I have never felt as alive as I felt riding on the back of a taxi-cholo through the streets of Iquitos. Or sitting in a hut in the middle of the Amazon listening to Segundo tell us ghost stories. Or sitting in the sun next to my dad on the terraces of Machu Pichhu. Or climbing the steps of the La Compania de Jesus to watch the Inti Rymi celebrations in the square below.
It honestly feels like it was yesterday.
Its amazing how much our trip to Peru has affected my everyday life. Dad and I have gone on quests to find Inca Kola (we found some, don't worry). We talk about going back and adopting Kevin. I still cant hear "Hotel California" without hearing in my head played in pan flutes in a Peruvian buffet in Urumbamba. We see it popping up everywhere (special shoutout in the movie "Up"). I mean, geez, I get even more excited to go on "It's A Small World" just to see the little dolls with the hats! I'm sure the references to Peru have always been out there, its just now I realize they are there.
I've had people tell me "It's your first trip. You always love the first place you go" But this trip was truly something special. Not only had I dreamed of traveling to Peru for so long, but I got to do it just me and my dad. I never could have imagined how open to our experience Dad would have been. He was the best traveling partner. He was always willing to try something new, willing to keep walking through ruins (even when they all had started looking the same to him) and was so willing to let me be my bossy self. This will be such a special trip and I will remember it for the rest of my life.
It was so hard for me to relate before, to friends who had taken trips, or studied abroad to different countries. They came back with such fervor, such passion and such a love for the places they traveled to. Being the eternal cynic, I chalked it up to "yea so you had a good time and went somewhere new". I can now see how very wrong I was. Maybe it is just my biased opinion, but there is something special about Peru. Because once you have been there, there is this huge pull to return. I know that sometime in my life I WILL return, because if this longing to go back has not be quelled in a year (in fact it has only strengthened) imagine what it will have done in 5 years or (god forbid I have to wait) 10 years. Of course by the time I get back I will have driven my family crazy talking about Peru, remembering Peru or reading and watching anything I can get my hands on about Peru.
I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to read this blog. It was because of you that my dad and I have this amazing journey chronicled; a little piece of Peru we can keep with us and look back on every day. Thanks for sticking through even the most mundane stories. Thanks for sticking through the sometimes harsh language :) Thanks for sticking through stories about dad's crazy antics and my attempts at putting the emotions, sights and sounds of Peru into words. Thanks for sticking through my ramblings about what Peru has meant to me. Thanks for sticking through our thousands of pictures.
Thanks for the adventures.
Gracias and Viva el Peru
