From a full time job to a surf trip in Peru
Last week I was in Montreal, in a job I didn’t like too much and didn’t pay enough. I was thinking about my friend Sacha who was currently in Ecuador and Peru trekking and surfing… Ohh I envied him. Snow started falling in Montreal and I got 2 more parking tickets to add up on my 10+ pile of white and red papers. I got an email from work for a meeting on Monday morning and surprisingly (and happily) got laid off.. I guess I was complaining too much about the work conditions because according to my sales, I was the 2nd most performing seller. Whatever, I took the news sadly but an hour later I was looking at flights for a possible surf trip and putting ads on craigslist to rent out my place for a month or so… 
After checking on MagicSeaWeed.com, Hawaii, Dominican Republic and Peru were my 3 finalists for good surfing in December and I ended up taking Peru, even if the flight was a few hundred dollars more expensive. I thought the cheap cost of living would make it up. On Wednesday I found a guy to rent my place, I moved all my stuff to storage on Thursday and bought the flight for the next Monday to Lima, Peru.
While waiting at the airport, I realised I would arrive around 11h30pm at night and didn’t have any hostel booked. I looked on google and hostelworld for the top rated hostels in Lima and I tried to reach a few by skype. I guess I couldn’t find the right way to dial the number because it keeps telling me wrong number or occupied. In a last attempt, I emailed 3 of my top hostel picks 5 minutes before entering the plane and I asked them if they could pick me up at the airport the same night. Because I wouldn’t be able to see if they answered me I figured at least one of the three would show up to pick me up.
The flight passed quickly (even if it was delayed) but on arrival I checked my surf and it had been damaged by the airline. After an hour of filling report for the insurance I finally walked out of the airport and looked around with only a bit of hope left as I heard someone yelling my name “ SEBASTIEN!” with his big PARIWANA sign. Ahhh I couldn’t have been happier! The chauffeur told me he had been waiting two hours for me. He took me to the hostel (gotta love 24h check-in!) and I made my way to the roof top bar to meet some fellow travellers. The bar was already closed (2am) but a guy gave me half his beer while some rasta man was playing a nice reggae song in front of 3 cute girls.
This is all I needed to feel welcomed in Peru and filled with positive vibes. I went to bed that night (nice comfy bed!) and felt exactly at the right place.
After checking on MagicSeaWeed.com, Hawaii, Dominican Republic and Peru were my 3 finalists for good surfing in December and I ended up taking Peru, even if the flight was a few hundred dollars more expensive. I thought the cheap cost of living would make it up. On Wednesday I found a guy to rent my place, I moved all my stuff to storage on Thursday and bought the flight for the next Monday to Lima, Peru.
While waiting at the airport, I realised I would arrive around 11h30pm at night and didn’t have any hostel booked. I looked on google and hostelworld for the top rated hostels in Lima and I tried to reach a few by skype. I guess I couldn’t find the right way to dial the number because it keeps telling me wrong number or occupied. In a last attempt, I emailed 3 of my top hostel picks 5 minutes before entering the plane and I asked them if they could pick me up at the airport the same night. Because I wouldn’t be able to see if they answered me I figured at least one of the three would show up to pick me up.
The flight passed quickly (even if it was delayed) but on arrival I checked my surf and it had been damaged by the airline. After an hour of filling report for the insurance I finally walked out of the airport and looked around with only a bit of hope left as I heard someone yelling my name “ SEBASTIEN!” with his big PARIWANA sign. Ahhh I couldn’t have been happier! The chauffeur told me he had been waiting two hours for me. He took me to the hostel (gotta love 24h check-in!) and I made my way to the roof top bar to meet some fellow travellers. The bar was already closed (2am) but a guy gave me half his beer while some rasta man was playing a nice reggae song in front of 3 cute girls.
This is all I needed to feel welcomed in Peru and filled with positive vibes. I went to bed that night (nice comfy bed!) and felt exactly at the right place.