Part I – Fulfilling my Childhood dream
At 11 years old, we have a lot of ideas about who and what we want to be when we grow up. In my case, I wanted to be a Peruvian. Yes, you read that right. We studied about Peru in elementary school and I absolutely loved it! The photos of Machu Picchu, the Andes mountains, and the colourful clothing the people wore made my little kid self think: “That is where I am meant to be”. Fast forward 10 years and with nervous knot in my stomach I was on my way to my South American dream country.
Just so you know, my Spanish was limited. In fact, I only knew what I had learned from textbooks, so my biggest worry was how I, a timid solo female traveler, would manage. My first question was how I would get from the airport to the interior of the country. Soon I found out that a friend of a friend lived in Peru and was willing to pick me up at the airport. My worries washed away and with youthful inexperience and my heart in my hand I enthusiastically climbed on to that jet plane and I was off.
First Impressions
I recently came across some old journal entries that I used my first months in Peru that helped refresh my memory of my first impressions. To be honest, I normally don’t keep a journal, so obviously I wanted to remember how things went down as I plunged in.
I arrived to Jorge Chavez Airport a little after midnight following a long flight. After going through customs and picking up my luggage I stepped out into the well-lit airport reception area that was a large, corded-off open space surrounded by hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of shouting taxi drivers and tour guides holding up colourful signs with names on them and emotional Peruvian families anxiously watching the sliding doors for their loved ones. As a quite shy person in general, walking out on to this stage-like reception area was a little painful for me but this was just the first in a series of events that Peru helped me get over myself. Thankfully, I soon found my friend and we were on our way.
The capital city was not what I was expecting, probably because I did no research at all about Lima. Nonetheless, I loved it immediately! It was so exciting and so different from the cities that I knew. The coastal, sea-air smelled sweet. It was very humid, I could feel my skin soak in the moisture and my hair start to puff. I was surprised to see that it was well after midnight and yet there were tones people in the streets- laughing, eating, dancing, public displays of affection everywhere. Lima was loud, it was bustling, there was movement in every corner- which makes sense because the population is over 10 million! After an invigorating car ride, my new friend, Mer, and I stayed at a really cool place where I met a lot of new people from all over the world. I was so glad Mer was a night owl, I asked her all kinds of questions about her life in Peru until the wee hours of the morning. A giant inflatable Nescafe mug on our neighbour’s roof light up my bedroom window making the room glow red.
The next day we went sightseeing in Lima. I took a lot of photos of Circuito Magico del Agua, stunning images displayed on water fountains set to music. We went to elegant Larco Mar and filled-to-the-brim-with-CATS Parque Kennedy. The smells of delicious Peruvian food lingered everywhere we went. By the way, at that time I didn’t know how important food was in Peruvian culture. Peruvian cuisine introduced me to new textures and flavors and a love of cooking- I mean, not necessarily me loving cooking, but other people loving it a lot. New friends were very hospitable and offered us all kinds of sustenance. I tried fried Yuca, Chicha Morada (purple corn drink), and Lucuma ice cream for the first time. A popular snack I enjoyed was fried large corn kernels with queso fresco because to me it taste like nachos (what can I say? I have a refined palate).
Following a few days in the capital city we took a bus to central Peru where Mer was living and where I would make my new home as well. The S-shaped roads winded around the hills, but it was fascinating to see how the landscapes changed as we reached higher altitudes. Honestly, I was mesmerized watching out the window, the ride was over 7 hours and it felt like nothing to me. Outside of Lima the flora was still tropical but as we got higher and higher everything changed. The mountains were majestic. Everything was luscious and green. I saw fields of corn, potatoes, and artichokes. There were women carrying babies on their backs in a manta. When we were at the most beautiful part of the entire ride when Mer said, “We are here.” I was thrilled!
See Part II for the continuation
