) and generally just gave me a stroke of confidence that I so desperately needed.

Cale took me with him as we explored more of Lima together. At first, we still walked around the house, but we ventured further than I had gone alone. I recall one place we visited was some big market where all sorts of things like food and textiles were being sold. On the way there we had countless people try and sell us weed and we even had a group of guys desperately try to show us a “shortcut” into some alley. It was incredible how brazen they were with their attempt to get us behind the building to mug us. We stayed on the busy road and went to the market and got some fruits that I had never seen before. Unfortunately, I can’t recall what they were exactly and I also failed to take pictures.

Afterwards, we went to Barranco, a nicer bohemian district.

As we were closer to downtown Lima, we could also see San Cristobal, the hill in the center of Lima. I was told that all the houses built upon its side were actually illegally built.

Cale and I proceeded to walk around downtown and check out some other things together.

There was actually something like 8 of us there, all lying in a row on the sideways bed with our feet dangling off while we were all under our own sleeping bags. It was tight, but it was somehow fun and I met a lot of nice people there.

The following day, I went to Miraflores, which is more of a touristy district within Lima than where I had been staying. The differences were like night and day. The roads were now paved instead of dirt and gravel, there was grass everywhere and no piles of trash, there were police patrolling everywhere, and security cameras watched almost every corner.

I spend a couple days in Miraflores in a hostel, just walking around.

Apparently, every Valentine’s Day there is a contest there, and whoever wins get a free ticket to somewhere or something like that. Usually the winner goes 8-10 hours or so.

Among other things, I went into the Currency Reserve Museum. As I was in the middle of studying economics, I thought it fitting.

 

I then went into the Church of San Francisco, which I apparently failed to take a photo of.

Regardless, they had catacombs underneath the church and I snapped this photo when the guide wasn’t looking.

I went up the San Cristobal mountain and got to view the city in pretty much every direction.

Lima is huge. The metro area has a population of about 12 million people. It’s not terribly dense either and the city went out as far as I could see, although the heavy layer of smog over the city also helped in limiting the range of my vision.

After hanging out in Miraflores for a few days, I decided it was time to move on and take a bus north.

The bus station isn’t very conveniently placed, and I needed to take a local bus a bit north. The thing is, there wasn’t really any bus stop terribly close when I looked on the map, so I had to take a bus most of the way and then get out and walk. Even though it was the middle of the day, it was still kind of a sketchy area. I was trying my best to walk along the super-busy highway, and at one point the path crossed over to the other side via a pedestrian bridge. I was about to head over but some mechanics in front of a garage asked me where I was going and I told them to the bus top. They informed me that going over to the other side wouldn’t work because the path ended. I was told that I would need to walk along the other roads on the east side of the road (which is where I currently was). Dubiously, I listened to them and made sure to stay along the busiest road which kept me safe. I eventually needed to get back to the main road, though, and had to walk along a less-than-busy street in order to do so.

It was while walking down this street that 2 guys in their twenties or so spotted me and approached me, telling me I should follow them up some alley. I refused and kept walking to the main street but they decided to jump me then and there. One tried to grab me from behind and put me in a chokehold, but luckily my backpack proved cumbersome and denied him decent leverage. The other guys came up in front of me and threw a few punches into my chest while trying to get his hand in my pocket. Since the guy behind me couldn’t get a good grip, I used the opportunity to bite his arm, granting me enough time to shout Ayudame! (Help me!) a few times as loud as possible. What seemed like an eternity of them trying to bring me down with my struggling against them as we scuffled on the floor (but was likely only a minute or so) passed. There was luckily a construction site nearby and some workers heard my cry and came running at us, brandishing tools above their heads as they yelled. The 2 punks detached from me and ran off. I got up, gathered my sunglasses that had been knocked to the ground, thanked the guys who saved me, and then powerwalked to the main road where I would not allow myself to be deterred from following again. I managed to reach the bus stop without any further incidents and caught the bus to Chiclayo.

I didn’t have too much planned for Chiclayo, but there were some surrounding historical sites I was interested in. My Couchsurfing host was going to meet me in the park later in the evening and I decided to just hang out all day at the park until he arrived.

While waiting, some guy started talking to me. As a white gringo, I often stood out and attracted curious people. I told him that I was waiting for my host, and for some reason he got super adamant that I stay at his place instead. He was really pushy and I had to keep refusing his offer until I just got up and left to walk around, only returning when I was to meet my host.

My host met up with me and we dropped my stuff off at his house before heading out again. He knew of some street performance that was going on and we checked that out.

They were really good, and they performed all sorts of tricks. Right after that, there were 5 of them juggling bowling pins between each other and then later torches. After that, we retired for the night.

The next day, my host took me to the Tucume museum which had exhibits about the ancient life in the area.

We then hiked up one of the ancient sand pyramids. I recall it being incredibly hot as well as dusty.

I don’t recall how long I was in Chiclayo, but on one of the evenings, I was alone without my host for whatever reason, and I needed to head back to his place. I remember walking in the direction of his house and noticing that I was being followed by 3 or 4 guys.

Where my host lived was again not exactly a place I would say was safe at night. Chiclayo had police at night standing watch at several corners of streets, but that was more downtown. If I left the downtown area to get to my hosts house, I recalled that there weren’t too many more regular police watches.

Not sure what to do, I was walking along a block that had police at enough corners that nobody would try anything there. I just started walking around and around the block, always staying in sight of the police. I suppose my followers realized I had spotted them and was purposely doing that since after a few laps, they dissipated. I then buzzed over to my host’s house and got there without any further issues.

After a few days in Chiclayo, I went to Chachapoyas.

I had not made prior sleeping arrangements, so the first thing I did was set out looking for a hostel. I remember being followed by some very aggressive dogs, and I used a tip that Cale had told me he had done with irritable dogs: open up your umbrella and use it as a shield. It was big and intimidating and it kept them at bay, so I guess it worked.

I eventually found a “hostel,” but it seemed more like a hotel than anything else. Regardless, I went in and inquired about a room. I only needed to pay like 5 soles, which is like one dollar, which I thought must mean that I would get a terrible place.

My suspicion at the quality was further exacerbated when they didn’t have any more room in that “hostel” (although it was quiet as a graveyard) and would instead take me to their sister building.

We arrived at the building and the guy who brought me there gave me my key and showed me my room. I opened the door… and it was actually pretty nice! It was really small, and the bed occupied almost the entire space in the room, but I had my own bathroom and there was even a TV with local cable. For a buck a night, you really couldn’t ask for anything better! I relaxed, watched some TV which I barely understood, and then set out checking out the local sites.

The main attraction around there is the Huancas Canyon which I spent some time hiking around.

After a couple days there, I took a bus a bit further north to head to Cocachimba in order to get to Gocta Falls.

I didn’t really do anything in Cocachimba and instead immediately head out on a hike towards the falls.

Gocta! The 3rd highest waterfall in the world. Or at least so they claim. Apparently, it’s quite disputed and a lot of other authorities state otherwise, but at least the locals are very proud about it being the 3^rd highest waterfall. The waterfall itself was fine while still pretty. Since it fell down so far, there was a heavy mist at the bottom which actually made it really cold, in contrast the blazing heat along the trail into the recession where the waterfall is.

It was too cold and wet to hang out there, so I started hiking back out. I didn’t want to go all the way to Cocachimba though, so I just stopped on the outside of the town and set up my tent for the night.

After that, I set out toward Karajia.

I had to take a bus to Lamud, and then to get to the small town right before Karajia, I had to take a taxi.

They were interesting, but kind of small and hard to see. It was interesting that they were built into the mountainside, but I ultimately didn’t think the effort to get to them was quite worth it.

I wanted to head back to Lamud to find a place to sleep, but I soon realized that the taxi driver that brought me up to Karajia actually lived in the village and was done for the evening and playing volleyball with his family and friends. There also didn’t seem to be any other taxis.

I wasn’t sure how to get back, so he graciously told me that if I waited a bit, he would take me down later, which he nicely did. I got into Lamud and found a place to stay that was again only a few bucks, but this time it really was like a room made out of a shed with plywood walls. Whatever. I only stayed the one night before heading out to Kuélap.

To get there, one needs to first travel to Neuvo Tingo and then either take the road, either by walking or taking a car/bus, or there is a steep footpath. I opted for the latter, and it was exhausting. I later realized that I had been storing my sleeping bag incorrectly and it was creating a lot of backwards-pulling force since I had it strapped on the back of my pack. I later strapped it to the top so my center of gravity was closer to my normal one and carrying my pack became easier. But that wasn’t until after this hike and it tired me out.

I finally got to the summit as the sun was dipping down, and Kuélap was closed. I looked around for a place to set up my tent because I sure as hell wasn’t going to hike out and then come back up again the following day. There is a tiny village in front of Kuélap, and someone noticed how lost and stressed I looked and invited me to stay in their yard.

They were really welcoming and accommodating. It was an older man and woman with their son that I would have put at about 10 years old. Like many indigenous Peruvians who lived in villages, they didn’t even really speak Spanish and instead mainly spoke Quechua. Their son translated between Quechua and Spanish, and I struggled to understand him. It was actually quite comical as my Spanish was still not that great. His parents watched as he and I played soccer with each other in their yard with a half-deflated ball. In any case, it was an eye-opening experience for me as to the state that other people live in the world.

They had a little hut without any electricity or running water. The mother would go to a well to fetch water and everything else was also done without modern conveniences. They invited me inside for dinner where a fire burned to heat the pot of food she was cooking. Without a proper chimney, the whole place was filled with smoke and it made my eyes burn and tear up. It was hard to breathe and I (politely?) fought down my natural reaction to continuously cough in the unventilated room. They didn’t seem too phased by it, as I guess they were used to it. Up until that point in Peru, I had still been hosted by people who had houses that were at least what once could envision as a really poor house in the USA. This was another level entirely, and I have never tried to take things for granted since.

After dinner, I went outside into my tent and slept while clearing my lungs out. To imagine that some people go through that every day until they just get used to it is a tough reality to accept.

I woke up the next morning and finally got to enter Kuélap, which was an ancient Chachapoyan fort with walls between 10 and 20 meters high.

After checking out the fort, I walked the easy road back and wanted to go to my next destination. I wanted to visit Huaraz next, but I couldn’t find a bus that would take me directly there. I ended up having to go to Trujillo first. I didn’t plan on going there, but since I had to go there anyways, I figured I would check it out for a few days.

My first memory in Trujillo was a small demonstration in the Plaza de Armas, which is basically the main square. The demonstration itself wasn’t remarkable, but while I was watching, I was standing with one foot on the sidewalk and with one foot on the grass adjacent. I recall just rocking left and right, shifting my weight from one foot to the other. Apparently, the fire ants under my foot on the grass didn’t take to that too kindly. My ankle started to hurt a bit, then burn. I looked down and my shoe and ankle were absolutely covered in ants! I leaped to the side and stomped my foot really hard. I even kicked off my shoe to brush them all off of me and wave them off my shoe. Everyone around me was clutching their sides with laughter. Looking back on it now, it was funny, but at the time, it hurt!

My host, Gabriel, eventually met up with me and we hung out his place. The next day, we went to the Huanchaco beach and relaxed.

Gabriel told me that the beach used to have very soft sand, but an ocean storm had pushed a bunch of small rocks onto the beach, and it wasn’t as nice anymore. Regardless, it was still a nice day.

Afterward, we went to Chan Chan, which was an old mud brick city near the coast that housed an estimated 100,000 people before the Incan empire.

The next day, we went to Huaca de le Luna (Temple of the Sun).

Gabriel told me that there was a big problem with looters breaking into the archaeological site and stealing stuff until guards were installed.

I was then going to leave later that day, but the buses were all sold out and I could only go the next day. I called up Gabriel and asked him if I could crash there one more night, to which he happily obliged. Gabriel’s mom was really happy that I stayed one more day too, as she thought I was a really pleasant guest. We had fried bananas that night which was way tastier than I would have expected.

On the last day, I went to a toy museum since I didn’t have too much else to do until my bus.

As I was leaving, the last thing I saw in Trujillo was a parade. It was hilarious as all the kids would greet me as they passed (don’t forget, I am an easily-spotted gringo).

I then got into the bus for my next destination, but I’ll post about that next week, as this post has gone on long enough.

This was several weeks of my traveling in Peru, and many more were to come. I spent the majority of my time in South America in Peru, so the next couple posts will pick up where this one left off. Then I will get into other countries.