I had wanted to go to Peru for years, ever since my parents had gone without me, the nerve! And then there were mutterings that the Inca Trail was being limited further and further. The panic that they may shut down the trail completely to all but royals and pop stars hit me, I booked a trip to Lima, Peru. Some things are necessary.
To get to Peru from Vancouver I went through 4 countries. In LAX, I was reminded of how much I hate LAX. It´s just plain grotty and cold, especially in the middle of the night. In Guatemala City, I sat in the plane as it was a stop over and watched Glee. In San Jose, Costa Rica I was reminded that I did not actually speak Spanish, nor had I brushed up on what little I did have. In Bogota, Columbia enough was enough and I had a beer. Then I had a nap on the floor and awoke to find people staring at me. The last flight into Lima landed safely, my bag arrived and I was met with a hundred men shouting TAXI!!!!
Past the taxi drivers, I met up with Liz, a friend of a friend, who graciously picked my up and was letting me sleep at her house for the night. She asked how tired I was, and said we could go get some food and a drink. I thought, “Yes, Emily, do it. You are tired, and smell, but yes, you will go out for one drink in Lima, this is your only night in Lima, at least get out there for an hour or so”. 8 hours later I went to bed.
We went to a hip area of some kind and had two beers each. When I say ‘two’ beers, Peru beers are 750mls. So after a love jug of beer each, Liz and I met up with two of her friends and we went to another bar. I didn’t know where we were going, obviously, but when we got there, I knew I was in for it. Covering the walls were posters of rock and pop bands from 1960´s up, and the band that was playing all looked like Peruvian versions of Gene Simmons. But shorter, because they were Peruvian. They were rocking out to whatever late ‘80s melody you can imagine.
I asked the waitress if the band took requests. She didn’t know, but she brought a piece of paper and said just write a song down and see. I wrote
“If you would please play ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ by Journey, it will make me very very happy. xoxox Emily”
And wouldn’t you know, two songs later, they passed the note around and said, in Spanish “This is for Em-eee-l-eee” THATS ME!!!!!! Anybody who has ever seen me dance to Journey knows to give me a wide berth, there were high kicks, there were air punches and head bashes, there were arms in the air like you just don’t care. I was also joined by a bleach blond Peruvian woman with a godagadunk that just didn’t quit, which made the whole scene better. Now, as a disclaimer, not every musical high note was hit by this illustrious band, but they were trying and in this blog, we give major points for trying. The second band that played had a saxophone player, which you just don’t get that often. They started their set with the theme song to Dragnet. And yes, there is a picture of me playing the sax. Like a boss.
The unfortunate thing about this wonderful night out until 7am was that I had to catch a bus to Huaraz at 9am. Liz’s mom woke me up and then hopped in the cab with me because she obviously did not trust me to get there on my own. Thankfully , back at home, long before the night of frivolity, I had the foresight to prebook most of my buses in Peru, using the online booking from Cruz del Sur. Because pretty sure, I would have been s.o.l. without a reservation. With Liz’s Mom’s pushing, I cut the check-in queue and made my bus, barely.
Next stop: Huaraz!!! Click [intlink id=”16″ type=”post”]HERE[/intlink] for my adventures in Huaraz and hiking in the gorgeous Cordilleras Blanca!!
