Unknown Peru

I finally went through with it at the age of twenty-four: I left my life in Chicago behind and ventured out of the U.S. for the first time. Until that point, I hadn’t really thought much about travel, but the idea of taking a trip overseas had lodged itself in my mind until I could no longer ignore it. Despite knowing barely any Spanish, I decided that I would start my trip in Lima and make my way around the Peruvian countryside.

I arrived late in the evening and when I woke up that first morning, I felt what I can only describe as a glorious dislocation. The tropical light and the vivid greenness were so different from the gray and snowy city I had left behind. Even the most mundane places like grocery stores and movie theaters held a fascination for me but I soon found myself venturing to more exotic parts of the capital.

I became adept at navigating the city by way of buses and combis. I took to exploring some of Lima’s sights such as the step pyramids, or huacas, that sat amidst high-rise hotels and residential towers. Many of these structures were little more than fields of rubble and debris, a constant reminder that despite the many shopping malls and discos, Lima’s roots reached deep into the ancient past.

Once, while attempting to reach the ruins of Pachacamac outside the city, I missed my transfer and found myself on the Arequipa bus, headed for the end of the line. We left the city behind and were soon winding through the hilly dunes that surround the capital. The little decommissioned school bus traveled at high speeds on precarious roads through a deserted Martian landscape.

The final stop was a settlement which was located in a sandy and unwelcoming patch of land in the middle of miles of desert. In my mind, it was a scary place: Stray dogs wrestled in the street, kicking mustard-colored dust into the air. The small houses were surrounded by walls which were crowned with bits of broken glass, Inka Cola and Cusqueña bottles now a jagged crime deterrent. An old and battered truck arrived, delivering precious water to the villagers, who seemed to survive in that barren stretch of land by sheer force of will.

I saw a lot of amazing things and met a lot of wonderful people on that first trip out of the country, but my mind always goes back to that village. The beauty of it is that I arrived there completely by accident on my way to a local tourist destination. I did eventually make it to Pachacamac and while it was beautiful, it hasn’t stuck with me and challenged me the same way as those people who had chosen to make their homes in a remote and inhospitable corner of the Peruvian coastal desert.