We Made It!!!

Hola Familia y Amigos,

Mark and Anna here in Peru. Where do we start? When did our trip actually start? That is the question. Was it the good-bye Jamm Sammich party on Thursday night that lead into a weekend of alcohol and procrastination? Or was it the plane ride and whole day of traveling vast distances while physically not moving muscles for hours and hours in our seats? I guess our trip really started when we were up in the air looking over the beautiful snow capped Sierra Mountains, leaving stormy Marin Country behind. The world from above is quite an incredible site.

After a three hour flight to Houston and a silent black and white movie that knocked Anna out, we landed at our first stop. A two hour layover in Houston left us anxious as we re-boarded our now sold out flight. Next stop, Lima Peru. The next 5 1/2 hours of our flight proved to be a true test of our patience. Between claustrophobia and the horrid Jon Bon Jovi New Year`s Eve movie to help pass the time, the pilot`s constant reminder every 15 minutes to stay seated due to patches of bumpiness, was the only thing that kept our attention alert. During the bad patches of turbulence, looking out the window at night and only being able to see the lights at the end of the wing go up as the body of the plane goes down, like a turkey vulture soaring, can really send your imagination flying, no pun intended. Mark was thinking about how he was going to save Anna, and then everyone else on the plane, after the wing broke off and we all hit the side of a mountain. Or how he was going to kick the sharks off Anna after skipping across the Pacific. But none of that happened and we saw a gorgeous sunset from 33,000 feet above the Panama Canal. The site of the golden sun setting behind the horizon was magnificent and actually calming.

I guess our trip started for us when we landed in Lima and we spent an hour waiting in line at immigration and non-strict customs. After that, our excitement arose as we were told a chauffeur was to great us with a crooked smile and a sign that said “Anna.” We were at a point of confusion as we entered a room the size of basketball gym full of hundreds of crooked smiles, and a myriad of signs with misspelled names. After a half hour and several phone calls we were told our chauffeur had left an hour earlier and we needed to find our own cab.

Our first culture shock was Lima at midnight in a cab, with windows so tinted you literally couldn’t see out. As we pulled up to the first stop light, Mark started opening the window to the view of a humid world where a five year old boy came up to the window instantly calling at us, “Senor, Senor!” He disappeared into a handstand spread-eagle splits hoping for a sole or two ($$.) Our driver took off immediately, cutting other cabs off on a road that should have been a four lane highway, but instead was one giant river of mid 90`s rundown cars with missing bumpers and slightly repaired fenders. All the cars are constantly tapping their horns to keep each other from playing bumper-cars at 40mph. There was no lane dividers for a majority of the roads, yet they all seemed to find their extremely chaotic groove.

It was a bit overwhelming, not only being reminded of our several car crashes together, but also looking out the window to flashing lights like a mini Las Vegas in a foreign language and odors that reminded us of the bushes on your way out of a festival. Several stops later to ask the local police for directions and avoiding the local dogs roaming the night, we arrived on a dead end street to a gated building. We rang the door bell on the gate and paid our cab driver. A lady opened the door, took our names, gave us a key and sold us a much needed chilled bottle of water. We sluggishly walked up the stairs to our final destination… Room 6 at the Barranco Backpacker`s Inn.