"Miss, would you like a drink?"
I turned my face from the window and say "water" through the dry air.
There is a fine line between getting enough water and it being a nuisance for travel. So I begrudgingly requested a drink. I didn't want a headache and I know the importance in keeping your wits about you- don't get dehydrated. I could feel the need for a bathroom already, but on a plane as small as that one I was going to hold it, pretty sure my kidneys and bladder weren't happy but I'm not overly enthused with airplane bathrooms. Not that I'm a germaphobe, its just inconvenient.
She handed me the little plastic cup. "Thank you."
I gulped the water down quickly and turned back to face the window. Lost in thought about the next two weeks - what they would bring, what we would learn, what we'd take back. Just the first leg of the journey, still several more hours to go - more time to get lost in thought, or a book. I would be landing in Miami around the same time as my travel companion Jessica.
Jessica, is what I lovingly consider my travel mate. We have now traveled out of the country twice and have driven and flown from one coast to the other. Even though I am an introvert, I never tire of her on trips as we both manage alone time [together] well. We work well as a duo/tag team and have a lot in common...and she puts up with me, even when I ask her to take very specific pictures or make her listen to my ramblings. At this point, it has been months since I have seen her and I feel giddy. Giddy because she has that energy and personality - she sucks you in and you smile. Because she's go-with-the-flow, sometimes ridiculous, and almost always upbeat [excluding times when she is hangry or her patience runs dry. Any who would be upbeat then anyway?]. Jessica is really one of a kind, the kind of person you wish you knew if you didn't. I love her and know she was placed in my life at just the right time, a friend I needed to help develop as a person during my formative year in Oklahoma for graduate school and beyond...and now, moving on from the sentimental.
Our remaining flights went without a hitch, I slept through the 6 hour flight like a champ. That was the intent in working a full day and catching a red eye [apart from it being cheaper and my strict budget].
We arrived in Cusco, Peru and headed out into the open autumn air awaiting our ride to the company we used and then to our hotel. We waited. And waited for another 40 minutes. Now, having traveled out of the country enough I know punctuality and schedules are not quite as tight as those in the US. So when we waited a half hour we weren't surprised, but when we became the only people sitting outside and a group of restless taxi drivers started circling we knew we'd been forgotten. I had written down their phone numbers just in case and this was one of those cases where I'm especially glad Jessica and I are list makers and prepared travelers.
Within 10 minutes of our phone call we had a driver meet us and take us to the company we booked with, Wayki Trek. The great thing about first leaving an airport in a foreign country is the beauty in it. Everything is new. You work so hard to absorb everything you feel like a deer in the headlights - wide eyes and speechless. It's like a first impression of the country. You are immediately immersed in the world you've dropped yourself in. Suddenly your senses are in overdrive - what you see, the sounds, the smells, how things feel and eventually how things taste. From what I could see, Peru did not disappoint on it's first impression. It was old, had that old worn feeling. It was busy and the streets on that end of town weren't the cleanest but the colors of buildings were bright and the Andes remained ever present in the background. The closer in to town we got the cleaner it looked and the more pieces of history we could see - the parts of Incan culture that remained and those that had been blended with Spanish. The streets were filled with vehicles weaving in and out, the sidewalks bustling with people selling their wares or walking to work. I was ready.
After arrival we had a few scheduling glitches - a misunderstanding on our part, and an itinerary mistake on theirs. Things did not start smoothly, but we didn't expect perfection. We had, in fact, booked our entire trip via email with an organization whose first language is not English. You can't expect perfection. A few mistakes are to be expected, and I'm thrilled we had so few. So we spent a good chunk of time that morning remedying the issues. By the time we were taken to our hostel I was ready to take a shower and a eat a light meal...but check in time wasn't until later so we stored our bags and headed into town...
The first time I traveled out of the States I was in high school and was blown away. I blame my mother for infecting me with the Wanderlust Bug, and my older brother for inspiring me. He demonstrated the benefit of, not being fearless but, courageous to travel/live abroad. Mom was my companion to Italy and then to Ireland a year later. Those first two experiences were wonderful, life-changing times. For those of you who have stamps in your passport you know what this means - it isn't just about a stamp in your passport.
Traveling isn't just some expensive excursion. It is a learning experience from the minute to set foot on foreign soil until the minute you arrive home. You can't get the full effect from a blog or some pictures. There is so much more to it. It is knowledge you cannot learn from a book, and I love learning. I will work my longest, hardest, and live frugally to travel as much as I can: to never take for granted how good I have it, to see how fortunate I am, to view the world from a different perspective, if even just for a little while, to eat/sleep/drink/breathe a different culture - to immerse yourself in it. Traveling is more than a scrapbook or a souvenir. It is an experience that worms it's way down to your being and settles in your soul, shaking you and leaves you unsettled...always wanting more.
Doesn't that sound romantic? Don't get me wrong, there are the not so glamorous portions of traveling. This trip was no exception - several days without showers, the interesting toileting arrangements, the altitude sickness, adjustments to different food/drink, and blunders a foreigner [you] will make in another territory [especially if their native language is anything but yours]. The point is not that these things happen, but that you learn from them, you grow, and you are not hindered by the fear to keep on learning and growing - to keep traveling.
You only have one life to live. Soak it up. Sip it down, and keep your appetite for life [and traveling] hearty. Part 2 coming soon.
sylyb
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