I have a feeling that only people who have traveled alone to a foreign country, knowing no one and not being able to speak the native language, know the kind of sheer terror this can produce.
But despite the urge to hide under the covers in my hostel room after arriving, I got up. I made a list of positives, which included "I can leave whenever I want!", which I underlined not once, not twice, but three times.
I pulled myself together enough to walk around Miraflores, the district of Lima where I was staying. I managed to eat a little food and did some people watching. And I got my yellow fever vaccination from a local clinic, which cost a whopping $30 (suck it, Asheville Infectious Disease!)
I was very emotional the first night, after only sleeping three hours the night before. Before settling in to my room for the night, I met a guy from Australia whose name I don't remember (Max? Nick?) in my hostel. He has been traveling alone for the past six months around South America, and told me that he hated it for the first two or three weeks, and felt very lonely. Then he said he got up one day and started really enjoying it, and has been going strong ever since. He told me that it will suck at first, but to just hang in there and it will get better.
I will probably never get to tell him how much this meant to me, because he left for Cusco right after our talk. But I took our conversation as a sign from some higher being that I'm on the right track. Or so I hope.
Item #10 on my list of positives is that the universe will provide. This may be the thing I need to concentrate on during this trip more than anything. I just have to stay strong, think positive and keep going.
More to come...
But despite the urge to hide under the covers in my hostel room after arriving, I got up. I made a list of positives, which included "I can leave whenever I want!", which I underlined not once, not twice, but three times.
I pulled myself together enough to walk around Miraflores, the district of Lima where I was staying. I managed to eat a little food and did some people watching. And I got my yellow fever vaccination from a local clinic, which cost a whopping $30 (suck it, Asheville Infectious Disease!)
I was very emotional the first night, after only sleeping three hours the night before. Before settling in to my room for the night, I met a guy from Australia whose name I don't remember (Max? Nick?) in my hostel. He has been traveling alone for the past six months around South America, and told me that he hated it for the first two or three weeks, and felt very lonely. Then he said he got up one day and started really enjoying it, and has been going strong ever since. He told me that it will suck at first, but to just hang in there and it will get better.
I will probably never get to tell him how much this meant to me, because he left for Cusco right after our talk. But I took our conversation as a sign from some higher being that I'm on the right track. Or so I hope.
Item #10 on my list of positives is that the universe will provide. This may be the thing I need to concentrate on during this trip more than anything. I just have to stay strong, think positive and keep going.
More to come...
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