Two Weeks In Peru

The last few weeks has been a whirlwind of new adventures, foods, and friends, as well as some much needed quality time spent with my fiance. Shahana and I said our "see you later's" this morning as she boarded her flight to the U.S. and now I'm sitting here enjoying a black coffee and tunes from a marching band on what is likely to be my last day off until I head home in August.

They say that Peru has 366 festivals and celebrations each year. One for every day and another on standby, just in case. While this may be the case, I hated that in our two and a half weeks of travel, Shahana wasn't really able to experience a true Peruvian festival. We heard the fireworks in Arequipa and Cuzco. We sped past funerals in the Sacred Valley (also a festival of sorts). But, as luck would have it, no sooner than she boarded the plane, did I find myself smack dab in the middle of a large religious celebration stretching from the beautiful Plaza de Armas to the small and quaint, Plaza San Blas.

It's always difficult to understand why they are celebrating, due to the varying traditions formed in each small area of Peru, but each one is similar in a few ways. There's ALWAYS a marching band! Good or bad, every celebration, festival, wedding, and funeral I have witnessed has included a small marching band. Some are so terrible they will give you nightmares, and those always seem  to be the ones that play 24/7, for several days at a time. Most times there are dancers. Their elaborate and colorful costumes are always site to see. Some dress in the traditional mountain garb with their variety of reds, yellows, and blues. Some are almost head to toe in white and gold. Many wear finely painted masks with long noses and carry jugs of booze (real or otherwise), and some wear pantyhose on their heads and carry whips.

They are sorted into groups based off of their particular choreographed dances, all of which tell a story from their past. Some of being dominated by the Spanish, others of fighting back, and others of religious events that led to the traditions they are celebrating. Lastly, there almost always seems to be alcohol . Beer and chi cha are sold in the streets and fields by old Quechua women and girls young enough to be in kindergarten. In any event, Peruvians love to party.

I was sad that Shahana didn't get to experience this for herself, but we had many other wonderful experiences during her stay and we made a many new friends. She actually got to experience guiding adventure travel trips firsthand as she tagged along on several of my tours. I was blessed to have her around, as in several instances, I was up the creek without a paddle and she helped me through them as my linguist and adviser. She is a natural people person and it showed on every tour. Her positive outlook and beautiful smile were a perfect addition to our groups and I know she enjoyed our clients just as much as they did her.

Our travels took us to several ruins sites and remote villages including Victos, Huancancalle, and of course, Machu Picchu. We cycled around 250 kilometers (150 miles) of "mostly" downhill, hiked around 20 miles on trail and many more on the streets in Aguas Calientes, Ollantaytambo, Arequipa, and Cuzco. We ate, a lot! We took some risks, went out of our comfort zones,  tried new things, and for the most part, escaped unscathed. We battled ridiculous heights, crazy drivers, biting vampire gnats, sanity-testing bug bites, smelly-armpit-in-your-face bus rides, stomach aches, horrible gas, and diarrhea. We relaxed in hot springs, zip-lined hundreds of feet above raging rivers, stepped from rung to rung across railroad bridges, trekked through the hot jungle, and sat in on a children's English class at the base of a 6000 meter volcano.

Although our time was short, we covered a lot of ground and I doubt we can find one regret aside from not planning a longer visit. There are so many places we were not able to see, so much culture we were not able to experience, and so much food we were unable to eat.

My time in Peru is quickly coming to an end and even though I'll be headed back to Colorado next month, I'll be leaving a piece of me in Peru. The experiences I've encountered will always have a special place in my heart and the friendships I've formed during my stay are sure to be lifelong. I'm already planning to see several of my new friends this Fall and hoping to help others gain entry for a visit in the near future. I can't (or don't want to) think of this visit to Peru being the last of it's kind, even if I simply return as a tourist to reconnect and see new parts of the country. The Peruvian Andes are unlike any other range I have ever had the pleasure of visiting and I know they'll come calling not long after my trip ends.

I'm going to bring this report to an end, but I hope to have more time to write about our adventures in the near future. For now, there's just too much to write about.  Hopefully I'll have a few days toward the end of my trip to really put in the time on this blog I had hoped from the beginning of this journey. Until then, God bless and safe travels.

-Shannon

"The mountains are calling, and I must go." -John Muir