Nine months deep

Jonathan:
Since We left Cusco, moving on has felt like... well, moving on. We paid a brief visit to the small town of Puno, sandwiched between the Peruvian altiplano and the crystal blue waters of Lake Titicaca. Aside from some breathtaking vistas of the lake and some fantastic restaurant experiences, neither of us were enamoured with Puno itself. We did manage to take a few trips out into the lake on gruelingly slow collectivo water taxis (i.e. 34km = 4 hour journey). One trip was to visit a colony of floating man-made islands inhabited by the descendants of the Uros people, a pre-Inca tribe who began constructing their amazing floating reed homes centuries ago to escape their oppressive neighbors; and another trip was to spend a night with a local family on the remote island of Taquile.

Originally Titicaca was going to be our entry point into Bolivia, where we were planning on spending a significant chunk of time as we worked our way south to Buenos Aires where Megan's sister and her boyfriend will be meeting us in the beginning of December. But, a ridiculous new entry fee (special for US citizens, everyone else enters free), and an escalating political situation in southern Bolivia were enough to persuade us to save that visit for another trip. So instead of crossing the lake, we headed out toward the southern metropolis of Arequipa, the cosmopolitan capital of Peru. While the city remained as handsome and smart as we had remembered from our trip three years ago, our experience there was dampened by two annoying colds (one for each of us), and a strong desire to get the heck out of Peru. After a visit to a local clinic for some industrial strength cough syrup, antibiotics, and a few other drugs (we didn't ask), we bid farewell to Arequipa and Peru. Since then we've been slowly but surely working our way through northern Chile on our way down to Buenos Aires.

Soon after we left Cusco, it occurred to both of us that while the staggering natural beauty of Peru had been some of the most impressive we had experienced on our trip so far, our cultural experience had left us feeling a little bit... played. The vast majority of our personal experiences in Peru were rich with hospitality and cultural exchange. Most of the time we felt very welcome and well looked after, but more than in any other country our experience seemed riddled with little dishonest exchanges - misrepresented services, trick calculators to determine exchange rates, cut corners, theft! - a slew of seemingly shady deals. With the exception of my bag being stolen, no single event seemed exceedingly detrimental. We were cheated out of fifty cents here, a dollar there, we took a few bum tours... nothing epic. But unfortunately it was the dishonesty, not the hospitality that's stuck with us.

Again, we're not sure if it was Peru itself or simply the timing in our trip that drove our experience. For all we know this kind of stuff has been happening to us since we left home, and we've only recently been able to communicate well enough to know about it. Regardless, Peru holds the heavy responsibility of having apprised us of this unfortunate reality, and it holds a slightly tinged place in our hearts as a result.

The grand realization about the nature of our journey which we were hoping to stumble upon on our way south has not turned out to be quite what we expected. We were both hoping to emerge from this past month's doldrums with a renewed sense of direction, motivation, and enthusiasm for travel. Instead we've come to the awkward realization that maybe our trip has already peaked. It seems that for almost 9 months now our time has been filled to the brim with fantastic adventures, rich discoveries, rewarding relationships, and once-in-a-lifetime experiences. I'm not sure how long that can go on before "rich and rewarding" starts to feel normal. It's not that our experiences are becoming dull, it just seems that lately we're more impressed by feelings of solidity than we are by exhillerating new adventures. Maybe we've been trying too hard.

It's funny how similar this sounds to what I wrote about my experience at Lago Atitlan back in May - about not needing to try so hard to create meaningful experiences. The truth is it's exactly the same realization, it's just nine months deep this time.