Challenges.
This year has been full of them for me.
Some of them have been emotional and psychological: adjusting to a new culture, living with a new family, losing and relinquishing some of my independence, experiencing loneliness, and being away for the first time in my life from everything and everyone familiar to me.
Some of the struggles have been mental: learning a new language, converting soles to dollars in my head, finding my way around a new city, and calculated exactly how much time I have to cross a street before a moto runs me over.
Then there are the spiritual struggles: living in a conservative evangelical community, not agreeing with the Catholics either, sitting through 2 hour + worship services in Spanish, having to find spiritual fulfillment on my own (actually that's been quite a blessing), trying to listen to God more and figure what that next step is in my life.
And the physical ones: Walking everwhere! (which I actually really enjoy now), dealing with near constant stomach issues (you never know how much you miss tap water until you can no longer drink it without suffering severe consequences), and being talked into a 4 day, 3 night hike along the Inca Trail with your fellow YAVs.
This year has been full of them for me.
Some of them have been emotional and psychological: adjusting to a new culture, living with a new family, losing and relinquishing some of my independence, experiencing loneliness, and being away for the first time in my life from everything and everyone familiar to me.
Some of the struggles have been mental: learning a new language, converting soles to dollars in my head, finding my way around a new city, and calculated exactly how much time I have to cross a street before a moto runs me over.
Then there are the spiritual struggles: living in a conservative evangelical community, not agreeing with the Catholics either, sitting through 2 hour + worship services in Spanish, having to find spiritual fulfillment on my own (actually that's been quite a blessing), trying to listen to God more and figure what that next step is in my life.
And the physical ones: Walking everwhere! (which I actually really enjoy now), dealing with near constant stomach issues (you never know how much you miss tap water until you can no longer drink it without suffering severe consequences), and being talked into a 4 day, 3 night hike along the Inca Trail with your fellow YAVs.
The Inca Trail is a famous hiking path in Peru, built by, well, the Incans centuries ago and is now enjoyed by only a handful of adventurous tourists who are allowed on the trail at a time. We started our journey first in the anchient Incan capital of Cuzco. There we were breifed on the hike and other necessary information by our Guide Valerio aka Papi (to the ladies). So after a confusing and chaotic afternoon of running around the city procuring the necessary items for the trip, we relaxed with a nice dinner as we said a temporary good-bye to civilization. The next morning we were up early and were taken by bus to the small town of Ollantatambo, where we could get our last minute things for the trek, like the all important walking stick with brightly colored manta handle (seriously one of the best investiments for 8 soles I've made here!). After Ollantatambo we arrived at the official starting point for the trail, Kilometer 82 (along the railroad tracks, it's 82 Km away from Cuzco). And from there, there was no turning back...
Now I'm the kind of girl who enjoys the outdoors. I've been a few hikes, none lasting more than a few hours, and I've spent many nights sleeping outdoors, even in the heat and pouring down rain. But I have never done something as remotely as intense as this hike was. The first day and 3rd days are the longest, but it's the second day where you feel like you're going to die. It's only about 5 or 6 km, but the vast majority of it is climbing up. Valerio, told us that it usually takes people going at normal pace 5 hours to get to the highest point, Warmiwanyuska or Dead Woman's Pass. During most of the trek I seemed to find myself always towards the back of the line of hikers. But thank goodness though for Joe's dear sister, Callie, who was with me every step of the way, and formed the other half of our exclusive Team Tortuga. We pushed each other up that mountain, so when we finally reached the pass in 7 hours, I couldn't help but feel first very accomplished, but then like I was going to die! At 4200 meters, it was easily the highest this Oklahoma girl has ever climbed.
Along the trail we slept in small, yet comfortable 2 person tents, and Callie and I ended up bunking and huddling together for warmth during those high altitude nights that brought with it cold winds and even colder rain. Thank God for thermal insulated sleeping bags!! We ate delicious meals in our common dinning tent. It was during these times that we got to know the other 5 members of our expedition. There was the German couple, Stephan and Johanna, the Canadian Best Friends, who were celebrating retirement!, and then the lone Scotsman named Fehrro (pronouced like Pharoh, but I always called him Fierro from Wicked in my head), then there were 5 of us YAVs, along with a hodge podge of family and friends along for the fun! German, Canadians, Scots, Peruvians, Presbyterians, you really just can't go wrong with that mixture, haha.
Here are a few things that I learned while on the trip:
New vocabulary words: Fleesers - fleece jacket, esleepings - sleeping bag, behatacion - vegatation. Toliet - whole in the ground with two spots to place your feet. Tumbas - Incan burial places
ALWAYS have toilet paper on your person. (I should have learned this lesson much earlier, but it really sunk in this trip)
Wiping down with a baby wipe is just as good as a shower, and you don't have to endure the cold water.
Coca tea is wonderful drink to counter altitude sickness and tastes especially nice first thing in the morning when it's brought to you in your tent.
Climbing up maybe hard on your muscles and endurance, but it's the walking down that will get you in the end! (My knee still hasn't fully recovered)
Ok, I'm getting a little metaphorical here; but those times when you just feel like you really can't move one more inch and you just want to sit down and make camp, putting one foot in front of the other and consentrating on that amazingly enough helps you make it to the next check point, the next Incan ruin, the next pass, the next camp, and then finally to the end!!!
As I write this post I've got about 50 days left in Peru. I can see the end off in the foggy future. While the trek has been fun, and beautiful, and difficult, and of course full of life changing experiences and lessons, seeing the end has made me excited and ready to be there already. I've been away for a long time now and I'm tired and ready to be back among familiar places and people, and back on solid ground sort of speak. But I've still quite a bit of trail until then, and I fully intend to take in all the beauty and wonder that I have yet to experience here!
Thank you all for those who are still reading this. Sorry I've been such an inconsistent blogger, but I've got a few ideas for posts on these last few weeks on this adventure, so maybe I will redeem myself a bit. Thanks for following!!!
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