Life after going to Peru

Well! So here it is 4 weeks later and I'm a changed person. Going to a third world country and seeing ancient ruins and such abject poverty will do that to you.

How do I begin to write about what I saw, experienced, people I met, the whole thing? At the beginning I guess, so here goes. I'll do piece by piece.

Sept 12th - man I LOVE using my airpoints to fly first class! 5 hours in Toronto airport in the nice quiet lounge with free snacks, salad, soup, internet, magazines, etc. Oh yeah - booze! I had a glass of wine, so there. I arrived in Lima and had a "Holy shit, what have I done!?" moment at the airport. It's a bit chaotic there to say the least. A driver from my hotel (hostal) met me and took me there. So here I was at 1am in the morning, driving through Lima's scummiest areas (there aren't many that aren't that way) with a strange man that doesn't speak my language. "Hmm, is this a good idea?" went through my head - but after what I was told about taxis by my tour leaders, the hotel driver seemed a good option. This is Hostal el Patio:


I got to my room and boarded up the door - I was SO tired! There was a pitcher of water on the desk, but when I asked if they had bottled the guy just said it was good to have that water. I wasn't convinced. Then another man comes and is speaking Spanish to me through the door and I so wasn't getting his message. I didn't want to open the door but was on the phone (rented a cell phone for $10 for 3 weeks in Lima airport) with my Mom at the time so I figured if she heard screams she'd notify authorities, LOL. I was actually in the wrong room.

I ended up in this room with 3 beds, as Michelle was supposed to arrive the next night and share with me. When I got there I had a note from Diana and Jenni who were still in Lima and did I want to go to a cathedral with them and our guide Washington tomorrow - so YES! I was so happy to see her note, from someone I knew - in ENGLISH!



Dig the key to this room!!! Cool or what?!

So I slipped a message under their door (after a crazy search to find it, there is no rhyme or reason to how the rooms are numbered here) to tell them to sign me up for the tour Thursday.

I will write about my next few days in Peru one at a time. Like it was happening - just 2 weeks later. So, stay tuned for more stories and photos! ;-)