Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

(Mis)Adventures in Colombia and Peru

Overlooking Machu Picchu
Overlooking Machu Picchu

After finishing my second year of law school in San Diego, I decided that I needed a little adventure in my life. I planned my classes so that all my finals were done by December 6th, and December 7th I left for South America by myself.

I planned to go kiteboarding in Cartagena, Colombia, for ten days and then to Peru for three weeks to hike Machu Picchu. I went totally unprepared, which is my favorite way to travel. I didn't book any hostels or make any travel plans and the only thing I brought was a backpack full of kiteboarding gear.

I wasn't nervous traveling alone, even to Colombia, because I'm fluent in Spanish and I knew that I would meet fellow travelers along the way. I didn’t realize how fast I would make friends on my trip: On the plane from Florida to Colombia I happened to sit next to the only two kiteboarders on the whole plane, and they invited me to stay in their beachfront penthouse apartment for the week and in return I could translate for them. I translated and they were my bodyguards, so it worked out great.

Cartagena had good wind for kiteboarding and the city was beautiful. It’s surrounded by a 30-foot wall built by the Spaniards in the 1500s to keep pirates out. In this small romantic city there is live music in every plaza and the Colombians rumba (dance) until the sun comes up.

Sponsored
Sponsored

When the wind died, I headed to Parque Tayrona up the coast of Colombia. Some torrential rains hit, and all of the towns in northern Colombia flooded. The victims of the flooding stopped cars with ropes strung across the freeway to ask for money while their kids were swimming in three feet of water in front of their houses. The van I was traveling in was stopped and held up with knifes, but the driver gassed it before they could open the door. This was apparently quite typical in Colombia.

The national park was totally flooded, so all of the hikers rode horses through the deep mud. I decided to run though the national park – which turned out to be a 13-mile trek. The mud was up to my shins, and at one point the jungle trail disappeared and I was lost.

After about six hours of hiking I ended up at a beach, out of food and water with the sunset approaching. I came across two Colombians with a machete who saved my life. I was frantic, but they told me to calm down and they climbed palm trees to get me some coconut water. They offered to let me stay in their tent but I declined, so they gave me cookies and showed me the way back to the entrance. I made it out of the park in the pitch black just before the rains came again.

I flew from Colombia to Cusco, Peru, and took the train straight to Aguas Calientes, where the hike to Machu Picchu begins. I got up at 4 a.m. and started hiking alone in the dark uphill for an hour and a half to get to the entrance of the ruins. The first 400 people to arrive get to hike Wayna Picchu, the mountain overlooking Machu Picchu. I was the first one up the mountain and the view was amazing! It was really steep and the altitude made it hard to breathe, but having a bird’s-eye view of Machu Picchu made the whole trip worth it.

Getting back was the tough part. I hiked back down to Aguas Calientes, but the train back to Cusco was too expensive so I decided to take the long way.

What should have been a one-hour trip ended up being quite a journey. I hiked two miles with my kiteboarding gear because the bridge connecting the road had washed away in the rains. I took a five-hour taxi ride alongside steep cliffs, but then the driver decided he didn’t want to continue, so I was stranded in the middle of nowhere. Finally a bus came, but the seats were double-booked and the bus ride was freezing. The worst part was that I was stuck sitting next to an old drunk man who smelled like a zebra and kept falling asleep on my shoulder.

I ended up traveling down to the southern tip of Peru and into Chile for Christmas and New Years. The city of Tacna, Peru, lit up like a war zone with fireworks on both of those nights. Every single house shot off tons of huge fireworks, making the whole city light up – and the funny thing was that fireworks are illegal there!

For my last few days I went back to Lima, Peru, where I surfed the famous beach called Waikiki (stolen from Hawaii), which had great waves.

I love traveling, learning new languages and experiencing new cultures. I ate guinea pig, kissed a llama and learned some Colombian and Peruvian slang while I was there. Everyone I met was amazed that I could speak Spanish, which made getting around and meeting people really easy. I recommend traveling as much as possible – in my case, it was a great way to get a different perspective of life and wind down after the stress of finals.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

2024 continues to impress with yellowfin much closer to San Diego than they should be

New rockfish regulations coming this week as opener approaches
Next Article

Flowering pear trees in Kensington not that nice

Empty dirt plots in front of Ken Cinema
Overlooking Machu Picchu
Overlooking Machu Picchu

After finishing my second year of law school in San Diego, I decided that I needed a little adventure in my life. I planned my classes so that all my finals were done by December 6th, and December 7th I left for South America by myself.

I planned to go kiteboarding in Cartagena, Colombia, for ten days and then to Peru for three weeks to hike Machu Picchu. I went totally unprepared, which is my favorite way to travel. I didn't book any hostels or make any travel plans and the only thing I brought was a backpack full of kiteboarding gear.

I wasn't nervous traveling alone, even to Colombia, because I'm fluent in Spanish and I knew that I would meet fellow travelers along the way. I didn’t realize how fast I would make friends on my trip: On the plane from Florida to Colombia I happened to sit next to the only two kiteboarders on the whole plane, and they invited me to stay in their beachfront penthouse apartment for the week and in return I could translate for them. I translated and they were my bodyguards, so it worked out great.

Cartagena had good wind for kiteboarding and the city was beautiful. It’s surrounded by a 30-foot wall built by the Spaniards in the 1500s to keep pirates out. In this small romantic city there is live music in every plaza and the Colombians rumba (dance) until the sun comes up.

Sponsored
Sponsored

When the wind died, I headed to Parque Tayrona up the coast of Colombia. Some torrential rains hit, and all of the towns in northern Colombia flooded. The victims of the flooding stopped cars with ropes strung across the freeway to ask for money while their kids were swimming in three feet of water in front of their houses. The van I was traveling in was stopped and held up with knifes, but the driver gassed it before they could open the door. This was apparently quite typical in Colombia.

The national park was totally flooded, so all of the hikers rode horses through the deep mud. I decided to run though the national park – which turned out to be a 13-mile trek. The mud was up to my shins, and at one point the jungle trail disappeared and I was lost.

After about six hours of hiking I ended up at a beach, out of food and water with the sunset approaching. I came across two Colombians with a machete who saved my life. I was frantic, but they told me to calm down and they climbed palm trees to get me some coconut water. They offered to let me stay in their tent but I declined, so they gave me cookies and showed me the way back to the entrance. I made it out of the park in the pitch black just before the rains came again.

I flew from Colombia to Cusco, Peru, and took the train straight to Aguas Calientes, where the hike to Machu Picchu begins. I got up at 4 a.m. and started hiking alone in the dark uphill for an hour and a half to get to the entrance of the ruins. The first 400 people to arrive get to hike Wayna Picchu, the mountain overlooking Machu Picchu. I was the first one up the mountain and the view was amazing! It was really steep and the altitude made it hard to breathe, but having a bird’s-eye view of Machu Picchu made the whole trip worth it.

Getting back was the tough part. I hiked back down to Aguas Calientes, but the train back to Cusco was too expensive so I decided to take the long way.

What should have been a one-hour trip ended up being quite a journey. I hiked two miles with my kiteboarding gear because the bridge connecting the road had washed away in the rains. I took a five-hour taxi ride alongside steep cliffs, but then the driver decided he didn’t want to continue, so I was stranded in the middle of nowhere. Finally a bus came, but the seats were double-booked and the bus ride was freezing. The worst part was that I was stuck sitting next to an old drunk man who smelled like a zebra and kept falling asleep on my shoulder.

I ended up traveling down to the southern tip of Peru and into Chile for Christmas and New Years. The city of Tacna, Peru, lit up like a war zone with fireworks on both of those nights. Every single house shot off tons of huge fireworks, making the whole city light up – and the funny thing was that fireworks are illegal there!

For my last few days I went back to Lima, Peru, where I surfed the famous beach called Waikiki (stolen from Hawaii), which had great waves.

I love traveling, learning new languages and experiencing new cultures. I ate guinea pig, kissed a llama and learned some Colombian and Peruvian slang while I was there. Everyone I met was amazed that I could speak Spanish, which made getting around and meeting people really easy. I recommend traveling as much as possible – in my case, it was a great way to get a different perspective of life and wind down after the stress of finals.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Melissa Etheridge, The Imaginary Amazon

Events April 1-April 3, 2024
Next Article

March is typically windy, Sage scents in the foothills

Butterflies may cross the county
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.