On Wednesday, I had another one of those South American bus rides that are supposed to be 8 hours but end up as 10. I got a lot of reading done so the drive wasn't too terrible, despite the monotonous desert scenery. I arrived to my hostel in Huanchaco around 8:30pm, hungry and tired but happy to have reached my destination. The hostel staff consisted of 3 blonde 20-somethings from Finland, who'd visited a few years back and didn't want to leave. They were extremely nice and one of the girls even walked me to a little grocery store down the street so I could get something to eat.
I spent the day on Thursday exploring the tiny beach town. There was a surf competition going on the whole time of my stay, so I spent a good part of the morning watching the surfers from the bleachers on the beach. The town definitely has that relaxed surfer vibe feel and is a place where the shops open at 10am and often have signs in the door saying"be back in half an hour". After the competiton, I walked along the beach, tried ceviche for the first time, then lounged in one of the hostel's hammocks. There are definitely worse ways to spend an afternoon then reading on the deck overlooking a bright orange sun setting over the Pacific ocean.
The next morning, I was all rested up and ready to take part in what the town is best known for-surfing! My hostel offered surfing lessons through them, so I set up an appoitnment and they provided the wetsuit, board, and private instructor for 2 and a half hours... all for the very steep price of $13. First Hector (pronunced Ect-Or) had me practice the motions on the beach, then the surf board, then eventually the water. He lead me out a good spot, told me to turn around, then all the sudden he's yelling at me in Spanish to go! go! go! So I did like we practiced and actually stood up and caught the wave! I made it almost back to the beach then had a very ungraceful crash landing onto the rocky sand. As it turns out, my balance is pretty good and I ended up standing up most of the waves I tried for. My swimming however, not so great. I was swimming my hardest and hardly made any progress out to sea without Hector's assistance. So before I go the next time I might splurge for some swim lessons to make it a little easier on both me and my instructor. I had a blast though and I'm so glad I took the opportunity to learn a new sport in a town that's built around it.
Despite being a bit bruised and cut up from my sufing experience, I was ready to venture out of town on Saturday morning to see some ancient ruins. I chose to save money and go by public transportation, which is always an interesting experience in South America. I stood on the side of the road, then as busses come you flag them down like you would a taxi, and jump on while they're still moving. All of that while trying to determine if it's the right bus or not. Luckily it was, and thanks to the fare collecter I actually got off at the right stop, an unmarked stone road that looked like it lead to nowhere.
I walked along for probably a mile, then seemingly out of thin air appeared the ruins. The city was built around the year 850 and had up to 30,000 inhabitants before it was conquered in the 15th century.The architecture was pretty cool, with walls made of adobe brick and pictures of fish and birds etched into the design. That night it was time for another overnight bus ride, this time to the mountain city of Huaraz.
After a hellish 10 hour journey with seats that only went down about 6 inches and Brittish teenagers making animal noises at 4:30am, we arrived in town at 6:30. The hostel was nice enough to give me a nice warm breakfast for no extra charge. I didn't really regain my energy after the rough night though, so I spent most of the day hanging around the hostel with some wandering around the cute town surrounded by picturesque snow-capped mountains.
I was recharged by Monday and signed up for a tour to some of the areas north of the city. I went to sign my name on the list and as I looked up at the nationalities of the other participants, every single one was Peruvian! Maybe that means I picked a really good tour only the locals know about? Who knows. I made friends with the Peruvian girl who sat next to me on the bus and she was nice enough to explain things whenever the guide's Spanish got too fast for me to comprehend what was going on.
Our first stop was Carhuaz, a town that was completely devestated by an earthquake experienced by that region of Peru in 1970. We walked through the beautiful memorial park, which was a combination of a cemetary and a museum with items from the horrible disaster. I learned towards the end that we were actually walking on top of the destoyed town which lies about 10 feet beneath the park. It's sad to think about all those taken lives, but it was inspiring to see that the residents who lived reconstructed a lovely new village right next to the original town.
Our next stop was much more uplifting, the gorgeous Lake Llanganuco with spectacular teal water and bright white mountains surrounding it in all directions. Legend has it that a princess and her commoner boyfriend were tied up in the mountains as punishment for their forbidden romance. According to the story, her tears are what created the magestic lake. I marveled at its beauty, waking around the shore and taking a peaceful boat ride through the water. We stopped for food after departing the lake, then visited a market and sweet shop before returning to Huaraz.
I only had about an hour at the hostel then it was off for yet another night bus, this time to my final destination of Lima. It was another unpleasent night, but it had nothing to do with the riders or the bus itself, which happened to be very comfortable. I think my body decided it had enough of traveling and despite having 6 layers on and a blanket, I was shivering and could feel myself burning up. By the time we arrived in Lima, I had to muster up all my energy just to make it to the street to catch a taxi. Thank goodness my bed was ready at the hostel and I was able to go back to go to sleep for a few hours.
When I woke up, I met an American girl at breakfast and when we started chatting, we realized we literally live 5 blocks away from each other! I walked around with her for a while and we saw a famous statue of a man and woman kissing, then saw the main street. Unfortunately that was about all I could handle for the day and I went back to the hostel and slept away most of the afternoon and night trying to recooperate. Quite an exciting last day in South America.
On Wednesday morning, my taxi arrived at 3:45 in the morning to bring me to the airport where I caught my plane to Miami first, then back home to DC. I arrived last night, 14 hours later, and while I love traveling, it's nice to have the comforts of home again and to be able to talk with friends and family. I had an amazing adventure these past few months and learned so much about medicine, South American culture, and myslef. Thank you to all of you who've kept up with the blog and cared about my travels. Until next time, adios!:)
