Peru, Part 1

I love travelling, probably even too much. I keep telling myself I shouldn’t spend so much money on travelling, but I think the experience and memories it provides are far more valuable that any material possessions. You know how they say — you only live once! My latest destination was Peru. I had never been to South America, which is odd, considering I have some Peruvian heritage. Well, not that much really; my great-great-great-grandfather was Peruvian, so I’m not really sure how much that has had an effect on me.

But anyway, last December, it was time to visit this South American country. I went there in the first half of the month, to avoid all the holiday rush. I had foolishly believed that there wouldn’t be that big of a crowd of tourists. Oh how wrong I was! Right from the start, in the airplane for Peru, I could immediately tell that this was going to be a hectic holiday. The plane was full to the last seat, and it didn’t help that I was sitting behind a screaming toddler. “Whatever” — I said to myself — “I’m still going to have the time of my life!” As you can already tell, I’m quite an optimist.

After a long flight, I finally got to Lima, the capital of Peru. Even though it was December, it was nice and warm, which probably isn’t that much of a surprise, considering that the city lies not too far below the Equator. But despite being so close to the Equator, the climate is actually pretty mild. Not too cold and not too hot — a dream for someone like me.

This trip was also a great opportunity to forget about my job. Not that I hate it, but I really needed some time off. I had just completed a very important project about a truck gps app, so this journey was my “reward”, so to say.

Finally, I got to the hotel, and after some conversation in Spanglish, I got to my room. After a brief unpacking of my bags, I went straight to the buffet. One of the first things I tried was ceviche, a lovely seafood dish. Even though I’m not really a big fan of seafood, the meal was pretty nice. And there was also some local wine whose name I can’t remember, but what I do remember is having three glasses of it. Maybe that’s the reason why I don’t remember it…

So far, Peru (well, mostly Lima) had been a very positive experience. Of course, I had a lot of plans to best use the time I had in this South American country. The people seemed very friendly, and that’s certainly one of the things that contributed to this positive experience. Oh, and the food was great, and not terribly expensive. But it was time to go to bed. I had big plans for the upcoming days, and I certainly didn’t want to spend my entire holiday in a hotel room.