The Human Experience

Ya know, I’m learning more about myself and I’m working through some things as well.

Standing there in the middle of the city with our back packs on the side walk.

It’s cold, dark, and we’re drinking something we just bought from a guy with a cart, the drinks warm, slightly sweet, and kind of thick. He said it was Maca, but we weren’t sure what that was.

We were dropped off in Huaraz on Tuesday at 5am, waiting on the street for the sun to come up and watching the city come alive.

You know the “Paramount Pictures” intro that comes on screen before movies, that mountain under the words is from just outside Huaraz.

Huaraz also has Perús tallest mountain coming in at just over 22,000 feet, loads of rock climbing, mountaineering, and world renowned treks.

A feeling of guilt, or regret creeps into my stomach as I’m sitting on a night bus headed to Lima, two days after arriving.

I have my sights set onwards to something else I’m excited about, and honestly my knees not up to the big hikes they have there.

But I still feel guilty for being in this beautiful spot with world renown hiking, and not making it onto a mountain peak, or into the woods for the day.

But, it’s alright. I process it just fine, I’ll go back if I want to experience it, it’s okay to just see the areas you’re interested in or find the experiences that are good for you.

We left early, our room was booked til Sunday but we weren’t feeling it with the town, it turned out to be a pretty damn big city nestled in the mountains, lots of diesel, not the friendliest vibes, and the street dogs were pretty mean which isn’t the best omen.

We got a refund for one night and a few extra bucks, they gave us 40 Soles back, which is about $16 and our private room was $14 a night.

Grabbed a night bus ticket in the afternoon when we made our decision, and we zoomed off!

This bus is the bumpiest one yet, and my food bag just fell off the over head compartment and hit the person in front of me… oof!

I guess what I’m getting at is that we want to do it all, or don’t want to miss on experiences and opportunities. But at the end of the day we have to go with our gut, and take a route that truly makes us happy.

The City From A Dream

I’m emailing you from Lima, Peru. To be exact, I’m in the distract called Barranco and Mira Flores.

And to be quite frank, It’s. Fricking. Beautiful.

You can buy round trip flights from Denver for around $750. Or from Orlando for $360.

The streets are clean, it’s on an ocean side cliff, the surfs amazing, there’s beautiful bars on every corner with wild cocktails, cool cafes, street markets and art all over the sidewalks and some of the best fricking food in the world!

No I’m not joking. They have 3 of the worlds top 50 restaurants, one of them being the number 1 restaurant, serving a 14 course traditional Peruvian meal, its 1,250 Soles which is about $347 bucks, not bad tho still… Booked out until November though, we may make a reservation for our road back north.

Oh ya, that’s the other part, it’s super cheap here, me and Kate just had 3 sushi meals and two iced teas for $20 bucks (including a great tip 😉). But every meals between about $3-$15(only $15 at really high end restaurants), the cocktails are around 5 or 6 (we’re not drinking though), and the coffees are around $2.50 for amazing cappuccinos.

You can get a penthouse condo here for under $200k also, which I think is a pretty damn good deal. And no need for a car as you can walk everywhere. I think we’re gonna go house hunting and tour some to put it out there in the universe, I know we’d love to buy a property here.

The side walks are covered with lush & tropical trees, cactus, and parks. It’s super green, bike friendly, lots of roller bladers, a huuuge skate culture, and the style/fashion is really prominent.

A lot of people have pet dogs here (unlike the rest of Peru where their street dogs), here there are no street dogs, instead really nice street cats in the parks. It’s a funny switch up, and the cats don’t try to get a bite of you like the dogs do 😂. Come on you can’t beat that!

We arrived at 5 in the morning off our bus from Huaraz, and took around a 30-40 minute taxi ride to our hostel. I’m aware that this is the nice and “rich” part of Lima, and like any city the whole place isn’t completely like this. I do look to get to some other parts of the city, but overall I’d give this a 10/10.

I’d give it an Australia meets old school California vibe if I could.

Aside from Hoi An, Vietnam this is one of the few places I’ve landed in the world and been like “Yeah, I could totally live here”.

75 Hard

I’ll keep you updated with this while we’re in the road, we failed..!

Missed a workout on a bus travel day, and was too tired to read haha.

That’s alright, we restarted and just finished day 5!

But it’s kinda like Alex Hormozi says:

• The purpose of marriage isn’t to win, it’s to stay married

• The purpose of fitness isn’t to win at fitness, it’s to stay fit

• The purpose of business isn’t to win at business, it’s to stay in business

So we’re looking at this the same, what’s the point to rush to day 75 and then stop and undue all the progress made?

That being said I F*&king miss sweets, they got pastries (my Achilles heel) on every damn corner (and between corners) and that’s off limits…:/

Kokopelli Hostel

We’re in a 10 bed mixed dorm.

They’re made like pods, so everyone has their own cubby.

I’m on the 3rd story of bunks.

It’s super cool.

The hostels got a great vibe, it’s a huge colonial style building and beautiful.

They have great areas to hangout inside on sofas and chairs, and outside as well, a large co-

working space with plenty of tables & chairs, a private office area for meetings, and great wi-fi.

Our dorm beds $8 a night with breakfast included.

They have a beautiful bar, and is a bit of a party hostel 18+, but they keep it really quiet where our rooms are somehow (or I’m just tired enough to drift off seamlessly)

The Old King

We met a Narco.

We were sitting cliffside of the ocean at night, in a fairly populated area with spots in bougainvillea gardens that were secluded to sit and watch the ocean.

This man approached us, Dominik from Dominican Republic.

He sat down near and started talking to us in Spanish, I caught a good bit of it.

He then switched to English and continued talking to us.

He was 59 years old, and had lived a long life.

He talked about god, the universe, karma, and life.

He was a prince in Dominican.

He gave us prophecies, he told us about our futures, he told us what he saw in us, and he said the spirit of the world was talking through him because he was meant to meet us this night in a far away land and convey this message.

He’s been to 29 countries, and he said this bay in Lima was a portal to the universe and other realms.

He brought up the book “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho (my favorite book).

I had been thinking about the book since the second he sat down interestingly enough.

He had met Paulo Coelho in Spain by chance, and Paulo gave him the book.

If you’ve ever read it, or you’re thinking about reading it, just know the part with The Old King of Salem.

I believe we met the old king, only in this story he was the Old Prince of Dominican Republic.

Listen To Your Soul

I hope this finds you well this Sunday.

Keep enjoying the adventure of life, with the ups and downs.

Do your best to acknowledge signs from the universe, god, or whom have you.

When you can listen to your heart, and follow your dreams do so as everything will work out with a little common sense and dedication.

It’s a damn good journey, enjoy the ride!

Cheers,

Eliot