Quick update on life: 2011 has started off on a great path! I was lucky enough to coerce a great friend of mine, Ali, to spend Christmas, New Years and her birthday here with me in Ecuador. We had an incredible time celebrating the holidays with my host family and traveling to Peru!
About a month ago, Ali and I were chatting online about the endless adventures her trip to Ecuador would bring when she mentioned Machu Picchu. On a whim we looked up tickets to Peru, found a steal of a deal and booked them instantly! And that was the extent to which we planned our Peruvian trip. Looking back I am amazed at how much we were able to accomplish in our ephemeral 6-day stint with such limited planning. All we knew is we were going to Peru to see Machu Picchu.
We coined our Peruvian adventure “the trip of compromising situations” and took to giggling when fellow travelers curiosity questioned us about hostels, reservations and planned means of transportation. Like I said before though, we did pretty damn well for how little prepared we were. For example, it might have been helpful to know before that its best to fly to Cuzco, not Lima, to visit Machu Picchu for it’s a mere 24 hours bus ride from one city to the other. Another helpful fact would’ve been to make advanced reservations on the train to Machu Picchu which would’ve allowed us to arrive at a reasonable hour to seek out a hostel, buy entrance tickets to the park of Machu Picchu and make a quick, well needed trip to the natural hot springs. Instead we bought tickets when we should up to the station and bought 2 for the last train up the mountain for 11 pm, giving us 8 hours of wait time (quickly passed with the help of Peruvian beers and fried potatoes) and putting us into the base town of MP at 1:15 am in the pouring rain. Having thought we learned our lesson about lack of planning ahead, Ali and I used a few spare minutes of our 8-hour wait to call and reserve a room at a hostel so as to have a place to lay our heads but after a good half hour of searching in the dark and rain we gave up and settled on a different hostel whose host was made so uncomfortable by my “tears of exhaustion” that he gave a us a very reasonable price. In bed by 2 am, up by 5 am in order to get in line for entrance tickets and bus seats and attempt to catch the sunrise from the tip of MP. I missed the sunrise while buying entrance tickets and Ali witnessed it from her spot in line for the buses. However we did arrive to MP by the refreshing hour of 6:30 am to catch the entire monument covered in a dense fog that prohibits seeing more than 10 feet in front of you. We just kept “giggling” and muttering “compromising situations”.
Machu Picchu was spectacular. We took a side-hike up an immense mountain that overlooked the ruins and took our breath away. The clouds burned off and allowed for serene views and photos. Despite the impossibility of watching the sunrise from the top (much recommended by guidebooks) our early start paid off for we were out of the ruins and headed back to town by time all the guided-groups were filling the tiny paths and lessening its innate beauty.
The rest of the trip went well; train down the mountain, mini-bus to Cuzco, 22 hour bus ride from Cuzco to Lima with an early AM stop at a questionable rest stop in the middle of the desert which caused sleepy, Benadryl induced Ali and Amanda to believe they had caught the wrong bus and were headed towards Iran. By noon the day after boarding the bus, we arrived back in Lima for a day of site seeing in its historical center. Well for me at least, Ali was a little “under the weather” and preferred the comfort of being near a toilet rather than meandering through the metropolis’s crowded streets. Our Peruvian trip (and Ali’s Ecuadorian one) ended with one last night in Lima, a quick flight to Guayaquil, bus to Cumanda, quick re-packing of all bags and one final night in Cumanda, bus back to Guayaquil, our last supper at a food court in the mall (I had a very satisfying hamburger from Burger King and Ali savored a few bites of Yuca bread, who was still attentively questioning the abilities of her stomach), and a gloomy final return to the GYE airport.
Last night I dropped Ali off at the airport and now I am attempting to remember what “normal life in Cumanda” is. I feel like I’ve had an incredible stint of visitors and grand vacations these past few months that life has been even more surreal than usual. However, much to my dismay I don’t see the “surreal-ity” diminishing for in two weeks I will be heading to Quito for our “end of service” conference, which is basically the beginning of the end. During said conference we are required to submit final reports on all projects completed in our two years, have another round of medical tests, attend workshops for resume building, job searching and how to deal with reverse culture shock and most depressing of all, we will select the date for our return flight home. RETURN FLIGHT HOME? I could’ve sworn I just got here.
Well now that I got thinking about the end and how near it is, I think its time to get out of this internet shop and enjoy one of my last Sunday afternoons in Cumanda. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and memorable New Years. Thanks all for your support in 2010 and I wish you all a prosperous 2011!!!! Love AES.
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