Our last stop in our trip was in Lima. Alastair had just turned down a job in Lima, so we were kicking ourselves for turning it down. Kind of, the pay was too low to justify the move. But we sure enjoyed our time in Lima!
Alastair had a high school friend living there with his family, so we met up with him after he got off work. We waited for him at a park right across the street from his office, and the Peruvian ladies were adoring Emre. These two older ladies were chatting with Alastair and were wanting to play with Emre and hold him. They were so friendly to Emre, it was sweet!
Before our flight home, we had a whole day to explore Lima. We decided to go to this square, with all the side streets were closed off, making it seem desolate. It was wild! The main square, there were people going to church, bands playing, and some kind of fitness dance class going on. It seemed like fun! It was actually scorching hot, so we wanted to save our energy for the entire day.
We met up with Alastair's friend, Enrique and his girlfriend. They were so kind to show us around and to treat us to some Peruvian food at their uncle's restaurant. I've never had Peruvian food before this trip, and I must say, some of the best food! We had Peruvian ceviche and some other amazing dishes, even Emre tried some and enjoyed it. The ceviche was dished on this giant plate and we all chowed down. Seriously, so good! I can't remember too much because Emre was starting to get fussy, he was getting tired, so I was busy trying to care for him. I just remember they were hospitable. So kind!
After dinner, we went to the coast. The weather completely changed! Cold and foggy, no longer scorching hot. We walked around the coast and admired all the surfers down in the water. After spending quite some time, we decided to head to Enrique's house for Alastair to catch up with his siblings and parents. They all lived in Ghana in high school, so it had been a while. We eventually had to head to the airport, so we got a cab. That cab ride was one of the craziest experiences ever!
It was probably around 8 at night, and there was so much traffic. The cab driver was driving so fast, like we were in a race. Emre fell asleep during the ride, except for one point where a massive construction truck or big rig (can't remember) started to honk his horn in the lane next to us. It sounded like a freight train next to this dinky cab. Emre immediately opened his eyes in terror and started screaming and crying. I eventually coaxed him into falling asleep. To be honest, I was a little terrified as well. It was such a crazy cab ride. We tried to take a video, but it didn't turn out so well. Just imagine a tiny cab speeding and winding through a ton of traffic. The driver was using Waze to get through the city traffic as fast as he could, and at one point he hid his phone and everything away as we were going through the rough parts of the city. It was just so crazy!
Fortunately, we made it to the airport on time, boarded, and flew home. Emre did fairly well on the flight, but the drive from Chicago to Ann Arbor was another story. But we'll just ignore that part.
