From Trujillo, we just barely squeezed in a few days in the Cordillera Blanca region around Huaraz on our way back to Lima. Unfortunately, the weather here was less than perfect, especially after coming from the beautifully temperate ‘Eternal Spring’ of Trujillo and the Northern Coast. The weather was so bad actually, that we cut our trip here short after only a few days and with barely a glimpse of the famed mountain peaks we had come to see. That will have to wait for a revisit…
Then, onward to Lima- Our last stop. Back to the beginning so to speak. It seemed like such an amazingly long time since we had stepped off the plane five months ago onto the South American continent for the first time, surrounded by hoards of Taxi drivers yelling in Spanish and barely being able to offer a word in response. Now, five months later, and a few thousand kilometers behind us, we felt so much wiser. So much more experienced. We had been so many places, experienced so much, it didn’t seem possible that it had been only five months. We had done so much more than just traveled through Peru. We had survived it. We learned the language, learned to navigate this crazy country, the busses, the crowded markets… We’d gotten lost, robbed, climbed mountains, and swam in Amazonian rivers. Peru wasn’t a place for a leisurely vacation. It was a place that took some figuring out. But once that happened, it had gotten into our hearts and it was going to be a hard place to leave.