Friday, May 29, 2015

Discovering My Inner Road Warrior

Shortly after arriving in Lima, I felt like a kid seeing the big city for the first time. Weeks in Cusco and weekends in the not-so-bustling towns of Chincheros y Pisac had desensitized me to the realities of modern life. I felt like an adventurer, an Indiana Jones type character, a pioneer trailblazing through the Andean wilderness, the air thin around me and the Southern Cross looming overhead. Lima brought me back to reality, but just as quickly as I had been thrust back into the First World, we took another trip, this time to the southern part of the country. And this time, while we might not have been as rural, the journey felt a lot more rugged. 

Looking at the sprawling sand dunes and rugged coastline of southern Peru, I felt like I had walked out of a Maymester and into an action movie. Riding on dune buggies across sand dunes that reminded me of my old Windows XP background made me feel like I had gone onto the set of Mad Max. Here's some comparison:
Me, hanging out on some sand dunes
Wind, a classic computer background
Sandboarding and dune buggying across the desert was one of the greatest parts of this trip. It had the thrill of a rollercoaster, the adventure of a new place, and (as you can see) great views for pictures. Combined with whitewater rafting and ATVing made the whole journey seem like some kind of quest straight out of an adventure movie. Although I haven't seen it, I feel like the comparison to Mad Max: Fury Road probably isn't that far off. 

Mad Max hanging out with his dune buggies
Jeff Greenberg hanging out with his dune buggies

Movie comparisons aside, doing these extreme activities in the south of Peru really did make me feel like I was in the wilderness, far from any real civilization. With sand as far as the eye can see, a raging river and no towns in sight, and dirt paths to take my ATV on, I went to a state of mind far from my daily life back in the United States. 

I became Jeffrey Greenberg, the Road Warrior, 

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.