The Harrowing Travels

Alright. So. I write this as I spend my first night in Cusco. It’s been quite some adventure getting here. Let’s backtrack. One day at a time:

 Wednesday I spent most of the day working on homework so that I could be ahead to prepare for whatever internet disasters may occur whilst traveling/arriving. I typed up short papers, read articles, read books, and so on and so forth. We were expected in Kingsport Thursday evening at 7 so that Alex’s wonderful mother could take us to the bus stop on Friday morning. At around 3:30 or 4 I realized that…well...it was 3:30 or 4. And, of course I hadn’t packed. So I flew into a panicked frenzy of trying to gather what I needed, trying to organize it, trying to clean up after myself as I threw everything in the house here, there and beyond. Once it was arranged (rather, what I would call arranged and a normal human being would call a disastrous pile of ambiguity and mess) I attempted to pack it into my prepared bag: a medium sized backpacker bag that was ideal for my short and averagely small stature. Alas, it would not fit. No matter how many ways I tried to pack it. My ideal bag was useless. So, I moved onto one of Alex’s larger sized backpacks (one that suits his 6’1-ness). And still I could not efficiently get anything in there. While deciding whether or not to throw myself on the floor and cry in pathetic exasperation Alex came to my rescue (as he always does) and neatly arranged my things (arranged in an actually arranged manner this time) and packed them perfectly. (Once I unpack will I ever be able to get this stuff packed again? I don’t want to think about it).  Anyway, so, packing fiasco over, I had to very quickly say goodbye to my beloved animals, hope with all of my soul that all of my house business was in order and head out. The Kingsport adventure was very relaxed, however. Alex’s mother made us an amazing vegetarian Mexican-style lasagna, then we had coffee and homemade blueberry muffins (which were made from fresh blueberries from her garden!) Then we slept (which as of right now, I can’t remember how that feels). So, day one conclusions: slightly rushed, a little neurotic, but not so bad.

Thursday we woke up at the bright, early hour of 7 a.m., showered and headed to Knoxville. There we had coffee at a quaint little coffee shop in the downtown square and then caught the Megabus (at the right time, on the right sidewalk). The next 9 or 10 hours were spent curled up, bumping around and sleeping in the most awkward and uncomfortable positions imaginable. But we made it.

Alex and Heidi take a break right after we disembark from the Megabus

Amazingly, the trek through DC was incredibly simple. We caught a trolley to the metro, rode the metro to our hostel stop, trekked a good 45 feet to a 7-11 and up some stairs to our hostel, and then immediately disposed of our luggage. How uneventful and nice! The hostel was quite interesting, though. It must have formerly been some Victorian mansion or some such, as it was incredibly huge, but no one room was particularly large—rather, there were many rooms which were of average or small size. There was a courtyard in the back with a hammock, tables, a swing, and a very large cat. Throughout the hostel were winding, narrow staircases. Some inside, some outside--all going every which way. It was really quite architecturally intriguing.  The very big, blaring downside was that there was no AC and it was literally in the 90s of degrees of hotness. Our room, with three bunk-beds—a total of 6 beds, two of which housed some Scandinavian women, one of which housed a late-night drinking basketball –loving bro, the rest housed us—had one little window fan. We ignored it at first, because our hunger outweighed the hotness. So we trekked (without our bags) to our favorite 24/7 falafel “stand” in DC and had the most amazing hummus you can find in DC, enjoyed some sit-down time, and relaxed for a few minutes. With the impending threat of rain, and the complete exhaustion we were suffering, though, we headed back to the hostel pretty quickly. 

Miserably hot in the hostel

Where we then realized how miserably hot it was. Despite only having thin sheets on the bed and wearing the most measly, scant amount of pajama clothing I could get away with, I still couldn’t sleep. The heat and humidity were suffocating. So, I mostly just lay there, tossing around and listening to the random screams, yells, hoots and hollers from the various other hostel guests who were partying downstairs and/or watching basketball. At about 3 am basketball drinking fellow, who was sleeping under me, came in. He was surprisingly polite and was as quiet as an intoxicated partying fellow can be, but his clumsiness kept knocking the bed around and kept me awake even longer. At 7 am we were up and at 9 we were out. 

Friday and Saturday really count as one day. Though I think it is still Saturday, I can’t be sure. The haze of this long, long, long day hasn’t cleared up just yet. So, Friday. We trek through the insane DC heat (at 9 am!) with our bags to the metro (you know…all 45 feet away that it is and what-not), ride to meet the bus that will take us to the Dulles (pronounced like Dallas, or like a piece of furniture a Georgia southern belle would own in 1827) Airport. We paid the extremely overpriced $6 per person fare and rode the glorious 45 minutes to the not-so-crowded airport. But don’t let this fool you. The lack of crowds did not make up for the fact that we couldn’t check in for a good two hours after we arrived. Our checkout counter was open—but lacked any staff.

So, we sat on our bags, at the front of an imaginary line for two hours, dreaming of the pizza we would find in the food court on the “other side” once we went through security. Two hours later, we successfully navigated the checking-in system and rushed to find pizza. After passing through security/customs/etc etc (who were surprisingly friendly) we ordered a freaking whole large cheese pizza. Somehow it was magically perfect. Like eating from a pizza stand in New York City. The boarding process for our plane was smooth. AND the plane was entirely on time! (This is the first time I’ve encountered this). ALSO, they gave us heated hand towels, pillows, blankets, two meals and a snack for our 5 hour flight. So if you need to go to South America, Avianca is the way to go. So, 5 hours later and two movies down (Just Go With It and Old Dogs, if you must know), we arrived in the surprisingly warm Bogota, Colombia airport. We were instantly greeted with dozens of adorable labs serving as drug dogs, who were constantly walking around with their quite terrifyingly suited human partners, sniffing around every person, bag, and chair. We were directed down a long hallway, which was unnecessary, as we ended up taking the exact same plane we arrived on, but anyway. We were there for a grand total of 45 minutes (maybe less). So, hola and adios Bogota! We got back on the same plane we arrived on, received more warm hand towels, more food, I ordered some peach juice, and it was pretty spectacular. Two hours later, and only one movie (Due Date) afterwards, we landed in Lima. It was slightly chilly here, but not cold enough to notice. What we did notice, however, was that Alex’s backpack did not make it. Which is interesting, considering that we were on the exact same plane the whole time. Anyway, Alex isn’t me, so he didn’t freak out, roll around in the floor, scream obscenities at people, or act like a fool in any sort of way. I, however, was quite stressed out for him.  I suppose he’s only missing clothes and our hiking poles, but it still is a rather unfortunate situation. He’s riding with a fellow tomorrow to the Cusco airport to see if he can find out any new information, and if they don’t have his bag, I may be likely to have a panic attacking, but I think everything will ultimately work out. But anyway, onto Cusco.

By this time we had been wake for well over 24 hours, and once again, we had to sit and wait in the check-in line for several hours before anyone decided to show up. Then once they showed up they had to set up the ridiculous rope maze that I suppose you’re required to walk through just to make it to the front counter. So, we had to wait for them to very very very slowly arrange their little maze, until some woman who appeared to have some ambition and sense decided it would be easier if we just went in a straight line to the counters, and made them dismantled the maze. So, anyway, we checked in, hung out in some very small waiting room with 17 different overhead announcements occurring simultaneously at all times (in Spanish), until we could board our plane. The flight to Cusco was pretty amazing, though. The sun was up by this point and you could see the Andes Mountains breaking through the barrier of clouds under us.  Their sharp, jagged ridges capped in snow and screaming majestic the whole way there. And then we landed in freezing cold Cusco. Freezing cold. The airport was much more authentic though, with shady taxi drivers following us around asking “taxi?taxi?” and vendors everywhere shoving their flyers into our hands and begging us to buy their wares…it was really quite comforting.  Then we met Doris, who at this point I assume is the head of Heidi and mine’s host family, who picked us up and carted us through the very India-like streets of Cusco to her very adorable apartment. The buildings are all brightly colored with faded patches, construction is half finished everywhere, the streets are narrow mazes of cobblestone with tiny cars zooming every which way around them. Dogs wander about, looking at you with their sad eyes, begging for scraps. Women have set up blanket-shops on the sidewalks and offer their hand-woven hats and sweaters. It’s quite intriguing and there are several breathtaking images.  But, anyway, we arrived at the apartment—Alex still with us—drank some Coca tea for the altitude (we’re at 11,000 feet here!) and immediately passed out for a beautiful 6 hours.  More on our adventures here later.

Cusco!