Mulf's Visit

My friend Ashley Mulford came to visit me for 10 days. At first i wasnt ready to leave Cusco. Its one of those towns you just get sucked into and feel so comfortable you dont want to leave. I had made some good friends there and have nice relaxing yet eventful days. I had hoped to leave early enough to head south to visit Puno and lake Ititikaka then through the Colca canyon. But unfortunetely, ran out of time, and had to the the 26 hour bus from Cuzco straight to Lima.

I got to Lima, was attacked by all the taxi guys, which i just walk away from until i find one a bit further down the road who isnt going to charge me as much. I walked away and talked to a police officer for directions when a guy sitting in his Volvo stationwagon asked me if i needed help. He spoke english, which was nice. i talked to him for a bit, while trying to avoid the harrassing taxi drivers. eventually, he offered to give me a ride to my hostel. so i accepted. He was very talkative. I told him i had a volvo like his back home in the states. He was excited. His passenger side window didnt roll down either, just like one of the old ones i used to drive. Funny how volvos around the world all have the same problems.

I made it safely to my hostel, found my friend Sylvia and walked around Plaza de Armas to get some food. She helped me find the right bus to get to the airport to go pick Ashley up. I thought i would have to get off and get onto another, but i was luckily dropped off on the side of the road right across the street from the airport. i just had to walk up to it. I waited with a bunch of other people and i even made a sign saying MULFORD, but in the excitment of seeing her, i forgot to hold it up. We somehow made our way back to the hostel, and chilled their for the rest of the night.

The next day, we walked around downtown lima, streets a few blocks from the main streets, and china town. just did some touristy walking around and took it easy. We both decided one day in the city was enough, so Friday morning we decided to catch a bus to Cerro Azul. We decided to have another relaxing night at the hostel. We got a few beer bottles, meet Sylwia, and layed out on the roof top talking for a few hours. It was so nice.

We got a taxi from our hostel to the bus station, and people were so nice and helped us get the bus to Cerro Azul. On the bus, Ashely pulled out her ipod. I hadnt listened to music for such a long time, it was nice and relaxing. The second song that came on was by Dave Matthews. Immediately, i was happy and thought of my good friend Angela. We both have a thing for Dave. Great music!

After an hour or so we arrive at Cerro Azul, got dropped off on the side of the road and started walking into town. This is a tiny little town, so people all stare at the new gringos. We just walked down towards the beach until we met someone who spoke some english and asked if we needed help finding a hostel. So we followed and found a nice place. It was a small room, double bed and tiny bathroom. It worked so we took it. We put our stuff down and headed out to the beach. I knew my friend Isaac(from the inca trail) was in town so we set out to look for him. Just walking along the beach, we luckily ran into him right before he was going to head out to go surfing. So we layed on the beach and i think took a little nap. Ike offered his surf board so with my one lesson in Montanita, i was going to teach Ashley how to surf. On the way out into the water i remembered, i should probably show her how to stand up first. So i quickly demonstrated and had her do it. She stood up once, perfect!, so into the water we went.

Through Ike, we met a few of the locals and that evening walked around the Plaza de Armas where food vendors and people just roamed around all night. We heard there might be a rugby tournament on the beach the next day. Sweet! Ike was planning on catching a night bus to head to lima, so we convinced him to stay a few more hours. There is this place along the beach where the water rushes in between two huge rocks. And when the water goes back out, the small rocks on the ground make an amazing sound. He wanted to record that sound so we walked over there and just sat along the rocks for a while. At midnight, the power went off in the whole city, which made our view even more beautiful. We could see some sort of plant/animal in the water that let off a neon glow. So as the waves came in, you saw beautiful glowing light in the water.

We helped Ike pack up his stuff which included a box, a basket, and a surfboard. Not the most easy traveling luggage. He had sent his backpack home with one of his brothers and had only the clothes on his back plus a few new purchases. surfboard and juicer. We each carried one item up to the main road to wait for a bus to pass that was heading to Lima. We flagged one down, put his stuff one, quickly said goodbye again, and he was on his way to Lima to the airport to go back to California. Ashley and I were on our own again. We went home to bed and had hopes to find the rugby tourney in the morning.

Saturday is a Rugby DAy!!! We packed a bag for the beach and headed down to find where this tournament was going to be. And to our surprise...it was there!!! There were tents set up and a huge stage where music was playing and they announced the teams. We watched a mens 7s game for a bit and decided to go ask if there were girls games going on to see if we could play. We walked up to the first tent and saw some girls. We asked if they were playing today and asked if we can join. When we told them we played back in the States, they got really excited and said yes! Turns out they only had 7 girls and really needed some extra. So we were sorted. On a team and they found us rugby shorts and a matching yellow top. Yes. Beach rugby!

The first game we played in, they had us go in on the second half. Right away Ashley and I dominated tackling, running the ball, and almost had a try that was held up. I was nervous at first, like usualy. But its crazy how natural it is to get right into the game. We ended up losing this game but it was fun. Our second game, they started us to play the full next game. I got a pass from Ashley and we scored our first try in this game. We missed our kick and ended up losing because of that kick. So we were done. There were only 3 girls teams and if we were to win we would play for the championship. But we didnt so we were done. Which was ok,. It was so hot, and that was the most exercise ive had in a long time. So i didnt feel good that night. A bit of heat exhaustion. I needed more water, sleep, and i of course took a remedy to help`with feeling like crap. Not good heat exhaustion. I should have known better. By morning I felt a ton better, thanks to the remedy and we could enjoy another day on the beach before catching a late bus to Ica which is only about an hour up the road.

In Ica, we got a taxi to Huacachina which is in the dessert and there is a oasis. A natural pond that the city built up around. The taxi driver drove us right up on the the front steps of the hostel. Almost thought he was going to drive inside. Kind of funny. We got a room, which was a bit bigger, and went to bed. In the morning, it was crazy to find out that we were completely surrounded by sand dunes. The night before we couldnt see what was around us so it was a surprise to finally see where we were at. This hostel had a pool, which was nice to lay by and rest. That is pretty much all we did for the first half of her trip. Rest and relaxed. We walked around the oasis which had restuarants and shops built up around it. And you could rent a little boat to go out on. Our hostel offered to go dunebuggying and sand boarding. So we negotiated a price with the front desk guys and got a good deal on room and buddying. It was nothing i would have expected. The drivers of these dunebuggys were crazy and we drove up and down over these sand dunes. It was like a rollercoaster. Then they would stop at a few spots to take pictures or to get the boards out and either surf down or ride down on your belly. It was a lot harder than snowbaording, so after one attempt, i rode down on the belly. They took us to another spot, and these dunes so so tall, the only way to go down was on your belly. So fun. I just laughed the whole way down. We took photos of us jumping and it looked like we were flying in the air. A group of girls from Australia thought it was great and we took photos of them doing the same thing.

When we got back, the front desk guy told us that that evening they were doing a pisco wine tour, which only happens for 3 weeks out of the year. I dont really believe that, but we joined. Taking the buggies again, they took us to vinyard to see the process of how they make pisco wine. We even got to stomp on some grapes which smelt and felt so not appealing. There were 3 buggies that went, and all the drivers race and try to beat each other. On our way to one of the vineyards, our buggie blew a pipe in the engine, which shifted the fan, which broke all the blades to the fan, and it sprayed out some liquid. We were on the side of the road as another buggie flew past us. Crazy, we had to wait for a buggie to come back and pick us up. Impressively though, some of the guys were able to work on it right there and get it together enough to drive it. Dont know how they did it.

We were planning on catching a late bus to get to Pisco, but we got back to late from the wine tour that the front desk guy offered a free night stay as long as we left before 8am. It wasn´t safe to travel so late at night, they didnt want us to leave. So we stayed, and left by 730am.

Back to Ica to catch a hour bus to Pisco to head to the Pisco Sin Fronteras (PSF), which is a volunteer organization to help build houses and other projects for the people who lost everything in the earthquake in 2007. We arrived at the PSF house around 9am, as everyone was scattering around and heading out to work. We had just missed the morning meeting. So we set our stuff in the corner, they told us where we could get some breakfast, and to wait for someone to tell us where our room would be. We walked up the street to the gas station, bought some crap food, and had a little picknic at one of the tables. Used the internet and took our time going back to the house. Luckily, when we got back we met Alice who helped us find a bed so we could put our stuff down and take a nap.

The nap was well needed, and afterwards meet a few other people who didnt have jobs or finished their jobs early. They were all going to the beach, so we joined them. So many new people arrive all the time, that you just blend right into the crowd and people are nice talking to you, asking where you came from and ect.

We had dinner with them, found out a little of how things run around here, then relxed in our room, so we would be ready the next morning for our first real day at PSF.