I arrived in Trujillo early around 7am and there were taxis trying to get me to go with them. I thought maybe a collective would be best but the guy told me it would take an hour and I believed him and didn't gel like dealing with that so I got a ride from him and arrived at my hostel around 8am. The town of Trujillo was pretty dirty and arriving in Huanchaco was pretty much the same, nothing special. Thankfully my room was ready so I was able to unpack and get organized and get some breakfast. I was contemplating if I wanted to surf so I borrowed a bike and went to see how much it would cost. I saw the conditions were okay but seemed a little strong and there wasn't really a beach. My hostel was on the mountain so biking down to the central point I could see more of the town and it really wasn't great. The girl I asked at the hostel with the surf rentals said the guys weren't there who deal with the boards so I told her I would come back if I decided to go in the afternoon since it was mid-day. I then went to get another SIM card which was another struggle because of the language barrier and me not totally understanding the whole SIM card recharging rules. I went back to the hostel and did some bus bookings and then just chilled because I was tired. I decided it wasn't worth surfing so I went to get food for dinner at the market and ended up getting street food which was one of the best decisions because I tried picarones and papa rapela which I hadn't before and they were both delicious! I enjoyed eating them while watching the "sunset" and surfers. It was pretty tough going from bright sunny beautiful weather to grey boring weather; and I was freezing. I ended up making the ramen soup I had brought with me since Panama City and then sat at the rooftop bar with a beer. I went to bed and then had to check out the next day, so got breakfast again at the hostel. This girl Hanna was also there having breakfast and she decided to tag along with me on my way to the Chan Chan ruins. We took the local buses there and it was nice being with another person, got to know her as we walked through the ruins and it was a very neat experience seeing the ruins. It was a lot smaller than I thought and we went to the museum which was okay and then this other site which was literally a waste of time with barely any ruins but I got to see a naked dog or the hairless Peruvian national dog. We went back and I got ceviche at this one place I had read about and it was actually pretty good, had a nice spice to it and included some sweet potatoes. Afterwards we went back to the hostel and I was planning to leave that night but turns out my bus ticket read 9:30am not 9:30pm so I started to freak out. Thankfully I was able to go online to book another bus for the next night but I was pissed because I needed to get to Huarez to get used to the altitude for the hike I was planning to go on. Plus I did not want to stay in Huanchaco but there was literally nothing I could do. There was this Canadian couple there that was actually going on the same night bus so we planned to take a taxi together. That night Hanna and I sat at the rooftop bar and chatted with the bartender/volunteer from Colorado who had been traveling for years as well. Hanna hadn't been back to Holland for 5 years and has been living in Australia and New Zealand. We chatted about all the travels and then went to bed. The next day I had to re-check out and got breakfast and then went to this cafe to do some computer stuff but the WIFI sucked so had to go back to the hostel to do it and ended up booking a lot of things I needed to which felt good and then chatting with my sister Chloe for a while. Hanna and I went to get pizza and then smoked and headed to the bus station (she decided to come along since her plans changed and had to head back to Lima). The taxi driver was crazy again and we had to wait a little but not too long. The bus was super nice and they gave us a bag of food and some tea. I got some sleep but not a lot and was planning to hike the next morning because I had to since I needed to meet my best friend Lauren in Lima the following night. Hanna and I got a taxi to our hostel at 5:30am and it was locked. The bus was actually early and wasn't expecting to get there until 6am. Thankfully this girl opened the door for us as she was heading on a 4 day hike that morning. We went up and waited until the guy got to the reception which was around 6:15am. I had asked around to the people that were waking up to go on hikes how the Laguna 69 hike was and there was this one guy that sounded like he was an intense hiker from the US, reminded me of the dad John from the show This Is Us. I knew we needed to leave for the hike ASAP so I was on a mission and asked the guy to get a taxi for us as soon as possible. We both checked in, went to the market to get food and left by 7:30am. Things were going right and then the taxi driver had to stop and change cars and then change tires which delayed the trip a little which was annoying. We got to the starting point of the hike around 10:30am. We were both pretty tired and the road to get there was windy and bumpy so couldn't really sleep on the 3 hours ride there. We started to head out and I didn't feel anything at first but Hanna did. We had to stop a few times and then I started to feel the altitude about 30 minutes into the hike. I kept chewing the Coa Coa leaves and we both had taken an altitude sickness pill so was hoping that would all help. Our legs felt like jello and didn't have much energy but I was determined! Hanna was thinking about stopping halfway and waiting for me and I told that was okay so I kept going. I was really not feeling good at certain points, losing my breath and having to take many breaks but I just keep telling myself I can do this. Two thirds of the way up I thought I was almost there but I wasn't as close as I thought. I started seeing hikes come down and kept asking how far and that didn't help. My body just felt weak and it was the breathing that was the hardest to get through. The views and my determination were the only things that kept me going. The final stretch was the hardest part of any hike I've ever had to deal with. It was mostly because of the altitude, but also probably because I was by myself and didn't have a lot of motivation backing me up, besides me wanting to see the lake. All of a sudden groups started to come down and it was really hard to hike up with all these people coming down. I had to take more breaks and it took longer but I was right on track for the 3 hour average hike up. I finally got to the top and seeing the blue water was the best feeling. I was so happy to get there but felt so sick. There were only like 5 people there so I was happy it wasn't crowded. I got a few pictures and then it was just me and this one man left. Turns out he's from Uruguay and has been traveling for a year with his caravan and is heading up to Alaska (divorced with no kids, still working remotely a couple days of the week and 60 years old). He was a really nice guy and we started talking about the hospitality industry and our jobs. Then this one guy from Minnesota from the US Peace Corps came up and we chatted a bit and then he headed down. Sergio (the Uruguay guy) and I eventually started to make out way down at 2:30pm which was when they said we should head down by. And 10 minutes down we run into Hanna who was coming up. I was so happy she made it! We waited for her to see the laguna and then the 3 of us headed down together. It took us about 2 hours to get down. We chatted about out travels and where we ant to go and then started talking about America and Trump and then thankfully switched topics. Thankfully the taxi driver was still there and we gave Sergio a ride to his caravan. It was the best feeling to sit down in that taxi and close my eyes - my body felt like it had just taken a beating. I was hungry but too tired to eat. When we were about 30 minutes from Huarez, the taxi car broke down. He said it was electrical but both Hanna and I knew that didn't mean anything so we got very annoyed. He said another taxi would come in 20 minutes so we waited patiently. The other taxi that came actually brought gas so turns out the f***ing taxi driver didn't put enough gas in the car in the beginning when I had given him 50 soles he only put in 30 - what an idiot. So then we went to the gas station after that and he asked for the rest of the 180 soles that it would have costed and I wasn't going to pay the full amount seeing as though he delated our trip by about 45 mins already. We gave him the rest of the money to equal 130 soles which I thought was fair but then when we got back to the hostel the other driver had asked for 50 more to equal the total 180 soles. We had to talk to the hostel to make them understand why were wouldn't pay the full amount and all in all we paid 150 soles. Checking into my room with a hot shower felt like a million bucks, I was so happy to feel hot and clean. I was going to get chips at the market but nothing was open and it was disgusting on the streets so I just went to bed. Woke up early to catch my 9:30 bus to Lima to meet Lauren!

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