Oh yeah, guess I should update the site! Alright, so guess who’s finally in Lima? And cheating? Ok, so Momster just sent me an e-mail that she’s comin’ to Cuzco to see Machu Picchu (and me too, I guess), and I was about a month and a half away by bicycle when I got the news. She’s coming on March 4th.
So yeah, time to kick this party into ludicrous speed! To catch you up, after I left Trujillo I scooted down the desert coastline to a town called Casma to see the ancient ruins of Sechin. However, I figured I’d also say one last goodbye to the coastline by taking a little side-trip to the beach at Tortugas and lazing away the day by the water. Although it was a strange little beach-town surrounded by infinite desert and with gray pebbles all along the surf, it was actually quite a nice and sleepy atmosphere for just forgetting the world (although I suppose I don’t really need much help with that these days). Of course, regardless of how much sunscreen I was wearing, I still managed to get burnt, but hey, it was a small price to pay for one of the most amazing sunsets of my journey.
The following day I was up bright and early and in a moto-taxi (basically the Latin American name for a tuktuk) on the way out to Sechin. Although the ruins themselves were somewhat insignificant, the bas relief carvings were either amazingly well preserved or… restored – hey, who the hell knows, right? After a short visit it was time to head back to the super-chic and super-cheap hostel where I was staying and catch my bus up to the mountain city of Huaraz in the Cordillera Blanca. At 11:00am we were off and it was a loooong, bumpy road.
After about six hours of non-stop uphill climb on a one lane dirt track from the sandy deserts, through shale and rock foot-hills, and to fertile, misty Andean mountains, we finally began a short descent into the valley of Huaraz. Of course, little did I know at the time, or until this morning when I left, that it was surrounded by absolutely stunning white, snow-capped peaks on almost every side. Well, why didn’t I know? Because in my four days there it rained and was overcast every single day – plus fufufufreeeezing cold. But fortunately, in the mornings we did get some clear weather and I managed to get in on an incredible hike up to breathtaking (literally) turquoise mountain lagoons surrounded by snowy mountains (in which, yes, I did go swimming – agh!), and a morning of rock climbing – after walking through a frigid mountain river up to my knees barefoot.
So yeah, you could imagine that when I left this morning I had had a wonderful time… but was more than ready to get back to the dry heat of the Peruvian coast. So after a seven hour bus ride down from Huaraz, I’m now in Lima for a few days, before taking the next few legs to Cuzco to meet Momster. As far as my schedule, I believe that I’ll be in Lima until Thursday, and then will head to the tiny desert oasis of Ica further South to do some sand-boarding (I think its obligatory if you come to these parts of Peru). After that, a quick jaunt to Arequipa to see the city built from sparkling volcanic rock, and then finally the climb to Cuzco to finally be reunited with my long-lost mother (you can imagine that its been a while).
Oh, and tooooons of new photos up in the gallery – not my favorite work, but hey, at least it tells a story. Hope you enjoy and more to come about the scandal and excitement of the big city soon.
I’ve had a few requests as to my route over the next few weeks, and as I may soon lose most contact with the world (with the exception of a stop in about three to four days) and not be sitting in front of my computer waiting for FedEx all day anymore, I figured I’d go ahead and clue you all in while I still can.
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