Some of the Joys of Travelings

The main benefit of traveling solo is the ease at which you can meet people. The biggest pain of traveling solo is actually traveling. Generally speaking, no one, on a long bus ride, wants to have a conversation, especially not me. This leaves for a lot of alone time missing the place you just left and anxiously awaiting the adventures of the next. But, anxiously awaiting the next adventure requires an answer to the question: Where is the next adventure?

The problem with having no set plans is the difficulty in making decisions. My only goal for this trip was to head north. But, when you meet a group of cool people who are going south, that one, very simple plan can go out the window quite seamlessly. My California friends, who I joined at Machu Picchu, were headed south to Lake Titicaca and Bolivia. Looking back, the only reason that kept me from entering the otherwise extremely affordable country was their $135 entrance tax. That and it was in the opposite direction of my intended path. But, the decision was made: continue north as per design.

So, I booked a 21 hour bus from Cuzco to Lima. Upon saying my goodbyes in Cuzco, a wave of anxiety rushed over me. It is an anxiety completely unique to traveling, one that I have only felt maybe once or twice before. It is a feeling of uneasiness saying, “Why the hell are you leaving?” I have learned that it takes a special place to warrant this feeling. But, with a bus ticket in hand and new adventures on the horizon, I push past the angst and voyage on.

And 21 hours in a bus is definitely a voyage. Normally very nice buses, that are typically too cold for comfort (a lesson learned on my bus to Cuzco), I don a down jacket and long pants. But, these preparations never became necessary as the bus’s air conditioning turned out to be broken. So, with no method of air circulation, the bus quickly transforms into a sauna. The heat is not extreme, just extremely uncomfortable: a constant, slow, sweat. With no water to replenish my system, I eventually stop sweating (the human body definitely cannot hold enough liquid for a 21 hour sweat session). I’m making this journey out to be worse than it actually was, but instead of pushing on through Lima to my next destination, I take a night to recuperate and rinse off the stench.

Also in my stop to Lima, I come to find out a good friend from university swapped places with me. She left Lima for Cuzco the same morning I arrived in Lima, further adding to my departure anxiety. We haven’t seen each other since graduation and this marks the second continent that we have failed to meet up while traveling. Maybe with some planning and better communication, we can make it happen on the next continent, Sarah.