16.11.2008 - Finaly in Peru

After a week, spent with my new family, well, with part of it, I took my flight to Peru. Below is me with my mother-in-law, at the time of our farewell, before leaving to Peru.

me and my mum-in-law, Rosa

I spent a wonderful weak with my new family that is way saying goodbye was so difficult for all of us. And below is my brother-in-law, who showed me around Madrid and its nice places and told me a lot about the history of the places we visited.

my brother-in-law, Fernando

After our farewell, I took the plane to my new country. That day I spent most of my travel in the sky, watching the clouds in the sky. It is fantastic to think that one is so high in the sky that can watch down on the clouds. It feels like clouds diving.

Clouds over the Atlantic Ocean

And finally after more than 9 hours of flight over the Atlantic Ocean, we saw land. In the photo below it is Venezuela. That means we are closer to my destination.

Venezuela from the sky

After more than 11 hours of flight, the airplane stopped first in Cali, where they filled the airplane with gasoline, check if it is ok, and cleaned the inside. Never had a technical stop so it was interesting to see what they do.

Cali airport

The stop in Cali made me remember my stay in Cali, in February, 2007, when I was doing a research in sustainable tourism in the Valle del Cauca region. What memories. It was a very pleasant stay, because my friends from Colombia helped me a lot with my research and my stay. I felt like at home. I was wondering, as I was near Peru, what will be like to stay there and to live there. Reading about a country is one thing, but staying there is another story. As a tourist you never see certain things of the country, certain aspects, that are not of your concern, as you only wish to have a pleasant stay and see as many interesting things as possible. So I wondered what will be the difference, how will I perceive the country, the people, and finally what will I feel staying so far from my country and my family and friends.
To returning back to my travel, after this one hour stop in Cali, we finally reached after 45 minutes, the capital of Colombia, Bogota, where I took my plane to Lima. In this four hours that I had to wait for the plane to Lima, I stayed in one restaurant at the airport remembering my stay in Colombia, the year before, and wondering how my friends are doing.
My travel was pleasant also because I met nice people, had a chat with them. Traveling always reveal a part of ourselves that we never thought we have, we open up to others, especially when travelling alone, because you need to talk to someone in your travel. And it is interesting to met new people and hear their stories. The people I met told me that they live in Europe and go back to their countires just to visit their families and to go to shopping, as dresses are cheaper in their home countries. The majority of them go to live to Europe to find a good job and send money back to their families, as in their home countries it is difficult to find a good paying job and do a good living. This is something a wanted to check out for my self, how is the situation in the country I will stay in. How is life there, how are the people, jobs, life quality. And I was just a few hours from discovering all of that, but especialy to see my fiance, who was the real reason of my travel to Peru.

Me coming threw the door at Lima airport

After three hours of flight, waiting in the queue to get my stamp for my 90 days tourist visa. I had no problem for that and got my 90 days tourist visa. But I had to wait for my luggage for more than half an hour, and I found it a little damaged and wet, because in Bogota it was raining. Thankfully the cloths were not damaged or wet, because I always pack them in plastic bags for that reason. And after more than 19 hours of flight and waiting, I made my first step in my new country.