It’s an interesting experience travelling for so long. Everything you do starts to blur together. You start wondering when something actually happened, and why you did something. It’s all a bit surreal.

In the last month I’ve been to the Galapagos, where I dove quite a bit. What a spectacular place, with some absolutely crazy animals and scenery. Seeing beaches covered in sea lions at night is quite something. Additionally, the water is amazing, with some spectacular dives, some where you see lots of fish and sharks, with some with strong currents you just drift along with. And, of course, there’s the giant tortoises, being the island’s namesakes. Was spectacular to spend 2 weeks there.

Although, while there, I finalised my flight details to transfer to Europe. So, all of a sudden I had a much closer deadline. I spent a week on the mainland in Ecuador, where I saw Cotopaxi, the highest active volcano, and Banos, a town full on hot springs. While at Cotopaxi I was sleeping at 3500m above sea level, and did not like that. I kept sleeping with an open mouth, so woke up with dry tonsils and only managed 4 hours of sleep a night. It made it particularly fun when I tried to go hiking after two nights like that and gave up after 15 minutes because I was breathing like I just ran a marathon. Getting to Banos, at 2000m was much better, and was a very pretty place, where I went white water rafting. The trip was great, albeit a little short. It was very unfortunate then that on the bus from Banos to Quito I had my good phone stolen out of my backpack while I was sleeping. Was not a fan of that, having to go to the police immediately as I was leaving the next day. Here’s hoping that the insurance pays out.

The next day I flew into Lima. Pretty coast on the city, with massive cliffs giving distance from the beach. After Lima, it was onto Huacachina, an oasis in the middle of a desert with quite high dunes. Went skiing on those, an interesting experience holding skis in the middle of a desert. Makes you feel a little out of place. From Huacachina I was onto Nazca, where I took a flight to see the lines. They are absolutely amazing, although the plane makes you feel a little sick. I was very happy I heeded the advice not to eat breakfast beforehand. But completely worth it to see the lines, these amazing drawings in the middle of this desert. After to Arequipa, the second largest city in Peru, known for its buildings of white stones and food. I had fun walking around the tourist district, eating well and hanging out. Was a very nice place to slow down for a bit, and had some amazing mountains in the distance to watch while going slow.

Which brings me to Cusco. Got here on a night bus, and happy to be done with those for a moment. Spending a few days here to acclimatise before I go hike the Inca trail, which looks spectacular. We’ll see how well I fare with the altitude here, being 3400m, hopefully better than last time or I’m going to have a horrible hike. Definitely a very touristy place here, but seems nice enough. Was fantastic weather during the day, full sun, although it’s a little cold when the sun goes away. Wasn’t the best getting off the bus this morning and seeing frost. Also a little interesting seeing people in jackets when only a week ago people were in shorts. Amazing variation in this continent.

And then there’s me. I’m definitely feeling like I’m having enough of travelling, at least in this style. I think it’ll be good when I get to Europe, I’ll be moving a bit less, and (un?)fortunately I have to plan it all beforehand. So it’ll definitely be a different way of doing things. I’m looking forward to the change, been a while of doing what I’m doing at the moment, and I’m really missing seeing the same people for a while. It’s amazing how much it wears on you, not having that consistent social circle. I think it may also be part of why at the moment I’m drawing into myself, just losing a bit of energy for meeting people. Europe will be good, have a different scene and a different style of travel.

That said, I am reading a bit at the moment, and it’s quite enjoyable. I recently finished Andy Weir’s novels, which were a fun distraction and quite light. Currently I’m reading “The House of Morgan”, which has a bit of interesting history on the rise and development of the American banking systems, oriented around the Morgan family. Always so much out there to read, so it’s very nice to have some time to get around to it.