I went to Quillabamba two weeks ago. I did not go alone. Eleven of us went- ten teachers and one local, our friend Dillman. We took a combi, rather than a bus. Why? Because the roads are tricky and a combi is more mobile and compact. It's also a shorter ride. It was well worth the ten extra soles.
The ride there was one of the best parts of the trip. Cusco is not known for its customer service, but our driver catered to some pretty important needs, like music. He had this hilarious mix of hits from the last fifteen years. It was a literal mix- only about a minute of each song would play, so we'd be all jacked up on something like Aerosmith's "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing" and then, at the climax, we'd switch over to "What's Up?" by Four Non-Blondes. It was rad. I joked that he bought the CD from some combi wholesale place that distributes Gringo mixes and categorizes them by age, because these songs were specifically hits from our generation. Lots of throwbacks to Jr. High and high school fo sho. Nothing like sippin' on cerveza, singing at the top of your lungs in good company, and crusin' through the Andes.
We arrived later that night to our less-than-charming hostel. It was weird and the people that ran it were weird. I think it was the worst hostel I've stayed at these last five months, but whatever- it had beds and we were tired.
The next day was our only full day there and we headed out to Siete Tinajas- a waterfall in the jungle with seven bowls of water. We hiked up it, splashed around, and had some laughs. Being there made me realize how spoiled I've become- I've seen some pretty gorgeous nature in these last five months and although I liked this place, I couldn't help but think it was no Agua Azul. (Spoiled. Rotten.)
From there, we headed to a gen-u-ine Peruvian water park, which was a lot like and American one, but as far I could tell, they did not sell nachos with bright yellow cheese. Bummer. It was awesome and I wish we could have stayed longer. I don't remember the last time I went to a water park with friends. We raced down the slides, did hand-stands, and had splash wars, and of course, chicken fights. It was great. (So great, in fact, that I've already started planning a trip to an indoor water park back home. I'm not gonna let January get me down! Who's with me?!)
From there, we came home, got dinner, laid around in the plaza and headed back to the hostel for bedtime stories and nightcaps. We were spent after a lovely jungle day.
The ride home was less fun than the ride there, as we were without the "Gringo Mix 2010", but we made do. Latin American road trips tend to be incredibly gorgeous, but not incredibly safe- I wasn't a fan of seeing piles of fresh rocks on the road, next to the mountain from recent, small rock slides. And the lack of guard rails while literally driving through the clouds is also a little unnerving...but the views of snowcapped mountains kinda make up for it.
This was my second to last LA road trip, as I have one more left- to Lake Titicaca at the end of the month! Stay tuned!
((Check out more photos HERE!))
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