I am on my way from Quito to Santiago as I write this with a layover in Panama City. Yes you read that right. Unfortunately I have to go north to Panama to head back south to Chile because there is nothing direct from Quito and the flight was cheaper than going through Bogota. Anyways, clearly I have fallen way behind as I just spent 7 weeks in Ecuador and I still have a few more Peru blog posts to go. That being said, I have taken a lot of good notes about my Ecuadorian journey along the way. And even though I’m way behind, it is fun to put together these stories from earlier in my trip and start to relive the experience. Anyways enough on that, onto the jungle of Peru. 

Manu National Park

Manu National Park is one of the largest protected areas in the world, containing much of the Peruvian Amazon’s greatest flora and fauna. It is the largest national park in Peru with an area of 15,328 square kilometers and has almost 25,000 rare and endemic species reside here. Travelers and researchers are only permitted to enter here with a guide and permit so much of the land is untouched.

Getting In

Matt and I signed up for a 4 day, 3 night trip to the jungle and decided to go to Manu National Park over Puerto Maldonado. I thought Manu looked like a more fun and unique experience, but also it was going to be a shorter commute…or so I thought. They told me it was a 4-5 hour car ride which turned out to be totally wrong. We got picked up from the hostel around 4:30am in a van and I slept the entire way for the first few hours. After about 4 hours we stopped in the town of Paucartambo and Matt and I ate breakfast chicken soup at the market. The lady was serving from a giant pot with a whole chicken in it. 

After another hour or so we were at the entrance to Manu National Park, but there was still another few hours of driving to go. It was a windy uphill narrow dirt road through misty clouds. The landscape quickly changed from highlands to jungle. This cloud forest like ambiance is created because the humidity gets trapped between the Andes and the rainforest. Once we got to the top of the mountain pass, the roads began to squiggle downhill with steep mountain drop offs. The road made Colorado mountain roads look easy and while it would be hard to drive on a normal day, today was so cloudy you could barely see more than 15 feet in front. Talia was incredibly scared the whole way down. You really learn to trust your van drivers out here. The driver would honk around blind corners to warn if another person is there. 

We had to stop multiple times for construction work for an undetermined amount of time. Sometimes it was a few minutes and other times it took 20+ minutes before we drove again. The landscape was absolutely gorgeous with luscious plants and trees of all shades of green. It was a totally different look and feel than the rest of the places I had visited in Peru. At one point, we stopped for a lunch break on the side of the road and it gave me a chance to meet the fellow members of our jungle group. As we got closer to our boat launch off point, we drove through some tiny villages deep into Manu National Park. As I looked out the window and saw little kids in the streets getting out of school, I tried to imagine what it would be like to grow in a remote village in the jungle. All the kids looked very free and happy living in their own world miles away from everything. Finally after driving for 9-10 hours, we got to Atalaya where the boat take off was. We had a final chance to buy any last minute goods at the convenience store before starting our adventure (naturally Matt and I bought some rum).

The People

We had an interesting group for this trip; it wasn’t your standard backpacker crew. Overall it was a very tame group, but I think that turned out to be a good thing. Luckily I had Matt with me otherwise I would have probably been pretty bored. The group consisted of 3 German dentists who were in Peru doing volunteer dentist work: Lea, Lara, and can’t remember the 3rd girl’s name. I accidentally deleted the note with everyone’s name before writing this section. The other 2 people in the group was an Israeli couple in their late 40s/early 50s name Talia and Dalton. Everyone was really nice and we did have some good conversations throughout the couple of days, but again just not the most exciting group compared to being with a bunch of backpackers.

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Our guide was named Angel and I liked him a lot. He grew up in Manu National Park in a house along the river we were floating down so he was a true jungle man. He was a wealth of knowledge about the land, the plants, the animals, the river, and anything in the surrounding area. It made the experience so much more fruitful hearing his stories and perspective on the jungle. I had spoken with him in Spanish when getting info on the tour and during the first boat ride we sat next to each other and spoke Spanish. It was nice however then he thought my Spanish was better than it really was. I only had about 30-45 minutes worth of Spanish in me, not 4 days.

The Food

The food was incredible…minus when I got food poisoning on the last night. It was my first time ever having food poisoning and what an absolutely miserable experience. I won’t go into details but let’s just say my last night was very unpleasant and I didn’t get much sleep. Luckily I felt a little better the next morning, although I was still struggling. Angel had some special jungle stomach tea made for me and I took a Western medicine pill from Lea so I started feeling better. Thank god too because that was a very long day of travel and would have absolutely sucked if I felt like I did at night time. I wasn’t the only one in the group who felt sick so it was clearly the food from the last night. Even Matt started feeling rough later in the day and into the next day.

Anyways back to the more pleasant side of things. The chef Lucio did a great job preparing the meals and cooked up some very creative dishes. Every meal started out with a soup (my favorites were cocona and chuño) and there was a giant spread with 3-4 different dishes served on huge platters that always provided enough food. If anything I was eating too much because there was always so much available. The drinks we got served with our meals were also incredible. One day we had boiled pineapple skin juice that was so delicious and such a resourceful use of the extra pieces of the fruit.

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The meals were also a good time for the group to chat and get to know each other better. Angel was a very interesting guy with lots of great stories about the jungle. He also showed general interest in all of us asking good questions and really wanting to learn more about our lives and culture.

The Lodging

After our 2 hour boat ride, we spent the first night in cabins nearby where Angel grew up. Matt and I had our own space but we shared a wall that didn’t go all the way up to the roof with Talia and Dalton. The “resort” was family run as we met Angel’s mother. There was no electricity or bathrooms in the rooms. It was a beautiful property with colorful jungle plants and surrounded by insane green vegetation. Even just the walk here from the river was incredibly beautiful and now it felt like I was truly in the Amazon.

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I loved waking up the every morning to the sights, smells, and sounds of the jungle. Angel had his super nice binoculars setup on their stand and we were able to see a group of monkeys swinging in the trees. Love a good monkey wake up. They were a different type of monkey than we had seen the night before. Super camoflauge with the leaves and branches and always moving. Great shot when Angel could get his binoculars on them.

After breakfast, Angel walked us around the property and gave us some history and info on the different plants. There is an incredible wealth of knowledge from Angel and people that live in the jungle about plants and natural medicine. The type of knowledge that isn’t learned from any books or the Internet but just from living off the land and then it gets passed along for so many generations. They have a different plant or procurement process for all sorts any illness you can think of. Angel showed us the bayan plant used for cooking ayahuasca; moco moco which is vapored like a sauna and during Covid in Cusco it was used in a product called Matico to help fight symptoms; and sangre de grado (dragon blood sap) which helps heal wounds and is a strong stimulant for the immune system, amongst other properties. It is popularly sold in stores around Peru. He provided all sorts of details and stories about each plant that I wish I remembered but I didn’t want to sit there with my phone out taking notes the whole time.

After another hour long boat ride in which we got on a different river, we showed up at our lodging for the 2nd and 3rd night. This space was more developed with a hangout space and tree houses for us to sleep in. We had our own bathrooms, electricity, and elevated living. The tree house was a little bit creaky and the bathroom a bit slanted but hey it worked. I wasn’t going to be super surprised if Matt fell through the floor. Overall this property was even more beautiful than the last one.

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The Experience

One of favorite parts about being in the jungle was the constant chatter of noise outside. There was never a moment of silence as birds chirped, insects buzzed, and other jungle sounds resonated in the air. I loved either sitting outside or even just lying in my bed and listening to the noises. Whenever we had down time, the sights and sounds of the jungle was my form of entertainment. One afternoon I lied on a log bird watching. I would listen to the sounds and trying to spot them with my shitty binoculares.

The sounds were incredibly peaceful for falling asleep, although in the mornings the birds would get very loud and wake me up with all sorts of different interesting calls and cackles. There were some very distinctive bird noises that sounded cartoon like. I really liked the whooshing noise that the oropendula made. Even better was when I would spot it in the act of making the noise ducking its head in between its legs before cackling but.

The Boat Rides

On the first day, after our incredibly long driving journey, we departed from the small village of Atalaya and took a 2 hour boat ride on the river in a long skinny boat that looked like what you would expect a jungle boat to look like. It was beautiful on the river looking at all the different variety of plants and trees with their vibrant greens and crazy shapes. I always love the perspective from the water. The boat driver was navigating the waters perfectly. Now it really felt like we were in the Amazon. Had a much different energy than the Sierra Nevada De Santa Marta jungle in Colombia.

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On the second day we took a pikay pikay boat which was smaller than the first boat and we went down Rip Pallotoa. It was about an hour ride deeper into the jungle with more incredible views of the luscious landscape. At one point our boat got stuck in a strong current and we had to park on an island for a minute before going after it round 2. Luckily the captain was a pro and we made it with ease the second time. As a fellow boat driver, it’s quite amazing to watch them navigate these river waters. It’s nice that the boats are crafted in such a manner to handle the shallow sections.

On the fourth and final day we had to do both boat rides together. Luckily my stomach was feeling a bit better from the food poisoning after the tea and medicine or this would have been even more miserable. It was about 6am so it was super cold and my stomach was still a bit uneasy so I didn’t really enjoy the ride as much as I would have liked.

The River

On the second day when we got to the lodge, we spent about an hour in the afternoon hanging out on a rock by the river. While there was the potential for piranhas and other sketchy river creatures, Angel said it was fine to jump off the rock into the river. I just had to ignore the idea of anything sketchy in the water and did a few jumps. The water was cold, but felt so refreshing on a hot day. The river current is super strong and you really had to swim against it after jumping off the rock or you’d end up way downstream in a matter of seconds. Honestly I hate swimming in rivers. It reminds me that I’m really not a good swimmer. Put me in a pool, I’m fine. Put me in a body of water with a current and I struggle.

On the third afternoon, we got driven in the boat a little upstream so that we could tube back down to the lodge. It was actually very mellow tubing and felt great lazily making our way down the water for the 20 minute ride. The only thing missing was an ice cold beer in my hand.

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The Night Walks

My favorite part of the whole trip was the nightly spooky walks in the jungle in search of animals. The jungle at night time is an incredibly scary place. It’s super dark and mysterious. You can hear a bunch of creatures, but you don’t see them. Plus the thought of snakes crawling on the ground, tarantulas coming out of holes, and jaguars roaming in the bushes is enough to scare anyone. Most jungle creatures don’t actually want to be spotted, especially at night time. We had to stay incredibly quiet and occasionally we would turn off our headlamps and just wait in the pitch black for animals to accumulate. That was always terrifying. Angel was incredible at somehow spotting creatures in the dark, even if they were just tiny frogs blending in with the leaves. Many years of experience for that man.

On the first night walk, we got a sense for what it was all about. Beforehand, Angel was scaring the German girls with his talks about the different snakes and how some are deadly. He has this calm sense to him even when explaining terrifying things. I guess that’s what happens when you’ve lived in the jungle your whole life. During our roughly one hour walk, we saw a few monkeys swinging in the trees, a frog, and a variety of interesting looking birds. Angel was slashing the plants in the pathway with his machete like a true jungle man. It’s interesting because I was just looking around in all directions with my headlamp in hopes that I see something but in reality I have no clue where I’m looking/what I’m looking for. And I’m always a little on edge walking around the jungle at night. On the one hand I want to see crazy jungle creatures, but on the other hand I feel very vulnerable being out there on foot so the thought of seeing certain creatures is terrifying. Especially once all the lights are off and it’s just pitch black hearing all these jungle noises.

On the second night, we started the walk just before sunset and posted up in a spot in the trees by the river with Angel’s nice binoculars on his tripod. Unfortunately 30-40 minutes of waiting in silence in that spot didn’t really bring anything exciting besides a few birds. At this point it was dark and we started our second night walk. We walked around for awhile without seeing anything and it looked like the night was going to be a bust. When seeking out animals in the wild, you aren’t always guaranteed to have success. It’s all part of the game. Animals really don’t want to be spotted. Plus they probably know to avoid the trails we walked, even if we tried to make as little noise as possible.

But then all the sudden, Lara spotted something in the tree that turned out to be a sloth! Yessss!!! One of the creatures that I really wanted to see. And it’s a good one because you know it’s harmless. It clearly didn’t like having the light shine on it so Angel would only do it for a brief time before turning it back off. It looked so soft and fuzzy clinging onto the tree up there. I wished it would just fall and I could catch it then it would clinch me like it does the tree. Eventually we had to move on even though I could have kept staring at it. This sloth spotting saved an otherwise uneventful walk.

On the third and final night walk, I was starting to get used to this nightly routine. It really was a fun way to start out the evening. We walked a short way before Angel somehow spotted a tarantula just outside its little hole in the ground. I don’t know how he sees these things, I swear he has night vision. He also spotted another frog on the ground. Then we went by the lagoon and sat there with our lights off. This was extra spooky since snakes like to hang out over here. There was something both calming and terrifying about all the noises resonating by the lake. It got super loud at certain points. Unfortunately nothing more exciting happened and we made our way back to the lodge. Overall we didn’t see too much on the night walks but it was still a super fun and unique experience.

Other Walks/Animal Searches

Sunrise Bird Watch

On the third morning, we got up at sunrise to go back to the spot by the river we were at the day before to see all the macaws and parrots do their morning migration. We sat there for about 20 minutes with nothing happening other than us wondering why we got up so early. Then finally a large flock of birds came to their usual spot: chestnut fronted macaws, blue headed parrots, and yellow crowned parrots. You could see them decently when they were flying, but with Angel’s binoculars we got some really cool close up views of them hanging out on the rock. Okay this was worth the early wake up.

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Day Hike (2.7 miles, 469 feet elevation gain)

On the third afternoon, we went for a day time hike/animal hunt. We walked slowly along the trail keeping our eyes and ears open. It was cool to walk along the trail during the day for once so I could actually see all the jungle plants. We saw a cappuccino monkey and a few more macaws. Whenever Angel sensed an animal he would setup his binoculars and we would get silent. Much different style of hiking when you are also searching for animals. 

Angel would also explain some of the different plants and trees along the way. He explained how the palo santo tree and ants have a symbiosis providing each other with nutrients. Then he told us that in the jungle if you commit a crime against your tribe then they punish you by tying you to the tree for 24 hours and if you survive the ants then you are re-accepted into the community with your past actions forgiven. I think it’s a really interesting way to go about punishment because it provides immediate justice to your action.

After a bit of animal searching, we hiked about 25 minutes uphill to a Mirador with a beautiful view of the jungle, the river behind it, and all the rolling hills in the backdrop. Angel told us a bit about the family history of their land in Manu. His dad was in the army and helped build the road in the park then became a ranger. His mom stayed at home raising 10 kids. It was cool to learn how his family came to owning this land. Such a wild and different lifestyle out here in the jungle.

After enjoying the view for about 30 minutes we walked back down and started headed toward the lodge. I’m sure Angel never truly gets lost but we ended up in an overgrown where Angel had to chop our way out making tunnels below the trees. You could tell some people in the group were getting hangry and tired and this was the last thing they wanted to deal with. I found it quite entertaining to watch him hack our way back to the main path.

The Way Home

After nearly 3 hours on the river, we now had to start the long drive home in the van. My stomach was better but I still didn’t feel amazing. Luckily I slept for the first few hours and woke up to find out there was a landslide on the road ahead of us. Oh great. This is now the second landslide on my trip, but unlike the Colombia one where it was known beforehand and a bus was waiting on the other side, this landslide had clearly just happened. It sure wasn’t there when we were on this road 3 days before. We walked up to where it happened and it was a shit show of a scene. The main road was completely gone. There was a bulldozer working in the dirt hills to level out the earth and create a few platforms. This looked like the type of thing that could take forever. 

We ended up having lunch outside the van, and I was glad that I could eat a little. Then we started playing cards. Sure enough in about 4 hours, they had fixed the road enough for cars to start going. Wow actually very impressive. I guess they are used to this type of thing happening on this crazy road. The other side of cars went first, which gave us some assurance the new road worked. I can’t imagine being the first car to go across this makeshift road that was created in a few hours. The driver put his seatbelt on right before it was our turn to go over so you know it was serious. We all held our breaths as we crossed the new road. It was absolutely terrifying looking over the steep edge where the landslide had just destroyed the road. But we passed safely so props to the construction team. And of course we still had to continue along this squiggly mountain road for a few more hours. The adventure in South America never ends until you reach your final destination. We had left the jungle on the boats around 6am and didn’t get back to Cusco until close to 9pm. It was a long ass day of travel but at least we made it back. Things were looking dicey for awhile with that landslide.

I’m going to break up my 14 days in Cusco and the surrounding area into 3 different blog posts because there is a lot of good photos/videos from this leg of the trip. Part one: Cusco city and the Sacred Valley; part two: Manu National Park; part three: Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu. 

Getting In

I took the night bus from Arequipa to Cusco that left at 10:30. The first few hours I just listened to music and was struggling to get comfortable and fall asleep. Around 2:30 in the morning the person sitting next to me got off and I was able to stretch my legs across both sleeps and finally get some sleep. I arrived in Cusco around 8 in the morning and took a taxi to Wild River, my hostel for the next few nights. I wasn’t able to check into my room until 3pm but at least I could drop off my bag in storage.

The Lodging

I stayed in 2 different hostel over the course of my 7 nights in Cusco. The first 4 days I was in a party hostel called Wild Rover. A few people had told me it’s a big party spot and I wanted to be in a fun hostel for my birthday. Boy did it live up to its namesake. It was at the top of the hill which was a bitch to walk up to from the city but also meant it had incredible views from the patio attached to the giant bar.

It’s the type of hostel that has nightly drink specials and randomly hands out free shots. Fun, but dangerous. Also your tab is tied to your room number so it feels like everything is free until you check out. The first night I ended up hanging out with a group of crazy Brits and drinking way more than I anticipated. But I did show some slight self control by deciding to go to bed when they were kicking everyone out at 1am to head to the club. I wanted to be a tourist the next day and going to the club would have prevented that. My birthday 2 nights later was also wild but I’ll get to that further down. 

2 nights solo at Wild Rover and 2 nights there with Matt was more than enough. We decided to get a chiller hostel for the rest of our stay in Cusco. We ended up spending 3 nights at Toucan Hostel just down the street which was cheaper, more low key, and had better beds and showers. It was the perfect spot between the jungle and Salkantay trek and for our last night after the trek. 

The Food

Cusco has countless restaurant options ranging from the $2 meals at the market (which were always great) to fancy high end restaurants. I usually lean toward the cheap menú del dia places but I did have a few nice meals. On my second night in town I ate at Inkazuela and had the Inkazuela Carne Picante which was a delicious stew with Peruvian beef and spicy chiles, potatoes, avocado, and bean sprouts.

One night Matt found a spot called Kuskay which served Peruvian fusion food and had incredible service. I tried alpaca for the first time and I loved it! They cooked it at the perfect tenderness in this delicious sauce served with quinoa, cherry tomatoes and some greens. At this point I was used to terrible South American service, but this place was very attentive to providing good service. The waitress was very friendly and telling us how this location had just opened in the last 6 months. They even gave us a free desert and after dinner tea. It had great reviews on Google and I can see why. Would highly recommend going here. 

The City

As the oldest living city in the Americas, Cusco has been inhabited continuously for over 3,000 years. It was the historic capital of the Inca Empire from the 13th to 16th century until Spanish conquest, and now is a major tourist destination. While we know that the Incas built Cusco city, one of the biggest mysteries today is how. It is unknown how the large stones were gathered and transported to the site, or how they managed to build with techniques so far advanced for their time. The city is one of those rare places that seems able to preserve its unique character and enduring appeal despite its growing prominence on the international tourism radar. The architecture is a fascinating blend of pre-Columbian and colonial history and contemporary mestizo culture. The inner city of Cusco was laid out in the shape of a puma whose head was the fortress of Sacsahuaman

The city was very lively in the streets as Cusco is a top destination for both tourists worldwide and Peruvians due to its proximity to Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley. You hear English everywhere. Everyone in the street is trying to hustle and you can’t go 50 feet without someone offering you a tour, people trying to sell you their art, guys trying to clean your shoes, and girls offering masajes. Matt and I joked about how many times they must say masaje per day. The Plaza de Armas is surrounded by the Cusco Cathedral and the Iglesia de la Companía de Jesus and has gorgeous views of the mountain backdrops. The city is surrounded by hills and the center sits in the valley between it all. It’s a beautiful city both in the daytime and nighttime with all the lights on the houses in the hills.

I arrived on a Monday and there was a parade going on through the streets with marching bands and people dancing in traditional costumes. It felt like Mardi Gras. I’m not sure if it was a special holiday or if everyday was like this.

I slept in Cusco 7 nights but it was my home base for 2 weeks in between the jungle and Salkantay trek and I really did love the city. In spite of being very touristy, it had a great energy and charm to it. Outside of Huaraz, this would be my number two city that I would live in Peru if I did the digital nomad lifestyle. And it would be a tough decision because life here would be more lively than Huaraz. I could picture myself going to the market every morning and having drinks and dinner in the San Blas neighborhood in the evening. It’s nice when you spend a more extended period of time in one city and I really got to know it well. I never even needed to use the maps on my phone. 

Booking Tours and Machu Picchu Scare

I spent the first morning trying to find the right Salkantay tour for Matt and I to go on, as well as getting info on the different tours to the jungle. It was overwhelming to find the right tour with so many agencies on every corner. Within one block there would be at least 5 agencies all selling the same services. I knew Matt was coming these dates for months and he asked if we should book Machu Picchu in advance but I was used to the backpacker style where you book things 1-2 days before so I said nah. Big mistake on my part. Getting a ticket to enter Machu Picchu is much different than any other type of excursion because it is so popular worldwide and there is a limited number of people that can enter every day. 

I must have gone to at least 5 agencies in the morning getting info on the Salkantay trek and going to the jungle, and I quickly realized I fucked this one up as they all said there was no entrance tickets online to Machu Picchu in the next two weeks. I was proud of myself though because I spoke to all the agencies in Spanish. At this point I had enough of a foundation to have these types of conversations. Luckily the tour agencies know how to speak slowly and clearly to tourists so they are way easier to understand. 

It was August 15th and Matt was arriving on the 17th (my birthday) and staying until the 30th. After a few days of getting him acclimated, we were going to start the 5 day Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu but now our schedule was going to have to change. Finally I decided to go to KB adventures in the center of town as it had been recommended to me by a friend. They said that they could book a ticket to enter Machu Picchu on the 28th but it would have to be at 2pm and without a guide. Fuck it, at least it gets us in! I made the executive decision to sign us up without consulting Matt on the schedule change. I knew he wouldn’t care. It would have been such a bummer for him to come all this way and us to not be able to enter Machu Picchu. We could have taken the risk of waiting in line in Aguas Calientes as they released a certain number of tickets per day but fuck that, I wanted a guaranteed spot. It was a huge relief to get this resolved and I booked us the Salkantay Trek for the 24-28. For only $250 the 5 day tour included our lodging, meals, guide, mule, train ticket from Aguas Calientes to Ollantaytambo, and bus from Ollantaytambo back to Cusco. Steal of a deal! Then it was $15 extra to rent a sleeping bag which was totally worth it. 

Now that we had Machu Picchu covered, it was time to figure out our plans for the jungle. Originally we were going to do that after Salkantay but with the new dates, we had to reverse our plans. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it gave Matt more time to acclimatize. I had gone to a few different agencies for info on the jungle – we had to choose between going to Manu National Park and Puerto Maldonado – and there was one that I liked the best because you got to go on a boat further into Manu on the second day. I didn’t book it right away but once Matt got into town I laid out the options for him and he didn’t seem to care so I chose this one for us. It was 4 days and 3 nights in the jungle for $300. A bit pricey by Peruvian standards but with everything included it really was a great deal compared to this type of trip in America. Plus how often do you really get to go to the jungle.

Mercado Central de San Pedro

This might have been my favorite market in all of Peru. It was truly a one stop shop when Matt and I wanted to get supplies for our excursions. We would grab a delicious fruit juice to get started; then go buy nuts, fruits, and chocolates; then grab a meal for $2. It was also a prime place for him to buy souvenirs – you could find any alpaca good imaginable. Another good market for souvenirs was Mercado San Francisco. After a few loose juices, Matt was buying things left and right.

San Blas Neighborhood

This beautiful neighborhood is right by the plaza was a great place to walk around and wonder through narrow, uphill cobblestone streets with restaurants, bars, and shops. Almost everyday I was in Cusco I found myself walking around this neighborhood and finding a new bar or restaurant. My first day in town before Matt showed up, I met up with Kenza (my friend from the Santa Cruz trek in Huaraz) and found a nice spot in the neighborhood for tea and cakes. On my second day in town I had a few drinks at Cholos which had nice craft beers and a good outdoor seating ambiance. I liked it so much that I took Matt there the next day after we got back from Pisac.

The night before going to the jungle, Matt and I walked all the way up the hill to a cocktail bar that had been recommended to me called Limbus Restobar. We got seated at a high top on the patio which had an amazing view of the city. The cocktails were American prices at just over $10 (in the end you’re paying for the view), but they were crazy concoctions that came out in cool glasses so it was worth having one. I had a Pisco drink that came out in a smoking coffin and Matt had a rum drink in this giant tiki cup. The food was super shitty though as they brought us out wings that had clearly been cooked in the microwave.

The night before going on the Salkantay Trek, Matt and I were once again wandering around San Blas and we stumbled upon this open air space with a beer carousel. Lucky find! The craft beer wasn’t great but at least the views were.

My Birthday and the Nightlife

Matt showed up on my birthday and even though he was running low on fumes from traveling, and I had pushed him to hike that day, he still rallied to help make my 31st birthday a great one. After having traveled solo for a number of months, it was nice to get to share my birthday with a friend from home. And of course Wild Rover was the perfect place to get the party started. Aside from Matt, I had a few other friends that I had met show up to celebrate with me which was really nice. My French friend Kenza who I’d been seeing on and off since Huaraz came to Wild Rover as well as the French couple I met during the Colca Canyon trek.

The pre game ramped up quickly as Wild Rover gave me a few free birthday shots on top of the free shots they already give out. It just so happened to be another girl’s birthday too which was quite coincidental. Except she was turning 23…so quite a bit younger. We still had a good chat as Leo’s sharing the same birthday. Multiple other people I talked to also bought me shots and on the sidelines Matt and I were slugging beers. It was a lot of fun soaking in the birthday cheers, but also a dangerous level of drinking.

I was very drunk by the around 1am when we were leaving Irish Rover to head to Chango Club the main club in town that everyone goes to. Matt and I took a taxi there and before heading into the club we saw a place with live music so we popped in to have a beer and check out the band. Then we headed to Chango Club and my memory at this point is quite hazy. I remember dancing and having fun but not really many details. All the birthday shots got to me. At some point I was standing outside and someone from the hostel was heading back and said I look very drunk and should go back with them. I didn’t second guess it, but I had failed to tell Matt I was leaving. The next morning he told me he was looking around the club for me for awhile. Oops.

Sacred Valley

The Sacred valley contains the majority of the well preserved Incan ruins. It is called Sacred Valley because of its alignment with the molly way however, there is another reason for it to be called like that, and it is the fact that this valley has fertile soil not only now but since Incan times which is why they chose this agricultural valley as the center of their civilization. The major cities of the Sacred Valley include Ollantaytambo, Pisac, Maras, and Moray.

You can do a tour of the main Sacred Valley cities in one day, but typically I prefer to just explore things on my own. Even though it’s nice to have additional information and insight, you usually forget it right after the tour anyways. I just went ahead and Googled each place before I went to have a little knowledge on what I was seeing.

Ollantaytambo

Ollantaytambo was one of many settlements conquered by Pachacutec, the 9th Inca king who commandeered the transformation of the Cusco Kingdom into the powerful Tawantinsuyu or Inca Empire. Under his reign, Ollantaytambo served as a pivotal outpost for Inca nobles and agrarian laborers. Exquisite stonework is displayed alongside impressive agricultural technology that includes terraces, fountains, and irrigation canals that are still in use today.

I woke up around 8:30 a bit hungover after having partied with the Brits the night before during my first night at Wild Rover, but I was determined to make the most of my day. I walked to the market for a breakfast fruit drink then went to the street where Google said I could catch a colectivo. The colectivos usually don’t leave until they are full and this must not have been a very popular hour as we had to wait nearly an hour. Just enough time to let my throbbing headache simmer down. It was about an hour ride that dropped me off at a lovely square in the middle of town.
The ruins were a bunch of terraces built into the hill and since I didn’t have a tour guide I walked around them in about 20 minutes. I did stop a few times to appreciate the engineering ingenuity of the Incans and to soak in the views of the city with the massive mountains in the backdrop.

I would also occasionally overhear some facts from the guides if they were speaking in English. Overall it was cool to see but very popular, and I’m not sure it was really worth the hour colectivo ride. Luckily I had researched a trail nearby on AllTrails so there was a part two to my day.

Ollantaytambo-Pumamarca Trail (7.4 miles, 1900 feet elevation gain, out and back)

After grabbing some chicken on a stick from a street vendor in town, I began the 20 minute walk just to get to the trail. Now I was away from the crowds and felt like I was seeing the true Ollantaytambo. I reached the trailhead and it started out with a steep 15 minute uphill climb. But then it leveled out to a slight/incline flat trail winding through the countryside. It was super peaceful as I saw no one on the hike aside from a few stray dogs. It was just me and the sound of the wind. Now this is what I’m talking about. I much preferred this to the busy crowds. The trail ended with some cow fields leading up to the Pumamarca Ruins. They were quite intact and provided more good views of the surrounding area. Unlike the main ruins, I had these ones all to myself as I enjoyed a snack and appreciated where I was.

I didn’t chill for too long because I wasn’t sure how late the colectivos go and I definitely didn’t want to get stuck in Ollantaytambo. I made it back to the plaza around 3:30 and hoped for the best. You never know how long it will take to get a colectivo or if you get one at all. I got really lucky however and after about 10 minutes a guy drove by yelling out Cusco. Normally they wait for the van to fill up but it was just me and the driver for the first 30 minutes of the ride until we picked up some people further down the road. I sat in the front and we were having no some good Spanish conversations. He was from Cusco and explaining landscape/villages we drove through on the way back. It was like my own private tour. I didn’t always understand what he was saying but still got some good local knowledge. There was a few sections on the highway that was no longer even a road due to landslides and we would have to drive over crushed rocks and dirt. My colectivo driver explained to me that it’s always like that. He dropped me off in the main plaza and the ride was even cheaper than the one I had in the morning with the full colectivo. You really just never know.

Pisac

The Pisac ruins are among Peru’s most intact ancient sites, and a perfect example of ingenious Inca architecture. They are built on top of a mountain that towers over the small town of Pisac; the views of the countryside are spectacular and the ruins and their makers are remarkable.

Matt was fresh off the plane but he got a few hours of sleep in the hostel that morning. I knew he was exhausted but it was my birthday and I wanted to have a productive day before a party evening. Pisac is the closest of the Sacred Valley towns to Cusco so I figured it’d be a good spot for a short day trip. The colectivos also run way more frequently so when we got to the street they leave from there was already one ready to go. This ride was a rare occasion where I’ve seen a grumpy South American. There was an old Peruvian guy complaining that the price of the colectivo kept getting more expensive and that he’s not a gringo and shouldn’t be paying that price.
After the 40 minute colectivo ride, Matt and I walked around the main area in town perusing some of the shops in the market. It’s known to be a hippy town and it did have a very tranquil energy to it. After the hike, we went to this vibe-y Indian restaurant with comfy seating, vegan food, and ads for yoga and ayahuasca retreats everywhere.

Ruinas de Pisac Hike (2.1 miles, 1529 feet elevation gain, point to point)

I had read that most people taxi up to the top of the ruins then hike down but we started from the bottom. I felt bad because the altitude ending up kicking Matt’s ass since he had just gotten off a long day of flying and didn’t have any time to acclimate. At this point I didn’t even think twice about it since I had been high up in Peru for weeks. I’m proud of him for powering through but the struggle was real.

It was straight uphill either on a steep path or stairs of death as we worked our way up the sweeping terraces that the Incans used to grow crops along their mountain-perched cities. It truly is a work of agricultural and architectural ingenuity and testament to the Incans’ engineering abilities that were way ahead of their times. There was a lot of cool ruins along the way that you could wander through. Definitely a much better experience than Ollantaytambo. A short bit into the hike we encountered the fortress that overlooks the valley toward Cusco.

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Once again I couldn’t help but be in awe at how the Incans were able to bring these massive stones this high up in the mountains. And after this many years the ruins were still in great shape standing the test of time and Mother Nature. The views of the valley were absolutely incredible throughout. Even though Matt was dying he was able to get his first taste of how magical it is to hike in the Peruvian Andes. It truly is a place with an energy and beauty unlike anywhere else in the world. When we got to the top we took a taxi down rather than finishing the hiking loop. If I was by myself I would have hiked down as well, but I was okay with it since Matt was a trooper to make it this far. Plus I needed him to have energy that night for my birthday celebration.

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Getting In

It was quite a journey to go from Huaraz in the north of Peru to Arequipa in the very south. I took an overnight bus from Huaraz to Lima and Kenza from my Santa Cruz trek happened to be on the same bus so we sat next to each other. I was completely exhausted from doing the Nevada Mateo mountaineering experience that morning so after chatting the first 15 minutes we both slept the entire way. I had booked an 11am flight to Arequipa to give myself 6 hours of bus delay wiggle room and for once the bus was even early. Kenza and I sat in the Lima bus station at 5am for a bit waiting for the sun then went our separate ways. I got to the airport 5 hours early but just killed time eating and chilling. Peru is very strict about their mask policies and you have to either wear a N95 mask or two regular masks. 

The City

Arequipa is a really beautiful colonial city sitting at 7,550 feet high in the Chili Valley Region of the Andes. It is the commercial, political, and military center of southern Peru. It feels like a colonial European city with its Baroque style, sillar (white volcanic stone) buildings but it still has a Peruvian energy. The landscape behind the city is the gigantic Misti Volcano whose summit surpasses 19,000 feet. Earthquakes have damaged the city several times with the last one happening in 2001. The city is very walkable and can be seen in one day but you can also just relax and spend a few days here. It’s the type city where you can just get lost aimlessly strolling down alleyways and streets. My first day I walked all around town from the Mercado de San Camilo to the Plaza de Armas then through the San Lazaro to Mirador Yanahuara.

The main plaza and market areas are hectic with people but it doesn’t take long before you get out of the crowds and feel like you have the whole city to yourself. Overall it was a very tranquil and relaxing city especially compared to the hustle and bustle of Lima. Most people outside the travel community have never heard of Arequipa but it’s the second biggest city in Peru with a population just over 1 million people. I could have spent a few more days here just relaxing but my buddy Matt was coming in from Denver in less than a week so I had to be more schedule oriented than usual.

The Lodging

I stayed at Arequipay Backpackers Hostel which was full of people from France and Belgium so I heard more French than English or Spanish. For whatever reason I wasn’t feeling super social during my 2 nights at the hostel so aside from some short convos with people in my dorm, I didn’t really meet anyone. Both days I just went around exploring the city by myself. Although the 2nd night I met up with Alana, an Irish girl that I was friends with at my Spanish school in Medellin. She saw my Instagram story post being in Arequipa and she also was in town. It was really nice to see a familiar face and catch up with her.

The Food

Arequipa is known to be a foodie hub where you can eat well. It has a variety of local dishes that are worth trying. The rocoto relleno is a spicy local pepper stuffed with beef, onions, garlic, veggies, and melted cheese. It is typically served with pastel de papa which is cheese, onion, and potato layered like lasagna. I tried it on my first day at the market and quickly fell in love. 

Another local favorite is the adobo which is a hearty broth served over slow roasted pork chop that I tried for just a few dollars at a little hole in the wall for dinner my first night.

I also ate aji de gallina which is served all over Peru but this was my first time trying it and probably the best one I had. This dish is a poached chicken with a creamy nut-based sauce served over white rice and boiled potatoes. The sauce is bright yellow like a curry thanks to the aji Amarillo. 

The craziest dish I had was at Picanteria La Mundial, a restaurant recommended to me by both Maria and my taxi driver. I ordered the Triple which was a combination of a lot of different dishes on one plate. It had some of the traditional dishes I talked about above plus multiple others. I had no clue what half the things were that I ate but it was big enough to feed a whole family. I think there was some pig feet in there somewhere. It was a bit overwhelming and I didn’t like everything but it was certainly an experience. A bit too much food for a late lunch though. I ended up skipping dinner that night.

And of course no trip here would be complete without queso helado. Well it’s not actually frozen cheese as the words translate, it’s milk, coconut, sugar, and a few other things frozen together and served with cinnamon on top. It was incredibly delicious and made for the perfect daily snack in the afternoon.

The Experience

Plaza de Armas

The Plaza de Armas in the center is huge and incredibly picturesque. It’s a perfect square of white buildings with a large fountain, giant palm trees, and the Basilica Cathedral de Arequipa. The plaza is full of energy and people; every bench was always taken no matter what time of day it was. The surrounding streets are closed to street traffic and there aren’t too many vendors so it’s a great place to relax.  

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Mercado San Camilo

The market was absolutely massive and a fun place to wander around through the narrow alleyways with vendors selling all different types of goods. I would start out every morning with a trip to the market. Vendors selling similar products were grouped together in the same row and it made you wonder if they were all working together. When there’s 10 fruit juice stands all next to each other selling the same thing it’s hard to decide. You could buy everything from fruits, cheeses, meats,jugos, nuts, potatoes, corns, fabrics of all types, and so many other things. Then even outside the market is hundreds of other shops selling home goods, apparel, backpacks, basically anything you can think of. That whole area is like one giant shopping mall where you can buy everything. It’s also a great place to grab a cheap lunch.

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San Lazaro Neighborhood

San Lazaro is the first and oldest neighborhood in Arequipa dating back to 1540. It’s got narrow winding streets, beautiful white houses made of sillar, and many bars and restaurants. I loved walking down the alley ways of this neighborhood and stumbling upon a new spot for a cold beer. I walked through this neighborhood both days; it had the best energy in town. I felt like I was all alone in a distant world walking the streets of this neighborhood.

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Afterwards on the first day, I walked across the river to Mirador Yanahuara which is surrounded by palm trees and has an incredible view of the city and the El Misti volcano off in the distance. The plaza also has countless restaurants and roof top bars to check out for a hefty price.

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Massage

On my 2nd day in town I didn’t really have any plans since I walked most of the city the day before so I decided to treat myself to a massage. After all the hiking I did in Huaraz I had earned it; my legs were still recovering. For about $15 I got a nice hour long massage.

Centro Cultural UNSA

I met up with Alana on my 2nd night night at the Centro Cultural UNSA which had a cool free art museum with some trippy paintings and really good portraits of local Peruvian people. It was right by the main plaza and the courtyard in the center had Lautrec Café, a nice place for a cup of coffee and to catch up with a friend you haven’t seen in awhile . Would highly recommend popping in for a quick look around.

Colca Canyon (23.5 miles, 7943 feet elevation gain, loop)

Located in the middle of the Andes Mountains of Peru, the Colca Canyon is approximately 3,400 meters at its deepest point, making it one of the deepest canyons in the world (nearly twice as deep as the Grand Canyon). There is a large number of viewpoints from atop the canyon and inside are a number of colonial towns that you can trek between. The ecosystem is the home to the endangered Andean condor.

I decided to do the Colca Canyon unguided because even though the 2 and 3 day tours were cheap, I wanted to at my own pace and choose my own route inside the canyon. And while I do like hiking with others, I also really enjoy solo hiking and the mindset it helps me reach. I was in great hiking shape at this point and didn’t feel like having to wait for a group. Plus there was lodges you could book in the various towns inside the canyon so there was no real need to rely on a tour. In order to be able to hike to my destination inside the canyon the first day I had to take the 4am bus from Arequipa to Cabanaconde. It was rough but at least it was direct. It took a little over 6 hours and I started my hike into the canyon around 10:30.

Day 1: Cabanaconde > Llahuar Lodge (7.6 miles, 500 feet elevation gain, 4500 feet elevation loss)

It was a perfect day with bluebird skies – the sun was shining and there wasn’t a single cloud. The sun was intense and there was no shade on the trail it was windy at the top of the canyon and the temperature of the air was nice so really wasn’t too bad. The views from the top were stellar and the canyon just seemed to go on forever. You had to really focus to see the river at the bottom running through the canyon and it was hard to imagine that I’d be beside it in just a few hours.

Like any good Canyon it was a knee buster all the way down. It started with switchbacks along a dusty trail with small rocks. The flora was very desert-like with lots of dry plants and dead brush. Shrubbery is dead but still many other green trees and patches of greenery. Canyon hiking has a much different look and feel than mountain hiking. The views usually stay the same throughout but there is something strong and magical about canyon energy. The depth and magnitude of the canyon makes you feel so small in comparison to the world around you. I know nothing about geology but there is something so fascinating about canyons. My brain really started wondering more about the topic as I worked my way deeper down.

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After a little over an hour I was already about halfway into the canyon and the trail narrowed along the ridge line with steep drop offs on the side. A really cool thing about Colca Canyon is when you look in the distance you see all these different trails going in every which direction and you know that’s how the local people in the villages in the canyon travel around. This is not just a place to hike, but also for people to live. 

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After a quick lunch break, it was back to crazy switchbacks in the sun. Then I reached a paved road at the bottom of the canyon and crossed the bridge over the river. The route continued uphill along m the road until I could see a tiny village in the distance. I went back downhill along the windy road until I crossed another bridge and arrived at Llahuar Lodge, my destination for the evening. It was only 2 in the afternoon as the hike down took me about 3.5 hours.

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The lodge is right on the river with little bamboo huts to sleep in, chairs setup on the grass to chill and enjoy the canyon view, and private hot springs to swim in. I sat in the chair soaking in the views before heading down to the hot springs. I thought I had the whole lodge to myself but when I arrived at the hot springs there was 4 Dutch people in there. Shucks I was thinking about skinny dipping. Oh well. They were really nice and we chatted for awhile in the springs.

After the hot springs, I relaxed for a bit reading. Then dinner was served by the lodge with a few different options for a small price. I ended up sitting at a table with a French couple (I originally thought they were the Dutch couple from the hot springs) and we had some really nice conversations.

Day 2 Llahuar Lodge > Malata > Cosñirhua > San Juan de Chuccho > Sangalle (Oasis Paraiso) (12.6 miles, 3000 feet elevation gain, 2500 feet elevation loss)

I had breakfast at 7am before making my way uphill out of Llahuar. The trail started along the main road but there were shortcuts you could take to get off the road. The first one I took brought me through a cactus field and then peoples’ backyards before getting back onto the main road. 

The next shortcut turned out to be crazy and made me second guess always trusting AllTrails. Instead of continuing along the main road and snaking uphill, it showed me a cut through path; however in reality it was straight uphill and didn’t look possible. But there was another trail next to it that seemed to switchback up the mountain so I decided to follow it. This trail clearly hadn’t been used in forever and some parts were so overgrown with cactuses that I had no choice but to go through them. Luckily I was wearing pants and a long sleeve but I had to pull a lot of prickly things out of them after. At one point I was going straight uphill through a cactus field. It didn’t feel right, but I was already over halfway up the shortcut so I had to just keep going. This whole section was crazy but I eventually made my way to the top. Even though it was less distance, the short cut probably took me longer than just following the road. Oh well I made it.

I continued back along the road for a bit and it reached the point where I could turn at the fork and start heading down to Sangalle. But since it was only 10 in the morning I decided that I was going to stay up high and go through some of the little canyon cities before eventually turning back around and going down the lower route by the river to Sangalle. I walked through the small towns of Malata and Cosñirhua and neither was really anything that special other than just getting perspective that these are small towns in the canyon that people live in. After Cosñirhua it was a super steep downhill snake and I passed by many struggling tour groups that were going uphill in the opposite direction as me. I continued through the valley and made it to San Juan de Chuccho which also wasn’t that exciting. 

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At this point I had stacked on enough extra miles so I started going back the way I came, but this time on the lower section of the canyon. It was super beautiful down here and very isolated from everything. There was the occasional house in the hills where people have been using these pathways their whole life to get around. There was a lot of splits in the path for the locals and I would continually get lost even when using All Trails; it was a confusing network of paths. The afternoon heat was really starting to come in and instead of staying by the river the whole time I had to go back uphill yet again. Just so I could get to the top of this section of the canyon then head back downhill to Sangalle. It was more up and down than I expected. I eventually made it to Oasis Paraiso Lodge by about 2pm.

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I ran into my Dutch friends I met the night before by the pool and chilled on a lounge chair besides them. These 2 Swiss girls I met at my hostel in Arequipa were also there so I spent the afternoon chatting with them and this French girl. I took a few dips in the pool throughout the afternoon. It was a very relaxing place to spend the day and talk to my new friends over some beers. Dinner was served that night for a small fee. Afterwards we all called it an early night because you want to start the ascent out of the canyon before sunrise while it’s not too hot. There’s no shade on the way out.

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Day 3: Sangalle > Cabanaconde (3.3 miles, 3500 feet elevation gain)

After breakfast, I started the trail at 5:50 with the Dutch couple and the Swiss girls but I told them I go fast and it didn’t take long before I was just hiking on my own. I came on this trail without a group so I could just go at my pace so that’s what I did. It was a crazy steep, non stop uphill battle to get out of the canyon but I was in the best hiking of my life at this point so I kept a fast pace and barely even stopped. I really had a nice rhythm for this uphill part. As I got higher up, I started passing most the tours that started at 4:30 (almost 1.5 hours before me). I finished the trail by 7:30, only about 1hr40min after I started. I’d say I made pretty damn good timing to get from the bottom of that massive canyon to the top. I took the 2 colectivo route to get home because I didn’t feel like waiting longer for the direct route. The first one went from Cabanaconde to Chivay then to Arequipa. It actually cost slightly more than the direct bus but it was efficient. I was back in Arequipa by the mid afternoon with plenty of time to just chill then grab dinner before my night bus to Cusco.

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Getting In

I finally left for Huaraz 5 days later than I had originally planned after my detour to Oxafest. It’s interesting how quickly the landscape changed from big city Lima to desert nothingness. It doesn’t take long before you feel like your in the middle of nowhere. The bus stopped halfway for lunch, which was nice because otherwise I was just eating nuts. The second half of the trip we really started getting into the beautiful Andes landscape. Crazy how high up we were even though we weren’t that far from the coast. As we got closer to Huaraz, the towering mountains of the Cordillera Blanco started showing off their beauty. 

The City

Sitting at just over 10K feet high and within miles of so many mountains over 20K feet, Huaraz truly is an outdoors lover’s paradise. The city is located nearby Huascaran National Park which lies in the heart of the Cordillera Blanca range, the world’s highest tropical mountain range. The park has a handful of mountains reaching over 6000 meters (19,685 feet) including Peru’s highest mountain, Mount Huascaran which has a summit of 22,205 feet making it the 4th highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere. Along with the spectacular mountain range and picturesque mountainous landscapes, the park features 300 glacial lakes, tremendous U-shaped valleys, and at least 660 tropical glaciers. This makes the national park the largest tropical glaciated area in the world.

Huaraz was probably my favorite city in Peru (with Cusco coming in a close second). It was the first time having the feeling of being deep in the Andes and I absolutely loved it. You don’t even have to leave the city for the incredible mountain views although the allure of exploring deeper and going higher is too strong to stay stagnant. Huaraz is an incredible jump off point for some of the best and most beautiful hiking in the world; as well as many opportunities for mountaineering and climbing. The town isn’t very big and after my stay here for over a week (with some of those being on treks), I felt very at home walking around the city. I started having thoughts about a future me owning a home in Huaraz…maybe one day.

It’s actually very lively in the streets with vendors and people walking around. Almost every building in the heart of town is either a restaurant, tour agency, or a shop selling outdoor gear, clothing, shoes, watches, phone accessories, and about any other good you can think of. I loved sitting in the square people watching and soaking in the vibe of the town. I ended almost every night with a good 10-15 minute bench sitting session in the square. The town also has a number of nice, small parks to sit and relax in. While it’s a popular destination amongst backpackers, you really didn’t see many in the streets and the city felt very local (this is the big advantage it had over touristy Cusco).

The Food

Up to this point I had been spending a lot of money on food (relatively speaking) and Huaraz is where I discovered the menu del día and there was no turning back. This became my go to move for the rest of my time in Peru. For anywhere from 7-15 soles ($2-4) you could order a soup and an entree (and sometimes even tea/fruit juice). The soup was usually a decent size and contained noodles and a bit of chicken; and the entrees were usually lomo saltado, fried trout, chicken milanesa, carne, or some other specialities served with rice, French fries, and a small salad. It was always equally as good as going to fancier restaurants and way cheaper! The more the place looked like a hole in the wall, the better. As long as there was a lot of locals eating there then you knew it was going to be good. And the best places brought out your soup before you even ordered. They just knew you were there for whatever was written on the menu del día chalkboard outside, no menu necessary. 

I was also a big fan of chifa, which is Peruvian Chinese fusion cuisine. A large number of Chinese immigrants came to Peru in 1849 to work in railroad construction and sugar plantations and there was a large influx for the rest of the century.  Chinese food is only called chifa in Peru. Lomo soltado is made with marinated strips of sirloin tossed with fried potatoes, tomatoes, yellow chilli peppers, onions, soy sauce and served with steamed rice or french fries. Arroz chaufa literally means ‘fried rice’ in Cantonese, and you’ll find this dish served with everything. It’s also often served as a main dish and you can have it with pork, chicken or even fried fish,  Tallarín saltado is chow mein made with yellow egg noodles stir-fried with vegetables like tomatoes, peppers and onions, and meat like chicken. Aeropeurto is a mixture of both arroz chaufa and tallarín saltado. Gallina TipaKay is sweet and sour chicken that tasted even better in Peru. The portions are huge and you get these massive plates for 12-15 soles that were really big enough for 2 meals but I would somehow always finish the whole thing. And it came with either wonton soup or fried wontons! Unfortunately I took no photos of my crazy big plates of Chifa. 

There was also some nice bars in town that me, Joe, and Lorna would end up at night time for a beer and some good conversations. Since the food was so cheap I would usually spend as much money on 2 beers as 2 meals. My first night I had posted an Instagram story that I was in Huaraz and Dan, an Irish guy I met 6 weeks before in Minca, messaged me saying he was also in town so we grabbed a beer. Interactions like this were a big reason I started posting Instagram stories. It really is a good way for other backpackers to reach out if they are in the same town, and visa versa. I also tried Inka Kola which is a popular soda in Peru but I found it to be terrible. I ended up having it a few more times and it got slightly better but still nothing I would ever order. 

The Lodging

I spent my time in 2 different hostels because I stayed longer than I originally thought and my first place booked up. My first 3 nights were spent at Vacahouse Huaraz B&B and even though I booked a 4 person dorm I ended up in a 2 person, which was really nice. My roommate, Marguerite was a super cool Belgian girl and while we didn’t book any hikes/treks together we always ended up doing the same ones on the same days. She had a really strong hiking pace like me so we spent a lot of time together on the trails having some great convos. People from Belgium are lucky when it comes to languages since it’s such a small country that has multiple different languages spoken and she spoke 4 well – Dutch, French, Spanish, and English. My friends Joe and Lorna, a couple from England, who I met at Blink School in Medellin were also in Huaraz at the same time (we had been communicating about it) and happened to be staying in the same hostel, so I spent every day with them hiking and every night grabbing dinner and a night cap beer.

My 2nd hostel was Lhotse Hostel B&B and the private rooms were so cheap that I figured why not get one and have my own space. There was a small TV and at night time I would watch movies and shows for Spanish practice.

Both hostels were very local. The family running each one lived in the back of the building and had kids running around (or babies in their hands at all times) so it was another opportunity for good Spanish practice; they knew little to no English. It was not like your typical hostel solely catered to backpackers where you could speak to the person at the desk in Spanish but they likely knew English. So when I got info on the tours and made my reservations it was all Spanish. 

Hiking

I will go into a little detail about the hikes but a picture is worth a 1000 words and that classic corny statement is especially true for the hikes just outside Huaraz. It can be hard to describe but once you see it, then you believe it. There truly is such a magical energy to hiking in the Andes beyond just the beautiful landscapes. Maybe it’s the crazy high altitude but you truly feel something more powerful drawing you to hike in the mountains and you start craving more. I could have easily spent a month hiking in this area alone; and maybe someday in the future I will. It truly was my happy place. 

Lake Wilcacocha (4.6 miles, 1978 feet elevation gain, in and out)

Before you start hiking the real big boys in the surrounding area, it’s essential to acclimate to the crazy high altitude. Joe, Lorna, and I did this short, morning hike together and it was quite easy to get to without a guide. We just took the $2 colectivo from nearby the center of Huaraz and a quick 25 min drive had us dropped off at the trailhead. It was hard at first getting used to altitude and the trail also started out super steep. The first 20 minutes were a real challenge and it made me question my readiness for high elevation Andes hiking. A lot of hikes start out like this where you wonder how your going to keep this up for multiple hours but then you get in the zone and everything starts becoming more of a rhythmic pace.

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We walked through some little “villages” in the middle and it’s pretty amazing to think people actually live this far away from society in the mountains. I had to double check AllTrails frequently and still an old man in town pointed us in the right direction. We discussed how crazy it used to be traveling internationally before smart phones trying to hike or get around and always getting lost. But also it must have been nice because it forced you to talk to locals and actually be resourceful. We had some great convos throughout the hike. I love chatting with Joe and Lorna for the jokes but also serious stuff.

Me and Joe’s humor is cut from the same cloth; our jokes almost always land. Really good people that I plan to remain in touch with throughout my trip since we’re going to a lot of the same places and I hope to visit in England someday. The Laguna wasn’t great (which we had read online) but the views were phenomenal. This was a good, short hike for acclimatizing and getting a taste of Andes hiking; and I was already excited for me.

Laguna 69 (8.4 miles, 2726 feet elevation gain, in and out)

While this trip is done through a tour because you need to take a bus, the guide acts more as a safety net than a wealth of knowledge. He walked behind everyone to make sure we all made it to the top but otherwise wasn’t needed. The bus picked me, Joe, and Lorna from the hostel with an early 5am departure. It goes around to all the different hostels and I was half asleep in the back and the guy that sat next to me looked super familiar but I didn’t want to start a convo at 5 in the morning. Once we got to our breakfast stop before the hike, we both recognized each other fully and he was an Israeli guy I had met 6 weeks prior in San Gil…small world.

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This hike is definitely best represented through photos. The beginning was a flat meadow with snow melt streams flowing every which directions. It was a magical feeling walking between the massive Andes mountains. I am in love. The clouds get caught in the mountain peaks but we still had some incredible panoramic views.

After a few miles, the trail slowly started winding up the mountain. The switchbacks starting getting steeper toward the end of this section and the altitude really started to factor in as we reached over 13 and 14K feet high. I stopped for an orange break and actually found it more difficult to catch my breath again after resting. It was easier to just keep going with a slow stride than to stop entirely. Rhythm and pace is everything in high altitude hiking.

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The trail flatted out for first the little laguna and it was a chance to appreciate just how high we were, and yet the mountains still towered above us. The insane mountain backdrop with steep cliff sides and pointed peaks was an absolutely incredible sight to see. What a place!

After a bit more steady uphill, the last half mile was switchbacks into a steep final incline. This was certainly the most challenging part of the hike and I just kept focusing on my breathing with each step keeping up my pace. The people below looked like ants compared to where I was at. While it was very difficult I was pleased that I felt totally fine with the altitude. I felt acclimated and knew I could do more hikes in this area at this elevation.

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I made it to the top at 15,104 feet high and was one of the first people of the 2 buses to arrive so it was nice to have the laguna with less people before the crowd showed up. The color of the water is a stunning shade of blue that looks fake. Then you throw in the giant mountains behind it and you’d swear that it was all a dream.

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Absolutely stunning landscape and such a feeling of accomplishment to complete my first 15er. And all things considered it really wasn’t too hard. I think it was more challenging to do a 14er in Colorado but also totally different terrain when you climb to a mountain peak and scramble along the rocks. Laguna 69 was a just stop off, not a peak. Since I arrived so early it gave me more time to chill at the laguna and enjoy the scenic view. When Joe and Lorna got to the top we ate our sandwiches and soaked it all in. I had various other conversations with people from the bus as everyone was in good spirits at the top. The clouds were continually moving this high up and we got to see more of the mountain peaks as time past.

At last it was time to head down, in which we got to continue to enjoy the incredible landscape; this time looking in the other direction. And the lighting was actually better since it was now early afternoon instead of the early morning haze. Me and Marguerite had some really good convos on the way down. When we got to the bottom I did have a slight headache due to the change from being over 15K feet to about 12K. Nothing too bad but it was interesting because you normally worry about the going up part, but actually going back down to lower altitude can have a strong impact on your body too. What a day! I would recommend this hike to anyone and everyone. It was one of my favorites that I’ve ever done.

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Santa Cruz Trek (3 days, 28.1 miles, 7562 feet elevation gain, 9000 feet elevation loss, point to point)

The People 

It was a very diverse group of people with a German couple (Sofia and Alex), a Dutch couple (Isa and Marek), 2 French girls (Kenza and Nadège), 1 Japanese girl (Yo-Yo) and me. I was the only native English speaker yet it was the common tongue so that is what we spoke although each pairing would take to each other in their mother tongue. By the first night we had a very strong group chemistry and really got to know each other. My energy was buzzing from the beautiful hiking so I earned my typical reputation as a goofy jokester. Every night we would play this fun card game for hours. Kenza couldn’t remember the name so I called the game “No Recuerdo” it because it was a memory game. The first night we also played a fun game I made up where each person said a word in their language and we had to guess it. We would narrow it down with good questions: Is it a place? Is it a food? Etc. Since everyone knew English I thought of slang words.

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In an effort to practice my Spanish I would talk to our guide Hernan in Spanish whenever I could. It was really good at times but also sometimes I just wanted to switch back to English. I like to practice for 30 min to an hour but 3 days is a lot. I didn’t always understand his questions or response but Hernan and I did have some good conversations. Every night he would give each of us 2 Quecha words to remember and quizzed us the next day so that we learned a little more about the culture and language. Some of my word that I will never forget are 1-2-3: Hook-ishkay-keemsay. Quechua is the most widely spoken indigenous language in Peru and was once the lingua Franca of the Incas. It’s spoken so widely in South America that there are now 45 dialects within the Quechua language family. It’s one of Peru’s official languages and is used as the main everyday language in many rural areas. Quechua is most commonly spoken in the southern and central highland areas of Peru. For most people in the mountains it’s the first language they learn before Spanish. 

Getting In

I got picked up at 5am from my hostel by the mini van and was the 2nd one in the van before picking up the others. Everyone was quiet and tired on the way up so not much group connection to start, but that changed pretty quickly once we started hiking. We went past where we hiked for Laguna 69 and the squiggle road up had the most insane views of the Andes. It took a few hours to go a short distance as we carved our way around the mountain. Snow capped with peaks above the clouds, bright blue lagunas, jagged cliffs, steep valleys. It was pretty amazing they could even build roads up here. The road was built terrace style where you slowly make your way higher. Dating back to Incas and probably further, Peruvians have always been ingenious at building in the mountains. This rundown old van can somehow still make it up. I give a lot of credit to the drivers of the tour as they handle these narrow mountains roads with such ease. Whenever another car was heading the other direction, one of the cars would have to back up and find a spot to pull to the side with just enough room for both cars to fit. After a solid 7 hour drive we finally made it to our starting point at Vaquería.

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Day 1 (6.6 miles, 1200 feet elevation gain, 800 feet elevation loss)

We had mules to carry our extra clothes and only had to pack day bags which was nice given the altitude. The trek started with a downhill path into village road through pueblos. It’s pretty incredible that so many people still live this deep in Huascaran National Park 10,000+ feet high and miles away from civilization. After a quick lunch break there was a slight uphill along the road that eventually narrowed to the size of a hiking trail before we entered the countryside. Now the true beauty of this area showed as we hiked through the meadow surrounded by mountains on both sides. Alex who was a geologist provided some insight about how the valley was formed from glaciers melting and pointed to where you could see the former glaciers. We had 2 dogs that followed us the whole way (and continued to follow us until the end) that we decided to name since clearly they were part of the group.

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After about 4 hours we arrived at our campsite in the valley called Paria and sitting at 12,665 feet high. Unlike the Ciudad Perdida which had sanctioned campsites with beds, we helped Hernan and the chef setup the tents that we’d be sleeping in. Yo-Yo and I were roommates since we were the odd pairing of countries. There was two additional tents that were much larger – one for Hernan and the chef to cook in and the other for us to eat in/play cards games and hang out. There was also a little “bathroom tent” setup with a hole dug for obvious reasons. 

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We had snack and tea time and played No Recuerdo and my language guessing game I described above. The dinner wasn’t nearly as good as lost city trek but props to Hernan and the chef for cooking meals for 8 people while camping. After Hernan taught us each our 2 Quecha words to learn, we were in our tents to sleep by 8:30. Everyone was exhausted after the 5am departure from Huaraz, a long car ride, and a few hours of hiking. It was cold and rainy that night so sleeping in a tent was tough even with a nice sleeping bag.

Day 2 (7.6 miles, 3500 feet elevation gain, 2500 feet elevation loss)

It was still raining when we woke up and after breakfast we decided to hit the trail because who knows how long we would have had to wait out the rain. After about 30 minutes the rain stopped but it was still incredibly grey and cloudy. While you couldn’t see the surrounding scenery very well there was a mystical nature to the fog that provided this sense of tranquility. We continued along a slight uphill trajectory for the next hour before hitting a fork in the trail and reaching the steep uphill section that would last for over an hour to get to top of the mountain pass.

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Kenza was a very slow hiker and way behind the group, which Hernan allowed for, so I decided since I’m way faster I’ll just zip ahead of the group. It’s safer to have someone way ahead than way behind since we were all going to the same place. It was a bit disappointing not to have the views on the way up but hard to complain when trekking through the Andes. The experience was still very magical and I was in my happy place; views or not. At this point I was way in front of the group, all alone, and just focused on my tranquil thoughts and my breathing as I reached over 14K feet then over 15K. It was a switchback staircase of rocks out of the valley before walking up the face of the rock following whatever seemed most like a path. The fog made it hard to see exactly where I was going but as long as I was going up then I knew all was well. Plus I had my AllTrails going so I wasn’t ever going to get too lost. I did a good job acclimatizing being in Huaraz 4 nights and doing Laguna wilcacocha and Laguna 69; I didn’t actually feel the altitude that much. Just got into my stride and made my way up the mountain at a good pace.

I made it to the top of the mountain pass which was called Punta Union and was 15,584 feet high. Unfortunately there was no view, fog as far as the eye could see. I ate my lunch and a light rain/light snow mixture started so I found a spot that was slightly covered. Once that stopped I laid on a rock and relaxes until the group arrived. From the time I got to Punta Union, I ended up waiting for an hour for the group to show up. Wow glad I powered ahead by myself. The uphill section was challenging both steepens and the high altitude but I’m so glad that I just went at my pace rather than with the others. It’s actually easier just to go at your own speed – whether it’s slow or fast.

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We could finally start to see some of the blue lagoon and mountains behind although it was still cloudy. Eventually we were able to see the valley as well. Not the views it should have but it was something. We stayed at the top for a bit hoping it would continue to get better but after 45 minutes it was time to keep moving. After Punta Union the rest of the trek was downhill from here. It started with a steep rocky switchback into the valley where it was important to be careful and not slip. Hernan and I ended up running way ahead of the group again because he wanted to start cooking lunch and I just have a fast pace. “Colin, caminas siempre muy rápido.”

Once inside the valley, the sky was the bluest it had been all day so we were finally able to see some more of the mountains – although still lots of blockage from clouds. The scenery was like something out of a nature documentary; just absolutely stunning. There was mountains 20,000+ feet high in all directions surrounding the valley in a circular formation. It felt like we were in the center of a football field with the mountains acting as the stands. The clouds get trapped in the mountains so it’s hard to see the peaks but just the sheer magnitude of it all was an indescribable feeling. 

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Our campsite was Taullipampa and 13,944 feet high, and this time it had already been setup for us by Hernan and the chef. That afternoon/evening we played more no recuerdo, had our Quecha quiz and learned a new word, and had lomo soltado for dinner. Once again we were all super tired and went to bed by 8. This night was even colder and rainier than the one before. It was really hard to stay asleep in such cold weather. 

Day 3 (13.9 miles, 200 feet elevation gain, 3900 feet elevation loss)

We woke up and it was cold and wet that the group decided to walk all the way back and just do the trek in 3 days rather than 4. Everyone struggled to sleep in the freezing cold the night before and was just ready to be back to civilization. If the group energy was different I could have done another night of camping but also was totally fine to just get back to Huaraz that night. The day started with an open, flat plain that had beautiful flowers and a cloudy mountain backdrop.

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The weather today was a little nicer but still a bit grey and not sunny. The whole day was either flat or downhill so that part was easy, but we hiked a lot of miles. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous along the way and my soul was content to soak it all in. After passing a Laguna we started to walk along the river and all the sudden it was a totally different landscape and flora. It felt more desert-like as we started getting to lower elevation. The last bit was steep downhill switchbacks and I ended up hiking it with my Belgian friend Marguerite that I always ran into (she was doing the trek at the same time but with a different group so we continually ran into each other over the 3 days). The trek finished in the town of Cashapampa which was a completely different landscape and elevation than where we started just a few days before as we had traversed over 25 miles in the backcountry of Huascaran National Park.

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The weather on the trek was shitty but the overall experience was still incredible. The landscapes that we could see were phenomenal; I got that sense of accomplishment for hiking over 15K feet; and there really is nothing better than the feeling of hiking in the Andes. Once again I was lucky to have a really awesome group of people with strong chemistry. By the end it felt like we were all best friends with inside jokes and strong connections. The hostel was surprised to see me when I got back a night early but I had told them how it was too wet and cold so the group decided to finish the trek in 3 days instead of 4.

Since we had finished the trek a day early, the group met up in Huaraz the next day for lunch and drinks. The group chemistry was still strong and it was fun to hang with everyone again. We went to a cocktail bar and it felt like were the first people the bartender had seen in ages because he described every special drink on the menu in detail for nearly 20 minutes. Also he took photos of us with our drinks and he put it on his Facebook page. To his credit, he was actually playing some jams. I was the oldest person in the group and usually you don’t really notice/care about age differences when backpacking because everyone is pretty mature and worldly traveled. But the one time you do is with generational gaps for things like music, movies, historic events, etc. A song came on and I was like I remember when this came out my senior year of high school. Well the rest of the group was 21-23 so they were like I was 8 when this came out. Okay now I feel the age difference…

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Nevada Mateo (1.8 miles, 1339 feet elevation gain, in and out)

I got my one day of rest after ending the Santa Cruz trek a day early so I was ready to get right back at it. Once again I am chasing the views and Mother Nature won’t be allow for it giving me wet and cloudy weather. But this experience was absolutely insane, the snowy weather made for one of the most thrilling experiences I’ve ever had. Move over rafting the Zambezi river, there’s a new top extreme adventure in my life.

The pick up time for this one was brutally early at 3am. Hernan had given me his friend’s contact, Nilton, to do the mountaineering experience to the top of Nevada Mateo. The day before Yo Yo and I went to his office to be fitted for our boots and get the rundown of the experience. The group was me, her, and Nadège – members of the Santa Cruz crew getting back together for another outdoors experience. And once again Marguerite was also doing the same excursion but with a different group. 

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In the morning it was lightly snowing but it kept seeming like it would split and blue skies would come. The way up was a rocky scramble and while I thought this was kind of hard and dangerous, it paled in comparison to the way down. There was a few sections where a small misstep would have you tumbling down the mountain so the slippery conditions made it a little extra scary. My heart was racing more from this than the altitude. Once we got toward the top the snow only got heavier and any semblance of blue skies was gone.

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We strapped on our crampons and Nilton tied the rope into our harnesses for the ascent through the deep snow up to the peak. I was in the back making sure to keep my distance from Yo Yo because you don’t want the rope to touch the ground. As we made our way up the steep ascent, we were just inches away from crazy drop offs that would not lead to a happy ending. The altitude was an after thought as the brain focused more on not slipping and not falling down the side of the mountain. I continually kept thinking how crazy this was as the snow continued to dump on us and the visibility remained poor. It was a one step at a time type of affair with all focus being on the next step. There was no thinking, just doing. My heart was racing the entire time from the adrenaline and the altitude.

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It took us 25-30 minutes to make it to the top but holy shit we did it…5150 meters high (16,896 feet)! Unfortunately you couldn’t see a damn thing but I’m sure this view is normally absolutely insane. After getting some photos and resting for a minute we started our descent. This time I was in the front since I was in the back before. The steep downhill with crampons was super exhausting on the ankles and my group was going way too slow which caused me to have to continually stop at an angle and wait. But when your all roped together you have to work as a team. Once again we had to go around some parts where just a few inches meant a steep drop off that would lead to serious injury or worse. No biggie.

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After we got past the crampon part I felt relieved but that feeling didn’t last long. Now the real insanity began, we had to make it down the rock scramble which was completely covered in snow at this point. Everything was snowy and slippery as we made our way down the rocks having to constantly use our hands or sit on our butts to avoid slipping. On top of all that waterways from the snowmelt were forming in the middle of the path. This was probably some of the hardest and scariest hiking I’ve ever done. Multiple times Nilton strapped the rope into our harness and had us slide down on our butts smacking into rocks and just trying not to slide over the edge. Streams of water were rushing down the path as the snow melted. There was one part where a waterfall had formed in the path requiring us to basically repel down. 

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This adrenaline rush and crazy experience made up for the lack of views. It wasn’t until the very end when we finally made it to flat ground that we could take a sigh of relief. Words cannot describe how crazy those 5 hours were. The extreme weather conditions made the experience so much more wild. I’m so glad that I did it but boy was it hard and scary. I’m not sure if it made me more and less excited about the prospect of doing Cotopaxi in Ecuador, which requires 5 hours each way in crampons. We’ll see if I end up doing it. But I’m glad to say I now know what it feels like to mountaineer and it’s fucking crazy. A whole different type of experience than hiking. 

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Final Thoughts 

Huaraz is such an amazing and authentic mountain town that I will definitely revisit in the future. The surrounding area has the best hiking and most beautiful landscapes that I have ever seen. I was a bit sad that I didn’t do the 8 day Huayhuash trek with Joe and Lorna but it’s just all the more reason to come back again. That trek is now toward the top of my bucket list. There’s also so many other hikes and mountaineering experiences that I didn’t do. I couldn’t recommend this area enough to anyone that loves hiking. It is one of the most magical places on earth.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Home Base in Perú

I am in Cuenca, Ecuador right now as I sit here writing my first blog post about Perú only 7 weeks late. Lima was my resting and eating hub and I unintentionally ended up there 5 separate times and staying there for 8 nights over those different stays. I didn’t use Lima as a place to socialize with backpackers. I never stayed in a hostel; 6 nights were in a hotel and 2 with a lady friend. I know it doesn’t make a lot of sense that I ended up in Lima so many times, especially when most backpackers try to follow a straight line to avoid air travel, but this happened partly due to poor planning, partly due to unexpected events, and partly due to having a friend visit. I’ve started saying that my route in Peru was my own version of the Nazca lines (mysterious geoglyphs in the Nazca desert of southern Peru that total over 800 straight lines, 300 geometric figures, and 70 animal and plant designs; some lines running up to 30 miles).

My first time in Lima was flying in from Bogota as my initial stop in Peru. I got a nice hotel for 2 nights and used it as an opportunity to decompress my Colombian experience as well as catch up on some admin things in life and call friends at home. I wandered around Miraflores a bit but mostly stayed in my hotel. My second time in Lima was just one night at Marie’s parent’s place because we didn’t get back from Oxapampa until midnight (more on that later) and then I had a bus at 7am the next morning so this barely counts. The third time really doesn’t count because I took an overnight bus back from Huaraz which got me into Lima at 5am then I went straight to the airport and flew to Arequipa at 11 that morning. My fourth time was when my friend Matt came to visit. After spending nearly his entire 2 week stay in Cusco and the surrounding area, we came to Lima for his last day in Peru before he flew back to the US. We ate a bunch of good food and drank all afternoon. Then I ended up spending another day in the hotel lying in bed hungover and watching classic American movies like Armageddon in Spanish. My fifth time in Lima was after Huacachina on my way heading up north. The first day I lied in bed in the hotel once again hungover watching movies. The second day I roamed around Barranco then met up with Marie that night for dinner and stayed at her new place in Miraflores. I ended up staying a third day at the hotel because I wasn’t quite ready for the 21 hour bus ride to Mancora. So all in all I didn’t explore the city as much as it sounds like when I say I spent 8 nights there. It was more a place to eat and sleep in between other trips.

The City

Immediately I felt a much different energy from Colombia when walking around Lima. It’s interesting how quickly the brain picks up on being in a new environment – the sights, smells, interactions of people, architecture, and general feel of being in a new country is felt right away. I learned very quickly that wearing a mask is way more important in Peru than anywhere that I’d been in a long time. Most people are even wearing masks outdoors and in the streets. Turned out to be a trend in the entire country. Peru got hit one of the hardest in the world with percentage death rate so everyone still takes wearing a mask very seriously. Planes and even some grocery stores required either a N95 mask or a double mask.

Lima is the capital of Peru and is an absolutely massive city with a population of 11 million people (1/3 of the entire country) and stretching over 1,000 square miles. The city is mostly flat with the Pacific Ocean to the west and desert land surrounding the rest. I never thought about Lima having a surfer scene but since it’s right on the Pacific the waves are big and the beaches are full of people in wetsuits with surf boards in hand. There are many miles of beaches along Cto. de Playas Highway, some of which have decent sand and others that are rocky; and the water is pretty dirty. Could be nice to sit on the beach in the summer but this time of year better just to walk next to it along the boardwalk. There is both lower and upper boardwalks with a giant sea wall separating the two to protect the city from tsunamis. Need to commit to the lower boardwalk because it can be awhile before there’s an opportunity to go back up, it seems like there is only one entrance per neighborhood.

It’s currently wintertime in Peru and the weather was mild temperature with very cloudy, gray skies every time I was there. Like many big cities, it is compromised of many different neighborhoods that have a distinctive look and feel ranging from the upscale neighborhood of Miraflores to less developed areas on the outskirts. About a third of Lima’s population lives in squatter settlements called “pueblos jovenes” (young towns) or “barriadas” (shantytowns). The city has many cultural museums, historical buildings, beautiful parks, and incredible restaurants to dine at. I think you could easily be satisfied spending just 2-3 days in Lima or you could spend weeks here eating and exploring new parts.

The People

Lima has that big city feel where everyone in the streets is moving fast and minding their own business so you really don’t interact with too many people. Although everyone in the Inca markets is very personable in an attempt to get you to buy from their stand. And throughout my time in Perú I met quite a bit of people from Lima around my age that travel around the country and stay in the big party hostels; and some became really good friends. Also I met a girl that I was quite keen for but more on that in the next stories. So overall I have a good impression of the people from Lima.

The Food

Lima (and Perú in general) is well known around the world for its cuisine and the city did not disappoint. Whether you go out for fine dining at a fancy restaurant or eat menú del día at a little hole in the wall, your almost guaranteed to eat something delicious. There was also a lot of very westernized chains like Taco Bell, Subway, Chili’s, etc but no need to eat that type of food with so many other great options. Going out to eat in Lima reminded me of New York City where there’s so many options that it can be overwhelming so going somewhere nicer is definitely better if you do some research first to narrow down the selection.

During my multiple stays in Lima, I ate at some very tasty restaurants selling typical Peruvian cuisine like ceviche, lomo saltado, and chaufa (more on this when I talk about Huaraz). A few that stand out are: Punto Marisko (great seafood and cocktails), Cosme (fine dining small plates), Cala (fancy seafood restaurant directly on the water), and Costazul Seafood (delicious ceviche).

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And of course I drank many Pisco Sours because that’s just a weekly requirement when staying in Peru. Like anything, some were better than others. My go to cheap beers were Cusqueña and Pilsen, but I also had some good craft beers.

Miraflores

Miraflores is the upscale neighborhood in Lima that most tourists tend to stay in and the architecture is a combination of old buildings and trendy, new high rises. It has a very pleasant feel to it with a pedestrian walkway running through the middle of Avenue José Pardo. The Mercado Indio is a great place to shop if looking for any alpaca merch (blankets, sweaters, scarves, backpacks, you name it), artesanal goods with the Inca style patterns, and jewelry. Since lots of shops sell similar goods, everyone in the market is trying to sell you their particular stuff being super friendly asking your name and where your from. Parque John F Kennedy and Parque 7 de junio are surrounded by high rise buildings and restaurants; and they provide a great place to sit on a bench and people watch. Parque del Amor is on the boulevard above the sea wall where you can watch surfers riding the large Pacific Ocean waves and paragliders flying over the water. 

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Barranco

After staying in Miraflores my first few times in Lima I decided to get a hotel in Barranco on my last visit. It’s the artsy, hipster neighborhood. I preferred the vibe here to touristy Miraflores. Much more local feel. It’s a neighborhood where you can get lost walking down side streets looking at street art and colorful buildings. There are many small galleries and restaurants lining the street and lots of little gardens, parks, and trees. There are many new, modern apartments on the boardwalk above the sea wall with waterfront views.

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Puente de los Suspiros is a popular destination with a local legend behind it. A rich young woman falls in love with a street sweeper. Forbidden by her father to be with the love of her life, she spends her days sighing from her window hoping to see him again. Another legend has it that if you can hold your breath while walking the length of the entire bridge, which is 144-feet (44 meters) long, your wish will come true. I’m still waiting on that one. I wanted to check out the Museum of Contemporary Art but it was closed on Monday’s.

Cristo del Pacifico

On my last day in Lima instead of doing normal touristy things like going to a museum or the historic district, I decided to walk up to a mirador with a view point of the city. I walked through Barranco and Chorrillos not knowing my end destination but with the intention to head up the hill. After Chorillos the walk went up along a narrow dirt and rocky trail where it was just me and the runners who want a more uphill climb than the boardwalk. It felt more like a dusty plain in New Mexico than Lima. I stopped at Cristo del Pacifico which is a giant Jesus status and has nice views of the city: high rises along the sea wall overlooking the Pacific and the more rundown buildings in the hills. On a nice day one would be able to see the whole city clearly but I don’t think those exist here, or at least not in the winter. There’s a constant haze in the sky. It gave me a good feel for the sheer size of the city.

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Time In Country

6/11 – 7/25 (44 days)

Miles hiked:

114.3 miles hiked. 29,600 feet elevation gain

Places visited:

• Santa Marta (4 nights)
• Minca (2 nights)
• La Ciudad Perdida (3 nights)
• Parque Nacional Natural Tayrona (2 nights)
• Bogota (5 nights)
• San Gil (4 nights)
• Camino Real Trail (2 nights): Cabrera > Barichara > Guane > Villaneuva > Jordan > Los Santos
• Medellin (12 nights)
• Guatape (1 night)
• Jardín (2 nights)
• Salento (3 nights)
• Tatacoa Desert (2 nights)

Best and Worst

Best place – San Gil (and surrounding area)

Worst place – Santa Marta

Best experience – Tie between La Ciudad Perdida Trek and Camino Real Trek

Worst experience – Bus ride from Salento to Tatacoa Desert

Better than expected – Bogota

Worse than expected – Parque Nacional Natural Tayrona

Best meal – Ajiaco at La Puerta Falsa in Bogota 

Worst meal – Meat platter in Villavieja

Best fruit drink – Mango (Maracuya for new fruit)

Worst fruit drink – Tomate de árbol

This next part ended up being more wordy than I originally intended but I guess that’s what happens when I write this during a 21 hour bus ride as I sit here going from Lima to Mancora.

The Culture

I cannot say enough good things about Colombia and the experience I had there. I could not have asked for a better 6 weeks to start my South American adventure. The country has had a brutal history over the past 80 years from La Violencia in the 40s to the drug cartel era of Pablo Escobar in the 80s and 90s to the guerrilla warfare with groups like FARC and ELN. But the past 20 years Colombia has worked really hard to become a safer, more attractive place for tourists and it really shows. Sure I heard a few horror stories of backpackers getting robbed at knife/gun point but that type of thing can happen anywhere. Standard big city rules apply where you just watch your belongings in crowded areas and be extra careful when walking around at night time – just take a taxi or Uber! 

In spite of the country’s difficult history, I found Colombian people to be incredibly happy, friendly, and outgoing. They know how to appreciate what they have and seem to have a positive demeanor filled with joy and hope. People in the streets are very willing to help and will even go out or their way to assist you. They are even more delighted when you try to speak a little Spanish, even if it isn’t good. The person next to you on the bus or plane is quick to strike up a conversation and are excited to talk about anything.

The culture is very festive; people love to dance and celebrate all the holidays (and there are a lot with 18 national holidays in total. At one point when I was there 3 straight Monday’s were a national holiday). I loved looking around the club in big cities like Medellin ad Bogota and seeing all the smiling faces singing every word to Reggaetón music. And people are damn good dances whether it’s traditional music like salsa or cumbia, or more modern music like Reggaetón or House; people are very meticulous with their moves and use their whole body to flow to the music. Shakira was speaking for the whole country when she said “my hips don’t lie.”

The Food

Overall I’d say the food was average. I had some really good meals throughout but overall it’s not the most impressive cuisine – not incredibly well seasoned or spiced. Lots of meat, rice, plátanos, and beans; heavily fried; not many veggies. The portions at restaurants were usually very big (US style) so I typically left with a full belly. For street food, the arepas were cheap and tasty but the empanadas were so-so. The fruit and fruit drinks on the other hand were absolutely incredible. Half the time I didn’t even know what I was ordering or how to eat it properly but it was so damn good. The fruit is as fresh as can be and all the different exotic fruits keeps the flavor profile diverse. And of course I’m always a sucker for fresh agua de coco; you can’t beat drinking it straight from the coconut. The coffee was surprisingly disappointing, but as I mentioned in one of my blog posts, the coffee tour told us that the 80% best beans all get exported and the remaining 20% stay in the country. That being said I still had some amazing coffee, but don’t expect your average cup of tinto (black coffee) to be anything special.

The Cities

Both Medellin and Bogota are nestled in the valley between the mountains so they have beautiful surrounding backdrops. The downtown architecture isn’t overly exciting but the hills are lined with houses as far as the eyes can see. The nightlife was bustling and the party went into the wee small hours of the morning. They both have all the big city amenities one could want: art and cultural museums, restaurants of all varieties, sports, scenic viewpoints, and countless parks. 

The Landscape

So much diversity of landscape in a single country: coastlines, jungles, mountains, canyon, valleys rivers, deserts, etc. You go just a few hours and it’s a totally different look and feel. The north has beautiful Caribbean coastline and sandy beaches surrounded by mountainous jungles; while the center and south has an incredibly green countryside filled with rolling hills and booming farmlands. This Belgian girl I met put it best, traveling around a country in South America is like visiting 20 countries in one because of all the diversity. Colombia also has an incredibly wide variety of plant life, bird species, and marine biology; none of which I can speak intelligently about.

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The Weather

The north was warm, tropical weather and incredibly rainy with guaranteed showers every afternoon (and usually heavy ones); but the sun was strong when out. Bogota was chilly and gray; San Gil and Medellin was perfect mid 70s and sunny (Medellin living up to its nickname of eternal spring), and the south was moderate during the day and cool at nighttime. 

Transportation

Getting around Colombia can be a bit tough. It’s a big country that is very spread out and the roads are not exactly in great shape, especially as you start getting into more mountainous and/or rural areas. I was a bit jaded from air travel after my first domestic flight was delayed causing me to miss my connection in Bogota and spend the night there (which ultimately turned out to be a blessing in disguise if you read my Bogota blog). So the rest of the time I stuck to bus travel which was cheaper but more time consuming and created its own crazy experiences. My first few bus rides were great but then reality kicked in: late departures, traffic delays, and land slides. One of the biggest challenge with bus travel is that there are so many different companies so each time you travel you have to figure out which one is the correct one for your particular route. Then when you show up at the bus station it’s an absolute cluster fuck and it always feels like you might have missed your bus because there’s no obvious indication as to which bus is departing from where. And when you ask for help people give mixed responses about what is going on; which is increasingly difficult when your Spanish is limited. All that being said I never had any major transportation issues and it just always kept me on my toes when traveling between cities. It was also a good reminder to remain tranquilo as things move slow on Colombia time. You can’t be in a hurry for anything here.

Lodging

I came into this experience thinking okay I’m 30 now I will mostly stay in hotels and hostel private rooms with the occasional hostel dorm but it’s been quite the opposite. I’ve pretty much only stayed in hostel dorms with the occasional solo lodging. It’s really not been that bad to stay in dorms and it’s a great way to meet people and save money. The average age of backpackers in South America is higher than when I did SE Asia. Most people are 25-35 with the occasional 20-25 year olds who are seemingly more mature. Some hostels are more of a party than others, but most people are here to take advantage of the culture and outdoors lifestyle so I’ve had no issues being in rooms with others. Plus hostels are an easy way to book excursions and some host group events like Tejo.

Some Other Random Observations

People have a different sense of etiquete on public transportation. They will watch Tik Tok videos or play songs on their phone without headphones and just not give a fuck that everyone else can hear; even on night buses. 

People rep America sports teams everywhere and it’s actually quite popular to wear hats, jerseys, and shirts. There are stands in the streets devoted to this type of merch. Some super popular teams like the Yankees or Cowboys I get, but when I see a guy repping a Reggie Miller jersey or a Minnesota Timberwolves it makes me chuckle. Sometimes I’m always so tempted to go up and chat with them about whatever team they are seemingly supporting. It’s not just sports team, there’s other apparel that makes its way down here where people don’t fully understand what they’re wearing. Some good ones I saw were “blow job queen” and “happy ending specialist”. I saw a guy wearing a Buc-ee’s shirt so I decided to ask him about it and he just smiled…I don’t think he’s been to Texas before. 

My Spanish

My Spanish is still very basic but I’ve come a long way from when I arrived in the country. I showed up in Colombia having used the Babel app a few weeks and no other Spanish education. My first couple weeks I was very timid when trying to speak Spanish and realized just how much I don’t know. By the end of Colombia I was happy with my progress so far thanks to: spending some time with Moni in Bogota, having super basic conversations in the streets and on buses, doing some side practice focusing on learning things that would help me in real life conversation, and going to 2 weeks of Spanish school in Medellin. But at the end of the day I still talk so much English with other backpackers, and I have so far to go before even considering myself average at Spanish. It’s a balance between enjoying my travels and learning Spanish. Every day I do get better…just some more than others; at least I’m trying.

Backpacker Life

My spirit has been freed. Greatest decision I’ve ever made. I had high expectations for this trip and they were shattered in the first few weeks. Of course I was a bit nervous beforehand but all that fear and anxiety is long gone. I’ve learned so much about myself and the things that are important to me. It’s the mental reset I was looking for and will set the course for how I want to live my 30s with a more nomadic lifestyle focusing on travel and hiking adventures. But it’s beyond that, it’s opened my eyes in so many ways about interacting with people of different cultures and backgrounds. 

The backpacker life is absolutely incredible; full of  meeting like minded people from all over the world, new adventures, exploring different cultures, pushing yourself to new limits, and so much more. There is rarely a dull moment and it’s been crucial to find my balance of being social at hostels (it’s incredibly easy to meet people and make friends) but also taking time for myself and focusing on my adventure. 

This lifestyle certainly is not for the faint of heart. I may not be working but life isn’t a cakewalk. I’m constantly on the go packing my bag, exploring new cities, hiking mountains, meeting people, speaking Spanish, trying different foods, finding myself in new scenarios, etc. It’s a different kind of lifestyle and mental stimulation.

Reflection on How Things Don’t Go As Planned

Traveling is funny because things don’t always go as expected, both plans and experiences, so you have to just go with the flow and be flexible. That’s been one of the greatest parts about traveling solo, it’s all on me to decide where my life is headed; and sometimes life itself decides. In the north I was really looking forward to Tayrona and it was just okay; but I much preferred the jungle vibes of Minca. Then I didn’t even plan to go to Bogota, and I ended up having an incredible 5 nights there thanks to making friends with some locals during La Ciudad Perdida trek and a missed flight connection. In San Gil, I was only going to do the day hike along the Camino Real but when Kirsten was down to do the 3 day trek I figured why not and that turned out to be one of my favorite things I did in Colombia. I was only planning on doing a week of Spanish school in Medellin but I really clicked with both my teacher and a lot of the backpackers in the school so it made sense to stay a second week. In the south I was planning to travel solo after school but ended up latching on with a group of friends from Spanish school for over a week. We even ended up going to the Tatacoa desert which was never on my radar. Also I was more excited for Salento and had never even heard of Jardín until other backpackers talked about it; and I preferred the latter because it was more authentic and less touristy while being equally as beautiful. I came into this experience with the mentality of letting whatever feels right at the moment dictate what happens next and these 6 weeks in Colombia proved to me that this is the best way to live as a solo backpacker.

Representing America

A majority of places I go I’m the only American. Which can be funny when American music starts playing and everyone knows all the words. Our culture doesn’t promote the backpacker lifestyle and mentality like a lot of European countries do. I’d say the most heavily represented countries of backpackers I met were Netherlands, France, England, Germany, and Israel. A lot of people don’t have the highest opinion of America, especially in recent years with the Trump era and increasing gun violence. And while I agree with them on certain (if not many) points, I also think they have their own biases and uninformed opinions. Sometimes I like to retort by asking how politics are in their country to which they usually respond: terrible. The whole world is full of problems, America is just always in the spotlight. And let’s be real we don’t exactly do the best job leading by example. These days I like to say I’m not necessarily proud of America, but I’m proud to be an American. Not that politics is a hot topic amongst backpackers but it always does make for an interesting conversation when discussing with people from all over the world. And in the end, I think I do a good job representing our country in a positive way. My goofy, fun loving energy and well traveled lifestyle helps me blend in and relate to everyone I meet.

One Regret

One thing I really fucked up on was not getting a SIM card. I thought whatever I’ll just use Wi-Fi when I have it and otherwise will be off the grid. Big mistake. I was useless when on the buses especially traveling with a group. And there was plenty of other times that my life would have been easier with a SIM card. It’s great for doing research and booking things while on long bus rides. Or even just keeping yourself entertained. I made it work but won’t do that again. The first day I was in Lima I bought a SIM card. It was so cheap and so worth it.

I spent my last week in Colombia traveling around with a group of friends from Blink School. It was a rotating cast of characters but the core 3 was me, Ursula, and Rebecca. Nice thing about traveling with girls (or just other people in general) is we got a lot of good photos of us. Content galore. 

Jardín

Getting In

After our 2 hour bus ride from Guatape back to Medellin, Ursula and I had time for a quick beer at the Blink school hostel before saying our good byes. I’m going to miss Gal, he was my longest friend on the trip and we really got to know each other; yet another reason to go back to Israel. At the bus station I tried to get a quick KFC order in the 5 minute window before leaving, and of course there’s no such thing as fast food in Colombia. I sat there waiting 5 minutes before asking the woman at the counter where my food is. She said 10 more minutes. How could KFC possibly take that long. I told her my bus was leaving now and she said okay 2 minutes. She ended up leaving out my fries and I was in too big of a rush to notice. We all got on the bus and a few minutes later they had us get off. Uhhhh okay. The bus then left with all our bags; apparently the driver needed to get gas. They didn’t think of this beforehand…oh traveling in Colombia. I could have waited the extra time for my KFC to be just right. Then when we finally left, the bus stopped after 30 minutes to have its tires changed. We didn’t end up getting to Jardín until just before midnight, 2 hours later than planned.

The People

This was originally going to be a solo trip for me but that turned out to be fake. After 2 weeks of Spanish school I wanted to just chill, decompress, and review some of my Spanish studies. I had even booked a cheap Air Bnb apartment to have my space. But then during the Guatape lake house party, I found out that Ursula, Rebecca, Brandon, and Kelly were all going to Jardín too. Since it’s a very small town I wasn’t just going to hide behind a newspaper sitting on a bench in the main square. It’s fine I’ll chill with friends another day or two. I had booked a night longer then them anyways. Brandon ended up staying in the Air Bnb with me in the second bed in the room. Then what was supposed to be my second to last night, Brandon and Kelly ended up bailing on Salento and taking my Air Bnb because Ursula and Rebecca convinced me to go to Salento the same day as them. Ursula put it best; I’ll have solo time eventually but might as well travel with friends now while the opportunity is there. And she’s right, I did want to have experiences like this where I would travel a couple cities in a row with a fun crew. We called our group chat the Gauchos in honor of the Jardín cowboy vibe.

The City

Jardín is a small, quiet town a few hours away from Medellin. It’s in the south of the Antioquia department at the beginning of coffee country and often gets overlooked by the more popular Salento (and I ended up preferring it to the latter). It’s a beautiful colonial nestled between rolling hills that has an authentic and laid back feel. 

Surrounded by colorful buildings with equally as colorful tables and chairs outside, countless coffee shops, and fruit drink vendors; Jardín had my favorite main plaza so far. There were old gauchos drinking coffees and smoking cigarettes, guys coming up on horses doing tricks, children running around playing, and general liveliness. Even though it’s a small town the plaza was always busy. It seems like the whole town hangs out there. And why not? Who needs a TV when you can just sit in a beautiful plaza sipping coffee in the morning and beers at night. It’s not a fast paced life here. You just sit in the plaza and enjoy the vibe. In hindsight I wish that we spent more time here than Salento.

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The Food

This area is known for its trout so we got lunch at a trout farm called La Argelia Restaurante – Truchera – Molienda. Even though it was an open air restaurant, the smell of trout was incredibly strong, so we sat as far away from the pond as possible. But that strong smell meant fresh trout and boy did it deliver. The trout was super tasty and the sauce it came in was delicious.

Fun Day Around Town

If I was by myself I would have hit the hiking harder but since I was with a big group it was more of a leisurely stroll around the outskirts of the city. We walked to Cascada de Amor just outside the center before continuing up to a scenic viewpoint.

There was a little restaurant at the viewpoint with a large hammock overhanging the hill. We sat there drinking beers and soaking in the views of the gorgeous hillsides, luscious green flora, and small beautiful village. The crew was having a lot of fun together cracking jokes and enjoying the tranquil experience.

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Then we took the rickety garracha cable car to get down the hill. This old, wooden box didn’t seem the safest but we had the exact number of people to hit the maximum so why not? It was less than a 10 minute ride but it was certainly an interesting one. And it brought us from the top of the hill right back into town. Great shortcut. 

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After our trout farm lunch we walked to Cascada de Escalera. Brandon and Kelly didn’t join for that because it was a little muddy and slightly raining and they weren’t the hiking types. Plus they had some alternate motives. But Ursula, Rebecca, and I had some great convos during the hike and really got to know each other better. It set the scene for the bond our trio would have traveling together for the next week. If we had started earlier we could have seen 5 waterfalls but it was already later in the afternoon so just the 1 would suffice.

When we got back into town we had a beer at a restaurant in the plaza before dinner and capped off the night with a bottle of wine at a different little bar in the plaza. It was after these few drinks that I was convinced that traveling solo would have to wait and I would join Ursula and Rebecca in traveling to Salento the next day.

Salento

Getting In

The commute from Jardín to Salento required “Los últimos gauchos” aka me, Ursula, and Rebecca to take 2 buses with a change in Rio Sucio. We left Jardín just after 8 and about an hour and half into the ride while we were at the top of a hill, the bus stopped and a couple people started getting off. I was confused because it didn’t look like there was much civilization here. Then I realized everyone was getting off. I got out and saw there was a giant landslide in the middle of the road. Oh great. We all had to cross over it with our bags, it was quite the scene for 10 in the morning. Also the original bus had no way of turning around so the driver was going to have to go down the mountain in reverse.

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We got to the other side and I had no clue how long we were going to have to wait. It only ended up being about 10 minutes so props to Colombia on this one. Obviously it was a known fact this landslide existed. And the ride that showed up was this colorful open air bus that was blasting cumbia and reggaetón. The bus was as wide as the road.

We went along this bumpy road in our fiesta bus going up and down the mountain as people unintentionally rocked back and forth to the music. I never felt too scared but there was certainly a few sketchy parts for a bus like this winding through the narrow mountain passes; especially knowing that a landslide could happen at any moment. In spite of this setback the timing actually worked great for Rio sucio > Salento, and we only had to wait about 15 minutes before taking off. This 4 hour ride went much more smoothly. We arrived in Salento by about 4:30.

Salento is a small town in the Quindio department known for coffee farms and the wax trees of the Valle de Cocora. It has grown in popularity recently as a tourist destination although not too long ago it wasn’t even safe for Colombians due to guerrilla activity. Just like Jardín, Salento is a colorful town surrounded by rolling green hills and a beautiful plaza in the middle; however the streets are much more packed with tourists. We were there during Colombian Independence Day so maybe that made it more crowded. 

The City

Salento is a small town in the Quindio department known for coffee farms and the wax trees of the Valle de Cocora. It has grown in popularity recently as a tourist destination although not too long ago it wasn’t even safe for Colombians due to guerrilla activity. Just like Jardín, Salento is a colorful town surrounded by rolling green hills and a beautiful plaza in the middle; however the streets are much more packed with tourists. We were there during Colombian Independence Day so maybe that made it more crowded.

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If you walk down Carrera 6 from the plaza, the street is lined with little shops, cafes/restaurants, and pedestrians wandering aimlessly. Then at the end of the street is a staircase that takes 5-10 minutes to climb to a scenic viewpoint of town.

Food

Salento is also known for having good trout but since we just ate some in Jardín I didn’t end up getting any. Ursula is a vegetarian which can be particularly tricky in meat-heavy Colombia. We went to an incredible vegetarian/vegan bowl place called Coco Bowl. It was so nice to finally have a meal that was healthy and loaded with veggies. We also had a delicious dinner one night by the square (don’t remember the name) where Rebecca and I split two meals, steak and ribs, plus I got a beer and all got less than $10. Overall I’d say the food selections in this town were solid, especially by Colombian standards.

Lodging

For the first two nights Urusula, Rebecca, and I split a room in a nice little B&B called Hotel – Hospedaje Camino Real where we were the only non Colombians in the place. The woman didn’t know a lick of English and there wasn’t even a front desk. We had to call her on WhatsApp to get our keys. It was actually a nice place with a backyard and little common area; and the location could not have been more ideal as it was less than a block away from the plaza. The last night we stayed at Yambolombia which was a hostel recommended to us by some friends at Blink School. Bente, another friend from school, was also staying there and she joined Los Últimos Gauchos for our activities in Salento. This hostel was a decent bit outside of town but they had a giant property with a pet horse that hung around like a house dog and a family style dinner. It was a good spot to spend our last night since it was walking distance from the coffee farm.

Activities

Valle de Cocora Hike (7.7 miles, 2392 feet elevation gain)

In order to get to the Valle de Cocora you have to grab a Willy (jeep) from the plaza in Salento and ride in the back for about 30 minutes. They really pack it in to where the last few people stand up on the back of the Willy and hang on (which we did on the way home). 

The weather was a bit foggy to start (which is standard for the valley, you have to get lucky to have good visibility) but it got slightly nicer as the day went on. The hike starts out along a wide horse trail and the signage wasn’t very good so we actually missed the entrance and started walking into the forest. It was super peaceful but if we continued we would miss all the good views of the wax trees so we turned around. There was a small entrance fee into the actual Cocora Valley and then later on you had to pay another fee to walk a small section of private land which was kind of BS. Even though Colombia has beautiful landscapes and hiking trails, it seems that most locals aren’t the biggest hikers. People weren’t really dressed for hiking a trail, and a lot of the Colombians went to the first area with the wax trees then turned around. Some of the wax trees are insanely tall and it looks like something out of a Dr. Seuss book. A few areas were dense but the trees were mostly scattered. It was a pretty steady uphill through the Bosque de Palmas with a few steep sections.

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Bente isn’t too much of a hiker and she was struggling a bit behind us but I was happy with Ursula and Rebecca’s pace. There was a few scenic viewpoints and little hut photo ops along the way.

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After the palms we continuing making our way up the trail with heavily forested rolling hills in the backdrop. Eventually you reach a point where the trail starts going back downhill, but there was no defining viewpoint at the top. We could have added on some extra mileage to go to the Hummingbird House but it cost more money and no one seemed too interested so we skipped it.

We stopped for lunch (there’s a nice spot in Salento to pick up bagged lunches with sandwiches, snacks, and a juice) along the river. The trail narrowed and continued to follow along the river with multiple rickety bridge crossings. At one point we got stuck behind a Colombian family who refused to move out of the way even though they clearly heard us. It took 10+ minutes to finally pass them. There is certainly different hiking etiquette, or lack thereof, in Colombia. Good vibes and convos were flowing throughout the hike and I was thoroughly enjoying my experience with the 3 ladies. Just like Glacier National Park it’s me and the girls. We finished the hike around 2 and Willied back into town for some delicious afternoon coffee.

Tejo

Yes you’ve seen Tejo in here many times now. In Salento, I played my 4th and final night of Tejo. We met up with a British couple that Rebecca knew from Blink and their two Swiss friends. We played girls versus guys. At first the explosions weren’t happening at all even after some very direct hits; we thought we had a bunch of duds. So we added more to the board and then the game got real explosive. I started out poor but ended up playing really well closing out with a few Mechas in a row. The guys won both matches. Once again it was another fun few hours of Tejo – drinking beers and making explosions.

Horseback Ride

Originally Rebecca and I wanted to mountain bike through the Cocora Valley and Ursula wanted to horseback ride but mountain biking was long and expensive so we all chose horseback riding. I wasn’t sure what to expect but it ended up being an incredible experience. Plus it was less than $15 for 3 hours of riding.

Our guide was a true gaucho of Salento who had been riding horses his whole life and even rode from Salento all the way down through Brazil. He didn’t know any English but he was very good at being supportive in Spanish frequently telling us magnifico and estupendo. It was the 4 of us plus a Colombian guy who was actually from the States and a Brazilian girl. At first everyone was a bit shaky on their horse riding skills. I hadn’t been on a horse since being a cowboy on the ranch in West Texas back in the fall of 2009 so it had been a minute. But as we made our way along the road everyone started becoming more comfortable, including the horses.

The first part was a slight uphill on a dirt road but then we made our way into the green countryside and it was absolutely gorgeous. This is when things really got fun. We ended up doing countless river crossings, splashing our way through. It’s so impressive how strong horses are to cross the river and walk over all the different size rocks like it’s nothing.
The guide would yell out which direction to go but in reality it didn’t matter because the horses have done this thousands of times and they were directing us, not the other way around. We spent a long time next to and in the river.

Then there was a section where the meadow opened up and we were able to get some speed. My small butt was bouncing up and down on the horse as it galloped at a pretty good pace. Not only was the landscape incredible but it was a super cool experience to get a different perspective going through it on a horse rather than by foot.

The whole group had huge smiles on their face and we were having an awesome time. We came a long way from our nervous selves in the beginning. By the time we got out of the meadow and back onto the main road we started on, we were going twice as fast on the way home. Toward the end we stopped at a restaurant with a great view and had a celebratory beer. The group was in good spirits reminiscing on the day. It was a really cool experience and I would definitely do another horseback ride during my trip. This one set a high bar but I’m sure there are plenty of other good places in South America to do another one equally as good.

Coffee Tour – Finca El Ocaso

We had a jam packed last day doing the horseback ride in the morning, eating lunch at Coco Bowl, Willying to Yambolombia, then walking to Finca El Ocaso for a 4pm coffee tour. It was a very popular spot and there was two separate groups with over 20 people in each. I had already done a great coffee tour in Minca so I was really only going along with the crew. Plus we were in the coffee region of Colombia so I had to see what it was all about. 

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We had a hilarious guide who liked to crack jokes at every opportunity he got. First he talked about the different beans and how the color determines ripeness. Then we actually went out and picked a few beans (although there wasn’t really many ready at this time). From there he talked about the different phases of the process from bean to coffee and some of the methodologies they use. At the end we finally got to try a small cup. Should have started with this!! The coffee was average but I wasn’t overly impressed. It was a fun tour because of the guide but I actually preferred the one in Minca for the authenticity of that Finca. After doing two coffee tours in Colombia I think I’m good on that type of activity for the next 10+ years.

Tatacoa Desert

Getting In

I was never even planning on going to the Tatacoa Desert, but at this point I was just being a follower with the crew so when Ursula said she wanted to go I said why not. It was pretty far to travel by bus just for a couple days but it was at least slightly in the right direction back toward Bogota, where I’d ultimately be flying out of (although I still hadn’t even bought anything). The trip was going to require a few buses and possibly even a ferry. The day started out smoothly. Right when we showed up to the Salento station there was a bus about to depart to Armenia. 

After this 45 minute ride we had about 1.5 hours to kill in Armenia so we all decided to do some Spanish studies. We hadn’t done shit since Blink besides interactions on the streets. That is one problem traveling with a group, especially of English speakers, is that it’s hard to focus on improving Spanish. We were supposed to leave at 11:30 and by 12 when no bus had shown up, you always get a bit worried that you somehow missed it. The bus travel in Colombia isn’t exactly the easiest thing and it’s not always obvious which gate it is leaving from. Everyone gives different info on where to catch the bus and your just waiting and hoping you didn’t miss it. Gotta live life on Colombian time. Finally over an hour late, the bus showed up.

The ride was only supposed to be 4 hours or so and we were going to get off a bit before Neiva to catch a ferry across to Tatacoa desert; this would save us a bit of time. But lo and behold we hit crazy traffic in Ibague combined with construction and we end up being in a standstill for 4+ hours. As day slipped into night, there was no way we could take the ferry anymore so we were going to have to go down to Neiva then taxi back up to Tatacoa desert. This segment to Neiva ended up taking over 9 hours. Luckily we had bought bagged lunches in Salento but it was a long ride. The long travel days are good for catching up on music, blog thoughts, Spanish, sore muscles, etc but some rides really do start to drag and this was one of them.

Once we got to Neiva it was 10pm at this point and we had to get a taxi to our hostel in the desert. It was supposed to be about 1.5 hour ride but the taxi was super old and not cut out for some of these desert roads so it took 2 hours. The guy’s speedometer and gas gauge didn’t even work. Toward the end he kept asking if we were there yet and we had told him our hostel was in the middle of the desert. Then when we made it he tried to pull the card of charging more because it was further than he thought but tough shit bud you gave us a price and agreed upon it. We held strong and gave him the original amount. In the end it was a 16 hour day of travel to be in the desert for 36 hours…was it worth it?!

Lodging

We stayed at a lodge in the middle of the desert called Casa de Campo Los Cactuses. We were only able to book 1 night but luckily it was easy to add on the second. It was a cool spot with mostly Colombians and our little eco hut was made out of plastic bottles. There was 3 beds in the hut so Ursula and Rebecca shared a bed and me and Bente got our own. We had mosquito nets but the bugs really weren’t too bad; maybe it was to keep out scorpions. Unfortunately it was too cloudy both nights to see the stars but this had the potential to be a great spot for star gazing. The second night we did play some rounds of cards but otherwise there really wasn’t too much to do.

Desert

The Tatacoa desert is the second largest arid zone in Colombia behind the Guajira peninsula and it actually isn’t a desert but rather a tropical dry forest. It is know for a rich deposit of fossils. The Tatacoa Desert has two distinctive colors: ochre (red soil) in the area of Cuzco and gray in the Los Hoyos area.

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Gray Desert

We started our morning walking to the Grey Desert and boy was it hot already, big difference in this arid environment than Salento. There was a couple viewpoints along the way but it really felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. At first I was like why the fuck did I come here especially with the crazy long travel day the day before, but as we got to the Los Hoyos trail it did get more interesting. Plus I was with good company so I was still having fun.

Los Hoyos (2.4 miles, 334 feet elevation gain)

We started a bit off trail and were just kind of wandering through the desert. It was certainly a change of scenery from the rest of Colombia, although nowhere near as cool as some of the American deserts in Utah and Arizona. It wasn’t crowded at all though and we kind of just wandered where we wanted going to high points along the ridge lines and then inside the little valley. There were some really cool rock formations and it reminded me of a less impressive version of Petrified National Forest. Once I put my ego aside about the American deserts I was able to really enjoy it. We were taking a lot of fun photos and just being silly as we walked around. Like any good desert we got lost a few times but we eventually made our way out of there. The desert had a random pool area that felt out of place but the Colombian families were loving it, and it was a good beer pit stop.

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Villavieja

We took a quick trip into Villavieja between the Gray and Red Desert grabbing a quick lunch at a brewery in town. Villavieja was very rural, real colombia feel but then the brewery had this western feeling space (music and setup) like it could be in RiNo in Denver. The art murals and space were really cool but the food and beer was awful. On the motor taxi ride in we saw 4 kids on a motorbike with the oldest looking 10 max. That’s the type stuff you saw out in these parts. We were in a very off the beaten part of the country beside the Tatacoa desert.

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Red desert – Valle de Los Xilópalos (2 miles, 354 feet elevation gain)

We spent the late afternoon roaming around the red desert. It had Utah vibes but on a much smaller scale. The red rocks were very Mars like and you felt very far from being in Colombia. It was much more touristy and crowded than the Gray Desert, and for some good reason, it was very picturesque.

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In the end the desert trip made for a fun adventure with good people but it wasn’t worth the trek. It was very pretty and felt way different than the rest of the country but was nothing compared to the big deserts in America. I would go if I was in the area and heading to San Agustin next but a bit of a stretch for all of our itineraries. No regrets though!

Journey to Bogota and Bye Colombia

Ursula, Rebecca, and I had to leave Tatacoa Desert early the next morning to catch a colectivo back to Nieva then the bus to Bogota. On Sunday’s the colectivo only goes when full rather than every hour. We wanted to take 9:30 bus out of Nieva but waited for over an hour in Villavieja square. If we knew it would have taken that long we might have each just paid double to just fill the seats because it was so cheap. We told the colectivo driver we were trying to catch the bus at 9:30 and he just shrugged and hopped on his friend’s motorcycle and vanished out of sight. Really have to be patient and not be in a rush for anything. And of course once we finally left and made it to Nieva by 10:30 there was a bus leaving in 5 minutes, even though online it said noon. Got lucky there for once.

The bus to Bogota was supposed to take 5-6 hours but took closer to 7-8. When we were in the taxi to the hostel it smelled really fishy. We weren’t sure why but knew it was coming from our bags. It turns out that they put our bags below the bus next to a bag of fish or something and the outside of my bag was absolutely covered in fish juice. God dammit, so lame. Luckily I was going to have a hotel in Lima the following night to wash it out but it was absolutely disgusting and an incredibly strong smell.

We got to the hostel then grabbed some dinner before having one last beer at the hostel and saying our goodbyes as “Los últimos gauchos”. It was meant to be a goodbye for now not forever. We all had a few more months of travel and would be on a similar path so we’re hoping to meet up again. At this point about 6 weeks later it still hasn’t happened but you never know; the 3 of us do still chat in our group message sometimes.

I did really enjoy traveling with these girls and had a great experience but also I was ready to go back to solo, independent travel. For some reason I chose a 6am flight out of Bogota so that 3am wake up was rough but after an amazing time in Colombia I was so ready to see what Peru has to offer. Good bye Colombia…for now. I explored a good bit but there is still so much more to see and do. Colombia will forever hold a special place in my heart as the starting point of my South American journey and it is a country that I will continue to visit for the rest of my life.

FYI I just updated the “Where in the World is Colin Kenley” page for the first time since Portugal to include all my nights in Colombia.

The City

Guatape is a beautiful town right on the lake and serves as the perfect 1-2 day get away for people that live in Medellin. It’s famous for being nearby to El Peñón which is a giant rock that stands 656 feet and requires climbing 740 stairs to get to the top and have fabulous views of the lake and all the nice houses surrounding it. Besides seeing Alex’s photos when his family traveled here I also knew about the rock from the Above & Beyond Cercle set.

The Experience

A bunch of us from Blink wanted to go to Guatape that weekend so Ursula took charge of booking an Air Bnb on the lake. We ended up having a huge crew of 16 people! It was going to be a blast as I knew some of the group really well (Gal, Tyler, Mia, Joe, etc) but some of the group not as much (Ursula, Rebecca, Brandon, etc) but that one night would prove to create a strong bond between all of us.

People were leaving at different times and since I was hungover from the night before, Gal and I were the last ones to leave Medellin. The beauty of traveling with Gal is that he is muy tranquilo and not in a rush; and that’s the best way to be when traveling in South America. It was a mixed transportation day for the crew as one group was lucky and got an Uber all the way there for super cheap while another group had a long day on the bus. Gal and I timed it just right; we showed up at the bus station and were able to immediately hop on a bus where we had a seat and we made it to Guatape in about 1.5 hours. We walked around the square and the charming town for a bit before getting a moto taxi to the lake house. The house was in the middle of nowhere but it was absolutely incredible!! After more than a month of backpacker travel living in hostel dorms and the occasional private room, it was incredible to stay in a mansion right on the lake. Shit we should have booked more than one night! Unfortunately it was already taken the next day but I’ll take what I can get.

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The energy was average at first as everyone had mixed days of travel to get here but once we started drinking a few beers it immediately picked up. First we played a game of “who is most likely to” where each person came up with a scenario and we’d have to point who we thought it was most likely to happen to. It was a nice ice breaker. Then the games picked up a notch. We played this game where we created a playlist for a given topic and everyone chose one song then we would have to guess the person based on reaction and dancing. The first round was “guilty pleasure songs” and that really got the party started. It was so fun to see what people put and also everyone would get up and start dancing because who doesn’t love a good guilty pleasure song.

At this point the energy was top notch and we were all having a blast. After a dinner break we played a second round of “dirty songs you shouldn’t have listened to when younger”. This kept the party going and everyone was drunk, happy, and dancing nonstop; the perfect house party. Then the music continued with bangers and us all dancing. At one point Joe ran down the hill into the lake (looking at it the next day it made no sense how he did it so smoothly without running into all the plants). We all followed but instead took the safer route down the staircase by the dock. Next thing you know everyone was ripping off their clothes and we all skinny dipped in the lake. My how this night has turned. It was so much fun and everyone was in the best spirits. Truly a night none of us will forget. Things are a bit hazy for me post lake skinny dipping.

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I woke up at 9:30 the next morning and a lot of people had already left to go to El Peñón. Gal, Mia, and Ursula also woke up late and we’re just chilling and once again I was glad to move on Gal time. He’s like we’ll go to the rock later, let’s just enjoy our mansion on the lake while we can. He was so right! We chilled on the dock, swimming in the lake and sunbathing. It was nice to soak in these last few hours of lake house life. 

El Peñón

The Air Bnb owner scheduled a boat for the group to get from the lake house back to Guatape. It was really nice to be on the water and get to see all the other mansions along the lake. Gal, Mia, Ursula, and I got off before the rest of the crew so that we could climb the steps of El Peñón. It was very touristy (especially since it was Sunday) and we slowly made our way up to the top. We got a celebratory beer and enjoyed the incredible views of the lake and the surrounding area were.

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After about 30 minutes we walked down the stairs and hoped to have some good luck catching a bus back to Medellin. Once again going on Gal time worked and we got so lucky to catch one right as it was leaving (the rest of the group had some real struggles getting a bus that wasn’t too full). We had to stand for the first 30 minutes which was a bit rough on a hot bus while slightly hungover but then some people got off and we could sit down. Ursula and I were already friends at this point but we had some real nice conversations the rest of the way back.

I really didn’t take too many photos in Medellin so to break it up I’m going to put in videos from the fútbol match after long blocks of text because that was one of the most fun things I did.

Getting In

After the 3 day Camino Real trek and 7 hour bus ride back from Los Santos to San Gil I was absolutely exhausted. It was a perfect time to take my first night bus because I was so tired that I was going to be able to pass out no matter what. Kirsten and I got back to Macondo Hostel around 6, I ate my leftovers and chilled for a bit, then we said our goodbyes and I headed to the bus station. 

There was nothing direct from San Gil to Medellin so I had to take two buses. I slept most of the way from San Gil to Bucaramanga and nearly missed getting off at the station to change buses. I assumed that Bucaramanga was the last stop and everyone would be getting off but that was a poor assumption. When I woke up we were stopped so I asked the guy next to me where we were and he said Bucaramanga bus station. I quickly got off and this girl was saying something very quickly to me in Spanish. At that point I was half asleep and didn’t even know English. Soon after I realized my backpack was upside down because I had gotten off the bus in such a rush and when I adjusted it she smiled, and then I understood what she had been trying to communicate. The layover at the Bucaramanga station for my 1am bus to Medellin was actually quite short, only about 15 minutes, then I hopped on and was lucky enough to have no one next to me. I was able to spread my legs across both seats and slept pretty much the entire 8 bus ride.

The City

Medellin is the second largest city in Colombia and the capital of the Antioquia region. The culture from Medellin is known as Paisa and this includes food, customs, and certain phrases and words. During the 1980s when Escobar funded the Medellin cartel it was known as one of the most dangerous cities in the world and even had the highest murder rate. But at the beginning of the 21st century the city regained prosperity with the development of its metro, improved security and education, and liberal development policies. It was even named the most innovative city of the year in 2013 by the Wall Street Journal. And as a visitor to the city you can really tell that it is prospering both social and economically. The weather is warm year round with very few temperature extremes so the city had been nicknamed the “city of eternal spring”. There are beautiful flowers on balconies, countless gardens and parks, rooftop bars, and outside-seated restaurants throughout the city. There is even cable cars used as a form of mass transit to travel to the hills.

Medellin is a beautiful city with the heart of the city in the valley between the mountains and then brick houses that look the same going all the way up the hill. Somewhat similar look to Bogota. I spent most of my 2 weeks in El Poblado which is a more upscale neighborhood with lots of restaurants and hostels. The Blink school and hostel were in this area so I really got to know it well. My 12 days in Medellin was the longest time I’d spent in a single city since living in Denver. It was nice to not be constantly packing my bag and hopping on a bus somewhere. I even did laundry twice and got my first South American haircut. 

All that being said, I actually explored Medellin less than I would have if I was there for 4 days because my primary focus was Spanish school and making new friends. After class I usually spent my afternoons studying and hanging with fellow Blink students, and I was too tired for tourist activities. Unfortunately I never made it to Comuna 13 which is one of the top destinations for its vibrant energy and fascinating history within the city. I really wanted to go but a lot of people had already gone, and the day I planned to go with Gal it was raining. Oh well I will just have to go back.

The Food

Since Medellin is a big city with a lot of foreign influence, it has every type of food imaginable; especially in the El Poblado neighborhood. Blink school provided lunch, which was usually a selection of typical Colombian dishes, so for dinner I had a wide variety of other food: sushi, ramen, wings, pizza, burritos, burgers, and more.

But the best meal I had was my first one when I had just arrived. I went to a place called Hacienda where the waiters all dressed in traditional Antioquia apparel. I had the chicharrón especial which was caramelized and came in a delicious sauce and then for desert the waitress recommended which was this incredibly sweet and tasty Arequipa pastry with ice cream. I wish I went back to that place again but for some reason it never worked out.

The People

The locals I met in Medellin were once again very friendly and accommodating for tourists. Medellin has a bit of a reputation for being dangerous but as long as you just go out in big groups then take a taxi home it’s completely fine. I really enjoyed all the teachers and hostel staff at Blink and some of them even went out and partied with us. My teacher Danny was incredible, more on her later. 

The owner of the school Christian was an American from LA with a very strong type A personality (shocker). I respect what he has done creating a school with a strong Spanish program and a good environment to both learn and socialize all for a cheap price (~$175/week for 20 hours of group classes, 2 hours of private lessons, 5 nights at the hostel, and breakfast and lunch included). But he was actually a weird character. He made some comments about and toward woman that were uncomfortable which turned me off to him as a person. While I do recommend the school for so many reasons, he was one of the only negatives.

As for backpackers, I made so many good friends at Blink that it would be hard to list them all so I’ll just talk about my tops. As I write this now, Blink truly was the perfect jump off point for making friends as most of us were following the same route through Colombia and the rest of South America. Since we all went to school together, lived together, ate together, and explored Medellin together; it made for some really lasting relationships. Plus 2 weeks was the longest I’d spent with the same people in forever so you truly got to know everyone for more than just a few nights.

• Gal (Tel Aviv, Israel): super smart and funny guy who was really easy to get along with and have a good time. Me, him, and Tyler became the 3 amigos both in and out of class always hanging out
• Tyler (Boston, US): it’s rare to meet another backpacker from the US because our culture is kinda lame when it comes to long term travel but Tyler had already been traveling for a year with no end in sight. Good guy to crack a joke with. Our lifestyles are quite different in real life but in the backpacker community we were one and the same and it was nice to bond with another American. We were also in the same rafting group in San Gil
• Mía (Philippines/Germany): great girl who was always hanging out with the 3 amigos. Super fun to be around and easy to converse with
• Joe (England): hilarious dude who has the same sense of humor as me. We were constantly cracking each other up. His girlfriend Lorna was also super nice and friendly
• Tom (Ireland): you could always count on Tom to have a big smile on his face and be the life of the party. Sometimes he was hard to understand but when you got him it was great. His girlfriend Alana was also great crack (Irish slang for great fun. They also liked to say what’s the crack for what’s going on)
• Patricks (Latvia): my first Latvian I’ve met and he gave me a great impression of the country. Very smart and well spoken, good sense of humor, and incredible linguist. He was only 22 yet working on his 4th language with aspirations to learn 7 or 8. He was in his 12th week of school at Blink with strong intentions to become fluent
• Bente (Germany): she was at my hostel in Santa Marta so it was nice to see a familiar face on day one. Sometimes she was great and other times a bit odd but overall fun person to be around
• So many others that I’m not going to list but they will show up in stories down the road as I ended up traveling for a week with some people I didn’t talk to as much at Blink but eventually got to know quite well
• There was actually quite a few Americans at the school, the most I’d met throughout my travels, but they weren’t really backpackers. They were either there just for Spanish school or to go to school and tack on 1-2 more weeks of travel. Maybe one day America will catch up to the rest of the world and appreciate the importance of the backpacker lifestyle where you explore other countries for an extended period of time

Blink School

I wanted to do a week or two of Spanish school early in my trip to help give me some more baseline knowledge and Medellin seemed like the perfect place to do it. I could go to class in the morning and still explore the city in the afternoons/evenings. I heard about Blink school from some other backpackers saying it was a great experience. Not only is it a solid Spanish school but you also stay in a hostel with other backpackers from school so you all hang out afterwards. In an ideal world we’d be practicing our Spanish together after class, but in reality we were mostly just building friendships talking in English with the occasional Spanish thrown in. 

The setup of Blink was great – the hostel was a 1/2 block from the school (some classes were actually held in the Hostel common areas during the day), the restaurant where breakfast and lunch was included with our payment was two doors down, and the laundry service was right next door. We had everything we needed all in one place. The hostel had desks and common areas for studying, although it did crowded in the afternoons, and the beds were very nice concrete bunks that had curtains for privacy and your own light for studying later in the evening. They also had private rooms if you wanted to pay more. It was a great place to perch for a bit.

I had originally planned to only do 1 week of classes but had such a good first week that I decided to add on a second; a lot of us made that same decision. We had to do a Spanish test beforehand to determine what level class we should be in. I did pretty well on the test and was placed in a higher level than I probably should have been but it was good to learn new material, and I was still able to hold my own. I just had less practice than the others so my speaking abilities weren’t quite as good at times. 

Overall the experience reminded me of the days of being a freshman at Tulane: people in dorms either studying or hanging in the common area, everyone going together to get breakfast and lunch, and then exploring the city in the evenings. Except we partied a lot less during the week than freshman year at Tulane. Everyone was here to focus on their Spanish…at least a bit. We did all pay the money to be here and were taking time away from our travel; so might as well take it somewhat seriously.

The first week was shorter because of a Colombian national holidays (the 3rd Monday in a row; they have so many holidays). This meant our classes were 4.5 hours each day instead of 4 and we still had two 1 hour private lessons. The second week was back to the normal 4 hours of classes and two 1 hour privates. This was my first time going to class in 8 years so I was excited to be a student again because I did like school and really wanted to improve my Spanish, but 4.5 hour classes were tough. By the end of the first week I was so ready for the weekend. It was the first time I truly earned a weekend since quitting my job in Denver on April 15. When your a backpacker every day is a Saturday, but during Spanish school your back on the regular daily grind with weekends being a reward. 

I loved my teacher Danny. She was a 22 year old Colombian who was from a small town but had lived in Medellin for the last 4 years. She was really down to earth and made class fun. She catered to us with the topics of conversation which made learning way easier and more relevant. She pretty much only spoke in Spanish, only occasionally switching to English to explain things further. This is the way to do it! I learned some new vocab but I’d say the main focus was on grammar and speaking. We would do a lot of activities that required us to speak, which was really good practice. We would either have discussions on topics or play little games that forced us to talk about things. Then every night we would have homework (which was super weird to do for the first time in years) that would either be grammar exercises or a short writing prompt. Gal, Tyler, and I were all in the same class with Danny for both weeks and became the 3 amigos spending all day together in class then hanging out all evening after our studies. Danny even took us to the Medellin Botanical Gardens on Tyler’s birthday where we did class outside in the gardens and even drank a nice 10am beer.

We also had two private one hour lessons per week where you had a 1 on 1 with a different instructor. My first week was with Esteban and my first lesson he had me talk about myself and some of the activities I’d done on my trip so far; it was a good, open discussion that focused on my speaking abilities. The second lesson, we spoke a bit but the focus was more on the grammar rules I’d been learning. My second week of private lessons was with a different instructor whose name I can no longer remember. The first lesson, she asked me a bunch of questions about my childhood which forced me to talk in the past. My second lesson, we had a bit of an open discussion (I was feeling very confident and good in my speaking this day after nearly two weeks of classes) then we did some grammar exercises.

Poker Nights

The first week we had a big group of people get together to play some cash poker. It was my first time playing in awhile and I forgot how fun it is to play poker. We didn’t have very many chips but since each one was worth 2,000 pesos people started throwing straight cash on the table and things got interesting quickly. There were some big hands where people were reaching into their wallet throwing 20,000 to 50,000 peso bets. It didn’t take long for a lot of money to be on the table. I started out poorly but crawled my way back up and ended up winning a small chunk of change. Christian was super stoked on playing and decided to host a big tournament style game at the restaurant the following week with free food included for the participants and beer for sale.

The second week’s poker game was tournament style with a 50,000 peso buy in and the ability to buy back in before a certain hour. With 16 people and a few people buying in again, there ended up being a lot of money in the pot. The first place prize was around 125 USD. I was doing really well in the beginning but right after the time for buying back in I lost 3 big hands in a row and got out in 15th place. It was a bit of a bummer but that’s just the way it goes.

Tejo

Tejo round 3 in my career was when I finally lost by undefeated streak. The rules were somewhat similar to how we played in San Gil however since there were so many people we had teams of 5 and played the highest score after 30 minutes. I did pretty well getting one mecha and a lot of rounds having the closest shot; however my team wasn’t very good. We ended up losing both our matches. Oh well you can’t win them all. It was still a fun school night of drinking beers and tossing the tejo. With 40 people playing, there was a lot of energy on the tejo field whenever someone caused an explosion.

Pueblito Paisa

Hill in the center of town with nice views of the city. There was a scheduled Blink meet up there at 9 but me, Gal, Tyler and Mia showed up before sunset to see the city while it was still light and so Gal could fly his drone. Not much of a sunset but cool to see contrast between day and night as it got darker. We had a few beers and empanadas enjoying the view.

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Atlético Fútbol Match

On the Sunday in between my first and second week of classes, a huge group of us from school went to an Atlético Fútbol match (one of the two local teams in town). You can only buy tickets if you have a Colombian ID but Christian had a friend that offered to help us and Emily took it upon herself to organize buying 40+ tickets so props to her. We got to the stadium early to have beers at a nearby bar beforehand and the energy was electric. Atlético had just won the championship in their league and this was the first game of the new season so the hype was real. We had all bought cheap jerseys in El Poblado so we looked like real fans. There was also countless vendors walking around the outside of the stadium selling noise makers, hats, jerseys, whatever.

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We went into the stadium 30 minutes before the game and it was exploding with noise as people were chanting the Atlético fight songs. We sat in the fan section which was absolute craziness. People were jumping up and down waving their flags and singing the fight songs from the pregame all the way through the end. Why can’t American sporting events be this rowdy?!

It actually turned out to be a very boring match and the game play was terrible, but the energy of the crowd still made it an incredible experience. It was actually a bit dangerous because sometimes fans in the back would just push people forward and everyone below them would start toppling. I ended up on the ground two times, and the first time was a decently hard fall. You have to look behind periodically to make sure you don’t get pummeled. The game ended on a 1-1 tie with both goals being scored on penalty shots. Fucking ties in soccer. So lame. Afterwards a few of us got drinks nearby and continued to soak in the scene from the fútbol crowd.

El Centro Walking Tour

During my second week of school, Julia and I did a free walking tour of El Centro after class. It was nice to get out of El Poblado and see a different part of town, and it was also my first time taking the metro. Not surprisingly, the center was much more bustling with people and activity everywhere. There were vendors trying to sell clothes, accessories, food, whatever; and also lots of beggars. This area had a much more real city Medellin feel than the fancier El Poblado area so it was nice to get this perspective. All that being said it was still a very clean and well architected downtown. 

The buildings were very modern and everything felt very new; because a lot of it was. The walking tour started at Parque San Antonio where the guide gave us a rundown of Medellin’s history touching on the violence and Escobar era. It’s always interesting to hear the perspective of a local on these difficult subjects because they have lived through it and can provide more emotion and feeling into the story. Even though our guide was only a couple years old when Escobar was killed, her life was still changed by his presence and legacy based on his impact on her family and city. After the more brutal part of Medellin’s history, the story actually gets a lot more positive. The city has been working really hard toward being more progressive, modern, and safer. They are very proud of the metro system; our guide mentioned that multiple times throughout the tour. They’ve knocked down countless buildings in order to expand the metro. There has also been a lot of focus on education for children, enhanced safety in the city, and increased attraction for innovation and new businesses. Medellin has come a long way in the last 20 years and the locals are very happy with the current state of affairs. Sure there are still some rough areas but it’s nice to see how much progress the city has made.

Next we walked through Parque Berrio to Plaza Botero which contains a 23 sculptures from the famous artist Fernando Botero who is originally from Medellin (see my Bogota post for more on him). It is a 7000 square meter outside park surrounded by the Museum of Antioquia and the Rafael Uribe Uribe Palace of Culture.

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Then we walked through some busy streets to Parque de Las Luces. The guide was continuing to provide us info about various aspects of the city but I really don’t remember the details at this point. The tour concluded at the square with Memorial para la no violencia en Antioquía and Monumento a la Raza. Overall it was a good tour and added some nice insight into my knowledge of Medellin both through the stories of the guide and seeing the heart of the city with my own eyes.

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Nightlife

Medellin is known to be a big party city and while I did have some good nights out on the town, the main focus was Spanish school so I wasn’t going out during the week. The main area for going out in El Poblado is Parque Lleras which is filled with restaurants, bars, and clubs. The first weekend on Friday night we pregamed at the hostel then went to Sonorama which is a club in El Poblado. While there were some locals there it was definitely a very back packer heavy scene. The DJ was dropping some nice house beats and it was a fun night dancing until the 3 in the morning. Then we hung out in the common area until it was nearly sunrise. It felt well deserved after a week of Spanish school. But the next day was rough as I hadn’t had a night out like that in awhile. I slept until 1 in the afternoon and was still struggling to get out of bed and motivate myself to do anything. I went and got a haircut which felt productive. That Saturday night was more low key as a group of us got dinner then went to a billiards hall and shot some pool. I still ended up kicking back quite a few beers but nothing like the night before. The following weekend we all went out again on Friday night pregaming at Blink hostel with beer pong before hitting a more local club in El Poblado for some reggaetón. Once again it was fun to look around and watch all the Colombians singing all the words to every song.

Final Thoughts

Medellin is a very cool and progressive city that I would recommend to anyone visiting Colombia. It’s hard to say which I liked more, Medellin or Bogota, because I had 2 very different experiences. One was focused on Spanish school and the other I had a local showing me around. These days I prefer hiking and being out in nature, but I’m glad to have seen both of Colombia’s biggest cities and truly gotten to know them better. I think it’s important when traveling to see how people in the metropolitan areas live to get a better sense of the overall culture of the country.