The first leg of the journey

Packing and preparing for this trip was quite the project. I have been planing for a year and when it came time to gear up and have everything come together... I must say it was daunting.

Sky was so sweet the week before I left. Coming home exhausted from work only to continue moving and run errands all over town with me. I cant thank him enough.

The day I left, Curly dropped me off at a kinkos in downtown Eugene. My luggage consists of a large backpack containing minimal clothes for a month and a half, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, and hiking boots. On the front side of me I sported a day pack that I borrowed from Sky's friend Doug.

All in all, I looked well, ridiculous. But hey, you don't have to always look pretty when you travel.

At Kinkos I printed out my itinerary with all my information and walked 6 blocks to the bus station. The bus to Portland was about 3 and a half hours with all the stops but it was a good opportunity to listen to my ¨Spanish for Dummies¨audio CDs.

When I got into Portland it was pouring down rain. I got off the bus and was turned around, but began walking. Following my directions took me in the wrong direction so I followed signs to the train station. After 25 minutes of walking I found the station as the train was approaching. Jabbing my money into the ticket kiosk with panic I thought of how long I would need to wait in the rain for the next one. ¨all aboard, doors closing.¨printing...printing.. run. I ran into a crowded train as the doors closed on my backpack. Most stared, some giggled, one helped as I struggled to get myself out of the doors clutches.

The train ride was much longer than expected en route to the Portland Airport. Following my directions I got off of the train in what seamed to be no mans land. There was an Ikea and a Target under construction but no one on the streets. No street signs. I wondered to myself if I had gotten off at the right station, put on my rain jacket and spotted an intersection in the distance. The only cars on the road splashed water up at me as they sped by.

15 minutes later I arrived at the intersection to find that I was in the correct place on the right road just in the wrong direction. I began walking back to the train station and prepared positively for a 45 minutes trek to the hotel in the pouring rain. As I walked passed the train station a hotel shuttle pulled up. I laughed to myself thinking how funny it would be if the shuttle was from the Red Lyon. Sure enough, the sign of the van bared the brand! A lady hoped out and I hoped in. Having very little expirience with staying at hotels on my own before, I didn't even know you could call for a shuttle. Reveling in my good luck I thought of what a great start it was to my new adventure.

I checked into the hotel that I paid $45.00 for, ate dinner in a deserted restaurant and went to bed.

I could not sleep at all that night. Tossing and turning, knowing that I had to be up at 3:30am. When the phone rang for the wake up call I was wide awake, ready to go and greeted the lady on the other end of the line enthusiastically to her surprise.

I changed, grabbed my luggage and headed to the lobby for the hotel shuttle. I jump aboard and was at the airport in 5 minutes.

After checking my backpack and walking to my gate, I nodded off.

I arrived in Texas, had a 4 hour layover and boarded the plane to Lima.

As soon as we were all boarded on the plane the sky that emanated in 100 degree heat when I landed now broke out into a thunder and lightening storm. Texas. All outside had to take cover for two hours while we waited on the plane for the danger to pass.

Our flight was 2 hours late from schedule. The plane had the little screens on the back of each seat so I watched The Soloist, Ray, and some Friends episodes. We got in at 12:00am and I didn't get through customs and immigration until 1:00am when I finally got out I was worried my driver would not be there anymore and the official airport taxi service was haggling me to get a taxi from them for a lot of money. But I walked out into a sea of young drivers with names on their signs and there he was! He didn't speak much English so on the car ride we were laughing as I tried to make conversation out of my phase book and he tried to sing the English songs on the radio. I got to the hostel at 1:45am, laid down and fell asleep with my clothes on I was so tired. I woke up around 11:45 to three friendly girls from Amsterdam that I was sharing my room with. I had a great hot shower with superb water pressure and the was off to my next hostel to relax.