I left Iquitos with a week to go before Christmas. The fact that it took me the whole week to get to Arequipa (where I spent Christmas and New Years with my friend Joaquin) still astonishes me. My concept of time in relation to travel is changed forever. When it takes 3 days to go from Iquitos to the nearest road, journeys counted in hours become mere trifles. 18 hours from Lima to Arequipa on a bus? Easy. And I wonder how the 4-hour drive to Boston could ever have seemed long.
The boat trip was enjoyable, though. I made friends with my neighbors – fellow travelers from Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Colombia – and had wonderful long conversations about everything from 80s music to sex slaves in Mexico. When we finally stepped onto dry land again, I found myself suddenly sad – I’d been in the Amazon a whole month, gotten used to the heat, the rain, sleeping in a hammock, grown to love the awe-inspiring clouds and the smell of bananas, begun to expect to see river dolphins every afternoon, and here I was leaving…who knows when I’ll ever return?
The bus ride from Yurimaguas to Tarapoto was 2 hours of windy roads up into the mountains. How windy, you ask? Well, the first thing the bus attendant did when we set off was give everyone a little black plastic bag – not for trash, as I thought, but to be sick in, should the road affect you too much – and almost every single one got used by the time we arrived. I have never seen so many sick people in my life. Not the most pleasant experience.
From Tarapoto, my new friend Mayo (a jazz singer from Chile, living in Colombia) and I took the night bus to Trujillo, on the coast. I went to sleep in a jungle and woke to a desert – what a shock! For the girl used to relying on rainwater to wash her dishes every evening, used to the constant sounds of birds and insects from the forest, most of all used to being constantly surrounded by things green and growing, a dry and barren desert was hard to take.
I spent a day in Trujillo, going on a tour of Chan Chan, the largest pre-Columbian city in South America, and largest adobe city in the world. Some of the temples were amazingly well preserved, either because they were buried in sand until recent excavation or because the Chimor people themselves buried their temples inside newer temples, so underneath crumbling mud-brick walls you can find perfectly preserved paintings of gods and snakes and human sacrifices. It was fascinating. I have to say, though, if I were to choose an ancient Peruvian city to live in, I’d prefer Machu Picchu – true, the Chimor had great beaches, but I’ll take mountains and (especially) trees over that any day.
From Trujillo I went on down the coast, past Lima (and by ‘past’ I mean I spent 3 days wandering around the city) to Arequipa, where Joaquin lives. Joaquin was one of my best friends at UWC but I haven’t seen him since we graduated, so I was really excited to get here. And I was not disappointed. His whole family is super cool, and I passed a wonderful Christmas and New Years being entertained by silly jokes and intellectual conversations and lots and lots of illegal fireworks. Wow. I have never seen so many fireworks at one time. For both Christmas (or rather, midnight on Christmas Eve) and New Years, every single roof sets off fireworks, and in a city of almost 1million people, that’s insane. For about an hour after midnight, there were magnificent displays in every direction I looked. It was very much fun.
Some of the New Years traditions around here: 1. Wear yellow underwear for the New Year…apparently it’s good luck. So for the week between Christmas and New Year, all the streets were decked out little shops selling yellow underwear, yellow boxers, even lacy yellow thongs. It was crazy. 2. At the stroke of midnight, drink 12 shots of champagne, one per minute, each with a raisin in it. Why a raisin? I don’t know. It’s supposed to bring money in the coming year. I just ate the raisins. 3. If you plan on traveling, run around the block dragging your suitcase to ensure safe travels. I didn’t have my backpack with me, but I ran around with my shoulder bag and camera…that’s got to count for something.
Now I’m off to Lima again (on another short 18-hour bus ride) to pick up my darling Tim and start off on a wild tour of Peru’s greatest attractions. I’m so excited!
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