Buenos Dias!

I meant to write before I left North Carolina, but now I´m already in Peru. I woke up on a bench at the Lima airport this morning and was like, how did I get here? And then I remembered that I bought a ticket. And then I questioned my sanity. In one month I´ve traveled from the poorest parts of West Africa to the beautiful fall colors of Western North Carolina and now I´m in Peru. If you had told me this was where I would be 5 months ago I never would have believed you. I guess life takes unexpected turns sometimes.

So far, there is nothing exciting to report about Lima. I only glimpsed snippets from the taxi on the way to my hostel. The hostel is very nice. Theres a sweet rooftop cafe and theres barely anyone here which is excellent. I saw the Pacific Ocean! That felt weird because I am at virtually the same line of longitude here than I was in Asheville. In fact, still on EST. Also, I saw a Pizza Hut and a Chile´s so already this is looking like a step up. Also, that was my first non bush taxi, taxi ride in a while.

Being home was being able to eat cheese until my belly ached, stream tv series´ from the internet, swap stories with friends like I never left, dance in front of the stage at a Sound Tribe show, buy Ben and Jerry´s and Dr. Pepper at Ingles, marvel at Walmart, wrestle with all the pups, Barnes and Noble with Mom, beers with Dad, play with the kiddies at the Church, etc. It was exactly what I needed.

And now I´m parasite free and in Peru. I´m headed to an orphanage in a mountain town called Ayacucho. I can´t wait. I´ve got energy. It feels good to be on my own. To be quiet. To soak it all in.

So far I can´t understand a word anyone says to me in Spanish but I do manage to stutter out strings of vocabulary enough to communicate, though I´m pretty sure I told my taxi driver ¨lets go to el bano,¨ instead of ¨I have to go to el bano.¨ Well, I´ve got nothing but time to study.

Thanks for reading. More soon. Hasta Luego.