Saturday, June 4th & Sunday, June 5th

We have arrived in Lima. When the bus driver dropped us off on the side of the road last night and said this was our hostel, I think we all looked at him like he was crazy. From the outside, it was difficult to even point out the front door. Inside, thankfully, was a different story. There was a pool table and small café on the first floor, a ping pong table and open-aired terrace on the third. The rooms were sparse, but clean, and the people who worked there were extremely friendly and grateful to have us.
After breakfast, our group split into two. Martha and Jessica took six of the kids on to Cuzco. My parents, Freebird, OG and I stayed back with the rest and spent a few hours touring Lima before heading to the airport for a 2:00 flight.

Lima was beautiful, clean, and aside from a select number of places, almost desolate – something we had not anticipated. Today was election day in Peru, and by law, all Peruvians are required to vote. We watched with amazement as people poured into polling places, on a SUNDAY of all days, eager to stand in line and cast their vote on a paper ballot. Once they had done so, their finger was dipped into a small bowl of purple ink. So simple, but so effective… it was incredibly easy to tell who had voted and who had not.

While Lima was fun and entertaining, the real excitement of the day (at least for our group) came when we arrived at the airport. As we unloaded our bags, Victoria Idol came up to my dad and told him she thought she had left her passport in the bag of someone in group one. This meant she was in Lima and her passport (along with all other forms of photo identification) were in Cuzco. We had absolutely no idea of how we were going to go about getting her a boarding pass, through security and onto a plane at the Lima International Airport.

Parents, please do not think badly of us when I say what I am about to say. Desperate times call for desperate measures. We had to smuggle one of your children onto a plane.

Looking back, I still cannot believe it actually worked. Somehow, we managed to make it through five security checkpoints utilizing an “overwhelm and confuse” strategy, which entailed us bombarding them with a large number of English speaking teenagers at every exchange. By the time we got Victoria on the plane and into her seat, the leaders stood back and looked at one another with exhaustion AND amazement. We weren’t quite sure whether we should celebrate, or whether we should be extremely concerned about the safety of our skies.

The flight from Lima to Cuzco was smooth and uneventful; by early evening, we had reconnected with the rest of our group. We headed out to the main plaza in Cuzco for dinner where everyone tried alpaca bruschetta, shared stories from the day’s adventures and began mentally preparing for the trek that lies ahead.

Before calling it a day, we all gathered in the hotel courtyard and spent some time “self-actualizing” (as Freebird likes to call it). As always, I was both humbled and inspired by our students’ comments. They are so much more self-aware than most would ever give them credit for. If only “real life” afforded them safe, still moments to think and share. I am extremely thankful to be a part of this journey.