May 3, 2017
The last of many things for possibly many years.
What happened…
Amanda writes: This past week has been the last of many things and the perfect send off for us. We’ve enjoyed a lot of time with friends and family and recharged our batteries. The hospitality and love shared with us is almost overwhelming as I type about it. We are so incredibly fortunate to be surrounded by amazing people. And when I say surrounded I still feel like everyone is around us even while we travel. It was like we never left and we were able to just fold right back into the way of life. And while Andrew may not have enjoyed the rain and snow in Vancouver, once we went to Ontario to visit other family we were soaked by the sun and his spirits were instantly lifted.
You may recall that late last year Andrew was not as enthusiastic as he once was about travels. But since being in Ontario and then onto New York it warms my heart to see him back to himself. He randomly smiles and expresses enjoyment for his surroundings. He’s even pulling out the camera from time to time. I’m confident that the last couple of weeks have recharged him the same way I’m feeling and we are excited to get on the road! We were fortunate to have some friends host us in New Jersey as the icing on the cake. These are friends of ours who we met in Vancouver. The husband of the couple has a super cool job where he gets to relocate to different areas around North America. Their most recent job landed them in New Jersey and just a train ride away from Manhattan. They welcomed us into their home with open arms and treated us to many North American luxuries that we are fully aware we are going to miss for who knows how many more years. Things like amazing IPA craft beers, soaking our toes in the Atlantic ocean on white sandy beaches. riding through Times Square and going to Yankees stadium. It was the most amazing final week before we set off back to the world of things like not always a flushing toilet or sporadic hot showers at best. And while we know that we will miss out on some of the more normal things in life I would trade them in a heartbeat for the culture and beauty it will afford us.
And so we’re off … stay tuned for the next part of our journey to begin.
Andrew writes: Allison dropped us off at the airport in New York, and we caught the red-eye flight to Lima. I’m glad that we found this direct flight, especially after the 34-hour ordeal to get from Peru to Mexico back in November. The LATAM experience was great, where for our $400 fare we each received two meals, blankets, pillows, extra wine, and never felt like we were cattle (Hello Air Canada!?!?!).
Reaching Lima we had a short layover before catching another flight to Cajamarca. I somehow managed to get online and teach an English class during this time, which left me wondering what will happen with my newfound love for teaching. Maybe it’ll have to be put aside so that I can concentrate more on cycling as the internet in South America isn’t that reliable. Otherwise it wouldn’t be too bad waking up, teaching for an hour, and then riding..it’d pay for the trip! Or at least more toys.
Flying into Cajamarca was a little scary as the flight path took us straight down the middle of a valley with 5000m peaks towering overhead. Cajamarca is at 2750m, and the altitude hit me pretty hard. I wasn’t expecting it to, but I guess the last time we were here we had arrived on bicycle and had been at high-altitude for several weeks/months. So after a short walk around Centro, it was off to bed.