Good Afternoon Lima!

Waking up to the sounds of horns, I crawled out of bed and out onto the balcony. No major incident was occurring, just run of the mill driving which includes an abundance of honking. We would find out very quickly that this is how they communicate while driving. Honking to say, “Hey, I’m nearby.” Or, “You are blocking the way.” Or, “Get moving, I’m coming.” Or, “You idiot, why did you do that?” The volume of the horn honking brought about great discussions on noise pollution with the kids.

We were on the hunt for a supermarket. It was the middle of the afternoon and we had no food or water in our cupboards. With limited Spanish, Jason asked the guard at our apartment for directions to a supermercado.  

I imagined blending in as we toured around Lima. There had to be a lot of travellers who came to this great Peruvian city. Well, not in our neighbourhood. With our bright coloured Costco light feather jackets, we stood out like the Michelin man in a colony of black ants. The city was so grey. A light layer of clouds always covered the sun, people were dressed for winter in a lot of black and grey.  

As we passed people on the street, they had a solemn look on their faces. Not a lot of smiling seemed to take place in Lima. People stared at us as we passed by and no one said a word to us.

One can only imagine what their thoughts of us were.

We’ve Landed!

It was the middle of the night when we arrived in Lima, luckily we had a ride waiting for us. As we exited the airport, we noticed people wearing jackets and long pants, similar to how we would dress on a late October day in Saskatchewan. It was loud outside the airport. There were so many cars and horns honking. Does it ever really get quiet in a city of 8 million?We walked to the car and were warned to watch the kids in the traffic. Vehicles have the right of way and we had to zig zag through without getting run down. Gaby jammed our 6 backpacks into the back of her Suzuki SX4 and Jason joined her up front while Deanna and the four kids crammed into the backseat. Coming from Canada, the kids were scrambling looking for seat belts, but soon realized that there were not 5 seat belts in the back of a Suzuki SX4!  

As we drove to our “new home”, we passed through a variety of neigbourhoods. Businesses were locked up with steel doors, padlocks and barbed wire, shacks with corrugated metal sheeting for their rooftop, Peruvian strip malls, and even the Golden Arches and KFC. Anticipation mounted as we wondered what our neighbourhood would look like. We planned to stay north of the tourist area in Lima so we could get a feel for what life was really like in Peru.

We arrived at our apartment in Lince, pulled into the parking garage and met the security guard of the building. Lugging our backpacks out of the car and into the elevator took our last bit of energy. It was now more than 28 hours after we had arrived at the airport in Regina to start our journey. With very little sleep, we were tired and cranky. The apartment was smaller than we expected from the Airbnb pics and the couch was actually just a couple covered pieces of foam on a pallet base, but at this point we just wanted to go to sleep. We pulled the couch apart and made mattresses on the floor of the two bedrooms. They provided sleeping bags and luckily our children enjoyed the thought of sleeping in sleeping bags. We all crawled into bed and hoped for a good night sleep!

The Adventure Begins …

Our adventure begins in Peru. Why did we pick Peru? Well, according to the internet, the weather in Lima, Peru is pretty much the same all year long -> 21 degrees celcius. Leaving Saskatchewan during summer meant we did not want to head into a cold climate to begin our trip. Lima seemed like a good place to start. Decent price for airfare, decent temperature and a new country to explore.

We were packed and excited to go! Our flight was scheduled to leave at 12:50 am to Toronto. We had been planning this trip for so long and wanted to arrive at the airport in plenty of time. No one thought to check if the flight was on time! Upon arrival at YQR, we found out that the incoming plane was late due to mechanical issues. What to do now?! We decided to stick it out at the airport because if we went back home, we may fall asleep and what decent restaurant would be open at 10:00 pm on a Sunday.

We set up camp upstairs, the kids emptied their carry on bags to see what goodies were packed to keep them busy on the flight. Luckily, the excitement of their new journals and webkinz kept them busy for a few hours because there was now a lightening storm that was passing through the area. This storm caused the incoming flight to circle Regina until it was safe to land. Our mini football was put to use for a impromptu game of catch. We chatted with other travellers and watched them have wheelchair races through the airport.

Finally, the plane had landed and we were able to head through security! We said goodbye to grandparents and headed through our first of many security checks. The kids would become pros very quickly at the rules of security and customs! After a short wait in the secured area, we were finally able to board our plane. With all the delays so far, we wondered what other obstacles we would face on this journey.

Luckily, the rest of the journey went smoothly. We met up with Uncle Dale in Toronto for a nice lunch at The Keg and Krispy Kreme run. Our bellies were full and we were tired, but excited and ready for the direct flight to Lima.