A vagabond dream come true: Colombia & Peru
Review of my 24th year - Part 2
Part 2 - read part 1 here
By mid-July, I had given my notice.
I had read the book Vagabonding by Rolf Potts that year, and was inspired to try the solo travel journey with zero plan. To live fully in the moment and find my way as I went, inviting all kinds of adventures to show themselves to me. I knew it would involve real challenges and that was the point. I wanted to encounter moments that would push me to grow and develop resilience and character.
“Vagabonding is not a lifestyle, nor is it a trend. It’s just an uncommon way of looking at life—a value adjustment from which action naturally follows. And, as much as anything, vagabonding is about time—our only real commodity—and how we choose to use it.”
I was very nervous landing in Bogota, Colombia, alone, having no plan at all. I cried the first night and questioned my decision. But having the book in mind and recognizing I had purposefully chosen this, I persevered and had an incredible time out there. Full of adventure, of wonderful moments, and full of challenging ones too.
I worked at a few permaculture farms, improved my Spanish significantly, practiced and taught yoga, worked at a few hostels, met wonderful people and this is where I truly began my relationship with myself.
It was the first time I was truly alone, in every capacity. I didn’t have school in Hong Kong to give me structure, or the internship in Barcelona to give me scaffolding. I was just… out there. And I was experimenting with allowing plans to find me rather then seeking things out myself.
Many times this just wasn’t really working, after all you’re not going to just passively wait for things to come your way, so it was more of an opening towards things coming, but still doing research, organizing myself to do things I wanted to do.
One of the work-trading opportunities I did I had contacted online ahead of time, and another time I took a bus somewhere, walked up to a hostel that had good reviews and a pool, and asked to work there, and they said yes! It was one of the most fun periods of my journey where I met very special people.
I got my scuba diving certification in Taganga, visited the tallest palm trees in the world, visited what used to be the most dangerous neighborhood in Medellin which got converted into a safe tourism zone to tell their history.
I stayed at a women’s property in Guatapé that was running solo - a permaculture farm, Spanish-school retreat centre. It was a smoke/alcohol free place, cellphone/wifi free place, the food was simple vegetarian and we had yoga classes every morning. That was where the seed truly got planted in me about the beauty of permaculture, living close to the land and simplicity.
After 6 full weeks in Colombia, I was eager to stay longer but I knew Peru would require me at least the same amount of time, which is what I had left - another 6 weeks. Although I was on a vagabonding adventure, I did have a return flight to spend Christmas with family.
Arriving in Peru, I was already quite tired from all my movement, travel and constant decision-making which is required when traveling that way. I met a Brazilian girl in a hostel and decided to join her to a place called Ayacucho.
“AYACUCHO!!!” - I hear the song still in my head, that plays in all the local busses in Peru. There is a song that is truly wonderful, and throughout the song, they name every town in Peru.
This place had zero tourists, truly we didn’t see any, despite there being a mesmerizing lagoon. I could understand after though, because Peru is abundant in mesmerizing scenery, and I probably can’t even name all of the incredible places I managed to visit and witness.
Arriving in Cusco, I book a 5-day trek to Machu Picchu for the following day. I think I paid 200$. Most people who book online paid over 600$ if not more. One of the great advantages of vagabonding which you learn very quickly, is how much more affordable everything becomes. You aren’t booking things on websites, you literally show up and bargain, you stay at in places that aren’t found online, and you are flexible in everything because you have nothing booked.
I spoke gospel of this way of travel back in those days, I couldn’t believe how amazing it was and more adventure-filled and raw it felt.
Okay so back to the 5-day trek to Machu Picchu (74 km), I booked it, went to the hostel, told them I was checking out for 5 days and coming back, packed my stuff, did a bit of shopping to have warm gloves and hat.
The first day we hiked to the highest altitude of the entire trek, and I got violently sick during that night, mostly likely altitude sickness. It was horrendous, I had to knock on my tour guides tent and ask for medicine, barely able to make it to his tent.
Somehow I managed to continue hiking the next day for 10 hours, the longest day out of the 5. That kicked me right back into health, must be the magic of the coca leaves or the Andean Mountain Air.
You’d think after that I wouldn’t want to do a multi-day hike again, but I actually did two more. I did 3 days hiking the Colca Canon (31 km), and 3 days hiking the Santa Cruz trail in Huaraz (45 km). (This one was meant to be 4 days but we completed it in 3)
Journal exert - December 16, 2018
“We did the Santa Cruz trek in 3 days - unguided and carrying all our stuff. Fuck it was hard but it was amazing to do it. At one moment I was laying in the tent and couldn’t believe where I was and how we were living like that for 3 days. I was so happy - thinking this is what I dream of.”
Other than these highlights, there were also lots of relaxed moments, I hung out and laid low in Cusco for probably two weeks, with short visits to the surrounding Sacred Valley. I was looking for work-trade opportunities but somehow nothing really clicked. The friend I traveled with in AYACUCHO! ended up working in a hostel in Cusco, but it required her to be pouring shots of alcohol into people’s mouths as it was more of a party-vibe.
I was in a completely different zone and spent more time journaling in the evenings than anything else. I would join a friend or two for dinner, sometimes having dinner alone.
There was one time that I recall I had dinner in some small restaurant, and for some reason I started crying. I was alone, and crying quietly in this restaurant. I kept wiping my tears away and they just kept coming down. It was the first time in my life that I was in a situation like that. I didn’t know why I was crying. I had been processing the grief of losing my dad for some time, and it was likely related to that, but truly it didn’t even feel like it was about that. I couldn’t put my finger on it. I was just crying.
Journal exert November 28, 2018
“I started crying in the restaurant and of course there was a super harsh white light over me and nobody else, and I literally could not stop until I left. I couldn’t stop. I felt like in that moment a lot of shit was trying to get out - which was good. I sort of laughed at myself at one point too because my friend Tom texted me to ask what I’m doing, and if I would answer “I’m eating alone in a restaurant and crying” it wouldn’t sound true, but it literally was, and I thought that was really funny.”
I was purging. I had so many stored emotions in me that they were all just rolling out of me through tears. Peru is truly a magical and healing place, and it’s no wonder the medicine of the land, of the air, of the people, was penetrating me and helping me to heal.
I had thought a lot about plant medicines like Ayahuasca or San Pedro, though I told myself that I won’t go seeking it, if it finds me in a way that feels right, then I’ll know.
They did come to me, but not in a way that felt right. There are a lot of people sadly taking advantage of foreigners seeking Ayahuasca in Peru and it is not something you want to do with people who don’t truly honor the traditions and hold the knowledge in how to handle these sacred medicines.
I didn’t feel the need to do any of these medicines though because I am highly sensitive, I am in tune with spiritual realms, psychic realms and my emotions and the emotions of the collective. While in Colombia and Peru, I tuned deeper in my inner knowing, my connection to the land and spirit, and I know this is when my “spiritual journey” began.
Perhaps it began when my dad was sick and dying. Or perhaps it began when I was born. But as an adult, this is when I truly came to recognize and feed my natural pull towards the esoteric and mystical realms.
It truly is such a privilege to have been able to spend that precious time in those two special unique countries. What I valued a lot in both countries but especially in Peru, is how much they are still connected to their indigenous culture.
On my last day in Peru, I stayed up all night with friends from different hikes - two Canadians that were on the Salkantay Trek (Machu Picchu), two Argentinians from Colca Canon, and the others who were on the Santa Cruz trek… we happened to be gathered in tiny Huaraz town and shared my last evening, it was so fun.
I recall crying a lot while packing up my bags and trying to get myself to the bus station to leave. It was hitting me hard that I was leaving this dream realm, this temporary universe I had been living in for the past 3 months, and return home - a place that felt so far away from everything here. It was a surreal feeling. There is real grief every time you must let go of a vortex of a life you created while traveling.
This wraps up my first vagabonding experience.
You can watch videos I made of my experience on YouTube.
