Huaraz, Perú

Ok, as I write I´m a bit pissed off.. For the first time, something has gone wrong on my trip.. It had to happen at some point, I know, but it still doesn´t make me feel any better.. You´ll find out about the evil Inca spirit that has been following me lately.. Well, we left off at Huanchaco and I was getting ready to leave for a town called Huaraz about 10 hours south and in the middle of the ´Cordillera Blanca´ or white mountain range in English. I was a bit excited thinking that I would leave the beach for a setting that resembles Switzerland much more than it would what people imagine when they think Peru. I bought my bus ticket for 9P.M. on the 13th and left Trujillo (Huanchaco is a beach town suburb if you will of the larger town Trujillo). The bus ride started out perfectly. They gave me complimentary food, drink, I watched Wicker Park, although I had seen it before, and eventually, I fell asleep. I must say, it was a bit stuffy in the bus and before I dozed off, I opened the window a bit. These windows are the ones that slide from right to left (they have a handle and you pull in the opposite direction) and after the window was cracked and a bit of cool desert breeze was flowing into the bus, I was ready to fall asleep. Let me just say, at about 2A.M. I almost had a heart atack because the complete window (about 1.5 meters in length or 4 feet) imploded or exploded. Something happened and it all came crashing down on me. I was covered with glass (which actually cut my right arm a bit and my head)! Just imagine a huge sheet of glass like the windshield of a car all over you, broken into thousands of little pieces, and it happens while you sleep. Well, the bus stopped in the desert (that was cool) and the bus had no running water to clean the little bit of blood I had on my arm. I used bottled drinking water, washed my face, cleaned myself up, and went back to bed in another seat. Nobody apologized which was a bit strange. Anyway, after that ordeal, I arrived in Huaraz at around 6A.M. and went directly to the hostel. Its an amazing place! You should look it up in google (the name is Churup in Huaraz, Peru). It´s about 5 stories tall and has a fireplace and it´s decorated like almost out of a magazine.. I was glad to arrive, however, it is rainy season in the mountains of Peru right now and the day was without a cloud. I had to go to the lakes and see the snow capped mountains contrasting with the beautiful turquoise glacier lakes that lie at their bases. That´s exactly what I did! I spent the whole day at the mountains, in the lakes, I visited a town called Yungay that was destroyed by an earthquake and later an avalanche of mud and snow leaving only a few kids as survivors. The kids had actually gone to see a Russian circus in a nearby town when the incident happened and when they returned, there was noone or nowhere to return to. It was pretty sad and the grounds are a giant cemetery with an occasional overturned bus or bent railroad line that was spared by mother nature May 31, 1970. Anyway, the day was exhausting and I was ready to head back to the hostel. I took a hot shower and talked to a few of the other backpackers staying here about what they had done. Most people do the 10 day mountain trek where they sleep in tents and either fish or hunt for their food. Everyone has said it is incredible. I obviously can´t because I have to be in Lima on the 20th but that´s going to be so much fun, I´m not complaining. Anyway, I went to sleep soon after because I needed to wake up at 5:30A.M. to go to the ice caves. My taxi driver guide came right on time and we left for Pastoruri (a mountain at 5,200 meters or 17,000 feet above sea level). Let me tell you, IT IS SO HARD TO BREATHE AND IT IS SOOOOO COLD, nevertheless, an incredible experience. I had my first coca leaves as well and they taste like shit.. You have to chew on the leaf for a while and it supposedly dilates your veins. By the way, I also bought some Coca candy which I have not tried.. I'm debating if I should import it in massive quantities to Puerto Rico.. Back on track, we finally arrived after a long drive through canyons dotted with wild horses running side by side with the taxi and bulls just stoppíng in the middle of the road. There were small huts where locals live and take care of their sheep and cows and I have to say, the views are stunning. Every now and then, I´d see a Llama or an Alpaca and just smile realizing that I´m in Peru. An hour later, you start seeing a glacier here, reindeer there, and unfortunately, a mountain that used to be covered with snow and ice and now is bare rock; global warming my friends.. Whoever says it isn´t happening is full of shit. Anyway, once up at the entrance of Pastoruri and the ice caves, IT WAS CLOSED!! I was so angry! I walked around just staring at the amazing surroundings but not able to go in because the taxi driver would not walk the hour hike up into the glacier and I would not risk him leaving and me being stranded on top of a glacier. Anyway, disappointed and sad, we drove back down the mountain and stopped at this bubbling boiling water thing that you can drink from (I didn´t) and I decided to get out of the taxi and walk toward it. Let me tell you, the geography was amazing! This huge white mountain about a mile away from you and this flat muddy humid lifeless pasture between you and the monolith. The pasture was dotted with small strange looking red lakes or lakes with red moss.. One or the other. I had run out of batteries for my camera so I couldn´t take any more pics for the moment and asked Jere (my Croatian friend) if I could put my memory card in his camera. He said not to worry that he would give me the pictures that he took and I put my memory card into my sweaters´front pocket. IM AN ASSHOLE! When I bent over backwards to take a picture over this red bubbly water my damn memory card fell in it with all my pictures since Quito. Now, there´s one good thing and one bad thing. The good thing is that in Huanchaco, Jere had asked me if he could burn all of the pictures I had taken since we had been travelling together from Ecuador. He had a backup!!! Lord help me Jesus! Now the bad part is I had stunning pictures of the lakes and the mountains from the day before completely lost. I even had my favorite picture of me of all time in my camera! I had a hawk sit on my shoulder and right arm for a bit and walked around for about 5 minutes. The whole time I was moving and terrified and it showed in my pictures (that Jere took with my camera so obviously he didn´t have any on his). This hawk honestly had at least a 1 meter / 3 foot wingspan and opened its wings above my head! I HAD A PICTURE OF THAT AND NOW ITS LOST!! Urgh! I´m so mad. On top of it all, it was a 2Gigabyte card that cost me $30 dollars and I will never find anything that cheap here. Anyway, I´m done with the storytelling. I need some food and the altitude sickness is killing my head so I need tylenol too. I´m so sad I´m being dramatic for the first time in so long but it sucks that I had a window break on me and cut me, I don´t get to go into ice caves after I payed 70 soles for the trip (23 dollars) and I lose all of my pictures and my 2 GIG card.. I am thankful I am here and these mishaps occur all the time. At least my camera wasn´t stolen or the glass from the window didn´t cut my wrists or I didn´t slip and fall down the ice cave into the glacier and break every bone on my body. Always the positive and take a deep breath. Until the next time....