Lima vs New York

Today is our third day in Peru.  We are in Lima and just getting settled.  Lima is very different from New York City.  For one, it’s in the middle of a desert.  So there is never any rain and it's very hot and dry all day.  Another difference is that there are ruins in the middle of the city.  One minute you will be walking by skyscrapers, and the next, by old pyramids being excavated.  We went to visit one of these ruins on our first full day in Lima.  We arrived just as the tour was starting.  Our guide showed us all around the excavated part of the pyramid.  He also showed us all the crops and animals the people who lived there used and ate.  We learned that they sacrificed children to the gods and it was a great honor to be sacrificed. They were called the Lima people, and they settled there ten thousand years ago, before the Incas.

Pocoyo dancing Gangnam Style in Lima's Chinatown

New York City and Lima are also built differently.  For one, Lima has lots and lots more casinos than NYC.  If you take a taxi ride around the main streets, you’ll see a casino about every three blocks.  I've actually never seen a casino in New York City.  Another difference is that there is much more graffiti in Lima.  I know you might be thinking, “but New York has so much graffiti!”  Well, so does Lima.  And the graffiti here is all murals so it’s much nicer to look at.  Last, Lima is poorer than New York.  About one million people do not have running water because they live in slums.  

Multi Sports on The Fu

The river is flowing fast and splashing through the bottom of our boat.  Jaime, our guide, is yelling commands and we are all trying to paddle and not fall out into the cold rapids of the Futaleufú.  During our ten-day trip to the Mt. Everest of rivers in Chile, we did a number of activities, including: rafting (of course), rappelling, hiking, zip lining and traversing (on a Tyrolean). 

THE Tyrolean

Before our long hike up the mountain and into the tree house camp, we had to cross the river.  The only way to do that was to ride a tyrolean.  A tyrolean is basically a way of pulling yourself on a horizontal wire and hanging underneath it. Tyroleans are usually used for crossing cliffs and such.  This one was over a intimidating class-six rapid and freezing cold water.  I was the first one to go.  I was pretty freaked out but once I got all strapped into my harness, I relaxed.  It seemed pretty secure and there was no way I was going to fall.  When I started out over the cliff I thought, “Oh this is not too bad.”  But when I reached the middle, my guide yelled to me, “LET GO!” so I assumed that my hands were going to fall or something.  I thought I would just hang there and maybe rest my hands.  But he had a different plan.  I bounced so high on the cable I didn’t even notice it at first.  It felt like a strong wind was bouncing me on a trampoline.  I only realized it was my guide bouncing it after I got to the other side.  I felt alive!

THE Zipline

After our big hike coming down from the tree house camp, we quickly found out that the only way to get back to the other side of the Futaleufú was to zip line into the freezing cold water and swim.  The zipline was about 30 feet above the water at its highest point, and about 15 feet at its lowest.  It was a steep slope downward into the clear blue water of the Futaleufú.  At the other end of the riverbank, there was a raft, a guide and a photographer.  At first, it didn’t seem too bad.  We walked down a couple of meters to get to the starting place for the zip-line. From down there, things started getting a bit more intimidating.  We had to hang by our hands so I was worried about the timing of letting go.  But once our guide explained that he was going to shout, “jump,” I was fine.  When I started running to build up speed, I thought to myself, “this is actually fun!”  My next thought was, “hmm this is kind of high….” Right when our guide shouted, “JUMP,” I dropped.  My first thought when I hit the water was, “HOLY CRAP THIS IS FREEEEZING.”  And it was.  I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.