Prologue: South America, 22 – 24/9 2025

On the 5th of September, I quit my job, or more specifically, I worked my last day. Then, on the 22nd of September, I boarded a flight heading for Lima, Peru. I intend to spend about four months in South America before starting my new job on the 1st of February. I will work as an RF engineer at CERN. That will be an adventure all by itself.

For South America, I have no strict plan. I will primarily hike all over, but also scuba dive, surf and hopefully learn some Spanish. I will start in Huaraz—my first destination after Lima—and I will finish somewhere in Patagonia. Other than that, the plan is rather loose. I have a long list of places to explore, but I will not have time for them all, and I am open to any opportunity that may present itself.

Packing for four months and completely different climate zones, from tropical in the Amazon rainforest to freezing in the Andean and Patagonian mountains,  is not easy. All equipment included, my backpack weighs in at 14 kg. Considering food and water will be heavy during the longer stretches, it will be a burden. However, out of the 14 kg base load there are some items I can discard along the way, after all I’m carrying at least 1 kg of books for the long bus rides. When leaving for Patagonia it will be a much more optimized backpack. 

22 September — Monday

I’m dropped off at Landvetter Airport by my parents. The total travel time will be 22 hours with layovers in London and Bogotá.

23 September —  Tuesday

I arrive in Lima at 09:30 local time. Originally, I intended to walk from the airport to the hotel, but the airport is surrounded by 4-lane highways. It is clearly not intended to be walked from. Also, the ghetto-like no-go zone surrounds  the airport. Instead, I take a cab to Miraflores, the nice part of Lima.

Miraflores is very nice indeed. I’m amazed by the sheer amount of employees working with cleaning the city and keeping all the small parks in pristine condition. There is no rubbish to be found, which is in very stark contrast to many of the other parts of the town, which are full of rubbish and unfinished constructions. 

I spent the day walking around in Miraflores and along the coast, and visiting some local attractions. As said Miraflores and the surrounding areas are nice, but it is a city after all. Luckily, I’m leaving for Huaraz first thing tomorrow.

One thing is for sure, the traffic rules are extremely unclear. And by the looks of many of the cars, engaging in bumper cars is a regular occurrence in this city. And bear in mind, no one will stop at a pedestrian crossings unless you explicitly challenge them to by walking straight out into the road. And somehow, it always seems to be rush hour. 

24 September — Wednesday 

Awake and away towards the bus terminal. I’ll be travelling with Cruz del Sur. They have extremely comfortable seats. And they even check in the luggage as in the airports, and you have to pass a security checkpoint to board the bus. They sure take security seriously. 

After leaving Lima the mountain starts towering. The views are breathtaking. Unfortunately, the experience is somewhat diminished by the constant field of debris along the road, and this is a constant all the way to Huaraz. Such a shame.

Due to an accident the bus is about 2.5 h late, meaning what I would have imagined to be the most breathtaking stretch of the journey is covered in darkness. When we finally arrive, I’m tired and consequently go straight to the hotel and to bed.