Rule #2: Don't Die.

Hello my dears,

This post was started to be published on Oct 5, 2013. That means that I am over a year late to edit and post it. This is particularly unacceptable as I was living in Cuzco for a month that same year. Doing nothing more than eating vegetarian food and finishing my TEFL training. Really, I could have been publishing. I clearly was not.

But H and I were together in Peru for our one and a half year anniversary! Yay! H took a short break from her important work in the jungles of Ecuador to join me on my mad dash south. She came and met me in the Cordillera Blanca, and we settled into Huaraz to explore.

It’s a cute town that’s popped up at the south of these impressive mountains, mainly as a mine worker community. And our little hostel had a view of the mountains off the balcony. Those white fluffy clouds are intermixed among the white and blue distant cliffs, if you can see through all the brick-made urban sprawl.

Huarez is not what I would call a pretty town. In fact, it does not really feel like a safe town either. It’s just one of those places that you have to stay for a bit when you’re trying to get somewhere more picturesque. But we were on a tight schedule, as I was due to be in Cusco in a short 2 weeks. So we stayed in Huarez and suffered a little as we adventured out into the mountains.

I only have one photo from those adventurings, which was from climbing the nearby mountain for a view of the city. The walk was pleasant. The sun was hot. And that is about all I remember.

We also went on an epic attempt to climb to a pretty lake that ended in us hanging out in an adorable little city eating ice cream and watching the local elderly putter around. Super good accidental trip. And then a little hike walk along the fields. Pretty, but poorly marked and maintained. And then we flagged down some transport and returned to gather our bags and hit the road.

To Lima! Such a pretty downtown area. Old, well maintained, and easily accessible to foot traffic. Ok, just kidding about the easy thing, since when we were the Lima police were blocking off random roads for no apparent reason. And, being that we appear very gringa they were not even willing to attempt to explain to us. We did, however find a little side access point they let us through to visit all the internal city workings. And since everything had been closed down outside that one point, we had the whole area pretty much to ourselves.

(And the police of course)

We attempted to get a visa for Bolivia here in Lima, but were turned away because those of us who are burdened to carry the US passport must pay the exuberant “taxes” and “bribe” fees at the borders, and cannot apply in advance like all those other travelers. This is actually what they told me. At least they were honest.

So, next stop is further south! I have another one of those to come along here shortly (hopefully), or at least within a year?

Tags: Cordillera Blanca, Huarez, late... but not dead, Lima, Peru, travel blog