In 2007-2008 I was working at Hewlett-Packard as a software sales rep and getting my MBA at night at CU Denver. Life was pretty good considering... I was making money, I didn't have to work overtime, I could take public transportation to work, I had a beautiful apartment in downtown Denver, I had fabulous friends surrounding me, but I couldn't seem to stay happy. I think that is a totally normal problem for the average human being... not being able to appreciate what you have and constantly finding reasons to dislike your life, but I was just bored and was not getting the challenge I was looking for. So I came up with a plan to travel around the world. I quit my job in Jan of 2008 and started on my adventure.
My plans entailed Peru, Costa Rica, Japan, China, then a massive US road trip. My first stop was Lima, Peru. I had plans to go to Costa Rica for 3 months and since I was going on airline miles, I knew I could make a stopover for free (if you don't know about this little trick and you plan to travel internationally, you should know that you can make one stopover for free as long as it is within the same travel region). When I was planning my trip I did one of those close your eyes and point to the map type of things and thought that Peru sounded interesting and I should go there.
I arrived in Lima and had a few days to kill before I went to Cusco. I loved Lima immediately. I welcomed the chaos and was lucky enough to stumble across upon all the most beautiful parts of Lima during my aimless walks in Miraflores and Barranco. I spent a little less than three weeks in Cusco. I was fascinated by the culture and the people. I took some Spanish classes that ended up being more like Peruvian culture classes. I then did the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu and started to become even more enamored with the country. I stopped over in Lima on the way back and went out with a friend I made on my first stop in Lima to my now favorite bar (where apparently all my brilliant plans are formed) La Noche in Barranco. We started talking about my life goals of starting a business. I said that I really wanted to provide the world with beautiful things using my creativity and then we starting talking about what Peru had to offer. We started talking about the manufacturing industry in Lima and all the talented artisans and the free trade agreement. I had not considered moving to a foreign country to start a business before this night, but something about the combination of pisco sours and achieving dreams resonated with me that night. I left the next day to go to Costa Rica and I just felt so happy. I felt this beam of energy coming out of me and these wild thoughts of getting up and moving were starting to sound less and less crazy.
I arrived to San Jose late that night and then got on a bus early the next morning to go to the Guanacaste region. I couldn't stop thinking. I kept looking at out the window and my feelings kept getting stronger and stronger and I decided that I was going to move to Peru.
I continued my travels through Costa Rica, Japan, China, and then my amazing road trip with my fabulous friend Danielle (yes, the scarf is named after her http://www.emilimehandcrafted.com/Items/danielle.html). I came back to Denver for a couple of weeks, did a triathalon, then moved to Peru on August 12th 2008. I already had a job and an apartment lined up for when I got there that I found on Craig's List.
I ended up working at a travel agency for about 6 months. I worked so much and really didn't get much going with my business, but I did start to learn about the culture and how to survive in Lima. I was getting frustrated because it wasn't going anywhere and I couldn't really think of what I wanted to do for the business. Lima had tons of clothing manufacturers, but that wasn't what I wanted to do. I then was wearing my chullo (hat with flaps) one night and it dawned on me. Everyone commented on this hat all the time and I thought of all the knitters I had come across, plus all the amazing alpaca I had seen and Emilime was born.
Here I am with the chullo with Danielle during on road trip. We are at Crater Lake in Oregon.
You rock.
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