I posted recently about choosing to go to Peru over the holiday’s a year ago.
As you’ll read in my last post, I’m building a house out of this story, because the whole trip forced me to question a lot of deeply imbedded beliefs I had about the world, travel, and all the ways we are taught not to trust ourselves. I kept telling myself I would wait to travel until I was more “healthy”or had more savings or whatever. Little did I know, it doesn’t work like that. If you never take the risk to follow your excitement, the “universe” or “God” or pure “luck”, can really never meet you halfway. And you stay stuck in a pattern waging between fear and discontentment.
I knew as the holiday’s approached, I needed to take a risk on something I really wanted to do. However, for every reason I should go, there were a hundred reasons why traveling to a third world country alone as a woman, seemed totally reckless.
If I wasn’t going to serve on a mission trip or to attend a retreat, who was I to think the world was going to be safe enough for me to walk on my own? When it hasn’t been for so many?
In order to counter that feeling, I sought out a few well rated hostels and came up with a general, more tourist based plan. I would spend a few days in Lima, a few days in Iquitos, and end up in Cusco to see Machu Pichu.
Anderon stood out like a sore thumb on the flight to Lima. He looked to be in his late 50’s, but he had more energy than most people my age. It was clear from his cargo pants and worn shirt, there weren’t a lot of places in the world he hadn’t been to. I was one of the first passengers on the plane, sitting in the two person rows, and I watched as he helped the people around him lift their bags into the overhead carriers before sitting down himself.
He was in the row in front of me, and turned to make conversation when we got interrupted.
“Excuse me, you’re in my seat,” I heard from behind me.
I showed them my ticket, and stated that 38B was indeed mine. Seeing as I hadn’t slept in over 24 hours, I shouldn’t have been as sure as I was.
“38B is next to me,” Anderon said, “Come on, there’s no such thing as coincidences.”
I had felt nothing but stress and anxiety since the start of my trip, seeing as I had flown from Vegas to LAX before getting on the plane to Lima, so his warmth was kind of a relief.
He asked what my plan was and I proceeded to give him a vague version of it. Leaving out the fact, that I really didn’t have one. I did tell him, I was interested in plant medicine and foraging in the rain forest.
“So, you’re going to spend all your money on tours?” He asked.
I mean, I hate tours. I just knew how crazy it sounded to not have a more concrete plan.
He was would go on to tell me about the village he lived in called Tarapoto. That it’s off the beaten path and because of that, it draws in a lot of climbers and young people wanting to get away from the more touristy spots.
“The best parts of the Amazon,” he said while he reached in his bag to pull out a full stock of carrots and some vegan dip, “you don’t have to pay to see.”
He’d go on to tell me he has another home in Oregon where he owns a super foods business. He had gone home to take care of his parents in Texas for a bit, had a layover in LA, and was going back to Peru for a month before going to meet his girlfriend and her family at the start of the new year.
When I told him I was from Salt Lake, he asked me about mormonism, and what my life was like there. I told him my plan to get away for the holidays.
“I like Utah,” he said. “Nice people. It’s Disneyland world though. No doubt about that.” He followed that up with a small rant about consumerism and that depression and anxiety could be linked to the amount of modern day luxuries we have access to. That so much of how we live is not “real life”.
The flight went by quickly while he told me stories of his travels. He had studied business and environmental sustainability in Virginia but decided the real world was going to be more valuable to him than a master’s degree would. That’s when he decided to hit the road.
From riding a motor bike through the Patagonia desert, to having his sail boat robbed while trekking across the South Atlantic Ocean, he would point to the plane’s screen that is on the back of every seat, and give details you only hear about in movies. From a motorbike accident that nearly killed him, to having him and his friend’s sail boat robbed by actual pirates (they still exist), he had done it all.
Knowing I had an interest in plants as medicine, he kept pausing to offer me raw, grain-free granola and vegan chocolate from the business he started, while he told me about the amazonian plants he used in his products.
“So kid,” he said in between bites,” you just hopped on the plane, and decided you were going to wing it?”
“Winging it, was always the goal I guess,” realizing I was just admitting that to myself for the first time.
“The first thing almost every person said when I told them I booked my flight was, “Why Peru?”
“Hm.” He nodded.
“Sounds like the title of your book.”
