PERU — A West Michigan native and his partner remain stranded in Peru after political unrest broke out during their trip.
“You want your trip to go as planned, and when it doesn't, you at least want to be able to leave and not feel like you're trapped,” said Jack Van Overloop.
Van Overloop lives in Chicago, but grew up in Grand Rapids.
He says that at the start of the month, he travelled to the South American country with his boyfriend, Nate Wong.
While in their second city, Arequipa, violent demonstrations erupted over the impeachment and arrest of the country’s president, who tried to dissolve their Congress.
“We pretty much gathered, ‘Oh, yeah, the protesters broke in to the airport, the airport's canceled, those are fires that the protesters have around the city,’” said Van Overloop. “So, we were on this tour and we were like, ‘Oh, wait, we can't fly out tonight?’ And people are like, ‘No, definitely not.’”
As a result, Peru declared a state of emergency, which halted all travel.
Van Overloop says they tried to leave at least three times, only for each flight to get cancelled.
He called attempts to contact the U.S. Embassy fruitless. He says officials told the couple there would be no emergency evacuations from Arequipa. They suggested taking a bus to Lima, which is 16 hours away, but Van Overloop says the couple does not want to risk getting stuck.
“I think we were really disappointed and almost felt abandoned, especially when people that we were traveling with, it's like, ‘Oh, bye! Your country cares about you and you're heading home for Christmas,’” said Van Overloop.
For now, they’re holding onto hope that a flight scheduled for Wednesday allows them to leave. They have been waiting at a hotel since the turmoil began.
Van Overloop says they’re looking forward to putting the situation behind them.
“We have work, we've got a dog, it's Christmas, we'd like to spend time with family,” said Van Overloop.
