Onwards From Lima

A Quick Summary

On Monday we took a bus from Lima down to Ica, which is a city in the desert of Peru. From there, it was a short tuk tuk ride to Huacachina, which is a tiny town built around an oasis. We spent two nights here exploring the sand dunes by foot, buggy, and sandboard before hopping on a long (18.5 hour!) bus ride to Cusco. 

Cusco is a mountain town in the Andes, best known for being the starting point for visiting Machu Picchu. Since the elevation is so high, we gave ourselves a few days to explore and acclimatize before attempting any of the hikes in the area. 

Highs and Lows

Being on the sand dunes:

The desert oasis of Huacachina almost seemed like it should be fake. It is a small pool of water surrounded by palm trees (and hostels) in the middle of endless sand dunes. 

Huacachina from the top of a sand dune 

It was a lot of fun exploring the desert on dune buggies and sandboarding (like snowboarding but on sand), and we definitely had some high adrenaline moments. However, I think my favourite part of the desert were the quieter moments being up on the dunes. In particular, both evenings we got to watch the sunset on the dunes, and Phil and I also got up early one morning to try to catch the sunrise. Being up there in the stillness and quiet with only the wind was awe inspiring. In one direction there was the city lights of Ica, in another, the little oasis, and the rest was sand dunes as far as you could see. It's hard to capture in words or pictures how surreal it felt up on top of the dunes. 

Sunrise selfie

Bus ride to cusco:

The 18.5 hour bus ride to cusco was the first major lowlight of the trip for me. Cam and I had decided to go for the cheapest bus which meant no AC, smaller seats, and everything was a little dirtier. As soon as we stepped on the bus around 6:30pm, I was hit with a wave of stale and humid air. The bus began to wind up the dark mountain roads, and it didn't take long for me to get motion sickness. I managed to hold it off for the first few hours, but about 4 hours in I threw up most of my lunch. I felt a lot better after, so I had a snack, drank some water, and thought that was the end of it. I was very wrong.

Within a few minutes, the nausea came back again, and about an hour later I found myself back in the tiny bus bathroom, holding onto the toilet seat for balance and throwing up again. And thus began an hourly cycle: I'd sit trying to fight the urge to puke for an hour (almost to the minute every time). Then, my body wouldn't be able to hold it in any longer and I'd make my way to the back of the bus to throw up or dry heave for a bit. After that, I'd clean up and head back to my seat to start all over again. Finally, after about 6 or 7 hourly trips to the bathroom, I finally managed to fall asleep for a few hours... only to wake up with 4 hours left on the bus ride. I was then back on my familiar hourly cleanse until the bus finally arrived in Cusco around 1pm. 

When we got off the bus, my body was physically completely drained. Emotionally, I felt relieved and almost shocked that I'd made it, and frustrated at my body for reacting that way (you'd think after a few times my brain could figure out that I wasn't being poisoned). I also felt scared, I had made it to Cusco, but that was only halfway; the only way out of here is another bus ride down those same twisty roads. Next time, we are definitely paying for a nicer bus!

Right now, we are currently in Cusco resting. I have been feeling sick and still have some GI pain from the whole bus experience so I am hoping that will clear up soon. I would appreciate your prayers for a quick recovery!

On the bus before things took a turn for the worse 

Food Review

Ceviche: 8/10

On the way to the bus station in Lima, we stopped at a street food vendor selling ceviche, which is the dish everyone talks about needing to try in Peru. It is raw fish cured in citrus juices. It came with causa, which is a latin american dish of mashed potatoes and tuna. Both were amazing and tasted great, it was a nice gentle start to some traditional food. Unfortunately, it gave me a bit of an upset stomach (seems to be a theme this trip) so I had to dock a couple points. 

Street ceviche

Reflections

On not thinking too far ahead:

I can be a bit of a worrier. If there is something in the future that is stressing me out, I'll often go into problem solving mode. I'll do research and take a look at the options until I've convinced myself I'll be alright. Usually this works, although occasionally there will be something that I can't control or plan my way out of, and I'll get stressed about it. Unfortunately, almost everything about this trip falls into that category. 

When we were in the Houston airport, I started to feel super overwhelmed about all the different details and challenges to come; there was just so much unknown ahead. It would have been impossible to do enough research or planning to feel settled. Cam encouraged me to just worry about getting to our first nights accommodation, and figure out the next step tomorrow. That "one day at a time" approach has been something I've been working on over the last two weeks. Its still a work in progress; I'll catch myself stress-researching busses in Ecuador or hikes in Chile. However, focusing on the challenges of the current day and not all the future things I can't control have helped me not feel so overwhelmed. Its something I hope to keep doing after this trip as well.

Extra Photos

Dune buggy ride through the desert

Sunset on the sand dunes

Getting ready for sandboarding