Recently in early February 2025 I returned from another trip to Lima. It was my 7th trip, and I will spare you, my dear reader, all the complicated personal factors involved in making another trip to the city I have already visited six times prior. It has become a routine of mine to go somewhere warm in January to escape the winter if only partially. I was seriously considering, even already planning, to go Buenos Aires or Santiago. But because of a couple of mysteries I will allude to below, I chose to return to Lima.

This trip to Lima was rather unfocused. Pointless, you could argue. My trips to Lima require minimal planning. The neighborhoods of Miraflores and Barranco are very familiar to me now. I book my apartment, my fight, and that’s it. I check if my Spanish teacher is still in the neighborhood. I know where to get breakfast the morning after I arrive, the restaurants I like, and a few new ones to try. Good to go. During the trip I did have a few lovely meals and took some nice food shots. I also shot a lot of video as I ‘m trying to get into the Youtube game. Finally.

I felt I needed to return to Lima however to resolve once and for all a bit of personal unfinished business. I had to see about a thing. A couple of things actually. Peru is special to me. I discovered Lima during the pandemic, and it definitely altered the trajectory of my life at the time. Visiting Lima was an entirely new world to me. I also met dozens of women, there is an endless supply there. But some things naturally run their course. Or the opposite, sometimes we don’t see the value of what we have in front of us, so we sabotage it and run away for petty reasons. We turn away from hints given by our subconscious. So which is correct? How can you tell which voice you should listen to? Does one voice seem clear and focused, while later it does not? Well this is how life goes, you don’t really know. So while I have searched for excitement and destiny in several other countries in the lat couple years, I had to go to Peru one last time to see how it felt and what destiny had in store for me this time. I had to determine if there could ever seriously be a future for me in Peru once and for all. I can report that I determined, ultimately, there would not be.

I have given Peru my best shot. With every new experience I had there, there were a hundred others I missed out on. I have only scratched the surface of Peru, and that will have to do. Still struggling with Spanish. Actually, this is possibly the central issue I have with extended time in Latin American countries. When you transition out from the adorable cuteness of your coddled and cozy Spanish class into the deep waters of everyday interaction and deeper conversations with real people, it’s a whole different experience. One thing I realized for sure this time, is that I cannot function in 100% Spanish. This was always a challenge, for me, though worthwhile for cultural and other benefits.

Loving vignettes. Sitting on a rooftop terrace with a beautiful Peruvian girl, watching the sunset over the Pacific Ocean, enjoying a chilcano. There is something lovely and beautiful here. Just this? Well this is great. Wouldn’t rather be anywhere else. But if things were only this simple. Hey it’s way better than freezing my ass off in Colorado where it’s getting dark at 4:30pm.

“Let’s go to Oxapampa!” She exclaimed.

“Oh yes, let’s!”

I knew we would never really go.

Oxapampa, a quaint little Peruvian country town. A place I have basically fantasized about visiting, but never bean able to realize. They have waterfalls and hiking, you can ride horses. There are little cabins in the countryside, so pleasant and adorable. Very clean and with an excellent hot breakfast.

Then she scans your “Peru” folder in Instagram with saved posts about beautiful places to visit. Some of those posts have a curvy lady in a bikini showing the place off. To encourage more destination ideas into my feed, I put a heart like on these posts.

“What is this?! I’m Peruvian you know.” (the jealous Latina type). She said, unchecking the heart next to the gorgeous Peruvian model in a red bikini showing the waterfall, which is what I was really interested in.

And yet I knew it would never work out. I couldn’t help but laugh though, it’s all so adorable. How little in life “all works out.”

I have always been uneasy about attempting to live 100% in a foreign language. I don’t think I will ever reach that level. I studied French for decades on and off, even had a girlfriend there. Never became fluent. After the fun and games of your language class are over, actually living every moment in a language you can barely understand or express yourself in, is probably one of the most frustrating experiences you can image in life. The language barrier relationship is not an unfamiliar situation to me. I’ve had several other relationships with foreigners, and after the exotic curiosity of the situation is challenged by a language barrier, there’s much that can be lost in translation.

I do have my sights set on the next destinations, Argentina and Chile. These were actually competing for this trip itself. For personal reasons however I chose to return to Peru. While in Lima, my Spanish teacher told me how nice Buenos Aires is, the lovely museums, the vibrant culture, the broad avenues. I then remembered another recent comment I read online in a conversation about inflation in Argentina. The commenter mentioned well at least for now you could still get a steak and a carafe of red wine for under $20. I thought, well that sounds pretty good to me. Sign me up! I’ve had enough ceviche. My appetite for this amazing cultural delicacy has been satisfied. So everything about this trip to Peru told me that it is time to move on.

I’m showing some of the food shots here, and they will be updated in the gallery as well.