The Plane Ride to Peru

On the plane, I had some very interesting thoughts as I was filling out my customs paperwork. Simple questions became very complex:

What is your occupation?
-Good question. Am I unemployed? Does missionary count? Is that what I am? Hmmm...Supervisor feels safe...

What is your nationality?
-American?

Why are you traveling to Peru?
-Tourist? Business? Health? Visiting friends/family? All of the above and none of the above?

What is your Peruvian address?
-Another good question. Not sure?

How long will you be staying?
-So simple, but really complex. One year sounds good.

So, something simple that should have taken 5 minutes to fill out took me about 30 minutes. I went from a super safe, comfortable world to a world where simple questions became super challenging. Luckily the Peruvian woman on the plane next to me decided to ask me what time it was.

Simple question with a simple answer. Yet, I froze and just showed her my watch. It was my first chance to speak Spanish, and all I could do was point to my watch. After about 5 minutes, I got up the courage to begin speaking to her in Spanish to redeem myself. We talked for about in hour in broken Spanish/English. Interestingly enough, her English was worse than my Spanish so neither of us felt uncomfortable fumbling through our dialogue.

Surprisingly, we learned quite a bit about each other, our families, our jobs, why we were traveling. It certainly gave me a boost of confidence to begin speaking with a little more courage. She ended up asking me for my email address so that we could be in contact in Peru. I affectionately called her mi madre de Peru.

She also assisted me through customs and finally through the baggage claim area. I gave her a kiss goodbye and met Alejandro outside customs.