Hi all! I took my very first “big-kid” vacation recently. I spent from May 27th to June 5th in Peru exploring ruins, meeting the locals and the llamas, and traversing the Amazon! This vacation was possible due to my dad’s eldest sister (my Auntie) who has promised all of her nieces and nephews that when they graduate from high school and college, she will do a trip with them anywhere in the world as long as you pay for your own transportation (and souvenirs).

If you’re wondering why Peru, it’s more like why not. I was not looking for a vacation to sit back and drink on some beach. I can do that at home, thanks. I was looking for adventure and something very different than where I’m from. More than that, I wanted inspiring landscapes. I hiked up breathtaking mountains that went into the cloud forest and ended in ancient Incan ruins. I stepped, suspended, across the canopy of the Amazon rain forest and paddled close to the Amazonian river beds.

I tried to take as many pictures as possible and jot down some thoughts and experiences in between adventures with my new familia. Honestly, there wasn’t much time. We were always doing, resting, eating, or on our way to our next destination.

May 27th I traveled from Boston, MA; to Miami, FL; and finally to Lima, Peru. I met with Auntie in Miami and we flew to Lima together.

I noticed a very big change in air quality after touching down in Lima and Auntie complained that her eyes felt very red. We’d been sneezing and coughing and she figured that this was because of the bad air on the plane. While waiting for our baggage, a Peruvian woman overheard us talking and said it was the pollution. She explained she had permanent eye problems due to the air quality, which she said was caused by coal mining (the word mining escaped her for a moment while speaking in English). Looking online post trip, it does sound like Lima’s air pollution issue is pretty well known and has more to do with vehicle fuel emissions, but is due to a host of factors. I notice I’m a tad stuffed up the first day visiting New York City, so I was pretty sneezy in Lima.

A sign let us know who to follow to a van to drive us to the Miraflores neighborhood.

Lima is littered with cell phone billboard advertisements. Stray dogs wander the streets in a surprising number, taring into garbage left out for pickup. Police cars watch over the city everywhere. On the way to Hotel Antigua Miraflores I counted stray dogs and police cars, seeing which would come out as the victor in population. Our driver mentioned that Miraflores was one hundred percent secure. By the time we reached the hotel, the number of police cars were in the lead, but the dogs overtook them very quickly as the trip progressed.

The hotel was very fancy, but missing window screens which are apparently not something used in all cultures. We had a big room on the top floor. The top floor was unexpectedly in the open air. One moment we were in a hotel going up stairs, the next we were on an outside patio with doors to various rooms. We were in the far corner. The room had three beds, one king and two twins. The wooden furniture seemed antique, dark stained and elegant. There was jewelry on sale in the lobby and a small open air courtyard on the first floor with a fountain and a flowering citrus tree. Large terracotta vessels dot every bit of landscape. Two computers with desks allowed internet access, but as someone who has a job spent using computers, I wanted to spend my vacation off them.

We didn’t get settled in until about two in the morning since our flight had been delayed. We were set to meet in the lobby at nine-thirty in the morning. We were hungry before bed but too tired to care. I ate my last Cliff bar to make sure I could sleep.