Ninja chop and run!!

We arrived in Lima after an international flight filled with movies, red wine and multiple realizations that, yep, we are definitely flying to Peru right now. We bounced out of the plane at 12:15 am and ventured out into the busiest welcome area I've ever seen. Everyone had a sign for everyone. (Hannah and Jenn, I searched everywhere for you guys, but alas only found hundreds of Peruvian faces staring back at me:) We found ours with "Laura Latimer" scrawled across it and began our trip. Several people and articles had warned us against the multiple scams and dangers that are possible in South America, with repeated specifics surrounding "Stay away from unmarked taxis!!" Oh ya know, people get taken to scary places and are given no choice but to surrender all possessions..or the fact that traveling girls, especially, can be robbed at any given moment. That kind of thing. (No worries, Mama y Bruce y Jennifer..we got this:) Laura had wisely arranged for our hostel to pick us up from the airport to avoid any unnecessary shenanigans that early on in the trip. But as we approached the car, the first thing we both realized was the absolute absence of any known markings, anywhere. Ah man. Even after we had the driver call ahead to the hostel on his phone (we have no cell service), we still spent most of the cab ride with pepper spray in hand (Thanks, Gabriel!), clutching our belongings and countless renditions of how we might have just fallen into the biggest mistake ever within the first 20 minutes of being in this new country. Hmm..Ok, time to harness our inner ninjas...La will shoot him directly in the eye with pepper spray with impeccable aim and I'll kick him swiftly in the shins and give him a shove and then we'll both turn and run as fast as we can with our toddler-sized backpacks in tow..hopefully in the same direction. It sounded like a solid plan in my head anyways. Fortunately, our paranoia was put to rest and we made it safely to our hostel with all possessions in tact and accounted for. Success.