A Lovely Landing in Lima

Approaching the day of the flight I felt an eerie sense of calm, any sign of excitement or nerves dampened by experience. That sense of calm almost got me a little worried - shouldn't I be more excited for this trip?

I guess I've really learned to stay present, and not worry about past or future. Thus, flying to another continent was as routine as a daily commute to work for me.

Goodbye mom and dad! Shoutout to them for supporting me as I continue my wanderings 

A surreal cloudscape from 16,000 ft

As I start my next adventure, I considered how hypocritical I felt as I hopped on a plane. In my life, I have tried to keep flying to a minimum, and when I do fly, I cover as many miles over as long a travel duration as I can. Hence, I won't be flying within South America until I fly home for Christmas.

While road transportation is undergoing a slow but sure conversion to electric engines, electric alone simply cannot come close to powering flight. Flying is a massive source of carbon emissions with no green alternative coming anytime soon. Sorry guys, but someone has to say it!

Anyway, I digress.

I arrived in Lima with no plans for the first 10 days, which turned out in my favor, because I had a slightly gimpy ankle to deal with from the building job I just finished. We went to a medical centre which took the form of an outdoor covered shopping mall, so I could get x-rays.

The medical centre in suburban Lima was an outdoor covered mall

It was honestly a bit of a crazy experience, as the centre was confusing and disorganized, but the short of it is I was glad for having friends helping me with their translation and persistence. In the end I only paid around $15 CAD for the x-ray, and was feeling both grateful and a little guilty for my overpowering currency.

Back home, I spent time with Emily and another Couchsurfing guest, David, an Israeli who had been travelling for two years straight. I also spent lots of time learning Spanish using Duolingo, conversation, and observation of my surroundings.

Emily's large family spoiled me with good food from their ground floor restaurant. They lived outside the bustling centre and gave me a genuine local family experience.

My first awesome Couchsurfing host - Emily!

Emily, David, Emily's cousin and brother

During my week stay in Lima, I took a side trip to a town a few hours south to visit my friend Hanga where she has been volunteering as a doctor for five weeks at an orphanage called Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos (Our Little Brothers). We picked up our rants as if we never stopped 3 years ago the last time we travelled together in India.

There are some rules around pictures of kids, so... here are their shoes

Met in Spain 2012, traveled India & Nepal 2014, reunited in Peru 2017 

Back in Lima, I realized that it is a really big city, 10 million or so people! Amazing, considering it's set in an arid climate surrounded by large desert like hills, void of vegetation. I wonder how there is enough water to supply such a thirsty city. And despite being a coast city, apparently it's almost always cloudy and almost never rains. I saw the sun for just two afternoons out of the entire week.

Getting around wasn't easy either. So I decided to change from Emily to a new Couchsurfing host to get closer to the centre - and that alone took 2 hours! But when I arrived, I was welcomed warmly by Steph (USA) and Christian (Austria) in their beautiful home, along with their baby daughter Mila and cat U'qi.

Fun and friendly expat couple Christian & Steph! And daughter Mila

U'qi the cat

My style of travelling has drifted away from the "bucket list" style of checking off popular landmarks, to exploring and learning about the people, as well as nature. Unfortunately, I was warned not to enter outlying neighbourhoods of Lima with my camera, due to stories about theft and crime.

Nevertheless I got to walk along Lima's beautiful coastline, check out a museum, and watch an important football match in the main square. I also started a random conversation with some local boys, where I asked to play their guitar, and then we hung out for the afternoon.

Excitement builds for the football match!

Street food - cow hearts!

Lovely street art - Barranco district

First impressions of the Peruvian culture are good. I especially enjoyed the raw fish dish called ceviche. In terms of raw backpacking difficulty level, I would say it's "India lite" which is not to say it's better or worse, just different. People are definitely friendly and happy, and generally are not bothersome or all trying to sell you something, as much as in India. Cleanliness varies, but is generally better too.

Ceviche - a common raw fish dish in Lima

By the end of one week though I was honestly ready to get out of Lima. The city was too big and frustrating to get around, and I walked around more than I should have, considering my bum ankle. But I can't complain about any of it - I had some cool experiences and met some very genuine people!