One year ago today, everything changed. That was the most horrible day in Kuala Lumpur where I was advised to leave China and move to the land of four thousand potatoes and insanely beautiful sunsets.
This was the view outside of my hotel window in KL Malaysia (not the one with the lizard, the one below). My hotel was an air-conditioned oasis that held me prisoner, as no one goes outside in KL unless they are prepared to melt. Kuala Lumpur is that hot. Your deodorant doesn’t stand a chance, folks wandering around supersized malls instead of on sizzling sidewalks.
So many lifetimes ago.
I no longer hear morning firecrackers of my Chinese neighborhood or experience the smell of incense in wafting into my apartment. I no longer bump peddle through a sidewalk vegetable market on my way to school. I no longer live in Kunming, known as the City of Eternal Spring.
Now, I live in Lima, Peru, my life still upside-down, as I have spring in September. Capybaras are looking for their shadows instead of groundhogs. The air is a thick fog due to some geographic phenomenon I don’t understand, even though Lima is closer to the Equator than Bangkok. August (winter), leaves shivering kid like that who forgot their towel at the pool.
I have the ocean. Deafening traffic. Salsa music blaring on buses, the drivers providing jerky rides comparable to those at a carnival. And dusty trails to conquer, like Apu Siquay.
Apu Siquay is a sand dune hiking spot with a trail head in the María Auxiliadora neighborhood, guarded by a tired dog. The local neighborhood is as humbling as the zig zag trail up the mountain is daunting.
Plan either to hire a tuktuk (ten soles a passenger) or bring a camel’s supply of water to walk to the top. There’s no ancient temples or UFO remains at the peak, just a gigantic Inca head, which wasn’t made by ancient Incas. Slightly chipped and lacking the luster, it reminds me of the gigantic Fred Flintstone outside of temple in Pai, Thailand, or the Scooby Du on a mountain top in Sapa, Vietnam. Not exactly the earmarks of a UNESCO heritage site, but a gorgeous view of Peru’s landmark brown rolling hills of nothingness kissing the ocean. You’ll also see a gigantic lizard and a chipped swan. Could this be the ancient burial ground of carnival rides?
Once at the top, you may discover a few interesting types of plants, including this cactus that looks like it’s either going to bloom or with a case of monkey pox.
I wouldn’t recommend the Apu Siquay hike in Lima, unless you’re at the bottom of the bucket of things to do in Lima. But, come to think of it, I wouldn’t recommend moving to Lima, either, unless you were advised to leave a country and leave your life at the border (along with your lighter and water bottle), and start something new.
