I’m way behind on posting these, but I had a great meetup with my team in Lima, Peru back in September!
I wasn’t prepared for just how big Lima is. The traffic was wild, and more than once I had to close my eyes and hope the Uber driver knew what he was doing. The weather stayed mostly gray, which was a pity, because the view over the Pacific would have been lovely with a little bit of sun.
The biggest highlight (aside from spending time with the team, which is a given) was the food. So. Much. Good. Food. Many pisco sours were consumed, and we tried several local specialties — seafood, causas (dressed mashed potatoes), blueberries the size of my thumb. No guinea pig, though!
For our activity day, we toured the catacombs under the Basilica and Convent of San Francisco and went on an elaborate guided street food tour. My legs and feet were killing me by the end of the day (lipedema is a PITA, literally) but my stomach was happy!
I had a lot more anxiety about this trip than normal, though I’m not sure if that’s a lingering post-pandemic feeling or just the itinerary being long and tiring. I left home in the early afternoon to drive to Bangor for a hop into New York, then took a midnight flight directly to Lima. When the plane doors closed on the Lima leg, I had an intense feeling of panic; eight hours in a crowded plane was *not* where I wanted to be at that moment. I breathed through it and obviously made it to the meetup intact (and relatively well rested, all things considered).
I got into the city well before the rest of the team, and before our AirBnb was available, so I spent my first few hours hanging out at a fancy little restaurant (with really good breakfast) before meeting my teammates as they arrived. The next four days were a whirlwind of work, eating, socializing, seeing the sights, and travel back home. Phew.
… and I get to do it again next month for a much larger meetup in Munich! Yay?!? 😅