Theme of the Trip

I'm definitely not a planner. When I travel, I've always liked to wing it. Flying by the seat of my pants is arising as a definitive theme of this trip.

Let's break down the rough itinerary: fly into Lima with my friend Kathleen, travel with her for a week, travel by myself for three, fly home. You may notice I left out from where I'm flying home. I have a ticket out of La Paz, but only recently discovered that I need a Visa to get into Bolivia. I'm going to try to obtain one while in Peru, but I may end up having to figure out another way home.

I met up with Kathleen in Miami Sunday afternoon. We had a six hour layover there in which we finally decided to plan our week together. We decided that best option was to spend it in Cuzco. So, we looked for tickets from Lima to Cuzco for Monday after we arrived in Lima. No luck either online or at the airline agencies' ticketing booths. So, we waited until getting to Lima.

Upon arriving, we found out that there are no tickets because everyone is heading there for the holiday. We bought tickets for tomorrow, but were told that we could wait in standby as there would be a "mountain of people" who canceled last minute. After waiting for a few hours, a more straight talker informed us we had no chance and should just come back in the morning.

Making the best of the day, we grabbed a taxi, found a hotel in Lima, and have been exploring the city. Retrospectively, I couldn't be happier. Having only visited one other Latin American city (San Jose, CR) and having just spent a month in Hyderabad, I had low expectations for Lima, especially considering most travelers skip it. It's actually a very nice city, with little traffic or pollution for a city its size. Kathleen and I spent the day just meandering through Miraflores, one of the nicer districts of the city where our hotel is also located.

So, I'm safe and sound in Peru. I've had an awesome afternoon bumming around Lima. And I'm headed to Cuzco tomorrow. From there? Well, if you´re curious, you´ll have to stay tuned...