I had planned on spending about 2 weeks in Chile. 5 weeks later I was finally crossing the border into Peru. This is what happens to me when I travel, I have hardly any control over it. Im not saying that this is a bad thing and perhaps its just that the world is to fantastic to rush through.

Now though I had a plan. My dad was currently working in New York and had a nice apartment and would until mid May. My whole family had been out to visit him and I wanted to do the same. But, I still wanted to make it north to Columbia before leaving South America. This meant I had very little time to settle in anywhere and I would have to travel like so many other tourists from major destination to destination taking a photo and then moving on. Skipping through the culture and hardly interacting with the locals. I was willing to give it a try.

I arrived after a long day from Iquique in Northern Chile to Arequipa, Peru. Back into the lands of the 50 cent dinners, black market merchandise, and where girls whistle and scream at you. I set out of my hostel early in the morning to reaquaint myself with all of this. In a supermarket I bought a large breakfast of fresh fruits and yogurt for less than a dollar. I went to the plaza and sat down infront of the eligant colonial fountain. Beside me was an old gringo who I started talking to about whatever. Along came a beautiful girl that happened to be his son´s girlfriend. She was a model. I talked to them both for a while and then they asked me if I would like to me there friend who was also a model. "aaaahh, sure why not" I said. Finally along came there friend, another beautiful girl and she spent the day with me touring me around the city. Now my plan was to leave the next day but how stupid would that be, she was crazy for me and I realy liked her. In many a situation as such I would say yep, Ill be here for a while. Nonetheless I left her and Arequipa behind and stuck to my plan.

From there I bussed on north crossing valuable centimeters on my map towards Ecuador. I arrived in Ica a rather unappealing looking town in the desert. From there though a quickcab ride landed me in paradise. Huacachina a tiny village set on a oasis. A small green lake, a few hotels, and a forest of palm trees surrounded by imposing sand dunes that rise as vertically as sand could rise above the lush green oasis. At first it seemed a little boring, nothing to do but swim in the pool or sandboard. When I asked some travellers who had been staying there for months where a good place to eat was they both answered "have you been to the weed restaraunt yet??" " the what?"

We walked no more than 50m up the street and entered a chilled out little garden, a baby monkey was tied to the tree and was one of the cutest things that I have ever seen. We walked in the restaraunt and ordered lunch, sure enough to my amazement they brought with our hamburgers a little bowl of fresh green marijuana. We packed the bong and rolled a spliff. Apparently the police chief of Huacachina was a real stoner and the owner easily worked out a deal with him that he could eat free hash cakes (or something like that) in exchange for tolerating the restaraunts speciality which in Peru is technically illegal. When we left the restraunt the garden was greener than before, the monkey half the size and twice as amusing. Two turtles were slowly marching across the lawn, there speed amazed me. I was warned though to watch out for them as they like to nip peoples ankles, distracted stoners perhaps of simply someone to stoned to get out of the way in time " Ooohhh, no maaan, the tuurtles are cominggg, aahhhh!"
The brown dunes as dry as sand towered above the fresh green garden making a vibrant contrast that at the time I found to be extrordanarily beautiful and interesting.

The next morning I woke up early and hiked up the dune with a sandboard. In the early morning it was really beautiful, on one side endless dunes washed over the landscape for as far as the eye could see. Below little Huacachina glisted like a gem sandwiched between dunes and then in the in other direction was Ica obscured by morning smoke and smog with the odd dune popping straight out of the middle of town. Unfortunately my sandboard I rented was in poor shape and set for goofy footed so my ride down was nothing as glorious as my sandboarding in Chile. I enjoyed another happy breakfast in my favorite restaraunt and the rest of the day by the pool. My Israeli friend brought me some hash cake that I was reluctant to eat as I was planning on leaving that afternoon (Again trying to speed north bound) for the coast with an Argentinian girl.

We managed to leave eventually and had an extremely entertaing bus ride to Pisco. Pisco, home of Peru´s national Alcohol "Pisco," was not inviting at all and said to be extremely dangerous so we went straight out to a small viallge called Paracas where boat trips left for the wonderful marine reserve of Las Islas Ballestas. First thing in the morning we got on a tour boat for the islands. For two hours we toured around a set of arched islands that is said to be one of the most important marine reserves in the world for sea birds. We saw thousands of seals and sea lions and million of sea birds of which the best of all were the Penguins. Oh man I love penguins.

After that we caught a bus into Lima, the bus company warned us: "Do not let anything you have out of your siight, not for one second. Our bus ticket also had a warning much the same written in English. Oh man, back into Lima, back into one of the biggest and craziest citys in the world. I had no intetion to stay though, simply to get a bus out of town as quickly as I arrived. Maria my Argentinian friend was here to meet a friend though so I wished her luck I got on a bus to Huaraz.

I had be thinking about Huaraz for a long time, it was one of my top destinations in South America. A high Andian town set in a lush valley between La Cordillera Negra and the world famous Cordillera Blanca, the highest tropical mountain range in the world. Aside from this title it is renowned for holding a few very famous mountains, first of all the Alpamayo dubbed by the German Mountaineering Club and by so many others as "the most beautiful mountain in the world" and also Huascaran 6775m the highest in Peru, number 5 on the continent, and the highest in the world within the tropical zone.

Our bus left the coast and started climbing up a winding valley that was irrigated and lush but walled up by dry rocky mountains. The lime trees and mango trees were slowly being replaced by pines and cedars, the air became a little thinner and the mountain sense was coming back. The valley narrowed to a canyon and soon we were on narrow cliff cling roads looking up at high peaks above us. The sun started to set and the changing world faded away. I felt a deep feeling of contentness because I knew that this would be one place that I was sure to love. We arrived in Huaraz at 9 PM, it was night, frigid and pouring rain like hell. I felt very out of place as I was still in sandals, shorts, and a t-shirt. But inreality I was right where I knew that I should be and at more home than ever before.

Arequipa, Peru

Huacachina, Peru

Las Islas Ballestas Marine Reserve

Huaraz, Peru