When Briana “Bri” Exom traveled to Máncora, Peru two summers ago, she didn’t go with her family; she didn’t go with her friends; in fact, she didn’t go with anyone at all.

Exom, now a senior fashion design major, decided to go on the solo trip completely on a whim. After a week and a half in Peru, she returned home with no souvenirs other than a small, minimalist tattoo of a llama on the back of her right shoulder.

Although she felt anxious before she left, Exom said she didn’t fully grasp the intensity of her trip until after she landed alone at a small, one-lane airport.

“I wasn’t like, ‘Oh Bri, what have you got yourself into?’” Exom said. “I just thought, ‘OK, you’re here Bri. You said you wanted to do this trip, so here we go.’”

 

Fortunately, Exom wasn’t alone for long. She quickly made friends with 13 other travelers from countries all over the world. To this day, many of them still keep in touch, Exom said.

She spent the rest of her trip with the group enjoying herself, exploring and going on as many adventures as possible.

One such adventure, Exom said, was when they tied bait to themselves and swam out into the ocean to swim with wild sea turtles.

“I remember thinking when I was swimming with that dead fish on me, ‘I wonder if there are sharks in the water?’” Exom said. “I was just like, ‘Is this how I die?’”

Exom’s last day in Máncora just happened to be the Peruvian Independence Day. Among all the partying and revelry, Exom said, a man from her group announced he was going to get a llama tattoo to commemorate the trip. One-by-one, Exom’s entire group got on board with the idea until she was the last one left.

“I was like, ‘F*ck it, I’ll do it!’” Exom said. “When I got back I was like, ‘Aw man, how am I going to explain this to everyone?’”

Exom said that if it hadn’t been for Peru, she wouldn’t be as confident as she is today. She has never regretted her tattoo, and if anyone ever questions it, she knows exactly what to say:

“Alright, let me sit you down and tell you this story…”

Published on October 27, 2015 at 12:01 am

Contact: emmichae@syr.edu