Brittni’s Blog

I just realized I’ve been in Lima almost 4 weeks. On one hand, that’s really amazing because I was originally going to be here only a few days before heading north and I thought I’d be in Ecuador, Colombia, maybe even Panama by now. On the other hand, I was getting tiered of my routine of living out of my backpack, changing hostels every couple days, making new friends everywhere I went, and never being able to have a real conversation with anyone, so I´ve known for a while that I needed to settle down somewhere for a while, I just wasn’t sure where yet.

Looking back on it, it was a strange sequence of events that kept me here. If I were more religious I would say it seemed like God’s clever, divine plan. I bought my bus ticket for 2 days after I arrived, and kept pushing it back over and over for different reasons. The final reason I decided to stay, yes, you can probably guess it…love. And I know what your thinking, “Brittni, how can you possible give up traveling for a boy!?” And I know it seems like something I might regret in the future, but one of the new things I´m trying and learning this year is to stop planning so much and do more what I feel is right in the moment.

Anyway, I´m only postponing my travels until June when Vlad finishes his architecture degree and at which time we will travel north to Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Belize, Mexico, and eventually to California, where we´ll be looking for a place to live in San Francisco. I´ll still be working for Frank, Rimerman, hopefully in San Francisco, but my start date has been postponed until January.

As for my professional life, for now I´m working part time in finance for Corporation Triveño, which distributes mercury. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that native English speakers with degrees form the US can make it very well here in Lima. In addition, and more in the spirit of my year off for exploring new things, I´ve been volunteering at an orphanage, taking care of about twenty 3-year-old orphans.

For my good friend, Rebecca’s birthday we went all out. First we went paragliding, then we got tattoos, and then had a big party with her family.

The paragliding was so much fun. It was completely calm and relaxing, and felt just exactly like it feels when I fly in my dreams. Its tandem, but I never noticed the guy behind me. The wind just comes and swoops you up and you feel like a weightless leaf blowing in the wind, but at the same time totally in control. As we left the grounds we both yelled, “Carpe Diem!” and afterward concluded that there is no better way that seizing Rebecca’s b-day than going flying.

Paragliding from Brittni Daley on Vimeo.

Okay, getting a tattoo for my friend’s birthday might sound a little extreme, but I’ve actually been wanting it for ages, and this just felt like the perfect time. First of all, I hate it when people get tattoos that don’t mean anything, but the term “carpe diem” has always meant a lot to me. I think most of my readers (hahaha…my readers..that’s you!) would agree that I always seize the day and that the motto fits me well. Not sure I should be admitting this, but it helps me to get out of bed in the morning when I think to myself “carpe diem” and then think of something crazy I can do that day that wasn’t planned and would make it a great day.

Oh, and it cost 50 Soles which is like $16. I love how cheap everything is here.

The party that night at Becca’s family’s house was one of the best birthday party’s I’ve ever been to. The closeness of even distant family and the amazing warmth when welcoming strangers is what I truly love and respect about Latin families and culture. Rebecca is from Australia and doesn’t speak much Spanish, while some of her relatives are from Peru and don’t speak much English (I was the translator). Still, she was more than welcome to come here and move in with them, and they treated her just like one of their own daughters. She’s had a great time her the last 5 months with them and now will always have family and a home here in Peru. (Hey, Dad, why can’t I have roots in Peru????) When I grow up, wherever I end up, whatever I’m doing, and whoever I’m with, I want a big, loud, crazy, affectionate, loving family to have big, loud, crazy, affectionate, loving parties.