Because first impressions are like a drunk man's last words: the most honest and transparent.
As with moving this blog back to its old address, another one of those famous cycles of life and travelling has closed for me, because I'm now in Arequipa, exactly 4 years after I first came to Peru. No surprise that I'm thinking back to that time and reflecting on it, because flashbacks of all the different types of situations I've lived here, how they've taught me and what my life looked like before as a deskmonkey in London... Safe to say I wouldn't change anything that has happened!
Highs and lows have been as prominent here as they are in Peru's landscape, tremendous mountains to climb, plateaus to trudge along, precipices to fall into and fight my way out of... and after living through the different landscapes of situations, all of those have become part of my soul, and I've learnt to love them all for what they are. And people, loving them with all their droughts and floods, earthquakes and all, especially that one special person whose changes in season both bore and surprise you, but never cease to captivate..
As I'm sure I've said before, for me one of the best things about travelling is learning about the place you're usually in, because all the new impressions are automatically compared to your current situation, and if your machine's in tune, that means you'll make a mental note of how you feel about the differences. The last few times I've gone anywhere outside the area of Cusco (now: Arequipa, February: Lima, Last year: Europe) those emotions have been very similar: I'm just fine where I am, but this one thingy over here in this place is inspiring and will be absorbed into my daily life.
My biggest travel plans for the time being are focused on making that pilgrimage capoeira journey to Brasil, finally after some epic procrastination and random shuffling in the priorities deck. It's defo on the cards now, I'm thinking about 4-6 weeks, around October, November, December.. depending on how saving goes. Who know what I'll take back to Urubamba with me from the bouncy, smily Brazilian way of life apart from a bikini I'll only be able to use as floss in Peru?
And the drunk lady says, before she passes out with a serene smile: "syou know, this hish the besht I've felt in a looooong, long time..."
