The Unexpected Trip
This next story is very long but I think it’s the most interesting one yet from my travels so I will add photos in between to separate it out. I took a chance in my decision making and it was all worth it in the end. It’s about going into the unknown and taking a chance with a lady, while also going through the trials and tribulations of the longest bus ride imaginable.
During my first trip to Lima, I was just chilling in my hotel and was a bit bored so I decided to check out the Tinder life for the first time in South America. I was quite popular and immediately had a number of matches. It was a solid opportunity to practice talking Spanish with girls. Of course I had to use translator a few times for what I was saying or what they said. It was very helpful to see how a true native Spanish speaker texts. I had a good conversation going with María Angélica so we made plans to grab lunch the next day. Never know with Tinder so lunch seemed like a safe bet.
The next morning I was considering bailing and just walking around the different neighborhoods like I had originally planned. I had a bus that night so what was this date really going to do for me but something told me to stick with it. I mean why not? The opportunity is here and it’ll be an experience. We got lunch at a fancy place called Panchita and shared the sampler platter which had a bit of everything: kebab like skewers, maíz, tamalitos verdes (green corn tamales), pastel de papas (potato and cheese casserole), papa a la huancaína (rich and creamy cheese sauce poured over boiled potatoes served with parsley, hard-boiled egg, and black olive), pickled onions, and a few other things.
We hit it off immediately. She was mostly speaking in English (which she was good at, but not great) and I would respond in Spanish or a form of Spanglish. It was good for both of us to practice each other’s language.
A few Pisco sours in and she started trying to convince me to come with her and her friends to Oxapampa this weekend for a 2 day music festival. I was buzzing on the drinks and our connection so it really didn’t take much convincing. An 11 hour over night bus ride to go with a girl I just met to a town I’d never heard of in the middle of nowhere Peru for a couple nights to see some music…why the heck not?! I really didn’t know what I was signing up for but I came into this trip open minded and looking for some unexpected experiences and this was certainly the moment. After lunch she had to check back into her work really quickly so I waited outside her building for about 10 minutes then we went to my hotel to grab my backpack. It’s probably a good thing it all happened so quickly because I didn’t even have time to second guess my decision.
Next thing I know we’re in a taxi heading to her place…aka I have no idea where I’m going. It was an interesting drive getting out of upscale Miraflores and going into the heart of the city seeing the more real and grungy side of Lima. We drove past a big group of protestors in the street surrounded by police and the smell of tear gas wafted into the taxi. Things are much different in this part of town. Currently there’s some political unrest with the president and people were taking it to the streets. The ride was nearly 30 minutes and I just crossed my fingers that this was a good decision. At this point I had conceded that I was going to miss the bus to Huaraz that I had booked earlier. We finally arrived at her place in a neighborhood called San Juan de Lurigancho. It was in the outskirts of Lima where the buildings were more rundown and urban poverty was much more apparent. She lived with her parents in a family run restaurant where the bedrooms were above the restaurant. Welp I already got to meet her mom and some cousins.
At this point I was starting to wonder what I’m doing here but it was too late to back out now. Just have to go with the flow and hope it all works out. We booked my bus to Oxapampa and then I sat at a table in the restaurant while she got her stuff together. I felt a little out of place but kept a positive mindset and waited for Marie to get her things together. I packed what I needed for the weekend into my smaller bag and gave her my big bag to store upstairs for the weekend. Leaving my possessions at the house/restaurant of a girl that I just met at a location that I have no clue where it is (don’t worry Mom I saved the location on my phone). What could possibly go wrong?! Of course I second guessed it all, but my gut told me to trust the situation and everything will be fine. When she was finished getting ready, we took out the family dogs and walked around the park across the street continuing to chat and getting to know each other.
Then me, her, and her friend Gustavo left the house and took the metro and then a bus (that was so crowded people were basically hanging off it) to the “bus station,” which was just the office of the bus company with a bunch of people standing outside waiting. This travel experience was the first time I got to see the true grit of Lima. It’s hard to describe but it was bursting with that big city energy: crowded streets; people yelling to hop on their bus/taxi; vendors selling soups, teas, meats, whatever, and some had a circular table setup around their “kitchen” for people to eat at in the middle of the sidewalk. It was absolute chaos but a great sight to see. The hectic scene of people in the streets reminded me of being in Asia.
Not sure what Gustavo thought of me especially this first night…and that feeling continued all weekend. We connected a few times and other times I’m not so sure. His Spanish was incredibly hard to understand. He used a lot of words/slang that I didn’t know and even when I did, he spoke so quickly that I still didn’t get it. When he just spoke to Maria, or in general, I would understand some but if he talked to me directly I was almost always lost. That being said we did have some good times together. If my Spanish were better I think we would’ve gotten along great because he had a very sarcastic and joking manner to him.
I was glad to be with 2 locals for my first Peruvian bus experience because it was even more of a shit show than Colombia (turned out to be the most hectic bus experience I had in Peru). We were supposed to leave at 10:15 but the bus didn’t even arrive for us to board until 11. Since I booked my ticket later I was in the back of the bus while Maria and Gustavo were in the front. I was totally fine with having some alone time before the unknown weekend ahead and ended up sleeping very easily through the night. I kept waking up in and out during the morning and we were always either stopped or barely moving. Okay a little bit of traffic, no problem. Around 8am Maria came back and asked me if I wanted to walk around saying we would be stuck for a bit. Sure why not? Luckily we were stopped right in front of a restaurant and bathrooms. It was an absolute zoo of people waiting around and they were out of everything on the menu besides chicken and rice. Solid breakfast. Then the real insanity began. Over the course of the next 8 hours the bus moved less than 100 feet (and I don’t even know how long we were stuck while I was still asleep). Apparently there was multiple accidents ahead, and since this was the only road out of Lima heading east and it happened to be their Independence Day, so everyone was heading out of town for the long weekend.
It was a ridiculous scene of going nowhere fast. Cars were stuck as far as the eye could see. A few hours in people started grabbing their bags from the bus and walking back toward Lima to who knows where; cars were trying to turn around; and people were starting to sell fruits and other things from their car. A whole community of vendors started forming in the streets. People in South America are used to this type of long delay when traveling and take advantage of the opportunity to sell food/goods to make a quick buck. One family was walking around with a pot of trout and rice. No clue where they were cooking that one up. The whole thing was absurd.
We started chatting up these 2 guys from the bus who were also going to Oxofest and they offered us rum. Maria and Gustavo didn’t take any but I figured why not…need to pass the time somehow and a couple drinks will help lighten the mood. In the back of my mind I was thinking about how I should be in Huaraz by now and instead I’m sitting in the world’s worst traffic jam. But I quickly brushed those thoughts aside because what good were they going to do me. Might as well soak in this experience, even if it sucks, it’s still an experience and makes for an interesting story. Around 5pm we finally started moving but even then we would only go a couple hundred feet then stop again. This continued for the next few hours. Progress…just very slow progress. Since people had left the bus to walk lord knows where, I was able to sit nearby Maria and Gustavo as well as our new friends. I kept drinking rum with them until we ran out of rum. Sometimes I was following the conversation and chiming in as best I could but other times I had no idea what we were talking about. It was still fun and another good Spanish “learning” opportunity just listening to the conversation.
Traffic continued to be stop and go into the night but we finally got through the worst of it. The problem was we were barely halfway at this point so it was still a long ride ahead. Around 9:30 at night the bus stopped in a random town for about an hour so we could get dinner. The restaurant we ate at had the news on and of course they were talking about the 24+ hour traffic on the highway. Glad to see we were living the news. After dinner we were back on the road for night two of our overnight bus. Maria and I cuddled up next to each other so at least I had that going for me on the second night. We finally made it to Oxapampa around 6:15 on Friday morning, a solid 32 hours after our planned departure of 10:15 Wednesday night. Holy shit what a journey. While it was so ridiculously long and frustrating, I couldn’t help but laugh a bit about how crazy that was. Less than 48 hours before my plans were completely different, and then I went through that endurance test not even knowing how the rest of the weekend would go. Good thing I’m flexible because most people would have freaked out way worse.
But wait there’s more. We walked to the B&B that they booked for the weekend with me, Maria, Gustavo, and 2 of Maria’s other friends and a conversation/argument between Gustavo and the owner goes on for 10+ minute. I’m not entirely sure what happened but what I gathered was there wasn’t enough beds for all of us. Either the photo was misleading or something else…maybe it’s because I joined last second. Long story short Maria and I needed to find a new accommodation but there was no hotels available online because of Oxofest. We went into the center to ask a few hotels if they had space but alas they did not. I was keeping my composure but at this point I was mentally starting to lose it a bit. It was 7am and I was tired as fuck after a 32 hour bus ride and we didn’t have a place to stay. Now I’m really starting to question why I came on this trip…I could be hiking in Huaraz. Air bnb had one place just outside town and a few others even further away. And while the room wasn’t expensive, it was more pricey than my backpacker budget was used to. But at this point we just needed something so I booked us at the place just outside of town. Luckily they had an early check in time of 8am so we only had 30 minutes to kill and grabbed some breakfast by the square. Then the Air Bnb host was nice enough to pick us up and bring us to her home. The location could not have been more prime, Oxofest was right across the street; we could even heard soundcheck. We had a private room in the home of a nice married couple with a 9 year old son. Ahhh things are finally picking up. It felt so nice to take a shower and get settled into our room. The lodging mix up earlier was a blessing in disguise because it gave us more time to spend together with just me and Maria.
The City
Oxapampa is not a town many backpackers go to so it was a really unique experience to be visiting this off the beaten city. However it is a popular tourist destination for Peruvians. It’s located in the center of the country on the fringe of the jungle and has absolutely stunning landscape surrounded by green mountains. It has a beautiful square and a heavy German influence in its architecture, food, dance, and culture. In the middle of the 19th century during the rubber boom, the Peruvian government and German baron passed a contract which sent some German families to the jungle and some still reside in Oxapampa to this day.
The Food
The first day we were supposed to go to a famous tomahawk steak place for lunch with Gustavo but it was too crowded so he went to go hang out with some friends. Maria and I went to a seafood spot Cevicheria y Marisquería El Rey and ate the triple platter with ceviche, rice with shrimps and leche de tigre (citrus based marinade for ceviche that has lime juice, onions, chili, salt, pepper, and a bit of fish).
The second day we met Gustavo at Baertl Bier Garten (the steakhouse) early to beat the crowds. And it’s a good thing we did because the line was out the door when we left. Unfortunately they were out of tomahawk steaks but I still got a cowboy steak the size of my face for a little under $20 that came with a baked potato, rice, and salad. We also split an order of grilled veggies. Everything was delicious and the sauces were amazing.
On the last day when we headed back to Lima we stopped in Tarma for a few hours for lunch where I tried Cuy (Guinea pig). Sometimes they bring it out as a full fried Guinea pig, which is good for pictures, but not very appealing for your appetite. Luckily mine was just served as a tenderloin which didn’t make it seem like I was eating Guinea pig. It tasted a bit like pork but wasn’t amazing. The best part was the sauce. Later in my trip, a Peruvian told me it’s best when eaten as a delicacy at a fancy restaurant; but this turned out to be the only time I tried it. Oxapampa, like many towns in Peru, is bursting with vegetation and there are many trees around town with coconuts hanging off the branches. So naturally we had a daily helping of fresh agua de coco straight from the coconut.
Agua de coco! 
Cuy
The experience
I’ve never felt less like a backpacker and more like a Peruvian tourist. The town is full of agencies that will take you around to the various points of interest around town or to the waterfalls in the surrounding area. There was no afternoon tours so Maria and I made are own tour taking moto taxis to the various locations or even catching a ride with some friendly Peruvians back down from the Mirador.
El Tiroles
The first afternoon we went to El Tiroles which is an artesanal German market on the outskirts of town that is jam packed with Peruvian tourists where we had to wait in a 10 minute line just to enter. Once inside the market gives out samples of cheeses, liqueurs, beers, and other German goods. There is also a dance floor where people perform traditional German dances dressed in lederhosens. It was an interesting experience and one that I certainly didn’t expect in Peru.
Mirador La Florida
After experiencing Germany in Peru we took a moto taxi to Mirador La Florida which has a stunning view of Oxapampa with the mountains in the backdrop. It truly was a gorgeous area of the country and I felt lucky to get to soak in this part of the country. But since the mirador was a key stop for all the tour agencies; me and Maria were at the top with dozens of other tourists that just got out of their mini vans. Normally I would hike to this type of viewpoint but instead I took it in like the tourist I was.
Maripoxa Parque Ecobiologico de Oxapampa
On Saturday afternoon (the second day), after my incredibly filling cowboy steak and a post lunch agua de coco, we took a moto taxi to the butterfly garden nearby our air bnb. The hour long tour (where I was most definitely the only non-Peruvian) was in Spanish so I only understood a little bit of it, but it was nice to see a bunch of different butterflies and walk around the beautiful gardens.
Oxafest: 2 Great Nights of Music Festival Vibes
Oxafest was the reason we came and the festival did not disappoint. I would definitely go back again. It was so nice to be back in a music festival environment, I forgot how much I missed it. There was two stages – one with bands that played alt rock or cumbia and one with DJs that played house and reggaetón. Next to the main stage was a small camping area. The first night, Maria and I got there around 8:30 which was pretty early. It was not crowded early but picked up as the night went on. The festival grounds weren’t too big so we bounced between two stages. The side of the festival was lined with food and beer vendors and I had a beer in hand throughout the evening. The bands were actually quite impressive, as was the light show. I felt so at home seeing live music again. The 32 hour bus ride nightmare was worth the effort for the experience to be at a Peruvian music festival.
By around 11, the energy of the crowd had picked up substantially and it turned into crazy party vibes. The DJ had everyone dancing and singing to the Reggaetón beats. Gustavo didn’t end up going that night but we met up with Maria’s two other friends dancing and laughing together. I was probably the only gringo at the festival. These people even came up and gave me a beer. The closing band was Los Mirlos which is a famous band across Peru that has been playing Psychedelic Amazonian Cumbia since 1973 and I got the hype. They didn’t start until 1am and the vibe in the crowd was incredible. The band came out in full force with coordinated dance moves and a commanding energy on stage. We didn’t stay for their full set but could hear the rest from our air bnb.
The second day started out with an interesting opening ceremony that consisted of an arm wrestling competion and a bull event. After the butterfly garden, we headed into the festival ground which had a rodeo-like stadium: a big rectangular dirt area surrounded by a fence with accompanying bleacher stands. The first event was an arm wrestling competition which was a pretty hilarious thing to watch before a music festival. The crowd cheered on the different competitors as they battled it out on the brute force of their arms. The winner got a free corona.
The second competition was even more interesting as 4 teams of about 10 people wrangled with miniature bulls. Each team went through a few different rounds of activities in a row: 2 people at a time holding up a red cloth getting the bull to go through twice; smacking the bull on the head with little plastic bowling pins; individually getting the bull to go through the red cloth; and finally 2 members of the team went out to grab the bull by the horns and once pinned, the whole team ran out and they pushed the bull all the way back to its pen. The team that did all these activities quickest won. It was a highly entertaining mid afternoon event and set the course for a good night ahead.
After the daytime activities, Maria and I went back to our air bnb to rest for a bit before a night of music and dancing. Around 9:30 we headed into Oxafest and got some tasty wings for dinner. Then we had another great night bouncing between the two stages; dancing, laughing, and soaking in the festival energy. There was one band, Inzul, that played some great Indie rock music and was my favorite throughout the weekend. I have been continuing to listen to them to this day.
Traveling Back to Lima
On Sunday it was time to hit the road and pray that we don’t have another 32 hour travel day. The bus direct to Lima was very expensive since it was still the Independence Day holiday weekend so we traveled like locals and chopped up the day using multiple colectivos (in the end the price was only a little cheaper). It was entertaining to watch Maria and Gustavo try to wheel and deal for the prices of the colectivos along the way. The first bus was a few hours cutting through the mountains to La Merced. It was a good one for looking out the window and viewing the beautiful landscapes. Since I was still new to Peru at this point, the sheer size and magnitude of the mountains still had me in awe (a feeling that never really left). From La Merced we went another few hours to Tarma where we took a couple hour break to walk around town and eat our late lunch/early dinner (where I tried the Guinea pig). It was actually a beautiful town to walk around and nice to be completely off the beaten path.
The final stretch to Lima was the longest and we hit some traffic that put us at a standstill, but nothing like the way there. Plus we were in a colectivo, not a giant bus, so the driver was able to go on the other side of the road and pass some of the slower cars. He was actually quite aggressive with his driving and skipped a lot of standstills. Once or twice he even had to go off-road to avoid cars coming at us. Overall it was still a very long travel day, around 13 hours in total, and we didn’t get back to Lima until just after midnight. And we still weren’t in the clear since the bus dropped us off in the center of town. A quick local bus and 15 minute taxi finally got us to Maria’s house. My bag was still there so all was well in that world. That night I slept in a spare room upstairs above the restaurant. Then I was up by 5:30 and back on the road for a 7am bus ride to Huaraz. After a 32 hour travel day everything else is easy. I was relieved that the main terminal in Lima was much since it was an actual bus station with numbered doors.
Reflections on My Wild Card Move
I could not be more happy with my impromptu decision to go to Oxapampa. I survived the 32 hour bus ride and it ended up making an entertaining story. Maria and I had a strong connection and a great time together throughout the weekend; there was no awkward moments or regret. I ended up meeting up with her again for a night during my last pass thru Lima. Oxafest was such a fun music festival and a reminder of how much I love live music and the energy it creates. There is always something so special about being at a music festival, and even more so when doing it in a different country. And this wasn’t some big international festival, it was a much more unique experience that happened to stumble into my lap. This 5 day trip checked so many boxes of memories I am trying to create on my adventure.
It was also a great experience to hang out with locals and better understand the Peruvian culture. I saw how they interacted with the moto taxi drivers in Oxapampa – they would say the price when they got in, leaving no room for getting screwed. No gringo tax paid here. Of course you have to know the price to begin with, but once you do then it’s best to say it yourself up front rather than asking how much it costs. And while Maria and I spoke a fair share of English, this was still the most absorbing Spanish experience I’d had up to this point.