Lima- the city I’ve spent the most time in in all of my sabbatical; first by choice, second by logistics (all flights in Peru connect lima); and then by force (quarantined here). This is a recounting of my first meeting with it, and what a charmed one it was. Good thing it was, as it made all the successive encounters bareable.
When you have a propensity to overthink, over plan, and overshoot reasonable limits of energy expenditure, you tend to create intense travel itineraries that defeat your willing but still only mortal friends that accompany you.
FOMO is my kryptonite. In the past, I’d pretend to be omnipotent by creating detailed and demanding plans that included everything but rest. I’ve since learned that an acceptance to the limits of how much I can drink from the stream of life and practicing gratitude are much more powerful remedies. Still, it’s a lesson I have to learn again and again.
Lima was the first city of my sabbatical. My first visit to Lima, I tried to out-plan every day. Walking tours in various neighborhoods, statistical planning how to eat at as many must-eat restaurants with a single stomach, going powered parasailing and walking along the famous boardwalks— but the thing about even the best made plans can’t make up for the most delightful surprises.
And the best surprises are people you let into your life.
You can plan to frequent a tourist attraction site, but can’t plan for how you might meet a friend who change your experience and plans of Peru.
You can plan to join a friends Christmas dinner, but not plan for how warmly and kindly their family will welcome you into their lives.
You can plan to visit all the top attractions of a city, and the reality becomes that the most enjoyable and picturesque sites are from visiting an obscure neighborhood a friend grew up in.
You can plan to visit a famous culinary city and eat at only lauded places but still seem a homemade turkey the best meal you’ve eaten there.
You can plan to treat a friend’s family to a meal and have everything fall short of the official and several back up plans, but finally ending up at a restaurant whose food is so good and pleases everyone just so that it makes your friend’s dad declare that your mom has a brother in Peru.
You can plan to have a specific experience of a city, and enjoy how different it actually turns out.
I mentioned a big part of being afraid of uncertainty is the skepticism that things will turn out alright– and the doubt that you will be able to handle things when things go wrong. Again, this is another lesson I am constantly learning.
I still enjoy making my plans and holding onto the illusion of control, but I am also learning how to be wrong in the best way.
There are always going to be things I enjoy about cities, the bustling energy and the endless opportunity of simulation, but it is always the people that is the best thing about them.
When has an unexpected change of plans turned better than you could’ve imagined?
How has logistical inconvenience brought you better connection with people?