Peru

April 10 - May 25, 2024

Peru was an interesting time. I actually had no intention of going down into South America on my long-term Latin America trip, but when a friend I had met in Guatemala asked if I wanted to join him trekking in Peru, I decided, why the hell not. I love trekking and it’s rare to meet someone with that same love for it, so it’s as good a reason as any to go anywhere! And so I went to Peru after 4 months in Guatemala, and honestly, I arrived with a bit of a heavy heart.

My last 2 months in Guatemala were spent working at a hostel in the beach town of El Paredon. They were 2 months filled with absolutely rich memories, maybe one of the most memorable times of my life, but also 2 months filled with a lot of heavy, down emotions that came from being in a toxic relationship with our hostel manager. By the end of the 2 months, I honestly needed a reason to leave, and Peru gave me that reason.

And so I arrived to Peru in bit of a weird state of mind. I was still so stuck in those raw, deep feelings and memories of those days of Guatemala. It took me maybe about a week to finally “arrive” in Peru. And after that, Peru was an interesting time. I trekked with a friend for a week, trekked on my own for another week, and then met back up with my good group of friends I had made while working at that hostel in Guatemala. We spent a month traveling together, something I don’t usually do as I like to travel solo, and it was an interesting month. It was both so good to see them and we had some great memories shared, but it was also a time when we all felt like we never quite found our footing - as a group traveling together and in Peru in general. It was a time we all learned what different travel styles we all had, and how nobody particularly wanted to compromise. And a time when I learned that countries that feel a little more developed, where things just kind of work and there are rules and laws, just don’t sit quite as well with me compared to the more wild countries of Central America. Still, Peru housed many, many memories I’m so grateful for, despite never really feeling like home.

Lima

I arrived in Peru and met up with a friend I had met while working at La Iguana in Guatemala, the first hostel I worked at on Lake Atitlan. I didn’t particularly like working there, and this friend who I had met while he stayed as a guest for a few days, was one of the people I met there that I had connected with the most. That said, while we got along well, I really only knew the guy for a couple days and so didn’t have too much of an idea of what to expect when I landed in Lima airport and we’d see each other again a few months later after meeting! It turned out to be nice and not weird at all, and we found a relatively chill groove traveling together.

We spent our first couple days walking around Lima, which was honestly a better city than I had expected based off reading some not so great reviews about it. While it was decent, it still wasn’t a place that I loved. We stayed in the Miraflores neighborhood which honestly felt a bit European to me. Everything felt new and modern and it lacked that Latin charm or feel, that I love and associate with Latin America. It could’ve just been any old city honestly, except for the fact that ceviche and pisco sours were a’plenty!

I would later spend a few days in the Barranco neighborhood on my own, and this neighborhood I liked better. There was a bit of a grungy scene to it, and it felt like it had more character and was more interesting than Miraflores. Overall, I thought Lima was a nice enough city to spend a few days in getting to know, but not one I would recommend spending a ton of time in.

4 day Santa Cruz Trek, Huaraz

After a couple days in Lima, we made our way up to Huaraz, a 9 hour bus ride north of Lima, to do some trekking. This is where most of Peru’s amazing treks are based, and definitely a place to explore if you love nature! My friend, Cody, only had a week left before he needed to head back home to the States (he had already doing Peru solo for a couple weeks before I arrived), and so we only had time for 1 trek together. We decided to do the Santa Cruz trek, a 4 day trek through the the Blanca Cordillera mountain range. I used to be an avid hiker and camper, having even gone for a 2 month solo roadtrip where I hiked and camped most of the way by myself, but I hadn’t been on trail for so long. After I discovered surfing a couple years back, it felt like life had become all about the surf, instead of about the trail. So, I was a little nervous about embarking on for me, what was the longest trek I’d have done thus far, but also really excited to get back into hiking mode and rediscover the love.

The Santa Cruz trek was interesting for me. We had debated figuring it out on our own versus doing it through a company, and in the end decided it wasn’t worth the trouble to figure it out on our own and so we signed up to join through a company. The group we ended up with was really, really cool - a group of 10 people with everyone around the same age and getting along very well. And while such a big and good group made the whole experience very fun, it also made it feel like less of true solace in nature, which is what I’ve been used to and craving a bit of. And so I had mixed feelings about that. I was glad that our group worked out so well, but also learned that for next time, I would try and seek out more true peaceful solo time in nature.

The trek itself was beautiful and so, so nice to be out in nature again. Day 1 was completely manageable, but Day 2 really kicked my ass. I always struggle with hikes at altitude, and this one was no joke for me. Day 2 was our hard day, where we did a mountain pass to 4760m and a total of 23km, with 835m elevation gain and 1245m elevation loss. During that mountain pass, I seriously wanted to give up at multiple points. At one point I even bent over thinking I was going to puke. Hiking at altitude when you’re not acclimated is seriously a different story. Things that would be hard but manageable at normal altitude, feel like you can hardly breathe and just want to die at high altitude. But alas one step after another, many many steps later, we finally made it.

Then on Day 3, we had two options. We could either stop and make camp at a nice waterfall, the typical planned campsite for the night, or we could power through and continue all the way to the end, where we would reach a small facility where we would make camp at and be able to order beers from. I personally wanted to stop and make camp at the waterfall, because to me, one of the main points of being out in nature like this, is to just to enjoy the peace in nature. But people in the group voted to continue all the way to the end, wanting to get it all done with and enjoy their victory beers at the end. For me, I don’t really like this. I don’t like when the end is the only goal, and you don’t stop to appreciate the journey along the way enough. And I especially don’t like when beers at the end is the biggest factor. We can all have beers anytime. Is it really worth it to rush through nature just for this thing you can indulge in anytime, when being trekking out in true nature is so rare?

In any case, I followed the group vote and we finished up what was supposed to be a 4 day trek in 3 days. In the end, it was really nice to enjoy beers with a sunset over the fields at the camp facility we ended up at. And it was also here that Cody and I had a nice little heart to heart conversation about life, and so I’m also grateful for this meaningful moment of connection.

All in all, the Santa Cruz trek was beautiful, but honestly not super, super stunning. The mountain pass day had some beautiful scenery, but days 1 and 3 were beautiful but also just okay. It’s a trek I would recommend if you’re relatively short on time and/or don’t want to do an absolutely killer trek. And it was still overall very nice and enjoyable. Just not the best trek of my life. (read on below for what I think is the best trek of my life!)

8 day Huayhuash Trek, Huaraz

When I finished the 4 day Santa Cruz trek, I felt like my ass was totally kicked. The altitude hit me harder than I expected, and I was completely pooped afterwards. No way did I think I was actually going to sign up for not only another trek right away, but especially an 8 day trek that was known to be extremely difficult. But somehow I met enough people that convinced me it was really a spectacular trek, one of the top 3 treks in the world, and I decided fuck it, I’m already here, when else am I going to happen to be in an area of a top 3 trek in the world? So fuck it, I’m scared and nervous as hell, but I’m going to do it. And so the day after the Santa Cruz trek ended, I took a couple days to recuperate and signed up to start the 8 day Huayhuash trek.

The 8 day Huayhuash circuit is an absolutely beautiful and stunning trek. Almost every single day consists of a mountain pass. Each day we made camp around 4200m, climbed to around 4600-4800m during the pass, and slept in freezing cold temperatures. And while it was definitely a test of physical and mental strength, it was an absolutely stunning reward of a hike. The best trek I’ve done in my life, certainly.

I started off the hike struggling a bit on Day 1. It was cold and drizzling, and my legs had to remember how to purely climb uphill a mountain. I did it, but not at a particularly impressive pace. Day 2 I started remembering this hiking life again, remembering the type of pain that hiking feels like. And Day 3, I was super charging up the mountain again. Our guide was laughing at me because she said Day 1 I was slow, Day 2 a bit faster, and Day 3 onwards, wow, running! And normally it doesn’t go like that for most people, that they usually start strong and get slower. But for me, I used to be a hiker. A true avid hiker, hauling my ass up crazy mountains just for the fun of it, going at intense paces just to beat myself. And so for me, my body just needed to remember that feeling, that type of pain, and get used to it again.

I met someone on the hike who was struggling, especially with the altitude. They had done a few day hikes at altitude to prepare them for the trek, but they said that they had read online that the only way to truly acclimate to the altitude, was to do the Santa Cruz trek first. And it’s funny because that is what I inadvertently did! I struggled a lot on the first trek due to the altitude, but on the second one which was at even greater altitude, it was a breeze for me. So while I didn’t plan for it to work out this way, it in fact worked out well! My legs are were doubly exhausted, but my lungs thanked me for it!

It’s also funny because going into the trek, I had expected something completely different than what I got out of it. I had gotten used to trekking in a bigger group and was expecting to join a large group again and make some friends, but when I arrived in the van at the 4am pick-up, much to my surprise, I saw it was only going to be and one other couple. I had a bit of an uneasy feeling in my stomach, a gut feeling that this was not what I wanted. It was going to be 8 days of brutality and the people you were with always made a big difference. I wasn’t sure about this vibe, and I had been wanting a good group with people I could become friends with.

Much to my surprise though, I settled into the dynamic of our small group quickly and ended up actually really enjoying the fact that it was just the 3 of us. We could hike in silence and it reminded me of that freedom, joy, and contentedness I used to feel when I did long hikes by myself. Our paces were all similar enough, the couple was actually really cool and both like good friends, not the kind of couple that makes you feel like you’re third wheeling all the time, and it was overall actually a really nice dynamic that we all had. We could all appreciate the peace in hiking more or less solo, and then enjoy each other’s chill company over afternoon tea time and dinner. The 3 of us, plus our guide and porter (also a very cute married couple) felt like a little family of 5. It was so nice to have our little close group.

In the end, I was so, so grateful I signed up for this hike. Going into the hike, I really felt like this was one of the craziest things I had done on my trip thus far. Signing up for a crazy 8 day trek by myself somewhat spontaneously. The only other thing of similar craziness, was signing up for a 10 day silent meditation retreat a few months prior. I know that it might not sound that crazy, but with all the apprehension that I felt going into it - not even being totally sure about it in the moment I signed up for it - it felt completely out of my comfort zone and wild to me that I was just throwing caution to the wind this way. But in the end it was also a beautiful lesson in just completely getting out of your comfort zone and saying fuck it. Push yourself and know you will do it.