Forward

With two days until my departure, I sit in my kitchen with a feeling unlike any anticipation I have ever felt before. Clothes are piled ten-high on my bed, a pile of toiletries that would last me until next summer on my desk. Next to these is a mountain of every medication one can think of that will cure me of any South American germs, from swine flu to malaria to migraines. This, in addition to the four vaccines I received a few weeks ago. My head teems with thoughts of Peruvian ceviche and of the guinea pig that I will ingest in just a few short days (gasp!). I have been applying additional moisturizer to prepare my skin for the second summer that I will arrive to and I have already found and bought the face lotion with SPF 50. I silently translate everything I say into Spanish, and my anxious dreams last night included a taxi ride in which I could not communicate my destination to the frantic Limeno driver. I had a minor panic attack last night alone in the car when I couldn't remember the Spanish word for "hole." Tonight, my plans include a goodbye dinner with Hayley's and my family and a viewing of Motorcycle Diaries... without subtitles. Plans are set for our arrival, despite the determined nature of Peruvians to not return emails or send confirmation letters to the nervous tourists. Arriving in Lima at 4:35am on Sunday, Hayley and I will be picked up by a driver and taken to our host family's home. I have already designed two backup plans should our driver never materialize. I have scoured the internet unsuccessfully for a central website like craigslist that Limenos use to find apartments. Hayley and I each bring with us different travel books on Peru, highlighted and bookmarked. My daydreams and nightmares imagine each extreme: thrilling success and utter failure; I get a paid job at the top human rights organization in Lima, I run out of money and have to return to Duluth.

I feel like I have been preparing for this for months. Oh wait, I have. Now, more than the fear, more than the excitement, my whole body calls for action. Sitting here is torture. Good or bad, I just want to be there.