Before leaving for Peru, I was kind of dreading it. I mean, going to Peru sounds exciting and awesome, but I was actually pretty nervous. The only other time I had been out of the country was when I went to the Bahamas and stayed at a beach hotel, so not the same thing at all. I had been doing lots of research and knew most people spoke only spanish, I had to be careful for pickpockets, I couldn't flush toilet paper, couldn't drink water except bottled, and I might be eating some weird food. For 18 days.
Call me a homebody, but it wasn't sounding that great to me. Brad was REALLY excited. I was a little excited. I just kept thinking about how our next trip would be an all-inclusive resort somewhere, or maybe a cruise...
I had our itinerary mapped out to the day, with only a few questions to fill out on our trip. Brad had booked our entire trip himself (no travel agent), which was great, but made me slightly nervous. I left a copy of everything with multiple people, took a copy with us, and called our banks, credit cards, etc. to let them know we'd be in Peru. So we were more than prepared.
Wednesday, June 22, we drove down to Chicago for the night. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency because Brad got a great deal on a room/leave your car while you fly. I think we ended up paying like $110 for the room and leaving our car there for the 18 days included in that price. Plus, it was an awesome and nice hotel!!!
June 23 was the big day of traveling! We had to be at O'Hare by 7:15am, and ended up in Lima at 10pm. They're in the same time zone, which seems crazy, but worked out well for our sleep schedules. We flew Spirit airlines which I would NOT recommend. They have super cheap flights, but you seriously pay for ANYTHING extra (carry-on bags, soda/water on the plane) - nothing is free. Also the service just isn't great and I think they have even less leg-room on their planes than normal ones (if that's even possible).
Chicago Hotel
On our way to Lima!
When we arrived in Lima we nervously scanned the crowd of people waiting for arrivals for anyone holding a sign with our name. Luckily he was there. Kiki, of Bed & Breakfast de Kiki. He didn't speak any English, so Brad had to do all the talking and translate for me. At this point, I was already feeling frustrated and overwhelmed by the language barrier. We stayed in Callo, which is a city right by the airport. It was very run-down, dirty, had garbage everywhere. I think this is one of the poorer areas of Lima. But the B&B was nicely kept, and clean. Kiki's wife came in and talked with Brad. She thought he looked like Brad Pitt (I think it was the name :)). We decided to go to sleep right away. And what do you know - Brad handed me a bottle of water for brushing my teeth and without thinking, I run my toothbrush under the sink water. Goodbye toothbrush on the first night. Brad was nice enough to let me share his (poor guy), then I ended up buying one the next day in Cusco. We went to bed mostly hungry since we'd only really had a few snacks that day...
We arrived in Lima! Heading to B&B de Kiki!
Our room at B&B de Kiki
The streets of Callo
I love Coke - so I had to take this multi-language sign at the airport.
There was Coca Cola all over Peru! That and Inka Cola are their big sellers/rivals!
1 comment:
ohh i'm sooo excited to hear about all the parts of your trip! That B&B looks really nice!!
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