Lima to Medellin
Cusco and our first city transition
Hola guapos,
Ok so before talking about beautiful Medellin, I will talk a little bit about Cusco and the hikes we did in the Andes. Wow were they absolutely gorgeous. This was about two weeks ago, so I don’t remember every little detail. We arrived on a 7:34 AM departing flight, got in about 8:42 AM, and checked into my AirBnb promptly at 11:12 AM. Lol JK 😆 I’m sick.
But the Airbnb was in a cool little barrio up on a hill surrounding the main downtown area of Cusco. So Cusco is in a big valley, with little barrios going up hills in every direction. It is a really magical city with amazing architecture and history, and I wish I would have gone when there were no restrictions for Covid. We were there for NYE night, and everything was shut down by 11 😢 I had to work the first few days there, so mainly just exploring what the little city has to offer. There is lots of good food, good vegan options, lots of vibey cafes, and some amazing local markets for fresh fruit.
Oh yeah I also just got Adobe Lightroom and have been making my pics beautiful so this is more of a photo blog 😜
So Saturday morning (NYE day) I went out and met most of the rest of our group in the Sacred Valley, which is in the Andes and we were able to learn a lot about Incan culture and see some really cool ruins. (Sidebar — I skipped Macchu Pichu because it was on a Friday and I also would rather take the Inca Trail, which is about a 4 day hike into the area. I will certainly be back in Cusco and hiking in the Andes mountains again.) Ok after this, we had an amazing lunch at one of the most magical places I have visited (besides when I saw David Copperfield live.) It was this little cabin restaurant with amazing views of the mountains and pastures.
Ok so after here, we went to this really tiny village that I think was only women? And they showed us how they processed llama wool or fur or whatever into clothes. Different things they use to dye it and what not, and that was super cool, and they had such awesome, super cheap sweaters and other alpaca things to buy. (I know I have said llama ~25 times but truth is idk what the difference is).
Ok so then we drove back to Cusco and had a big NYE dinner with everyone that was super underwhelming. But my friend and I had this awesome walk home around 11 pm, and the energy in the streets was so great, until the police started shutting places down with riot gear. But since we were up in one of those little hillside neighborhoods (barrios), we were able to hang outside a bit longer. The city looks so fricking beautiful at night from the hills. It is so awesome. So we got back to our AirBnb and our power was out 😃 But it was fine because it was ~*moody*~. And then when midnight came around we started to hear fireworks. So we went out on our little balcony and could see the whole valley and all of the other surrounding hills lighting off SO many fireworks. It was definitely the coolest NYE experience that I have had.
But we had to get picked up at about 4 am the next morning for a two-day hike in the Andes, so had to rush to sleep. The hike was amazing. We had such a great guide, who has been hiking the Andes his entire life. We stayed in this little town where there are just a bunch of dome things to sleep in, and a little cabin where this lovely, little, old lady cooks your food. The food was so great and nourishing after both days of grueling hikes. I think the second day when we were hiking up Salkantay Pass, we got over 19k feet in elevation and a little over 2200 feet of gain. I believe the town was called Suraypampa.
Ok now onto Medellin I guess. We had a crazy early flight. We got picked up at about 1:30 AM from our living space for a 5:00 AM flight, so the first few days in Medellin were a bit of a struggle adjusting and trying to catch up on sleep. But Medellin is great. It’s such a beautiful and green city, it feels like you’re in the middle of the rainforest. Everyone here is super friendly and there are much fewer English speakers here, which can be frustrating at times but forces me to work more on my listening skills. Yeah, I’m a glass-half-full kind of guy now. And the night life is just so much more popping than it was in Lima. And there is lots of salsa and dancing almost any night.
But we had a pretty cool day last Saturday where we just did a big van trip all day. We started by having breakfast at this little rural home, sort of on the outskirts of Medellin. (Medellin is similar to Cusco in that it’s in a huge valley with neighborhoods going up the hills around it. It is so much bigger than Cusco though.) The breakfast was great. And then we went to this huge dam, and did some bridge jumping, enjoying the sun, and a few of us even got to wakeboard. I still got it. But then we did this great hike called Piedra del Peñol which is basically like 750 steps up this giant rock, with some amazing views of aforementioned dam. I have not gotten many pictures yet in Medellin.
But this past week, just trying to work, while also dealing with the pandemic. A few in our group have tested positive and I was not feeling too well in the middle of the week, so I ended up missing a trip a bunch of people took to Cartagena for this weekend. So I decided to eat an edible and write about what has been going on and edit some photos lol. All while listening to some amazing tunes from Matt Finkel’s first mix since getting his small DJ board for the trip. Here is the link to his mix. https://www.mixcloud.com/fffinkel/wander-house-radio-ep-1-live-from-medell%C3%ADn/
And here is a pic of him making it
Until next time all.
Songs of the week:
Gordi — Nothing’s as It Seems
Disclosure — Douha(Mali Mali)
You’re welcome. Hasta Luego.
