One thing About Me

This is something I wrote two years ago when I moved to Arizona (from Peru) for a class. Many things have changed since then off course, but I still have the same passion. I wanted this to be my first post in this blog because I’m planning on writing more about my experience hiking in Peru and hiking / visiting Arizona.

One Thing About Me

One of the things that I love most is to gaze at and feel nature, especially in the highlands. My father is from Caraz, a town of the Peruvian highlands. It has amazing landscapes, with a great combination of sunlight, sun heat, wind, vegetation smell, and huge mountains. My father used to take me to Caraz when I was a child, and I remember that when I climbed a small mountain [cerro San Juan] near my grandparents’ house, I felt like I was in heaven. I could stay there for hours, not thinking, just feeling.

I don’t remember how old I was when I saw for the first time the snowcapped Alpamayo mountain, but I do remember that I told my dad, “I just fell in love for the first time.” That is why I decided to go to the mountains more often. Of course my first official hike was to see the Alpamayo mountain closer up, and since then I have hiked or cycled to many wonderful landscapes in Peru.

Before I came to live to Arizona, I did a special hike in Cusco, my favorite Peruvian city. I meant it to be a “see you soon” hike, because I know that in future years I will be living there. I went to Cusco to find out where precisely I wanted to live, and I had the feeling that I would know when I got there.

I decided to visit Choquequirao, an archeological site that is surrounded by snowcapped mountains and near the Apurimac River (“divinity talker river”). Near the starting point of the hike to Choquequirao, I found the place where I would like to live someday. I started the hike with many doubts and fears, not about the hike, but of life. Then, while I was walking among and on the mountains and paying attention to nature, I found all the answers to my questions. It's difficult to explain, but after my visit to Choquequirao I felt recharged with good energy. Perhaps not only because when I’m hiking I have plenty of time just with myself to clear my mind, but also because nature is a great storehouse of good energy that can help you to change whatever bad energy that you are carrying at that time.

I've had many great experiences hiking in Peru; I’m sure that in Arizona I'll find amazing landscapes and I’d like to visit them as much as possible. So, I hope I’ll be telling you soon more about them.