travel highs lead to post travel blues, yet I'm finding meaning in this crazy life
Kayelene the rock, honesty, stability, selfless support, the voice of reason. The true friend to my past, present and future. A gift of life’s unexpected and wonderful unfolding. Some people go through a lifetime never finding a friend like this. I wish that wasn’t true, […]
….Canyoning in Interlaken, Berner Oberland, Switzerland. With my awesome positive crew sitting under a waterfall and loving every moment…. I’m surprised that I meet so many people who still don’t know what canyoning is. I’m going to change that haha. Canyoning or canyoneering (as the […]
My first 24 hours in Peru has been full of awesome surprises. The first of which was my bag being lost in transit by the airline. Now that I’m done with the sarcasm, the rest of the surprises were actually amazing.
While completing the lost baggage process at the airport, I befriended an airline host. I asked him if I should catch a Kombi to Miraflores and his response was simply a laugh. He initially told me the numerous other alternatives and said that a Kombis were unsafe, but then rephrased his opinion and said that it would be all right because it was during the day and I didn’t have any baggage with me (ha!). He told me that I needed to speak Spanish “Miraflores por favor” and have the correct change ready (3 Sol / 50 cents) for the 1.5 hour long journey.
Lima is an incredibly beautiful city; bustling, crowed and lively. I had three older ladies talk to me on the Kombi in Spanish, which I tried to respectfully fend off with smiles and making extra seat space. The Kombi itself was an experience; the local’s bus transportation system consists of old vans with 8 seats but hold 15, complete with a person hanging out the window hustling more on at intermittent and seemingly random stops. All in all, it was an interesting and adventurous ride, immersing into the local culture and having to withdraw my hands inside the window to prevent them from being chopped off by a side swipe a few times.
After checking into the Kaclla Healing dog hostel, I was keen to refuel with a healthy meal. On my walk towards the beach and shops, I passed a little van along the street, full of fresh, home-grown, organic produce. Needless to say, I got a little bit excited and stocked up on a whole bag (4 meals worth) which ended up costing me less than $5. I have not eaten such nice and fresh produce….ever. Sooo impressive. My whole body and mind thanked the smiling old lady and her gorgeous fruit and vegetables.
I went to get a haircut ($10!) and then headed to the beach to drink in the sunset. Lima sunsets are the same as the beautiful red ones that you get in smoky and dusty Asia. The huge cliffs and freeways beside the edge of the ocean make for pretty impressive scenery as the sun sets over the west cost.
The best surprise yet greeted me as I went down beside the waters edge to take some sneaky sunset pictures of a guy who was playing his ukulele. It was such a perfect shot – The graduated sky, pebbles worn smooth by the big crashing waves, the beauty of his immersion in the moment – playing his tunes solitary but for the grandeur of the world.
I was lying on the rocks trying to position my camera so that I could take a long exposure of his position to let enough light in, and he turned around and he caught me! He noticed and then actually stayed in position haha! I felt like I would have to make an attempt at Spanish after that and at least ask for his email to send him the photo, but he surprised me with perfect English. He was Israeli, also travelling around Lima.
The next day I was surprised with taxi drivers who didn’t try to rip me off, breakfast even though I had technically missed it and a lovely Spanish lady who helped me navigate my way around the hospital to get my yellow fever injection and ensured that I was set in more ways than one. By the way, I cannot recommend the Healing Dog hostel enough. And they are not paying me to say this! It is a cute family run hostel with a courtyard in a renovated old heritage house. Every evening they make peanut butter, caramel, and toasted muesli from scratch. And I don’t intend to risk missing breakfast in this place again.
Even though 24 hours in Peru has treated me with organic produce, a new friend, fresh bread and homemade muesli, finishing the day with two servings of fresh ceviche (one was certainly not enough) for less than $5 takes the cake!
Going to Lima reminded me what I had forgotten about travel. The food was amazing, the costs were pleasantly surprising, but the crux was in that the people were absolutely remarkable. I feel as though I must have been lucky to have been exposed to a mixing pot of incredible people who wanted to share a small piece of their lives. People who wanted to connect. Vegetarian Swedish girls who dreamed of going to work in the adventure town Queenstown in New Zealand. A kind Brazilian boy who forced his his Chilean money and coco tea on Julie and I and then delighted us with friendly conversation. Julie, the German girl who hikes and hikes and hikes to fill her cup with the splendour of nature and feed her soul. Two crazy French boys who were flying to Cusco to complete the Inca trail and who weren’t sure if stress could be transferred by drinking milk from a stressed cow in a factory farm. A beautiful Israeli boy who was more open-minded, emotional and connected than me and helped me to see a different kind of magnificence in the world in only one night.
Peruvian people are kind, expressive and friendly. They are good people. They have honour, they want to look after you, make sure you are safe and know how to best navigate their country. Their well meaning advice was welcomed, but in all the places (for me at least) their advice wasn’t needed because no one tried to rip me off or take advantage of my lack of Spanish or local knowledge. I thought that my lack of Spanish would lead me into disastrous situations but in Peru it has only led me into an appreciation for the kindness and patience of the locals and an experience with a taxi driver who speaks no English yet we managed to have an amazing conversation which consisted of 90% of laughing to the point of tears and a sore stomach.
Thank you Peru.
The only advice that I would give regarding taxis around Peru is that you should have the correct change ready to avoid being ripped off or feeling like you are being taken for a ride. Taxis in Peru don’t use meters. My strategy worked well and left me feeling satisfied and happy – I asked a local whom I trusted how much a taxi would be from here to there before I actually hopped into a cab – and just always had the right money ready at the end of the ride. You can give them the money immediately rather than asking them how much it was (in broken, confused Spanish which would be the same as standing out like a sore tourist thumb) then say gracias, buenas tardes, then leave.
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3<3 <3 <3 <3
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….the purple sunset in Chicago with the late afternoon traffic reminded me of days gone past where I would spend my time in the big city wishing my days away….. The ball curved, for nearly a year, and now it has come back around. This […]
One of those nights, a late night. Bright lights, new friends, a night we never wanted to end. My dance partner and I, we found ourselves by Chicago’s North Avenue beach at 5.30 am on Sunday morning. Camera in hand. I paused every two minutes […]
…..pondering on the beach in Chicago, not hating the player but the game, accepting and realising the necessity of it all…….
drip drip drip. what a dangerous game we play – allowing someone into our lives. There are so many opportunities to misunderstand each other, so many instances where people are too weak or confused to portray the appropriate emotion. The emotion which corresponds to what we want, the thing that we have thought out and have logically decided makes sense for our lives.
‘oh hey, I like you, and it makes sense for us to be together’ and then show some care, some attention, some effort to spend time together. And if the other person reciprocates, then you would go down that rabbit hole, together.
But what if the other person reciprocates without thinking. What if they don’t really care about you, and they are just looking for some attention, or some healing (in the case of a rebound). What about if you are reading so deeply into their actions but they are just going with the flow – and all it will take is you stepping one step too far for them to take a good hard look at the situation, decide that they didn’t choose this and back the hell away from you.
You can play it safe, or you can go all in, but no matter which way you go, if the other person isn’t right there wanting to walk the road beside you then you better be ready for a bruised and bumpy path.
I’ve learnt that in the early stages you have to look to yourself. You can’t rely on the other person to catch your fall. You have to toe the line for a long time while you figure out what is really going on between the two of you. Even if that special person is obviously drawing you in, ever deeper, sometimes you wake up washed out on the other side only to realise that while it was real for them at the time, they were actually confused about their emotions, or they were not ready to be consumed by another.
God do I wish people would know what they want and then be able to go for it, communicating along the way so that both people can go on journey that they are comfortable riding. Not, on the other hand, an irresistible pull in to the depths, towards each other (jump and I’ll catch you – aka jump and I’ll watch you fall) which turns into them pulling away for fear of vulnerability or connection. It leaves you asking WHY. Especially when you are already in too far. Haha (not really) kicking yourself and asking why you hadn’t been able to just go a little bit slower. So many answers to so many whys. So many days spent wandering inside our own minds, driving oneself crazy trying to understand what if, what next, what else.
I don’t know the answer. And I know that in the past I haven’t always had the strength to be honest to my ex’s when I was leaving them. I couldn’t bear to say the words…..’I just didn’t like you enough’. But now that I’m on the other side, begging for mercy, pleading for a release from these four walls, yearning for freedom. I’m ready to make a promise to my future loves that I will have the courage to be cruel, if only for a moment. Because to be cruel in that moment is a lesser evil than having the person who loves you holding on to the future that you are sure could never be.
It took me 27 years to be this healthy. But I am proud that I was able to treat myself with a little more respect than I had in the past – this time I was able to walk away from my love’s uncertainty before it had gone too far. I put down my pride and played love’s fool once. I gave it a long, hard, chance. But when the ripples cleared I saw only more of the same in the looking glass; I decided that I would have to be the one to walk away because I knew he didn’t want me in that moment but at the same time he didn’t have the energy to walk away from me.
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3<3 <3 <3 <3
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