We arrived in Lima around three o’clock in the afternoon which allowed me just enough time to go to Kate and Max’s hostel for the next two days and then make it back to the airport for my flight back to Santiago. We used the airport’s Green Taxi service and I was lucky enough to get the same taxista both times, falling asleep each one. The first time I was at least with Kate and Max while the second I felt a little bad about it. I was having a nice conversation with him about the amazing gastronomical traditions and creations of Peru when suddenly I woke up and we had arrived at the airport. The driver turned to me and simply said, “I think you were sleeping for a little while.” He was a sweetheart and better I sleeping than he in this situation!I was walking through the Lima airport in a half-alive state trying to find something to occupy the next couple hours of my life until departure. Luckily for me (perhaps not as much for her) Laura was also flying back to Santiago that night and we ran into each other, literally. We sampled extensive amounts of chocolate-covered fruits and nuts and even some delicious pisco! After we each bought a bottle—to take home, don’t worry—we decided to try the Peruvian ceviche which was incredible. It packed a powerful punch but when washed down with the best pisco sour I have had yet it made for a satisfied flight home. I slept those three short hours back to Santiago and then the real adventure began. I took the Transvip airport taxi to Mama’s house because she had told me before I left that it would be just fine to come back there. I showed up a little after four in the morning and rang the bell various times only to be unheard. Unfortunately I left my Chilean cell phone for the next girl living there and also had to give up my keys before I left so I had no way of calling anyone nor getting into the house. I hauled my pathetic self with my huge bags to wait for the micro so I could go see if anyone would be awake at Casa Suecia. I had also told Steph I would probably be coming there when I got back because I wouldn’t want to wake Mama up so early. I took the bus a few stops too many and because it was the only 504 (our bus of choice to get to Providencia) running at that hour I decided to just get off and backtrack via walking. I made it to Suecia around 4:45 and began ringing the bell until I decided to stop after the 15th time or so. The gate certainly is not conducive for climbing which is beneficial on the safety aspect for those who live there but for someone who is running on E at five in the morning this is bad news.
I looked up and down the fence a few times and eventually found my chosen path. I threw my bags over and just as I was about to start climbing a nice, young German girl came out and let me in, bless her soul. I crashed on their not-conducive-to-sleeping sofa using my coat as a blanket for a few hours until I woke up with freezing arms and toes. I called mama, went back to her house and after chatting it up for a while about the new girl, my trip and the family, Ellie came over and we had a nice morning. I think you could actually straight up classify the morning as pretty comical, which was much needed by both of us on our last day there. Ellie accompanied me back to Suecia so I could unlock the padlock Mama had given me for my suitcase (long story) when we ran into problems with the micro. Between the two of us I had enough money left on my Bip! card for only one rider so she just came on with me on the first bus. We got out at the metro station to put some of our last pesos on our cards so we could get back from Suecia with no problem. When we were getting back on the bus we attempted to sneak through the back door when Ellie’s foot got trapped as the driver quickly tried to shut the doors on any moochers trying to get a free ride, which isn’t so uncommon. We literally saw people do this every day so we figured it would be no problem but we definitely made a scene with the foot-in-door incident. It certainly didn't help that half of Santiago's population is currently out of the city vacationing or visiting relatives due to their current winter break. That was funny Ellie incident number one of the morning.
Number two came when we were on the way back to Las Condes from Casa Suecia. We had just sat down on the micro when Ellie asked me if I smelled dog poop.
I caught a wiff, checked my shoes and found nothing. The scent grew stronger and stronger so she asked me to check her shoes too, just in case. First the right shoe and the coast was clear. She lifted up her left shoe and it was just caked in dog crap. Obviously we didn’t stop laughing the whole way back and after stopping at Lider to buy all of my favorite treats to bring home for my friends, we decided that there couldn’t have been a better way to spend our last few hours in Santiago.Between all the giggles and tricks I lost track of time and by the time I got back to Mama’s I had less than a half hour to get all of my things ready that were there and hopefully squeeze one last lunch in with her. She threw together two of her trademark salads while I hurriedly packed. I am so happy that I was able to enjoy one last Chilean meal in my usual spot at the kitchen table with the sun shining through the glass door behind me. I said goodbye to her and Alicia, somehow dodging tears and off I went.
Steph and I met Laura at the airport and after a little rearranging we all had bags under the weight limit to avoid the extra fee. The flight wasn’t so bad and fortunately my slap-happiness had carried over and just about anything Laura would say or do made me laugh to the point of tears. The best was when I had lent her a book to read and when she actually wanted to start reading it we couldn’t find it. Steph was right behind us and she asked if I was looking for the book when she informed me that somehow the Spanish man next to her had gotten a hold of it and decided to take the initiative to start reading it. That comment nearly put me under but luckily halfway through the flight this man took an extremely extended (as in an hour long) bathroom break and Steph snatched it away for me. Between that and watching the seven-foot tall basketball team from Ontario roam through the aisles I was well entertained for the duration of the flight.
We are now waiting for our connecting flight from Toronto to Chicago and I guess we’ll be home before we know it!
See you all soon,
Besos!
Kelsey Marie
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