Lima, Peru - Part Two

You can quote me on this...
"Travel is all about the people you meet and not necessarily the places you see"

Mr. Something and I, Kike, Patrick & Aurelio

Arriving in Lima, we had arranged for a driver to pick us up from the airport and had reserved a cute apartment in Miraflores. 

It didn't happen.

Wifi doesn't exist in Jorge Chavez International Airport unless you find the Starbucks on the level above baggage claim. We found Starbucks and after three hours of not receiving any response to the multiple texts we sent the guy who owned the apartment and who had arranged for our driver, we had to face facts.

Nobody was coming to get us.

We decided to call it a day and book a hotel room in the same neighborhood. 

My last text to 'the guy' was..."We are sorry but as we have not heard from you, we have no other option but to find another place to stay.We are disappointed that we could not stay at your place." I included the name of the hotel we were staying at in case he had any questions for us and left it at that.

That night, the hotel desk clerk woke me up from a sound sleep to tell me that we had a visitor in the lobby. Bleary-eyed, I met 'the guy' in the lobby. His name was Kike and he was there to pay our hotel bill.

Kike was one of the warmest, most giving people I have ever met. 

Profoundly apologetic for the confusion, Kike explained that a couple from Korea saw the sign that our driver was holding for us, with my last name "Young" written on it. Their name was "Yung". They got in his car and were taken to Kike's apartment.

You can't make this stuff up.

The following morning, Kike came to our hotel and brought us on a personal tour of his city, introduced us to his husband, Patrick and good friend, Aurelio. 

After the tour, he treated us to the most fantastic lunch at 'Altamar', a wonderful Peruvian restaurant with our new friends.

As if that was not enough, he arranged and paid for a driver to take us to the airport the next morning as well.

What a "guy"!

Sometimes it seems to me that when I've been disappointed with how I had hoped things to go, I end up being placed directly into the path of something good.

This experience was the best!