June 9, 2018
I got to celebrate my birthday the best way possible: hiking up a mountain to see an incredible lake. The other girls and I woke up at 4 to get on a bus for Laguna Humantay. The bus was supposed to pick us up from a spot near our homestay, but after it never showed up. Jess called the guy we booked the tour through and he got a taxi to take us to the bus. While we were waiting, the alarm in the grocery store we were standing next to started going off. We were the only ones standing anywhere near it since it was so early in the morning, so we scooted over to the other side of the street. I promise we didn't do it (whatever it was).
The bus ride was about 3 hours long, the last hour of which we were on a tiny, bumpy dirt road that hugged the edge of some cliffs. Those roads don't really bother anymore. I've gotten good at blindly trusting whatever stranger is driving our bus or taxi.
When we arrived at the base of the trail, we had breakfast in the small shelter/hut/building/thing, then started our hike up. At the time, this was the hardest hike I had ever done (but I'm writing this over two weeks later and now I know that there was a harder one coming). It was rainy and the trail was all mud and rock and it was also very steep. If the weather had been better, it wouldn't have been bad. It took us 1 1/2 hours to get up to the lake. Once we neared the top, the rain turned to snow. Luckily, we were able to get a clear view of the lake for a couple of minutes before the snow got so heavy that it was difficult to see. We hung out at the top for maybe 20 minutes, then headed back down because it was so cold at that point. On the way down, I slipped countless times, but only managed to fall twice. My biggest mistake this trip was not bringing hiking boots. My tennis shoes sufficed for my first 3 weeks in Peru, but by this day, they had no grip left on the bottom. It was when I was on my way down on my second fall that I decided I needed to get some new shoes first thing when I got back to Cusco, and I did. Once back to the starting point, we had lunch then got in the bus back to Cusco. We returned around 6.
Little building we ate in to the left. I don't know what to call it.
Jess! Halfway up. Those little buildings in the back are where we started.
Laguna Humantay! Right before the snow got crazy.
The big 2-0. Featuring some more snow (for the 1st time ever on my birthday)
Kylee, Hannah, Jess, and even more snow.
aaand more snow
On the taxi ride back to our house, we saw this huge parade going on. There was a parade or festival of some kind going on pretty much every day I was in Cusco, but this was one of the biggest and definitely my favorite. There were miles of dancers on the street, a group or two from a bunch of different regions in Peru. It was insane. I ended up coming back to the city two hours later to buy some hiking boots (best decision I ever made) and the parade was still going on. I was in a hurry because I had to get on a bus to Puno at 10 PM, but I couldn't make myself leave the festival. I ended up standing on Avenida El Sol for an hour just watching all the dancers.
Dancers like these for blocks and blocks. I never even saw where it ended.
Funny story / stupidest I've ever been in my life: My friend Jack and I planned a trip to Lake Titicaca. It was a 7 hour bus ride there, so we got a night bus. I don't know why, but the whole time I thought the bus was at 10:30. Luckily I'm an early person. I left my house at 9:50 and got to the station at 9:59. When I arrived, no one was in the station, but the lady at the front desk saw me and asked if I was going to Puno and then shouted something I couldn't understand to a guy in another room. She rushed me into the next room to do a quick security check and then rushed me on the bus. I had no idea why at the time, but when I sat down Jack told me that the bus was at 10, not 10:30. They were just about to leave without me. Good thing I like to get places early I guess.
Comments
Post a Comment