I apologize for not updating sooner as I have been very
busy with school, training, and coaching. But here is the start to the entries
that I have missed, only a month and a bit late :P
October saw me going down to Lima Peru again but this
time it was for the 2012 XVII Pan Am badminton Championships. I was
representing Trinidad and Tobago at the games in the individual event and was
the only participant from the country to take part in the games. I left Canada
on October 9th and got there the same night. Going down wasn't bad I didn't end
up getting upgraded but did end up sitting next to the pilots daughter so that
was nice.
Upon getting into Lima there was the long drive from the
airport to the actual city center where the hotel was located. Being after
midnight at that point I was starting to feel tired, thankfully there was only
a 1 hour difference between Lima and Calgary. After checking into the hotel I
had a snack to eat and then headed to bed. The next day would be the 1st of 5
days of not seeing the sun. For the entire trip the sun barely shun in the sky.
It was overcast and cloudy the whole time with the occasional showers and wind.
Not to mention it wasn't overly warm and when going out needed to have
something long on. I stayed at the same
hotel that the Canadians were at which was nice knowing quite a few of them
from travels.
The 10th saw me going over to the tournament hall and
trying to get a quick hit in which I was able to. Then watched the 3/4 playoff
for the team event. After that it was off to the team managers meeting and then
wandered around before grabbing some lunch at a quaint looking restaurant which
was very nice.
The 11th rolled around and that saw the start of the
individual portion of the tournament. I was up against a player from Guatemala
named Rudolph Ramirez. He is a great player and it was a tough match for me for
sure. Things worked during the match and other things didn't The courts were a
little slippery but overall not to bad and the venue itself was not a terrible
place compared to other halls that I have had to play in. There was a little
bit of a draft but nothing to major for the court that I was on. Playing that
match I started to figure out how to play a little to late but the feeling of
advancing my game is coming and has gone up since then for sure. I did make
more unforced errors than he hit winners against me.
After my match saw me sticking around the tournament hall
and catching the rest of the nights matches
because of how the shuttle service was scheduled. After going back to
the hotel that night I went out to get some dinner.
There was a mall located about 2 blocks from the hotel. It
is literally built into the side of a mountain and is roughly 3-4 stories down.
It has amazing views and the greater majority of its restaurants were all
located overhanging the cliff with fantastic views of the ocean/coast. If only
it was sunny then it would look amazing but it was still beautiful scenery despite
that. The next day after I lost my match would be my last day as I would fly
out the coming morning on a 1am flight. So I spent the entire day walking along
the cliff walk and seeing all the sights that were there from the art/monuments
to the beautiful scenery and gardens.
So that marked the end of the journey, did some shopping
saw some sights and played some good badminton. After that I had the long
journey back home with my flight leaving Lima at 1:30am. I have yet to fly into
or out of Lima in the daytime to actually see the scenery in the daylight it’s
always these red eye flights. But the good part was that my upgrade request
went through and I had an executive class upgrade for my flight from Lima to
Toronto.
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