S\u00e3o Paulo to Lima

The plan was ambitious: São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Lima, back to Boston. Twelve days, four countries, all connected by LATAM flights and a lot of optimism.

Buenos Aires was the standout. I did a photo shoot at the Obelisco with one eye closed because I’d forgotten my sunglasses. A little girl walked up to a street performer dressed as Deadpool and said “Hola Spider-Man.” Google Maps told me my next walk was eighteen minutes but didn’t mention it was up a 40-degree hill.

The Argentine peso was in freefall. An ATM gave me 35,000 in thirty-five 1,000-peso bills — a ridiculous wad of cash worth about $5.30 USD. At Burger King it cost 9,000 for a combo meal. The numbers were absurd.

Santiago looked so much like Back Bay Boston that I texted someone saying I’d come all the way to Chile to hang out at Copley Square. Lima brought paragliding over the coast and a day trip to the Paracas desert and Huacachina oasis, where a pisco tasting was followed immediately by sandboarding, which felt medically inadvisable.

The last day was a masterclass in poor planning: a tour starting at 5am, returning at 9:30pm, followed by a midnight Uber to the airport for a 2:40am flight. By the time I landed in Boston, I’d been awake for thirty-six hours.