“It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.” HDT
For these past 6 months I have traveled through 12 countries, and around 15,000 miles. I have had relatively no idea what to expect day to day. I carry a AAA map that I got for free while I was still in the States, it portrays the perimeters of Central and South America on a 2X2 foot fleck of paper. On occasion I map out my post progress using the legend and my little finger to measure distance. I use up to my first knuckle for the distance I am able to cover in two days on average terrain. I tried to use this method to foresee my travel in Columbia but 12,000 foot climbs are unmentioned along with wind, stretches of desert, good people, good food, sicknesses, flat tires, cute girls and heaps of other deterrents. Aah, I shouldn’t use the word deter in this instance. Since deter means to restrain or to prevent as if these "deterrents" were a nuisance, in reality its these "deterrents" that make up the experiences that dissuade a trip into a journey.
I enter Peru with perceptions of Machu Pichu and Lake Titicaca, high elevations and rainforest. In the contrary experience being sick again, spend a half day on the beach in Mancora, make the first campfire since the Oregon coast, ride through my first real desert lasting 1000 miles, eat sand inevitably in every meal, see 2,000 ft sand dunes, endure 70 MPH headwinds, drank a Pisco Sour, ate Ceviche, Puked 3 times in one night, saw pyramid ruins from 200 AD, saw people digging through garbage for 6 soles(2 dollars)a week, camped next to a rice patty, hit 15,000 miles, run around in a desert screaming I am the golden god, stayed at my friends house in Lima, had a housemaid make me breakfast, lunch, dinner, make my bed, do my laundry, and not let me do my own dishes if it meant pushing me from the sink, ate at a country club, saw a catacomb under the oldest church in Lima, bought a plane ticket home for Christmas, went to a party, got inebriated, took a taxi directly to the airport from the party, boarded the plane at midnight, had a headache from Pisco next day, stepped off the plane with my mother greeting me with a fresh apple pie.
6 months ago I started this trip with my father, he had easily fallen in love with the last frontier, Alaska. Recently my parents decided to move there. Since the house I grew up in is for sale and I hadn’t seen my parents and sister in almost a year and a half and my brother not for 3 years. Going home for Christmas was my next adventure. It has been great to visit my old life, not all still there just parts of it. Many friends are gone, whether it be to chase a job, significant other, or a dream. Many are still there chopping away at their usual routines. The town is growing like an ameba, with big companies chasing out small, many new roads to accommodate the traffic, and people eating more brats and sourkraut than ever. Home is home and its great to be here. I will return to Peru on the 26th of December. Excited to get back to the road, excited to be inspired where I left off.
Hope all is well
Quinn-
I enter Peru with perceptions of Machu Pichu and Lake Titicaca, high elevations and rainforest. In the contrary experience being sick again, spend a half day on the beach in Mancora, make the first campfire since the Oregon coast, ride through my first real desert lasting 1000 miles, eat sand inevitably in every meal, see 2,000 ft sand dunes, endure 70 MPH headwinds, drank a Pisco Sour, ate Ceviche, Puked 3 times in one night, saw pyramid ruins from 200 AD, saw people digging through garbage for 6 soles(2 dollars)a week, camped next to a rice patty, hit 15,000 miles, run around in a desert screaming I am the golden god, stayed at my friends house in Lima, had a housemaid make me breakfast, lunch, dinner, make my bed, do my laundry, and not let me do my own dishes if it meant pushing me from the sink, ate at a country club, saw a catacomb under the oldest church in Lima, bought a plane ticket home for Christmas, went to a party, got inebriated, took a taxi directly to the airport from the party, boarded the plane at midnight, had a headache from Pisco next day, stepped off the plane with my mother greeting me with a fresh apple pie.
6 months ago I started this trip with my father, he had easily fallen in love with the last frontier, Alaska. Recently my parents decided to move there. Since the house I grew up in is for sale and I hadn’t seen my parents and sister in almost a year and a half and my brother not for 3 years. Going home for Christmas was my next adventure. It has been great to visit my old life, not all still there just parts of it. Many friends are gone, whether it be to chase a job, significant other, or a dream. Many are still there chopping away at their usual routines. The town is growing like an ameba, with big companies chasing out small, many new roads to accommodate the traffic, and people eating more brats and sourkraut than ever. Home is home and its great to be here. I will return to Peru on the 26th of December. Excited to get back to the road, excited to be inspired where I left off.
Hope all is well
Quinn-
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