Sunday June Twenty-ninth
Denver to Cuzco, Peru, the two day journey. It all started at Denver airport where I had to say goodbye to my Dad. I usually consider myself a pretty independent person so I found it harder than I was expecting to say goodbye to him. I just suddenly realized that he was the only person of the thousands that were there that day that cared wether I lived or died. As I walked through the airport and saw all the family units walking closely together I realized how special family really is. I guess this was the first thing I learnt on my trip, I wonder what's next!
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| Don't want to say goodbye to my cat, Ellie (she is actually there, just camouflaging into my jacket) |
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| So early! |
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| Excited to get to Peru! |
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LAX. 10 am. The most terrifying airport you'll ever see. Luckily my Dad had given me a six hour layover, but told me that if I couldn't figure out how to get to my flight in that amount of time I should just give up on surviving Peru and come home! The airport consisted of seven unconnected terminals that lay in a sea of people, buses, taxis, and airport staff and security. All surrounded in the haze, smog, and stifling humidity of LA. The drivers are crazier than Miley Cirus and I almost got run over twice! Luckily I made it on the flight with plenty of time.
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| Crazy LA intersection! From the plane |
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| I couldn't find the welcome to LA sign so took a picture of this shirt instead! |
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| Beautiful clouds :) |
San Salvador. 1:00 am. Hot, hot, hot! My impressions of the country were only that it was dark at night, and it's airport was just the same as almost every other. On the flight there though I had meet Ivan.
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| When you realize why the seat you booked was the only window seat left on the plane... |
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| Ever wonder if airplane food tastes just as bad on the ground? |
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Meet Ivan. He helped me so much, making sure I got through both the El Salvador and Lima airports! He is such a personality though it was really fun talking to him. He's the kind of Grandpa that yells at kids for littering and has very strong opinions on everything. He had all sorts of crazy stories from bar fights to rodeo stories from when he was in the military in the U.S. Thanks Ivan, you made my trip so much better!
Lima. 5:00 am. Another long layover. At this point I had been awake for over 23 hours and was so tired that I was dizzy and the airport is just a haze in my memory! It is funny how exhausting traveling is, considering you're really just sitting around all day! On the plane to Cuzco I met the weirdest guy, just about the first thing he said to me was how he had managed to get five glasses of vodka on the previous flight even though he shouldn't have been allowed that many! And I was like, oh wow, we're so relatable... (not) I was glad when I finally got off the plane.
Cuzco. 7:00 am. High, Dry, and Freezing Cold! The city was more run down than I was expecting, most houses were nothing more than crumbling brick boxes, and they looked so desolate. The houses that didn't look like this had gates on all their entrances, and bars on all their windows, reminding me how dangerous it really is down here. My home stay mother came to pick me up from the airport. María Elena is one of the nicest people I've ever met! She had been waiting for me since five o'clock in the morning just to make sure she didn't miss me! She greeted me with a big hug and talked to me all the way home!
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| Sunrise on the flight to Peru. A very disconcerting sight when you haven't fallen asleep. |
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| The majestic Andes, as I flew into Peru |
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| This is Cusco, a fairly large town nestled high in the Andes. |
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My house is one of the gated ones. It is quite big with room for six volunteers, María and her father. My own room has a bunk bed and another bed, so I will eventually have two roomies. I feel asleep almost as soon as I got home, at almost 8:00 am! Have yet to have met any of the volunteers...
