Tuesday, November 29, 2011

The last of South America…for now – 2 July

My last day in Peru was nothing spectacular. Carolina and I took separate busses, so we saw each other off. Bit of a sad moment. We’d been travelling together for a month and now it ended. I’ve never been good with good-bye’s.

A 4 hour bus ride to Lima then straight to the airport. By this time I’d realised that I’m not a fan of big cities. Especially not where the population is about 7.5 million people. And after my “experience” of being robbed in Buenos Aires I wasn’t taking chances. The only draw back was that I had to wait at the airport for a couple of hours. My flight departed at 01:55. Eish :(

Of course is visit is never complete without a scare of sorts. When I was checking in, the airline’s official “inspected” my passport. Then proceeded to ask me to wait and disappeared with my passport for what felt like a hour! Why do you leave with my passport??? He returned and asked if I have another form of identification. “Why do you need another form of I.D?”
”You require a visa to enter Canada, unless you have an I.D. that allows you to enter.”
”Well, please bring my passport back and I’ll show you my visa". After another “30 min” he returned. My visa was on the 1st page!!! Felt like I was in deepest darkest Africa. Twit! Needles to say, I didn’t give him my passport back. I held onto it the rest of the time.

Bag wrapped, checked in and waiting for my flight I take in what is left of the South American leg of this adventure. The good times and the bad, but what stood out for me were all the great people I met, shared a drink, party, bus, hike or room. If I met you in South America and you are reading this, you probably don’t realise that you are the reason I enjoyed my time as much as I did (unfortunately many of the locals I met will never know). Thank you!

So next time you meet someone from another place, take comfort in the thought that you might have made an unimaginable impression on that person’s life.
If there is one thing that South America has imprinted in me: Life is about the experiences and/or relationships you have with people.

A thought to end off on…
Dalai Lama on life

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