Going Off The Map

Until recently, it was possible to go off map. That was back in the day when there was no GPS, no Google Maps and remote, uncharted places. The Southern Peruvian Andes was one such place and my visits to the village of Chua Chua an experience of being off map.

Lately, I have been struggling to verbalize my experience of going off map. My first time at Chua Chua I neglected to bring a watch with a date function so I lost track of the day of the month. No one had a calendar so, of course, I missed my flight out of Cusco for Lima.

American Airlines flew Miami to Lima and then back to Miami the next day. The flight crew refused to stay overnight in Lima fearing car bombs and an outbreak of Bubonic plague. I would overnight in Lima, fly on an ancient local plane, a DC 9 to Cusco, overnight in Cusco and then off map. American Airlines required a 48 hour confirmation of tickets out of Cusco for Lima and, of course, there were no phones off map.

Off map, I traveled on a small Andean pony capable of climbing to 18,000 feet, needing little water, and never slipping on the steep narrow trails. Each pony following the pony ahead of it. I just sat quietly on my pony, lightly holding the reins. In front of the lead pony was a lead Quechua guide followed by our wrangler who was also our master guide and my bodyguard, then my translator, me, and finally five or six ponies carrying our gear, and gifts of cocoa leaves, medical supplies, bottles of alcohol and ingredients for despachos. A two week off map with air fare was costing about $10,000US.

Going off map was a decision which acknowledged that I might not return and my body might not be found. Off map was unpredictable, mysterious, lonely and challenging. Mostly though, off map was enlivening, often exhilerating, and a unique opportunity to radically reinvent myself. And that is just what I did off map.

6/7/19