Peru

Lima Airport
 Thanks to a mostly internet blackout during my trip, I was not able to blog. It was a welcome change while traveling, to be cut off both by choice and general lack of access and time to get online. This trip was go go go.

Now I normally don't travel with a group, but occasional I wade into the group waters for specific opportunities that come up. This was one of them. Billed as a "Pilgrimage to the Sacred Valley of the Incas and Beyond," I could not resist. The trip was a collaborative effort between The Yoga Center of Medford in NJ and Soul Centered Creations. My dear friend from college did her teacher training at this studio and told me about the trip as soon as it formulated. We both sent in our deposits immediately.Neither of us really knowing what to expect, but just knowing that we had to go.

The flight to Lima was pretty uneventful except for some rough air turbulence. The two sisters from Peru sitting next to me on the flight were less than enthused about the bumpy skies. I got to talking with them part way through the flight and it turns out their father had just passed away and they left the U.S. without really telling anyone what had happened. One of their sisters had also passed recently.The flight was just the first leg on their more than 18 hour journey home. After the flight they would take a 10-12 hour bus ride up into the mountains to go home not knowing if they would even make it in time. The sister at the window audibly prayed most of the flight especially during the turbulence. She was not pleased. The sister in the middle seat, next to me, struck up a conversation beyond the initial one about her Dad, and we got to talking about Peru. She was very excited for me for my journey. I found this refreshing and welcome given the fact that she was obviously grieving and very sad. I found her excitement for me to be extremely compassionate and took it as a sign of good will to come from people along the way.
At the end of the flight we said our goodbyes and good lucks, and went on to customs keeping her goodwill in my heart.

The Lima airport was pretty interesting. They have this search randomizer machine thing that I had never seen before. You press a button and either a red light or a green one lights up, and depending on the color your bag gets searched. I got green, no search for me. I went through all of the doors and entered into the waiting area, and was shocked/confused by what I saw when I came around the divider. There were THOUSANDS of people in the waiting area, which was roped off to keep them back. They were holding signs and obviously waiting for someone important to come out. I had never seen anything like this before, but imagine this happens at a lot of airports. From everything we could gather, read and hear, they were all waiting for a Jehovah's witness priest and nun to get off of the plane returning from the States. We knew when they were coming out because there was a wave of sound and then movement. The place emptied out immediately as everyone followed them out into the parking lot and to their waiting vehicle. Quite the entrance to Peru.

Lima Airport

Lima Airport
We traveled by bus through Lima after meeting our leader, the wonderful Rosse Mary. It was pretty dark and late but we could make out numerous casinos, fast food places, both American and Peruvian, along what must have been casino row. We never got to spend any time in Lima so I never really found out what the deal was with this area. Next time.
Rosse Mary

Sawrah

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