Yesterday, we arrived in Peru, and it felt like a stroke of luck to leave Bolivia behind. Right at the border, there was a celebration of the Flag Day, with a grand parade featuring an orchestra and dances. We couldn’t help but feel that the country was welcoming us with open arms.
Unfortunately, when asked how many days we wanted to spend in Peru, we replied, “One month.” They stamped our passports and wrote the number 30, indicating the number of days we were allowed to stay. We were naturally disappointed since we had hoped for the standard three months. We had wanted to rent a small apartment on the coast to relax for a month or two after the long journey. However, we understand and accept that fate also wants to play a role in our journey. “We’ll rest in Ecuador,” we decided and set off on foot along the road from the city of Desaguadero. A stray dog greeted us, and once again, we rejoiced at how this country was welcoming us.
More and more, we notice that when you decide to do something differently from your original plan, miracles happen, and your plan somehow falls into place. It’s as if you were meant to wait for this moment until the very end. This time, we wanted to reach Puno and stay at the cheapest hostel since we only had enough money left for food, and we wanted to save as much as we could. There was also the option of camping by Lake Titicaca, but Nastya needed to work in the morning, so we needed Wi-Fi and a power socket. Besides, the nights here are freezing, and we were tired of freezing. The last time we camped was after crossing the Argentina-Bolivia border. It was the coldest night of our lives, and it seemed like a miracle that we survived. But we’ll talk about that later. For now, it was already three in the afternoon, and we thought we could try to find a hostel here in Desaguadero and negotiate the price down a bit if it was too high. But at that very moment, we hitched a ride with the first car going to Puno, and we didn’t need to look for a hostel anymore.
On the way, we picked up another traveler, and he shared his internet with us. We checked our Couchsurfing requests, and to our immense joy, one of the hosts approved our request, giving us hope for a brighter future. Now we need to find some work and earn money for tickets to Machu Picchu and perhaps buy a poncho. After all, we’ll be trekking there for three days on mountainous trails, and this part of Peru is also at an altitude of over 3500 meters. It will be very cold at night in our single summer sleeping bag for two people.