Travel Issue: Past and future adventures

When I was little my whole world was Peru. Back then, until the age of 6, all I knew was my hometown Lima (a city with around 7 million people, pretty big for a town huh?) and my mom's town of Iquitos (a city surrounded by many rivers among them the Amazon river, I know, no biggie.) Even still, because I would take plane rides to Iquitos during most summers, the 6-year-old me considered herself a well traveled kid. Traveling in Peru during the 1990s, I think, could have been considered a luxury. But make no mistake, my family was not well off at all. We just happened to be a family whose father worked for the Peruvian Air Force, and one of the advantages of being such family was that traveling was almost free! For a plane ticket that could cost around $150, we would pay $5(PPP)! So as you can imagine we traveled to my mom's hometown often. Why we didn't visit other cities within Peru you may ask? Probably because we could not afford to pay for hotels, and the other expenses associated with being a tourist within your own developing country. When you live in a developing country chances are you don't have the means to see the country you learn so much about in school.

So I traveled to Iquitos often, and the kids at my school were fascinated with the stories of my swimming in the Amazon river, of pink dolphins, and the exotic fruits I encountered. So I knew back then that I was lucky, I got to live in the coast line of the country, and was pretty familiar with the culture found in the amazon region. Yes, within a small country you can find culturally differences, even differences in language, customs, diets, weather, you name it. And not to be biased or anything, but I think Peru has it all (I will justify this in due time, but for now you are just going to have to believe me!)

But the world of 6-year-old me changed when my parents decided to move to San Luis, Argentina. Where in Argentina is that? All I remember is mountains maybe? San Luis is in the middle of the country and nothing much goes on there. BUT, I did get to see a whole lot, because this time we traveled by bus, yes by bus, and it took approximately three days of traveling. Again, no biggie right? Wrong! Imagine traveling in a bus with a 6-year-old girl (me) and a 8-year-old boy, for three days. See how the picture changes? I remember it being fun, perhaps not too comfortable, but fun in the eyes of a child. (My brother and I slept on the floor of the two adjacent seats my mom bought, we were small enough to fit anywhere and surprisingly sleeping in a well cushioned floor was more comfortable than fitting three in two bus seats. We passed by all the main cities of the southern tip of Peru, stopping here and there, and also traveled by Chile (we even spent the night in Chile, and my mom even got pick-pocketed, yay Chile!) and after three long days we made it to Argentina.

This is what the route looked like more or less:

We spent many months living in Argentina. The way I have been telling the story is that I lived there for two years, but thinking back it might actually have been less time than that. Still, pretty big move for a 6-year-old. 

I think I remember this trip mainly because of photographs and stories my mom would tell me. It is a combination of both that have helped me reconstruct my memories. You know how it goes with memories and things like dreams, they are easily influenced and altered or forgotten as time goes by. So "proof" that you actually visited places and did certain things will eventually help you reconstruct your childhood, or as we get older our youth. This is partially why I wanted to keep a blog. It is mainly for me. So that I will remember. But I think it is also for anyone out there that might benefit in any way by my stories or life experiences. I won't include every detail of what I have experienced because I want to keep this as positive and optimistic as possible, but as you read more about me you will be able to figure out that things have not always been easy, and that is ok. Challenges are good. They teach you things about yourself, about others. Overcoming them, however, is the best! I have overcome a few things here and there, and if sharing them can potentially help someone out, or encourage them, then I will most definitely share. With that said, I will be more than happy to respond to questions or comments either publicly or privately for now. 

This concludes the Argentina saga of my travels. Of course there are more journeys to be shared! Also there are pictures, but I need to scan them at some point, and when I do I will share. You have my word, and I never go back on my word =)

On the Next Travel Issue I will talk about my time in Cuzco where I visited Machu Picchu (you know that city built a top of a mountain, One of the seven wonders of the world? Yes that place!) Hopefully by then I will have had scanned some of my photographs.

Until then! 

Oh, and don't forget to chin up!