Living La Lima Loca

It was too hard to blog while I was with my parents. Not because of a busy itinerary or lack or internet. It would have been much easier for me to post while on vacation than it normally is at site. I just couldn't find the motivation to sit in front of a computer and talk about the experience while it was happening. Maybe this means that I'm not a very good writer, or at least blogger, but I needed a little perspective. Having my parents here and taking a break from Peace Corps life was way different than I expected. I didn't think I had changed much and I was really surprised at the culture shock I experienced just being around people who hadn't been living my reality for the past year.

Having my parents here was so wonderful for so many reasons. I am so fortunate to have parents willing to make such a huge and expensive trip down to an unknown land just to see me. I am so lucky that after a year apart, I got to spend a whole week with my parents. Regardless of where we were or what we did, just being able to hang out with them was vacation enough for me. At times it didn't feel like a vacation. I am so obsessed with making people happy, and nobodies happiness means more to me than my mom and dads. So at first, I had a hard time relaxing cause I was so worried about everything and if everyone was having a good time.

Lima isn't the greatest city in the world. Normally, it would never be a place my parents would ever voluntarily choose to travel to. But because it is where I live and it is such a big part of my life, they arranged to spend a few days here. My moms ideal vacation involves beaches, shopping, gardens or theaters. My dads ideal vacation has biking, skiing, golfing or any combination of sports. Lima offered non of my parents comforts. For them, I think this trip was a really unique experience. It was unlike anything they had ever done or any place they had ever been.

For the past year, I had been making a list in my head of things I could do with my parents while they were here in Lima. Out of the list of a hundred or so things, we probably did about 5. My mom didn't like riding in taxis becausethe way people drive around here scared her and my dad didn't like to walk too much cause his knees where bugging him. So we pretty much stayed within a stones through from our hotel. We never made it to the colonial, historic town center. We stayed in the Marriott overy looking the ocean, with a touristy shopping center built into the cliff right in front of us. We ate most of our meals there cause of it's convience. We never walked the streets of bohemian Barranco and we didn't see any of the Inca ruins just a five minute drive from where we were staying.

Instead, we spent our time in Lima the way I spend my time in Lima. To me, being in Lima means being with family. Whether it's spending time with my friends that live in Lima or visiting other Peace Corps volunteers, who are my family here in Peru. Being in Lima usually means going to the Peace Corps office, going to the doctor, shopping, getting a break from the food at site and eating at nicer restaurants. That is exactly how we spent out time in Lima. There happened to be a handful of volunteers in Lima so my parents took them out for drinks and dinner. We spent a lot of time just hanging out together and eating a lot of food at restaurants I can't normally afford.

I realized just how cheap I am since becoming a Peace Corps volunteer. I am even more aware of my frugality now that my mom and dad are gone and I am back on my own dime. While having them pay for expensive food was great, the coolest thing about having my parents and their money here was being able to take taxis. To me, taking taxis has become the ultimate luxury. I thought I would impress my parents by haggling with the taxi drivers and bargaining down a good price. But every time we got in a cab, my dad would ask how much we were paying and insist on giving the drivers more. I think the poverty in Peru really made an impression on my dad and seeing the joy on the drivers face when they got double the amount they were expecting, made my dad feel like he was doing his part to help out.

Lima seemed like a different place when they were here. Now it seems completely different without them again. Of course, Lima was just a small stop over on their trip. The real vacation was Cuzco and Machu Picchu. I will be writing and posting pictures all week from the fabulous adventure we got to share together, up in the Andes mountains. It somehow didn't seem right to me to write about the trip while it was happening. I knew I was gonna need some hindsight to share our vacation. Now I get to relive it all this week as I immortalize it in the blogosphere.