The rest of Peru

Okay! Since my friends left, I stayed only in hostels or shared rooms, and the WiFi has been horrible. So now I am in a studio apartment in Panama City and am getting around to doing a bunch of things on my computer. I just got to Panama City two days ago and I had been in Peru until then, so this is going to be a recap of the rest of my time in Peru! 

My friends left and went back home to Colorado and on that same day I got on a full day bus to Huaraz, Peru. The bus from Lima took about 10 hours but it was a really nice bus! And the reason that I went to Huaraz is because the random German people that I got my yellow fever vaccine with recommended it! They said that the hiking was incredible and that the town was cool. So, I decided to trust them and just went for it (after doing some of my own research of course). Huaraz was really awesome. It is at 10,000 feet and has some really awesome hikes and treks that you can do from there. I did not do any overnight trips because I knew that I was heading to the Amazon and I wanted to save my adventurous spirits and money for that. So, I got to Huaraz and took my first day to adjust to the altitude because I was coming for Lima which is at sea level. Then I was there for several days, and I did a trip to Laguna Paron, Laguna Churrup, and Laguna 69. Laguna Paron was the first one I did and not much hiking. It was a lot of driving and a little walk to get to a viewpoint. But we got to go out on kayaks, and it was so incredible. Laguna Churrup I did with some people I had met during Laguna Paron. We took a van from Laguna Paron and did the hike without a guide (because there are not guided tours that do this one because it's pretty straight forward). Laguna Churrup was so challenging because it was pretty straight up and then straight down on the way back. It was really beautiful but hard. And on the way down I twisted my ankle which was a huge bummer. Luckily, I had time to take the next day as a rest day and then the day after I did Laguna 69. I woke up and did not have any pain in my ankle and I was so grateful because Laguna 69 is one of the more challenging day hikes. It was over 8 miles long and 2,700 feet of elevation gain. AND we ended at over 15,000 feet. So, it was a big hike. Luckily, I met this really nice gal from Estonia, and I just followed her all the way up. Like I was literally on her heels and just following her slow and steady pace. By the time we reached the top, I was feeling perfect and strong. All the hikes I did were really wonderful and I think that it would be fun to return and do some overnight trip! I met these guys from Pennsylvania on the bus ride to Huaraz. At the end of our bus ride, I asked what hostel they were at, and it was the same as me, so we walked there together and then got dinner. They were also on the bus out of Huaraz with me, just by coincidence. They did an overnight trek and said that it was super cool, and their pictures were awesome. Traveling just randomly connects you to people sometimes and it's pretty cool!

After Huaraz, I took a bus back to Lima so I could catch a flight to Iquitos the next day! Iquitos is in Peru still and it is the largest town in the world that is not reachable by car, only by plane and boat. There are roads in the town and some cars but mostly mototaxis! A guide told me that there's over 30,000 mototaxis in the city which is actually crazy to me. But I took a mototaxi to my hostel and then I talked to the owner of a tour company that goes to the Amazon. It seems that most tour companies have an office in Iquitos and then they have a lodge somewhere in the jungle along the Amazon River. The company recommended by my hostel seemed good and was pretty cheap. Also, a girl from hostel was going to do it the next day so I decided to sign up for the next day also! The first day in Iquitos was pretty much a wash because I had traveled the whole day before, slept about 4.5 hours, woken up at 3am and then landed in Iquitos at 7:30am. So basically, I spent that day in Iquitos relaxing and getting prepared for my tour the next day. 

My Amazon jungle experience was really great. It was the girl from my hostel, myself, and then 4 guys aged 18-24. And in our group of 6, 4 of the people were from England and 2 were from the United States. So, we were all about the same age and from English speaking countries which was fun. Our tour was three days and two nights, and it was pretty fun. We started by driving two hours outside of Iquitos on the only road. We drove to the end of it which was Natau which is right on the river. Then we rode about 2 hours in a boat to the lodge. The other girl and I shared a room, and the guys were in a room together. On our first day we got to the lodge, ate lunch together, and then went in a smaller boat to go find some dolphins. In the Amazon River there's grey and pink dolphins and we got to see both kinds! So cool. On that boat ride, we also got to see a sloth and some birds. We went back, changed into long pants and sleeves and rubber boots. Then we went for a night hike in the rain. It was a bit brutal at first but then it eased up. On the drive to where we were going to hike, we saw a huge tarantula which was awesome. On the walk we saw a poisonous snake with a red head, poison dart frog, lots of spiders, and the eyes of a caiman. Spooky! On the second day we went kayaking which was so crazy but cool. It's technically the end of the wet season so everything is still flooded. That means that we were able to go through the forest on kayak. It was a lot of tight squeezes but really fun. There were also lots of bugs on the trees and they fell into the kayaks, so I was paranoid the whole time that there was a tarantula crawling all over me. Thankfully that did not happen. In the kayaks we got to see 5 different types of monkeys which was pretty cool. Also, on the second day we went fishing! I am not huge into fishing, but I figured that I should try it. I caught two piranhas and a salmon! I caught the most fish in my group and felt pretty cool. That night instead of a walk we went in the boat looking for caiman! We found a baby that was 6-7 months. On the third, and final, day we went for a walk through the jungle and got to eat some different fruits and things. We also talked about survival and different useful things to know when you're in the Amazon jungle. Pretty interesting! We returned to Iquitos by boat and car, and I was grateful to make it back in one piece. I spent the next day hanging out in Iquitos and I visited a museum that was pretty cool. 

The next day was a longggg travel day! I woke up at 4am and got a mototaxi to the airport. Then I had a flight from Iquitos to Lima. Then a flight from Lima to Bogota, Colombia where I had a 5-hour layover. Then I had a flight from Bogota to Panama City which is where I am now. Luckily, I got to visit some airport lounges that were pretty nice and when I landed in Panama City I got Wetzels Pretzels!!! It was a long day of travel, but everything went perfectly so I can't really complain. I am in Panama City for a couple days. Currently I am in a really nice studio apartment, so I have been taking advantage of my own space, the air conditioning, and the good WiFi.  I will be in Panama for a while and then I head to Guatemala where my parents are coming to visit and where I'll see my friends! My parents randomly decided to come to Guatemala for a week, and I am so excited to see them. And they will overlap with Kaitlin and Ryan which is so exciting. And then in about 3 weeks I will be home. Time is flying by! It feels good to be back in Central America. It is definitely a bit different from South America in small ways.