HideoutThe Hideout

When I wrote my last articles, I already was back in Germany for some time. I just didn’t find the time to finish, but now I’m glad to finish it with this post!

After Bolivia I was on a long bus drive to Arequipa, which is a popular city in Peru. Nice mountains and valleys offer great opportunities to hike and trek. I stopped their to meet up with a friend I met in Lima, when I arrived there from Panama. We always tried meet up during our journeys but always missed another.

This time Alex waited for me in Arequipa, so that we would see each other again, before I would return to another world. I was on my way from La Paz to Lima, which is a very very long ride, but if you want to save some money you rather buy a bus ticket to Lima instead of flying from La Paz. I think I saved $300 and I was able to see a bit of Arequipa.

When I arrived in Arequipa I took a taxi to the hostel, where Alex was staying at. It worked well and we celebrated our reunion Although Arequipa has a lot to offer (outside) I didn’t do anything there … one reason was that I had no money anymore and the other, that I had no time for a nice trip. Instead I enjoyed the time with my friend … actually we spent a most of the time inside of banks, since he had a problem with his bank account. But it was fun and I wasn’t really interested in sightseeing anymore.

Two days later I left for Lima where I went to catch my plane to New York. Before the departure I met up with Mayte and some other couchsurfers. We had lunch together and it was nice to see my host, who I haven’t seen for more than a month, again.

Back to New York I met up with Claire, spending a very few days in this great city. First I thought unimpressed “Okay back to New York …”, but when I arrived there I immediately loved this city again, no matter what had happened to me. It’s about the people and how they act … for example, when I was walking along an alley, a man passed me, stopped looking at a tree and said “Oh man … what a tree, huh?” You just have to love a city with those people, right?

On my flight back to Germany I didn’t sleep at all although it was during the night. So exciting was the entertaining program in the airplane that I watched one movie after another. I had to switch planes in London Heathrow and just had an hour to switch planes. But everything went fine and I was back in Germany a few hours later.

When I received my backpack, I traveled for a long time with, it looked a bit strange … some buckles and belts were missing but nothing else I missed fortunately. I went to the lost and found office for British Airways and told them about my loss. After some time they offered me a new backpack and accepted this kind offer. What a nice welcome present!

Then another exciting time was coming … the search for a new job and a new challenge.