The Lone Traveler

So I´m in Ariquipa now, after a 12 hour overnight busride last night.

I´ve been traveling the past few days, so the internets have been elusive.

On Saturday, I left Pisco for good. I was ready to leave -- while it was a unique experience that I´ll remember forever -- it was also hard being exposed to such poverty. On Friday night we took a cab to a soccer match between the locals and the gringos. It was a good 3 or 4 miles, and it cost... 4 Sole! Total. For 7 people. One US dollar will get you 2.70 Sole, so 4 Sole is about $1.50. Rrrrright. A gallon of gas here costs 12 Sole. So how does that work? Say you give 3 rides to people, each lasting 15 minutes, using up one gallon of gas. So you make 12 Sole and buy a gallon of gas for 12 Sole? You do the math. Seems like a breakeven analysis. I must be missing something.

Even the dogs are poor. So many dogs. Just wandering around eating through the piles of trash strewn about the streets. Part of the problem is that all the boy dogs have balls intact! Boy dogs plus balls still intact equals more and more dogs!

I remember buying a popsicle one hot afternoon after digging ditches all day - and walking past a hut (probably 12x10 - one room for a family of 4, made out of thatched reeds) -- thinking, man, here I am buying popsicles when these people can´t even buy food.
But what can I do, right? Besides be compassionate towards their plight, maybe dig a few ditches for their new school, offer them a smile. It´s rough.

On Saturday a bunch of us boarded buses for Huacachina. About 3-4 hours SE (inland) from Pisco. Huacachina is surrounded by sand dunes. Humongous Huacachinan sand dunes. We spent the night at a hostel there, arriving in the evening. It was a very nice hostel with a pool. I remember standing outside alone, next to the pool, looking around in all directions, moon, stars -- and dunes! The dunes are so high, they seem like mountains, dark mountains, but they are dunes.
Anyway, the next day we went 'sandboarding'. In America, these dunes would be protected and off-limits to even walkers and hikers. But - in Peru? They get a bunch of dune buggies and take the gringos out for a joy ride! Then they strap wooden boards on their feet and send them flyingn down the dunes - some with better success than others. I have to admit, the dune buggy ride was incredible. It was similar to riding a roller coaster, only you´re surrounded by gigantic cliffs of sand. I wouldn´t have been surprised to see the Sphrinx or Great Pyramid -- that´s what the surroundings reminded me of. We stopped at 3 different slopes, for sandboarding, each steeper and higher than the last. My first attempt was grand, I flew straight down with no problems. It´s easy right? Most people lay down on their stomach, since they don´t feel comfortable standing up. Long story short - on the 2nd to last dune - I try on my feet again. I had done a few on my stomach and wanted to try standing once more. So I start out - begin flying down the hill, so I turn sideways a bit to slow down (I snowboard after all, so I should have some idea how this works).
Well, the back edge catches - and off I go. I flew probably 10-20 feet in the air, landed on my butt, followed quickly by the back of my head, somersaulting down the hill. I went hand over feet twice, finally coming to rest towards the bottom of the hill. I had so much sand in my eyes, hair, mouth, face, shirt - everywhere - I could hardly see. I was coughing up sand. Spitting sand. Swallowing sand. Sand in my ears. I fell so hard that I did the usual survey for broken things -- starting first with my teeth and face since I´ve had trouble in the past with that! Teeth felt intact. Good. Face feels intact. Neck hurts. Body hurts. I seem to know where I am, that´s good. The crowd of people watching were making ooohs and aahhhs and weren´t sure what to do - I told them I was ok and most of them just had big frightened eyes saying ´'wow'.

So, the last dune! Was so high the people at the bottom looked like little dots. It must´ve been a few hundred foot drop in elevation. One of the guys in our group - David - had done it before and suggesting hiking to the top of another peak - he said it was a better ride. We head up - he goes first, on his stomach, goes flying down! He disappears (due to the steepness of the slope you couldn´t see him until the dune flattened back out). Then finally reappears in the flat part, flying! He stops, falls off his board, and doesn´t move for a good couple of minutes.
Long story short, I eventually go, on my stomach. I was going so fast that I had to dig my feet into the ground, as brakes, to at least maintain some control. I come flying into the flat part, almost hiting a few people, then bouncing to a stop and falling off my board. Wild - and wildly unsafe! I stand up, taking inventory, everything seems fine. But then something was missing from my pocket. My camera! I looked all around the bottom. Nothing. I had to find it. I start walking back up the impossibly steep dune. At that point our friend Naomi was heading down, but she was going slow and away from where I was walking. I was just thinking 'must...find...camera...too many...amazing....pictures...to lose´. So then I see our friend Richie come flying down too - heading straight for Naomi! Someone says 'he´s heading straight for her!' It seemed like Richie saw the impending doom and tried to alter his course, which he luckily did, narrowly flying fast Naomi on the right, probably coming within inches of her. It was a near disaster.
Anyway, back to the camera. I am walking back up the hill, along with my kind friend Jeremy. I don´t think anyone else had the energy to do so. I don´t know if you´ve ever tried walking up a steep sandy slope - but it´s not easy. And it was so far up! It must´ve been at least a half mile, probably more. We keep walking... and nothing. Such a horrible feeling. I wanted to get all the way to the top, just to be sure. Even though I was huffing and puffing so much I could hardly stand. My heart was ready to explode out of my chest. Then all of a sudden I hear Jeremy (who was slightly ahead of me) say 'you´re a lucky man Andy!' -- and with a humongous sigh of relief -- I watch as he triumphantly hoists the gleaming camera in the air! I tell him he´s the coolest man alive and we trotting down the mountain, leaping in victory.
Phew.
One wild dune buggy ride back where we caught air flying over dunes -- and that was enough for me.
I said goodbye to all of my Pisco friends. It was sad. Even Richie, who I was maybe going to travel with to Bolivia, decided to head back to Pisco as well, for more volunteering. That left me with my English friends Jack and Kate -- who are great funny people, and who also know Spanish, which is invaluable. They were heading into Ica, to catch a bus to Arequipa. They had already bought tickets and were going to shop for a bit before heading to the bus station. I thought it best that I head straight to Ica and the bus station to get my ticket too, since the Peru bus system is a little, ummmm, chaotic. I get to the bus station, dodging endless Peruvians in line. Madness! So many people. I find a man, blurt out 'uhh, Ariquipa?' and am returned with a rapid fire succession of words and head shaking -- with me of course understanding none of it. So, I say again -- 'Ariquipa?' -- what the hell else do I say right? And again, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Lots of head shakes no. So I try the bus station next to Soyuz, the woman there says Arequipa manana. Great. So, I go back to Soyuz, assuming Jack and Kate should´ve shown up by then. Nope. I ask another person about Ariquipa -- he talks and talks and talks, I look at him, and look at him, and look at him. And then Smile - no comprendo! He points that way, and then that way. Indicating, go straigh, then take a right. So out into the mad streets I go, honking, pedaling madness. Take my first right, and am greeted by the back of the Soyuz bus station. Dejected, and aware of my presence in a dark back alley, I walk back to the main street. There I see an empty room with a sign, I walk closer and it says buses! But the waiting room was totally empty, which didn´t make sense in contrast to the madness of the Soyuz waiting room.
So I walk up, saying oh boy here we go again. 'Ariquipa?´' --- blah, blah, blah, si, blah, blah, blah. Hmmmm, this seems a little more promising. At least there was less side to side head shaking - indicating no. He points to the screen and then writes down 10:30pm. Perfecto! Sold! I give him 75 Soles and wait in the waiting room.
This was really my first time alone, with nobody else that knew Spanish. It was humbling. I was hot, sweaty, sand still all over. I was prying it out of my ears, eyes, nose, mouth, shirt, pants, pants pockets, shoes. The bus came, I got on, hoped it really was going to Ariquipa, and boarded, sitting next to a pungest Peruvian who continually fell on me throughout the night. I had to keep nudging him back over to his seat, since he was obviously asleep and unaware that he was on me. I finally slept a little. And awoke to mountains and desert. Arriving in Ariquipa around 10am this morning. I took a cab to the hostel, and then a nap.
I just got some food - another exciting experience! They didn´t have a menu -which made for interesting conversation. Calle de alfjlashr432lu4? Si? Um, no habla espanol. Staring. Silence. ladfaldnflasnflsafnf-fn2l3h4l23n4nsdnflsdkf? Um, Smiling. Staring. No habla espanol. Pollo? Si si! Pollo por favor!
And on it goes. A bowl of tasty soup appeared, then a chicken patty with rice and lettuce. And then I ordered coke. And it all costed 4 Soles. About $1.25.

Ok, I gotta run! I´m feeling a little lonely now that all my friends are gone, but I´m sure I´ll meet new ones. My neck is stiff, my legs and feet are swollen from the 1,793 different insects that have bitten me thus far. I´ve had various people diagnose my wounds - I´ve heard sand flies, fleas, bed bugs, mosquitos. Probably all of the above. I'm hoping they fix themselves, because I´m not very comfortable having swollen legs and feet. If it doesn´t get better soon I´ll have to go to el medicino.
And my neck... well, hopefully it´s a slight case of whiplash. I don´t think it´s a concussion, but man oh man did I go down hard!

And with that, I am off to try and fix my camera. In the sandy melee, it got injured. It now says 'lens error, restart camera' -- whatever that means. Bottom line - it doesn´t work.

So, I will go and explain this to the local camera repair man - should be a fun conversation!

Ok, hope everyone is well. I think I´m white-water-rafting tomorrow and then headed to Cusco and Machu Picchu after that.