0:15

Hi , welcome to our podcast . We're Next

0:17

Travel with Kristin and Carol . I

0:19

am Kristin and I am Carol

0:21

, and we're two long-term friends

0:24

with a passion for travel and adventure .

0:27

In each episode , we interview people around

0:29

the globe to help us decide where

0:31

to go next . Thanks , Andrea

0:33

, for joining us on when Next

0:36

Today , and we're going to focus on Peru

0:38

.

0:39

So you have a podcast called

0:41

is it Wander Working ? Is that

0:43

what I heard ?

0:44

Yeah , I have a podcast called Wander

0:46

Working . I started it about a year

0:48

ago when I became a digital

0:50

nomad and I wanted to share a little bit about my

0:52

experience and talk to other people

0:55

who also travel the world and share their stories

0:57

as well . I started to be a digital

0:59

nomad when I found a remote job . I

1:02

am a web designer and I work fully

1:04

remote for a marketing company

1:06

, but it wasn't always like that . I

1:09

actually graduated in business , but

1:11

during the pandemic years I

1:13

had a lot of time to sit inside and not

1:15

travel . So I started

1:18

learning web design in those years so

1:21

that eventually , when COVID was

1:23

over , I had a skill that would allow

1:25

me to get a job that was more flexible

1:27

and allowed me to travel .

1:31

So did you travel growing

1:34

up ? Or was it COVID that was

1:36

like . I need to be out .

1:38

Well , interestingly enough

1:41

, I did one very big

1:43

trip which is moving to the US , because

1:45

I was born in Peru , in Lima

1:47

. My family actually

1:50

immigrated to the US . I

1:52

want to say it's been like over 20

1:54

years ago now , so it's

1:57

been a long time and

1:59

that was a big change . But I guess

2:01

when you're small you don't really feel it , you get

2:03

used to things very easily , so

2:06

I didn't really feel that change

2:08

. I grew up in the United States . Where

2:11

I did feel it was when I was

2:13

old enough to go back . Last we had

2:15

to make sure we had all our paperwork in order

2:17

and had our citizenship . So that was

2:19

a 10-year process .

2:21

Oh , wow .

2:21

Before I was actually .

2:23

Yeah , it takes a long time to become an

2:25

American citizen .

2:26

Yeah , that's kind of it was like an

2:29

expedited process for us .

2:31

We got very lucky . I know some people wait

2:33

even longer .

2:34

Where in the US did you grow up ?

2:36

So early years I grew up in California

2:39

and then later

2:41

on , as a teen , my family

2:43

relocated to Florida , so

2:45

that's where I live now .

2:46

Oh nice . So you're in Florida now

2:48

and then you go back

2:51

to Peru , Austin , or I

2:54

do now .

2:55

Yeah , yeah , after

2:58

we got our citizenship I went back

3:00

for the first time at the age of 15

3:02

, and that was where it was a bit of shock , because

3:04

I thought I knew my culture

3:06

. But I guess I grew up

3:08

in a completely different place and

3:11

my Spanish had

3:13

a bit of an accent and there

3:15

were some things about the culture that maybe I wasn't

3:17

used to . So when I first

3:19

went back that was a little bit of a shock . Now

3:22

that I have this remote job , I made

3:24

it my mission to go back as much as possible

3:26

, one to just see my grandparents

3:29

, see family , but also to kind of rediscover

3:31

life there in my culture .

3:34

That's so great . When's the

3:37

first time you went back to Peru ?

3:39

I was 15 years old .

3:41

Well , I guess after COVID , After COVID , I

3:44

guess even here , since you've done Wander working

3:47

, so is that where you've

3:49

primarily been ? Or it sounds

3:51

like you're digital nomad . You can kind of go

3:53

different places , or what's your year

3:55

looked like so far ?

3:58

Oh gosh , so I actually just got back from

4:00

Peru less than a week ago . Oh

4:02

wow , yeah , I was there for

4:04

about a month and a half for Christmas

4:07

and New Year's . It was my first time spending the

4:09

holidays over there which was interesting

4:11

Were your parents and family

4:14

there too , just my grandparents

4:16

. They're still over there and , I

4:18

guess , one year older . It's harder

4:20

to relocate , so they grew

4:23

up there , they like it there . So I just go

4:25

back and visit as much as possible . But

4:28

this year has been a crazy travel year . I

4:31

started off with a solo trip to

4:33

New Orleans to just kind of warm up

4:35

the year . Then I did three months in

4:37

Peru around June

4:40

, july and I did

4:42

a really cool festival over there

4:44

. I went to Cusco for the Inti Rime

4:46

, which is a festival

4:48

that was actually . It goes back to the Incas

4:51

, which is like the ancient Peruvian civilization

4:53

. They would worship the sun

4:55

. So on the I

4:57

believe , the winter solstice , which

5:00

it's winter over there at that time they

5:02

celebrate around June a big , big festival

5:05

and they have a bunch of traditions and

5:07

a lot of typical dances

5:09

and things like that . So I went back for that and

5:11

also to see the family and just go

5:14

around , do like a big round around the country

5:16

. What was it called ? Again , go , oh

5:18

, cusco , cusco . Yeah

5:21

, that's the city . The city . It's

5:24

famous because they have one of the seven

5:26

wonders of the world over there , machu

5:28

Picchu . Oh yeah , oh sure , okay

5:30

. So in Cusco

5:33

they have this big celebration for

5:35

the sun , the sun god .

5:37

Okay , got it .

5:39

So it's like a one day celebration , or how do they celebrate

5:41

it ?

5:43

I feel like it's never truly a one-day celebration

5:46

with Latinos

5:48

. It's always like you go for there

5:50

is one main day , but that

5:52

whole weekend is people celebrating

5:55

.

5:55

Oh , so it looks like it's up in the mountains a little bit . Is someone

5:57

looking at the right place ?

5:59

Yeah , yeah , it's up in the mountains . The

6:01

altitude can be a little hard

6:03

for some people , even for me , oh

6:05

wow .

6:06

There's a huge lake that looks

6:09

like spans two countries , like Kitaka

6:11

. Like Kitaka , okay

6:14

, that's like an American

6:16

Great Lake . It's pretty huge .

6:19

Oh yeah , I think it goes all the way

6:21

into other countries I

6:23

think like two other countries and that

6:26

starts going

6:28

into the Amazon jungle as well . So

6:30

that's one place I haven't gone to explore yet

6:32

. In Peru we're really lucky

6:34

because we have three different

6:37

landscapes . We have the coast , we have the mountains

6:39

the Andes Mountains and then we have the Amazon

6:41

. So you get very different

6:44

climates and landscapes depending on what

6:46

part of Peru you're in .

6:47

Wow . And then I was just

6:49

looking at . What did I just see

6:51

? Oh , I was looking at some pictures of

6:53

Lima . Is that what you say ? Yeah

6:55

, lima , that's the capital . It's so weird because there's

6:58

like old buildings that look like

7:00

Mexico or Europe

7:02

, but then there's palm trees . I guess Mexico

7:04

you'd have that too , but I'm not used to it . I think

7:06

it's very European , but then with palm trees , usually

7:09

you get one or the other .

7:11

Yeah , that's the Spanish influence . Yeah

7:14

, I can see .

7:15

Yeah , in America I

7:17

think of palm trees , I think of California , new

7:19

, modern St Florida just

7:22

new , fresh , not historic

7:25

. So that was kind of fun , wow

7:28

, okay .

7:29

And actually just with the , you said the Amazon

7:31

rainforest and

7:33

mountains and the ocean

7:36

and I was just looking because the Amazon rainforest

7:38

and of course , in some Brazil , I knew that , but

7:40

I didn't see where the

7:43

Amazon is

7:45

. Also in Peru , yeah

7:47

, yeah .

7:48

I got a good chunk of it , that north

7:50

or everywhere all east .

7:52

It's kind of more like in the middle of the country

7:54

, on the inside , oh , okay

7:57

, I would say I don't know , I

7:59

haven't explored enough . Yeah , that

8:04

is one part of Peru I still haven't gotten to is

8:06

the jungle . Okay

8:08

, I've heard a lot of great things and

8:11

there's places there that are even

8:13

undiscovered to modern civilization

8:15

. I've heard that there are still tribes

8:17

that don't have contact with

8:20

modern civilization

8:22

or the government or society . They are completely

8:24

removed .

8:25

They don't have a grocery store .

8:28

Well , I'm sure in some main cities in the jungle

8:31

there are places that are still like

8:33

, too isolated for that

8:35

to even be a thing , like they don't even speak Spanish

8:38

over there .

8:39

Wow , they speak their own language , they

8:41

have their own dialect . Yeah .

8:44

I know the two main dialects

8:46

in Peru are Quechua and Ayamara

8:48

. I don't know if all

8:51

the Amazonian tribes speak

8:53

either of those . I guess it depends

8:55

.

8:56

So it's not Spanish ? Well

8:58

, it's a dialect of Spanish

9:01

, or ?

9:01

not , Not even a dialect . It's

9:03

actually its own language . I should probably I shouldn't

9:06

say dialect . It was what the ancient

9:08

Incas would speak before

9:10

they got colonized by Spain . We only speak

9:12

Spanish because of , you know , the Spanish coming

9:15

over , but we had our own languages before

9:17

then .

9:17

And so do you know those

9:20

two languages or the other , or is there one

9:22

that you know in addition ?

9:24

Oh , I , wish , I really wish I knew , but

9:26

unfortunately I grew up in the capital . I

9:29

don't understand the languages yeah

9:32

.

9:33

No , I'm Swedish and my dad came here in first generation

9:36

and I know no Swedish because I was born in California

9:38

.

9:40

And then to relearn it as an adult is so much

9:42

harder . I know Exactly Did

9:45

you especially like ?

9:46

oh sorry , you can go and then

9:48

in indigenous languages there's not a lot of people that

9:50

you get to interact , to practice . So

9:53

whatever you learn , you're going to lose .

9:54

There's not a lot of Quechua schools , although

9:57

they are trying to revive it a little bit

9:59

to keep the language and the culture alive , but

10:02

it's not a language . You'll go around

10:04

the world and you'll find someone to speak Quechua

10:06

with you .

10:07

That's really neat . So did you learn

10:09

any of it while you were over there ? Do your grandparents

10:12

speak it , or is it just Spanish ?

10:15

My grandparents also just speak

10:17

Spanish , but they do know a couple of words

10:19

here and there and sometimes they teach me I

10:21

know how to say things like mom

10:23

and dad , and sometimes

10:26

they'll teach me curse words . That's

10:28

about the extent of my knowledge

10:31

in that indigenous language . I've

10:33

actually been finding out that Spanish

10:36

is probably closer to Arabic than it is to

10:38

like the Quechua languages . Yeah

10:41

, I've been making more friends who

10:44

speak Arabic and I have

10:46

noticed we have a lot of similarities in

10:48

our languages .

10:51

Oh , you know , Eddie . Yeah , so

10:54

you've spent . How much of your time

10:56

in the last year did you spend in Peru ?

10:58

I know three months and a month and a half , so

11:00

that's four and a half months yeah

11:02

, about four months was in Peru

11:04

last year and I also did

11:07

three months just hopping

11:09

around different parts of Europe as well . Oh

11:11

nice , when in Europe did you go this

11:14

time around ? I went . I started off

11:16

in France , then

11:19

Greece , Italy , Portugal . That

11:22

was my first time in Portugal . I

11:24

sped through Belgium , I

11:27

think I stayed like one day and

11:29

then the Netherlands and

11:31

I know it's not part of the EU anymore

11:33

, but the UK . It was also my first time

11:35

going there .

11:36

Oh fun , a lot of countries

11:38

as well . Yes , and then what

11:41

did ?

11:41

you typically look like Because you're working

11:43

as well , right , and how did you

11:45

structure your days , your weeks , when you

11:47

were traveling to be able to work

11:50

and explore ?

11:52

Yeah well , the Europe trip was the exception

11:55

. I usually don't want

11:57

to travel that fast , or at

11:59

least I shouldn't , especially as a digital

12:01

nomad , because you have to balance

12:03

work . On top of that , and for

12:05

the most part that three months trip , I

12:08

spent a good portion

12:10

like about a month in Portugal , and

12:13

the other countries that I hit super fast

12:15

were just countries I was hitting because

12:17

I had an engagement there . For example , I

12:19

had a wedding in France that I had to go to , or

12:22

maybe a friend was

12:25

expecting me , or I just had to pass

12:27

through one country to get to another . But

12:29

usually and this is what I've heard from

12:31

other nomads is that one

12:34

month is probably

12:36

the slowest . You should go between

12:39

place and place because of

12:41

balancing the work life and

12:43

throwing a little time difference on top

12:45

of that . That also makes things a little more complicated .

12:48

Absolutely . Do you have a family

12:51

? Your parents are in the US , in

12:53

Florida , and you're in Florida too

12:55

. You said Currently yes

12:57

, yeah , currently no , I

12:59

can imagine . Do you

13:01

have siblings as well ?

13:04

I do . I have one younger sister and

13:06

we're not . We're not very far apart in age

13:09

. She's only about a year younger than me , so we grew

13:11

up pretty close , but we cannot be

13:13

more opposite . I mean her

13:15

night and day . She doesn't even like

13:17

to travel .

13:20

You send her a postcard , I know .

13:24

Yeah , it's interesting to like . I mean , we tend

13:26

to surround ourselves with like-minded people . But

13:28

yeah , there's this gentleman I work with some time

13:30

and I'm like do you want to travel ? He's like no , I'm

13:32

good .

13:33

Really .

13:35

I don't want to end up , but I mean to

13:38

each their own right yeah yeah

13:40

, well , also , some people like books , do that

13:42

read a lot , like you can , you

13:44

know , travel through books and having

13:46

all these new experiences , and for some people that's

13:48

plenty .

13:49

Yeah , my mom yeah .

13:52

What I was trying to get her

13:54

to understand is why she didn't like traveling

13:56

, and I was trying to find the root of it . And she told me

13:59

I don't like

14:01

to go into situations where I'm

14:03

not going to be uncomfortable . And she had

14:05

a point there , because when you travel , you're

14:07

constantly going to go through uncomfortable

14:10

situations , whether it's adjusting

14:12

to a language or not knowing

14:14

how to get somewhere , and there are

14:16

some people who are more comfortable with the discomfort

14:18

and some people who aren't . So I

14:21

think I am one of those people . I wasn't always

14:23

, ironically , but I think once

14:25

I got over like the first hurdles of

14:27

doing trips by myself , then I was like oh

14:29

, this is easy . I feel confident in myself

14:31

that no matter what uncomfortable

14:33

situation I'm in , I can figure

14:36

it out , I'll be able to handle it .

14:38

That's such a great point and thanks

14:40

for pointing that too . It's funny because I

14:42

remember , you know I

14:44

am very driven to want to travel and

14:46

to you know , my kids are , you know , college

14:48

, high school still . You know they're pretty

14:50

much on their way out . But once they

14:53

move out in a couple of years I do want to

14:55

, you know , do this , and I was just telling Carol

14:57

, my plan is to just pick

15:00

my routes and then go back to

15:02

our podcast and listen

15:04

to the different countries and figure it out from there

15:06

. But I do

15:08

remember a big trip I did this is

15:10

maybe 20 years ago going

15:12

through Barcelona , italy

15:15

, and then ending up in the UK

15:17

and being like I can understand

15:20

the signs , I can understand the language , I

15:22

can communicate , and just having really

15:24

hard time initially and it was

15:26

fine , but it was hard . You just

15:28

have to kind of give yourself grace and understand

15:30

. You know , do a little , although I

15:33

went to South Korea with my kids last summer

15:35

and that was very different . But now , with the phone

15:37

, you know 20 years ago we didn't have this but

15:39

Google translate my

15:42

gosh , it's amazing it

15:44

is .

15:45

I absolutely get where you're coming from

15:48

. When you said you finally got to the UK

15:50

and you could understand things and you felt

15:52

relieved because that was my last stop , yeah

15:54

, after my three month Europe trip , and

15:56

I felt like my brain just did like

15:59

a sigh of relief because

16:01

I didn't have to constantly try

16:03

to think in another language or

16:05

try to understand , I mean

16:08

, I would say Spanish is a pretty big

16:10

advantage , because if you know Spanish you

16:12

can sort of understand Italian . I

16:15

did study a little bit of French as well , so I can

16:17

sort of get by with that . So

16:20

I was okay . But

16:22

it's just there's something nice about not

16:25

having to think and

16:27

just it takes a mental load off

16:29

.

16:29

Yeah .

16:30

But I was in Japan for a semester actually

16:33

, and I did go back

16:35

again because I loved it so much . But I did spend an

16:37

entire semester there . I studied

16:39

Japanese before going and even a little bit

16:41

after .

16:42

Yeah .

16:43

You don't practice the language , you tend to lose

16:45

it , and that's kind of what sort of happened in my

16:47

case .

16:48

Yeah .

16:48

Sometimes it comes back If I hear I have

16:51

some friends who are Japanese and

16:53

like , when I hear them , they're awesome words

16:55

, and it starts to come back to me .

16:57

But that's great .

16:59

Well , you are truly a global citizen

17:01

. Wow , everywhere

17:04

.

17:04

Absolutely , I want to go everywhere .

17:06

I thought it was well . It sounds like you're on your way and

17:08

curious why the podcast ? What

17:10

made you want to start the podcast

17:12

as you were traveling ?

17:15

Oh , that was an interesting story actually , because

17:17

I had always listened

17:20

to a lot of travel podcasts before this

17:22

and it kind of took

17:24

me mentally across the world , especially during COVID

17:26

, when we couldn't travel . But

17:28

for the longest time I always

17:30

traveled with people , like with either

17:32

friends , a boyfriend , sometimes

17:35

with family , and never traveled

17:37

by myself . I think I was a little bit too scared

17:39

to . But it got to a point

17:41

where , like , I was no longer in a relationship

17:43

and I finally had a flexible job

17:45

that allowed me to travel and

17:47

I could go for long periods of time and

17:50

not a lot of people could come with me . So

17:53

I was either going to stop myself

17:55

from continuing to travel because

17:57

I had no one to come , or I had

17:59

to force myself out of my comfort zone and

18:02

do it on my own . So

18:04

I did a pretty big , life changing

18:06

solo trip to Europe and

18:09

I remember right before going

18:11

I was like already doing a bunch

18:13

of daring things . I figured I might as well start

18:16

the podcast that I always wanted to start about

18:18

travel , because if I

18:20

was scared to

18:22

go off by myself , I'm sure

18:24

somebody else out there is as well , especially

18:27

being a woman traveling by yourself .

18:29

Thank , you for sharing that . That's huge . It's

18:31

about doing what you really want to

18:33

do and not letting fear stop you having it

18:36

. They say , put it in the passenger seat and you

18:38

keep driving , yeah .

18:41

There's going to be uncomfortable moments , but I

18:43

feel like people only focus

18:45

on the possibility of that

18:47

and let the fear of that hold them

18:49

back . But maybe

18:51

I passed through a couple uncomfortable moments

18:53

, but I'm sure the good

18:55

majority of it was awesome , amazing

18:57

memories . And are we going to stop

19:00

ourselves because of a couple uncomfortable

19:02

things we're going to have to face for the

19:04

adventure of a lifetime or something that

19:07

is a unforgettable experience

19:09

?

19:10

And it's how you look at it , right , and I always

19:13

think about experiences . I want to have

19:15

experiences in my life , and that's

19:17

you move forward . Right

19:20

, you got to see the glass half full , exactly

19:22

. You have to Just make yourself see that . Oh

19:24

yeah , make

19:26

sure you're safe , but keep going right , that's

19:30

fantastic .

19:30

Of course , yeah .

19:31

What's your favorite ? So you've got the mountains

19:34

, you've got the Amazon and you haven't done that

19:36

part , but the mountains and the beachfront

19:39

. How's the beaches there and what's

19:42

your favorite ?

19:44

Oh , so you're going to love this , kristen , because I see

19:46

all the surfboards in your background . Oh

19:48

yes , in

19:51

Lima there's a big surf culture

19:54

over there . I live in

19:56

Florida . I'm spoiled . I have nice beaches

19:58

around me . I would say that beaches in Lima

20:00

don't compare

20:02

as well with the sandy beaches . It's

20:05

more of a rocky beach , more than anything , at

20:07

least right by the city , but

20:10

the waves are absolutely

20:12

perfect for surfers .

20:14

Oh , wow , yes . I'm

20:16

bringing that right now to see

20:18

. It looks like there's also like an island

20:21

off and it kind of jets , Looks

20:24

like it's got a little bit of a bay . It kind of actually

20:26

reminds I grew up in Redonda Beach and

20:28

it looks like it's got kind of that

20:30

shape similar .

20:32

Oh , yeah , totally .

20:33

Yeah , that's . It Is

20:36

that the in Peru

20:38

is Lima where people go to surf

20:41

.

20:42

Yeah , they have really , really big waves . I'm

20:44

actually I would love to start surfing

20:46

, but I'm a little bit scared to start

20:48

in places with waves as strong as

20:50

what they have over there . Yeah , I

20:53

was psyching myself up to do it in Portugal , but then I

20:55

saw the waves and I said oh , no

20:57

way .

20:58

Oh yeah , Maybe down there , Maybe

21:01

Ecuador , it's not so bad . I heard they

21:03

have like surfed camps and surf trips

21:05

.

21:05

Yeah , and there are a lot of surf camps

21:07

all around the coast . One

21:10

day I'll be brave enough to try it because

21:13

I've always admired surfers and I think it's

21:15

a really cool sport . But

21:17

aside from surfing , I would say

21:19

one of the things that called

21:21

me a lot to Peru was the

21:23

mountain area , cusco

21:26

, as I mentioned before . Yeah , it's

21:29

a very spiritual place If you

21:31

are a spiritual person . They

21:34

say that Cusco

21:36

is like the belly button of the world

21:38

. It's where a lot of energy is combined

21:41

in , like this one place . So

21:43

apparently people go there and they feel

21:45

rejuvenated or they feel like a

21:48

really pure energy there . And

21:51

it must have been something

21:53

of significance to the Incas

21:55

, I imagine , because they built a lot of temples

21:58

and things around it and they're

22:00

all very in line with the stars

22:02

and certain constellations and

22:04

their understanding of astrology is

22:06

absolutely fascinating for its civilization

22:09

at that time .

22:10

The Cusco looks like it's the closest main

22:13

town to Machu Picchu . Yeah

22:16

.

22:16

Okay , people who usually go to Machu

22:18

Picchu . They'll go to Cusco first and they'll

22:20

either do the Inca trail , where

22:22

they'll hike all the way up to the base

22:24

of the mountain . And at the base

22:26

of the mountain there's this tiny little town

22:29

. They call it Machu Picchu town , but it's

22:31

really called Aguas Calientes . They'll

22:34

probably stop there and then they'll finish

22:36

going up from there , and there's

22:38

buses that take you right up .

22:39

Is that like a day trip or is like a multi-day trip

22:41

like hiking ?

22:43

It's a multi-day trip , but if you're someone

22:46

who is not good with the altitudes

22:48

, like me , I take the train

22:50

from Cusco to Aguas Calientes . Okay

22:53

, it's really fun because they have

22:55

, like these panoramic windows so

22:57

you can see all around you the

23:00

landscapes as you're going through , and

23:03

some of these trains they even do like

23:05

shows on the train to give you coca-tea

23:07

to help you with the altitude sickness

23:10

and things like that .

23:12

Oh my gosh , what's the altitude ? How high is

23:14

it ?

23:16

For I believe Cusco is actually a little bit higher than

23:18

Machu Picchu .

23:19

When I click on Cusco , it looks

23:22

like it's 11,152

23:24

. So it says 3399

23:27

meters and then 11,152

23:32

, and then Machu Picchu

23:34

. Let's see , oh , it just automatically

23:36

. That's the 79 , 72

23:39

. That's a lot lower .

23:41

It is lower . I

23:43

personally felt fine

23:45

as long as I wasn't over-exerting

23:48

myself . I know some people

23:51

they have to go up with oxygen masks , but

23:53

the hard one for

23:55

me , which was the highest altitude I've ever

23:57

been in before , was Rainbow Mountain , which

23:59

is also close to Cusco . They call it the

24:01

seven color mountain or rainbow mountain

24:03

. It's just a mountain range with like a bunch

24:05

of different colors and that is an actual

24:07

hike that you have to go to

24:10

there . It's not a hard hike

24:12

but it's the altitude that makes it a little

24:14

challenging .

24:15

Rainbow Mountain . Okay , so

24:17

I have to just stop for a second because it looks

24:19

just like . So there is a place in China

24:22

. I guess it was on my screensaver

24:24

this week . I was totally blown

24:26

away Like I took pictures of it and

24:28

I was like Rainbow Mountain . It has to look like the

24:31

one I just saw , and it does , and

24:33

I don't know if it's just the pictures , but

24:35

it looks like candy . I don't understand

24:37

. Like it looks so fake . Like

24:39

Carol , you have to look it up . Yeah , I'm looking at

24:42

it . Yeah , it's like Now , what

24:44

makes it do that ? I just haven't looked

24:46

at it , but I just literally saw someplace

24:49

in China and it was on my screensaver . It's

24:52

a well and I'm seeing one picture and it looks

24:54

more browns . But then there's

24:56

other pictures and it looks like bright

24:58

, red and purple

25:00

, oh yeah , yellow , and I don't

25:02

know if maybe that's just the camera that's doing

25:05

that .

25:06

Yeah , I'm sure people go there and probably

25:08

add a little bit of filter to their travel

25:10

pictures .

25:11

Yes , that's , I'm sure

25:13

, when it is . But there's definitely , I mean there's definitely

25:15

red rock yeah .

25:17

Yeah .

25:18

There's something kind of like purpleish pink . So how long

25:20

of a trail does that from Cusco

25:22

to this Rocky Mountain area

25:24

?

25:24

Well , they take you on a bus to

25:27

like the closest point

25:29

to where you can start hiking , because

25:32

it's pretty out there . I believe I had

25:34

a good up at four in the morning to take that bus

25:36

. Oh leave as early as

25:38

three in the morning because it's

25:40

about a three to four

25:42

hour bus ride .

25:44

Oh yeah .

25:46

And you're in the middle of nowhere and there's , I

25:49

believe , they built like one little like

25:51

shack there that they made into like these

25:53

really nice bathrooms for the tourists , and

25:55

that is the only other like building

25:58

around , it was just for

26:00

the bathrooms , and then from there it's . They

26:02

give you about an hour or

26:04

so to hike up the mountain , which

26:06

it's . It's not very steep , but

26:09

I remember getting there , pulling up

26:11

to the bus , like waking up because I was , it

26:13

was , I had a good up at four in the morning . And

26:16

I see people at the base of the mountain already

26:19

throwing up and I said , oh no

26:21

, myself into .

26:25

I could have mapped it Wow . Yeah

26:28

, and you did it , though , and you didn't throw up .

26:31

I did not throw up . I'm so proud . So

26:34

I was really cold , oh really

26:36

. Because , it started hailing on

26:38

our way up there . Oh

26:41

, no , oh no , oh yeah .

26:43

So what's the best time of the year to go in ? The summer , I assume

26:46

the summer in down there there summer

26:48

.

26:48

Yeah Well , weird

26:50

enough , it is summertime in Peru right

26:52

now . I didn't do this that long ago . I did this last

26:55

month and it was summertime in

26:57

Peru . In Cusco , for some reason

26:59

, it was still really cold and

27:01

it was rainy season start of rainy season

27:03

. So this is what I would

27:05

consider low season for tourism in

27:08

Peru , because a lot of people go to see Machu Picchu

27:10

or to the the Rainbow

27:13

Mountain , and because it is rainy

27:15

season , it

27:17

gets really foggy , so maybe you won't see

27:19

Machu Picchu as well , or

27:22

the train system . They don't do

27:24

like a full train ride from Cusco

27:27

to Machu Picchu . They do like a bimodal

27:29

system where they'll take you part of the way on

27:31

bus and then the rest on train because of

27:34

the flooding . I didn't know

27:36

all this , even though it's my second time

27:38

going . The first time I went during high season

27:40

. This was my first time going through rainy

27:42

season and I was very lucky

27:44

that when I did go to Machu Picchu

27:46

, for example , it was like the one sunny

27:48

day and it was beautiful

27:50

and it wasn't foggy and I was able to see . But

27:54

the day that I did go to Rainbow

27:56

Mountain , the cold was pretty

27:59

, pretty harsh . And because it's still

28:01

cold and it started to rain . That's when that became

28:03

hail and made

28:06

it a little bit harder . But I would say I

28:08

was already getting my body warmed up hiking

28:11

, so it was fine .

28:13

Okay , so definitely do some research

28:16

on tight mean . And

28:18

you know because you hear about Machu Picchu all the time

28:20

is like do you definitely

28:22

say , yeah , everyone has to go to Machu Picchu

28:24

, or is there like no , there's like 30

28:27

other Machu Picchu , like you

28:29

know , runes or something to go to ? Is

28:31

there something like you would recommend that's

28:33

more off the beaten path and not so touristy

28:36

?

28:37

Well , definitely , I have to say . I've

28:39

gone there twice already and I still

28:41

am shocked , just even

28:43

the second time that I've gone . Okay , and

28:46

I think it is a wonder of the world for

28:48

a reason it actually is very , very

28:50

beautiful and I'm still amazed

28:52

at the structure and how perfect they

28:54

made it . However

28:56

, there are other archaeological sites

28:59

that are equally as amazing . I

29:01

did a tour through the

29:03

Sacred Valley , which was really

29:05

cool , and I saw other archaeological

29:08

sites and saw what more , I

29:10

would say , the day-to-day Inca would

29:13

pass through , because Machu

29:15

Picchu , as the tour guide explained

29:17

to me , was a town built for

29:19

the wealthy . What we consider Machu

29:22

Picchu . That's not where most Inca is . Back

29:24

in the day , that was where the elites , and

29:27

that's why there's not a lot of farming

29:29

terraces around

29:31

. There are some , but

29:34

they were almost more for gardens

29:36

. They were that wealthy they would just

29:38

have gardens because they just wanted to have

29:41

nice flowers . They didn't need it for food . These

29:44

were the wealthy elites leaving here For

29:46

some reason . From one day to the next they got abandoned

29:49

and everything was kind of forgotten

29:51

and left structurally intact , and that's

29:53

why the Spanish never got to it . They

29:56

never touched it . So it's one

29:58

of the I guess the least messed

30:01

with archaeological sites you can find

30:03

in Peru . But

30:07

there's so many places I could name . There's

30:09

one I'm trying to get to . They call it the door to nowhere

30:11

. They say

30:13

it's like a People say it might be

30:16

an portal to another dimension , because they just

30:18

built this huge door and it led to nowhere

30:20

and they were trying to understand why . So

30:23

that's where all the conspiracy theories come

30:25

in about the aliens and stuff like that .

30:27

So it would be Egyptians oh funny . In

30:29

Peru , Mm-hmm . So where do

30:31

you fly in ? If some people are going to go

30:33

to Machu Picchu , where do you like

30:36

to fly in Peru and then take a train to Cusco

30:38

? Or do you drive to or fly

30:40

into Cusco ? How's that all worth ?

30:42

Well , you're most likely have to fly into Lima

30:44

. From Lima , you then take

30:46

a probably a domestic flight into

30:49

Cusco , although

30:51

they are now building a really big

30:53

international airport in Cusco

30:55

that eventually will start

30:57

receiving international flights

31:00

, but as of right now , I believe

31:02

they still have a couple more years before it's completed

31:04

.

31:05

Okay , so that looks kind of like thinking of California

31:07

. It's just a hopper like 45-minute

31:10

flight from Lima to Cusco or something

31:12

.

31:12

Yep , it's a pretty quick flight

31:14

. The cost

31:17

is actually pretty decent . So

31:19

I would rather just go by plane

31:22

, because you could take a bus , a

31:24

night bus , but it would just take probably

31:26

over 12 hours .

31:28

Okay , and it's not that less

31:31

expensive . It sounds like .

31:32

Yeah .

31:33

Cool .

31:34

So I had to look up this door to nowhere thing

31:37

, because there's a movie called Stargate that I've

31:39

watched that it happens to be saying

31:41

it's Peruvian Stargate , but it

31:43

says September 96 , a huge , mysterious

31:45

door-like structure was discovered in the Hague

31:48

Marca mountain region of

31:50

southern Peru . Is that what it is ? Yeah

31:54

, I think that that's

31:56

it , revealed by local Indians

31:58

as the city of the gods , never been fully

32:01

explored because of the rugged

32:03

mountain terrain . Although

32:05

no actual city has ever been discovered , many of the

32:07

rock formations of the regions resemble buildings

32:09

and artificial structures , which actually

32:11

they do based on these pictures , which

32:14

is really interesting . Yeah , I know

32:16

where it . Definitely it's like in rocks

32:18

and it looks like in his door

32:20

structure .

32:21

The interesting part about the way

32:23

that they built these structures

32:27

is that the Incas never

32:29

had any sort of like

32:31

glue or nails or anything . They

32:33

didn't have access to iron

32:35

like that . So all

32:38

of these are just perfectly

32:40

fitting together and lasting all

32:43

these years , and I think that's

32:45

what's driven a lot of

32:47

archaeologists like crazy with the theories

32:49

on how . But they

32:51

didn't have sharp

32:53

enough tools to cut rocks

32:56

that were this dense . I think they would maybe

32:58

. Maybe when they were able to use some rocks to

33:00

cut other rocks , but to get it to

33:03

fit that perfectly is kind of a

33:05

mystery .

33:06

Yeah , it also seems like

33:08

there's such a mystery of how

33:10

and why , and is there any notes

33:13

that share why or what they

33:15

did or how they lived , and is there

33:17

points of reference

33:20

of history to share

33:22

how they did it ?

33:25

I mean , I'm not the most well-versed

33:27

in Peruvian history , but I have gotten quite

33:29

into it with these last couple of trips I've done

33:31

. The Incas were a

33:33

pretty advanced civilization . I

33:36

don't know if they

33:38

had anything written

33:41

down , but they definitely

33:43

had a very , a

33:45

very wide understanding of the way the universe

33:47

works , in terms of like

33:50

the

33:52

stars , astrology , but also

33:54

how to cultivate it , how

33:56

to make water run where

33:59

, when to harvest , when to

34:01

plant , things like that . They

34:03

were very in tune with nature . So

34:07

I can't say exactly from where they got

34:09

all this knowledge , because

34:12

not a lot of the recorded

34:15

history has been kept . If it has

34:17

, maybe the Spanish destroyed it because , since

34:19

they worshiped the sun or

34:21

the earth , they would consider that to be pagan

34:24

. So things like that

34:26

would get destroyed .

34:29

Okay , well , we are getting close

34:31

to the end of our hour so

34:33

I can go to the rapid fire questions which we cover . A lot of

34:35

food .

34:37

I was going to ask food . Yeah , we've got food

34:39

and cultures , if there's any

34:41

. You did say one celebration do

34:43

they celebrate Christmas ? And no

34:45

, they don't have Thanksgiving , but just some of the

34:47

other , some

34:50

sort of . Easter , or do they , and what ? Oh

34:52

, yeah , yeah .

34:54

So modern day is pretty Catholic

34:56

, so they celebrate Christmas , easter

34:58

, all things like that . I would say the

35:01

majority of the country is Catholic and

35:04

maybe people who are in the mountains who

35:06

still believe in the old ways . They are Catholic

35:08

, but they maybe leave some traditions of

35:11

revering the Pachamama

35:13

in respecting the earth and things

35:15

like that into their Catholicism

35:18

.

35:18

Thank you , yeah , so the

35:20

first one with a popular holiday

35:23

tradition . You had mentioned the Cusco

35:25

Sun event

35:28

. Is there any other ones that really stand

35:30

out ?

35:31

I know , aside from that one

35:34

, they probably also celebrate

35:36

New Year's pretty crazy over there

35:38

.

35:39

I heard .

35:39

If you're going to be in Cusco one of two dates , go

35:41

for the Inti Rimi or go for

35:43

New Year's . It's just a lot of celebration

35:46

, a lot of activity .

35:47

Oh , nice , very good . So

35:50

we didn't really get into foods this episode . So what are

35:52

some of your favorite dishes ?

35:54

or , if you want , to tell us more about them . Oh

35:57

my God , we could do a whole episode . I'm just not good . We

35:59

should have started with that .

36:01

Okay , yeah we should have yeah

36:04

.

36:04

Peruvian food is good , oh , so what

36:06

is ?

36:06

Peruvian food Like we're not too familiar

36:08

.

36:09

So the awesome thing about Peruvian food is

36:11

we have influences from all over the world , because

36:13

we got colonized by the Europeans , who also

36:15

brought in slaves from Africa and

36:17

then , after slavery was abolished

36:19

, they brought in a lot of Chinese

36:22

immigrants . So we have such

36:24

a mix of food and

36:26

the food you'll get on the coast will be different from

36:28

the mountains and then that will be

36:30

very different from the Amazon . I

36:33

would say a lot of the food . In Lima

36:35

, where I'm from , they have a

36:37

lot of great seafood . If you've ever had

36:40

Peruvian ceviche , you'll know exactly

36:42

what I'm talking about . Okay , no

36:44

, I've not we also have dishes

36:47

that mix a

36:49

lot of the other influences we have . For

36:51

example , we have a whole type of food called chifa

36:53

, which is basically Chinese , peruvian

36:55

food . It's a lot of Chinese

36:57

dishes that was brought over

37:00

when the big immigration of Chinese came

37:02

over . We even have our own Chinatown

37:04

, which , if you see pictures and videos

37:06

of it , you would think you're in China .

37:08

Wow , oh , okay . I

37:10

mean you always think of the USA

37:13

, where that's to get all the immigrants and

37:15

all this melting pots , but migrations

37:17

happen to other countries apparently .

37:20

I was going back to the ceviche . What

37:22

makes it unique compared to other ceviches

37:24

?

37:25

Well , I think Peru has really really good fish , because

37:27

we have really good ocean and

37:30

the fish that we just are able to get

37:32

from there is really fresh and really good . We

37:34

also have this amazing thing

37:36

in Peru actually two amazing things

37:38

called ají and rocoto , and we

37:40

throw it in basically all of our

37:43

foods . They will all have at

37:45

least a little bit . It's a kind of spice

37:48

that you can make into a paste . It's

37:50

not spicy to the point where it burns your tongue

37:52

, but it does add a lot of flavor .

37:55

What is it ?

37:55

called Ají Ají

37:57

. We have different types of ajís

38:00

that you can put into your food

38:02

. Then we also have one called rocoto , which

38:04

is a little bit spicier , if you like

38:06

that that also adds

38:09

tons of flavor to our food .

38:11

Okay , what's it based from ? I

38:13

guess it's just a plant . How

38:16

do you spell ají Ají ?

38:19

It's based out of a type of pepper

38:21

.

38:22

Oh , okay , got it . Generally , is food

38:24

spicy . Like Mexico you think of food is

38:26

spicy ? Is Peru pretty spicy ? Generally

38:29

speaking , no .

38:30

No , I've tried Mexican

38:33

food and not even for me that's a little too

38:35

much . I love spice , but my

38:37

palate is not that high

38:39

for spicy foods . I

38:41

would say it's pretty medium , but you can always

38:43

add more of the sauces if you like it

38:45

. On the spicier side .

38:47

Oh , got it . Okay . I'll

38:49

see you guys for breakfast when you're there .

38:51

I know this is going to sound very basic , but

38:53

this is honestly the breakfast

38:55

I had growing up is always avocado

38:59

and toast . We

39:02

call it palta and we eat it on bread

39:04

and that was like . I remember that was

39:06

such a thing for me , even before it got

39:08

popularized here in the US . That's

39:11

amazing .

39:12

I love avocado and

39:14

toast . I thought , if you're gonna say oatmeal , if everyone's

39:16

eating oatmeal or yogurt and granola .

39:18

I actually thought toast . I was thinking toast

39:20

, but I didn't think avocado toast .

39:24

That's great we have lots of avocados

39:26

and lots of varieties of fruits and

39:28

vegetables , because of the jungle as

39:31

well . We have fruits that I

39:33

haven't even heard of before until

39:35

I was able to go back and try them , and

39:37

they're really , really good .

39:39

Okay , so it's not farming like

39:41

California , but it's from the jungle

39:43

, huh , oh , wow , that's cool .

39:45

Well , they bring a lot of fruits from the jungle . I

39:47

don't know if they bring all the other types of agriculture

39:49

, but I know in the mountains they

39:52

also have different types of things , like a lot of potatoes

39:54

will come out of the mountains , onions as

39:56

well .

39:59

What are some of the fruits you have there that

40:01

maybe are your favorites that we don't have

40:03

here ?

40:05

So we have and this is kind of everywhere

40:07

in Peru . You'll see that they have this flavor luchuma

40:10

and like ice creams and things like that , because

40:12

luchuma is a fruit that we have

40:14

that is not easily

40:16

found everywhere else . And then

40:18

there's also chidi molla , which is extremely

40:21

sweet , but it's so good

40:23

. It's so good . It has like a green

40:25

outer shell and it's kind of hard

40:28

, but then the inside is like

40:30

this it's completely white , like really

40:32

bright white , and it's very juicy

40:34

. Oh , I'm going to have to look at it . It's

40:36

like a kiwi . C-h-i-r-o-m-o-y-a

40:41

.

40:42

Yeah , I'm coming up with some singers .

40:44

It does have kind of a kiwi . Look

40:46

Well , just again green with white on

40:48

the inside , but then

40:50

it almost looks like artichoke

40:53

. It looks to me like an artichoke on

40:55

the outside . Yeah

40:58

, I guess it kind of does it's ?

41:00

pretty messy to eat , but it's amazing

41:02

. I loved going to brew just to go eat

41:04

anything . But if

41:06

there's one thing I'm always craving is the fruits

41:08

, the variety of fruits there .

41:11

Ah , another fruit that comes

41:14

to mind also , that's sando

41:16

.

41:17

Luchuma was the other one I mentioned , and

41:19

that one is very bright

41:22

orange on the inside . I

41:24

don't know if it is on the outside . I've actually never seen

41:26

it as a whole fruit in person . I've only

41:28

ever tasted it in flavors of

41:31

stuff . Oh okay , it looks like a mango

41:33

.

41:33

Oh , does it ? Okay , well , at least the one that

41:35

I'm looking at . There's another

41:38

picture that looks like a pear . That's

41:41

interesting . Yeah , oh gosh . Yeah

41:43

, the one , it's a luchuma howler

41:46

. And then this one looks kind

41:48

of like a pear , or

41:50

even an avocado . Yeah , I kind of say an avocado

41:53

, that's orange , oh

41:55

, with a big seed in the center

41:57

.

41:58

Okay , and then what's the money there ? How

42:01

does that work , and do you recommend always using

42:03

a credit card or changing it on

42:05

the street or at the bank ? I feel

42:07

like in South America we've gotten different

42:09

answers in different locations .

42:12

So I would say , in the capital you could comfortably

42:14

use your credit card in most places . But

42:17

I would say Peru is still a cash-based

42:19

society . In most parts , especially if you're going

42:21

to touristic places , they

42:24

use a currency called Sol

42:26

, or Soles for plural , which

42:28

literally translates to sun in

42:30

Spanish . So we're exchanging

42:32

suns when we pay for things .

42:35

Nice . Oh , I see a theme

42:37

with the Cusco and the yeah , yeah

42:39

, yeah .

42:39

The sun was a big part , a big god

42:42

to us , like I would say , because it

42:44

brought everything to life .

42:46

Oh , I like that Nice

42:48

, one big sand , okay

42:50

. And then closest place to surf

42:53

, I mean Lima . You said it's great . Is there

42:55

like throughout the whole coast , or is there

42:57

just certain towns that are better for

42:59

surf ? I've heard in Lima

43:01

.

43:01

Barranco is a neighborhood

43:04

to go to if you want to surf

43:06

, and there's a big surf culture there . It's

43:08

very artsy , very beautiful . So

43:10

if you're into surf , I would hit up

43:12

that neighborhood first and then

43:14

see where's the best place to access the

43:16

beach from there . Okay , very

43:18

good .

43:19

And Barranco , how do you spell it ? It's B-A-R-R-A-N-C-O

43:23

. Yep , that's exactly it . Just

43:25

googled it and I see it here

43:27

and it looks

43:30

very bohemian . I like it . Oh

43:32

yeah , this guy that he looks like

43:34

he's got like a rasta hat on

43:36

. Actually it's

43:39

their hoarded wetsuit . It's interesting

43:41

looking at the cliffs . I

43:43

grew up in Southern California , Passafordies

43:45

, and it looks very similar kind

43:48

of landscape to that

43:50

area .

43:52

I kind of I think I know which picture you're looking

43:54

at , because that's one of the most iconic

43:56

spots whenever I type in Lima and

43:58

Google is a neighborhood in Miraflores

44:01

and the place is called

44:03

Larco Mar and

44:05

it's like that big cliff that

44:07

just kind of cuts off into nowhere and a

44:10

lot of people go parasailing there . It's

44:12

really amazing .

44:14

What I see is there's buildings on the top

44:16

, but what's different

44:18

in Southern California than when

44:20

it goes down ? Actually , when it goes down

44:23

, there's nothing . There's not even like places

44:25

to lay out , but this one in particular

44:27

, there's at the bottom of it . On

44:29

the water side there's more buildings

44:32

and lots of people . So it must be

44:34

deeper than what ours is in

44:36

Southern California , but it's looks pretty

44:38

amazing .

44:39

Yeah , I love walking around there . It's a nice place

44:41

, it's a nice neighborhood and , with Lima

44:44

especially , just the way the situation is

44:46

in most places in Latin America . You do have

44:48

to be a little bit more wary

44:50

of what neighborhoods you're walking into , and

44:52

that is one of the neighborhoods that I would say is relatively

44:55

safer for tourists is Miraflores

44:59

or Barranco . They're

45:01

also very beautiful places to visit

45:04

, but in terms of safety , it's usually

45:07

where , if someone asks me for a

45:09

recommendation as a tourist , I would tell them to

45:11

go visit those two places .

45:13

Oh , okay .

45:13

Perfect . And one last thing I see everyone

45:15

wearing wetsuits , so it sounds like , and

45:18

I was curious , the temperature in

45:20

Peru and also when people

45:22

are surfing and

45:24

I don't know , is it the water

45:26

cold or I don't know , the beaches and

45:28

Well , it's ocean water

45:30

, so it's definitely going to be a bit cold .

45:32

but for anyone who doesn't

45:35

know this , our seasons are reversed

45:37

in below the equator , so

45:39

if you're going around

45:42

the months that are summer in the US

45:44

and you go fly to Peru , it's

45:46

going to be winter . So try

45:48

to go whenever it's winter here and then that way you

45:50

have summer over there .

45:53

Yeah , endless summer , exactly

45:56

.

45:56

Chasing the sun Exactly

45:59

. That's great .

46:01

Well , thank you so much , Andrea

46:04

, nice , to see you again and really

46:07

appreciate this , and I think we'll probably

46:09

have to have you on again for some

46:12

of your other adventures . You spend a lot of time in

46:14

a lot of cool places .

46:15

Yeah , oh yeah . I have so many stories

46:17

. Oh my gosh .

46:19

Oh yeah , so where do people find you ? How do we find your

46:21

podcast and social channels ?

46:24

Well , my podcast is listed on all

46:26

wherever you get podcast Apple , spotify

46:29

and it's Wander working without

46:31

the E . And then on social

46:33

media it's the same . I'm on Instagram

46:36

quite a lot and I post a lot of reels

46:38

with tips for travel and destinations

46:41

I go to , and even digital nomads

46:43

stuff if you're looking to become one . So

46:46

definitely check those out . I

46:48

know not everyone's doing long term travel but at

46:50

least if you are interested

46:52

in travel at all , I post

46:54

a lot of tips on Instagram for that stuff . Excellent

46:58

.

46:59

Okay , that's fantastic . Thank you

47:01

so much .

47:02

No thank you . Thank you for having me . I love being

47:04

here . I love your podcast . I do listen to it a

47:06

lot whenever I'm trying to decide where

47:09

next .

47:12

Thank you .

47:13

That's fantastic , well , you guys are welcome

47:15

anytime . Just let me know when you're going

47:17

and I will hook you guys up over there

47:20

.

47:20

Awesome Yay .

47:22

Thank you , carol . Thank you Kristen . Thank

47:25

you , take care , Bye , bye . Thanks

47:28

for listening . If you enjoyed the podcast

47:30

, can you please take a second and do a quick

47:32

follow of the show and rate us in your

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47:36

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. If you're on Instagram , let's

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connect . We're at when Next

47:47

Podcast . Thanks again .