Andahuaylas, Peru

After spending a week or so in Peru's capital, Lima, our little group made our way to the deep Andes. We boarded a terrifying little plane and headed to Andahuaylas.

As with everything in Peru, every moment was both beautiful, humbling and that "pushing me out of my comfort zone sensation." Not only was the plane tiny, but we were flying over the most rugged terrain I have ever seen down below. We didn't pass over cities or human constructs, but over mountains, valleys, rivers, glaciers and sunrays dancing across it all.

To make the plane ride even more memorable, I sat next to an older woman and had one of those little moments. I've done enough travelling at this point, to now know that you can plan and imagine a trip as much as you want. But then it's these intimate moments of striking up a conversation with someone that stick with you in such a profound way. This women was Peruvian and was flying home to visit her family. At some point in her life, so moved to France, got married and had a family of her own. She told me about all these little details of her life...the only catch was neither of us had a common language to speak to each other in. She spoke Quechua and French, but not English or Spanish. And yet, we were able to chat the entire plane ride. 

She asked me about what my family and home was like, and she told me all about her kids and that they lived all over the world. I can't quite remember how we communicated, but the point is that we did. Despite our language barrier, ethnic and social differences this women and I shared glimpses of our lives with a perfect stranger on a plane ride through the Andes. Strangely the hardest thing to communicate was that she was married, she ended up drawing a picture of a wedding band and little stick figures to demonstrate her children and grandchildren.



Then the plane landed and we unloaded at the landing strip in literally the middle of nowhere. We stopped in the bathrooms and got to enjoy the usual no toilet paper - it was fabulous as always.


Then we broke up into little groups and got in taxi services (I guess that's what they were - more like a Peru version of Uber aka some random dudes car). We drove at a higher than comfort level speed along dirt switchback roads towards our destination. 

At each switchback the driver would honk as he came around the corner to alert anyone on the other side that we were coming around - terrifying.

We passed fields of quinoa, sheep in the roads and children playing. I of course had motion sickness, my burden for all car rides which was only made worse by the high speed dirt road driving over rocks and ditches. It was an incredibly beautiful drive though.

Eventually, we drove down a long street to a little compound and unloaded. There were women and children, puppies and cats roaming around. A man with a huge gap-toothed smile emerged from the compound doors to great us and ushered us in. This was a little school area and hostel of some sort - I'm still not really sure what it was exactly. But in this intimidating, cutoff from civilization area - the compound was our safe place. With fencing that went all the way around, with the outside gate loacked at night.

But anyway, we walked through the gate and across the grassy/dirt area to our quarters. All of us students stayed in one big room with a sheet-curtain down the middle to divide the men's side vs women's side. We claimed our bunk beds and settled in. 

It felt a lot like summer camp. Bunk beds, close quarters, all of us chatting and giggling in our beds at night.  

Just with the sound of rabid dogs fighting outside at night.

Our first night in Andahuaylas we went to the town square for dinner. It reminded me of something out of an old west movie. There were little groups of Peruvian women with carts of pomegranates and fruit for sale along the town center as well. 

Dinner was delicious - most of us ordered this dish of diced green beans, meat and potatoes over rice. It was a treat to have the green beans. 

The only thing, was that this meal had some sneaky side effects that will come up later.

Our group room had bars on all the windows and we had to lock the door at night - not your safe little New England town we all were used to. There was one bathroom down the way within this compound that we shared with everyone else who lived there. It was an outdoor sink, a toilet that had no toilet seat or TP, and some sort of shower-head around the back.

Random funny story is that we as a group got ourselves locked out of our room not once, but TWICE. The man that was hosting us had to break in both times - quite a feat in a barred building. Yep, we're American.

After a week of being there, I decided it was time to meet the shower. However it was gross and freezing, so most of our group took turns using the professor's bathroom. They shared a private bathroom with an indoor toilet/sink/tile combo. We each took turns heating a pan of water on the kitchen stove, then sponging off in that bathroom.



Every morning we would get up, share the ice cold sink to wash up, use our water bottles for teeth brushing, all get dressed together and then make our way to our kitchen. I think in Andahuaylas standards, we had a fairly nice kitchen - to me it was so rural. As with Lima, our breakfast was a thin pita like bread. I just remember always being so cold in our kitchen and camp.

In the Andes, you get a sunburn by day and hypothermia by night - you need all of the layers.


A few nights later we got treated to a Chinese food restaurant in town. It was so welcomed, except that most of us had this bloated nausea and couldn't eat very much. This was the night the green bean dish reared its ugly head. Reader advisory- this next part is graphic. When we got home, I had the worst stomach cramps of my life which quickly lead to running to the toilet frequently for about 3 hours. Remember, we had 1 bathroom that was outside, in the freezing cold darkness, with dogs fighting on the other side of the campground walls, and we all had eaten the green bean dish. So, you can just imagine this scene. We were in a continuous line for the toilet with our abdomens grumbling loudly then the sound of epic diarrhea from the person in the toilet shack. Some other added features to this experience was that there was no toilet paper, the toilet could not handle toilet paper (so all our nasty TP had to be put in the trash can beside the toilet), the shack structure was wet and freezing and covered in bugs and spiders AND there was no toilet seat. It was so epically terrible, I remember ultimately giving in and sitting on the fucking toilet bowl rim - yep the rim. And also remember, there is no showers, or soap or sanitation. It was just beautiful. But as each of us had our episode, within an hour we felt better and the cramping passed.

Poor Cathryn though had her onset come on in the middle of the night! So, she had to climb out of her bunk, unlock our barred door and go out into the darkness to the toilet. The sound of the dogs fighting at night was terrifying.

Having to go to the bathroom at night meant going outside...when you could hear them running past the walls right beyond our campground, in the pure darkness... having explosive painful cramping diarrhea to that sound, priceless memories right here.



For me, hating spiders and sleeping in a room full of them - I came to the conclusion to just not look. I never allowed myself to look for them because they were everywhere.

I'd just shut my eyes and go to sleep, knowing the spiders would crawl on me at night but at least my bed was warm and we were safe inside our room.


"If I close my eyes, they can't see me."



Another disturbing story related to the Big Poo, was this one guy on the trip who was clearly mentally disturbed. We will call him Mateo. He started losing it on this trip. In this scenario, his experience of the Great Poo happened the next morning before breakfast. The rest of the group had wandered to the kitchen, so a friend and I made our way to the bathroom to wash up. Which is where we encountered Mateo running out of the toilet shaking his head, with his hands in front of him covered in what we could only hope was mud. We scurried away, however later he told someone what happened.


Fortunately for me (and unfortunately for her) it was Cathryn that got his confession. We were sitting at dinner and they were sitting next to each other. Everyone was talking about crazy things that had happened to them in this town. Then Mateo says to Cathryn, well I have a story for you. And she thinks, "Oh God." And he proceeds to tell her that that morning, he could not get his shit out, so he pulled it out of his ass. He then used TP in the toilet, which of course clogged it. Moments after our shared meal was ready, which he passed from himself to Cathryn. Ewww.

One night we found a pizza place. We were so ecstatic and gorged ourselves. I really had no idea what to expect to be eating in Peru, but I quickly found out. In most rural areas (or really everywhere) breakfast was a pita bread - maybe with butter and jam. Lunch and dinner always consisted of the options of soup with chicken feet, potatoes or rice. Sometimes you'd have a different veggie option to add in or my favorite carnes asado (shredded steak), but potatoes and rice were the staple. There wasn't ketchup, salt/pepper, seasoning, or sauces for this - it was plain and bland and very quickly so boring. So, finding a treat like pizza was like Christmas morning.

I couldn't tell you what day we had pizza vs coca de mate; these days aren't necessarily chronological. Peru has this way of making you lose all track of time and place.

What day is it? Where am I? Is that a chicken with a fro? You get the idea.

Our whole world was turned around and time stopped during the trip - looking back on it, it feels like a dream.

I was in a world where I was the odd one out - I was the gringo that everyone stared and pointed at, I was the one who didn't speak the language, I was the one who had no idea how to eat a guinea pig or chew coca with charcoal correctly.

I was in a world where everyone around me was the norm and I was the out of place American. We see a Muslim family in the US - with their strange customs, heavy Arabic accents and women with hijabs. I was that Muslim woman we pretend not to stare at because she looks so out of place. Definitely was an eye opening experience that gave me some new perspective.

The day we went hiking at Sondor was incredible. The details of that day are in another post, but that night we celebrated by going to the tavern in town and enjoyed some drinks. Specifically we had Mate de Coca with some sort of whiskey. Coca leaves (which in the US we are familiar with these as the main ingredient in Cocaine) are a long tradition in Peru. You find coca everywhere - coca flavored things, but mostly in tea form. Basically, you steep coca leaves (whole, raw leaves) in boiling water and drink, similar to any tea really.


However, mate de coca is so much more than just your average tea. It aids in eleviating altitude sickness, motion sickness, pain from inflamation, and has so many health benefits. Coca also has a big part in Peruvian culture and has for a long time. It's unfortunate that this is banned in the US, since it is so amazing for you and deliscious - leave it to Americans to take something beautiful and turn it into something illegal to get high on. (Of course, there's a lot you have to do to coca to turn it into Cocaine). We had coca de mate every morning and night, as well as with whiskey as I mentioned before. This night at the tavern was magical. You can see it in the pictures..this place captured our hearts.

Although I make this whole Andes experience sound terrifying, and while it kind of was... the point is that this is what life is about. Adventure, being pushed outside of your comfort zone, exploring new cultures and places. This was a place that changed me.

 It showed me what I'm capable of and to appreciate all that I have.

 I live in a different world and take so much for granted. 

The safety, infrastructure, laws, economic maturity and convenience of life are all things I never thought twice about. But being in this "city" hit me so deeply. I would do the entire thing over again in a heartbeat. This is something that everyone should experience if given the chance. 

It's raw, it's life and it's beautiful.