Faraona Lima

... conversations we'll be sharing in a few weeks; about their own daily adventures that they're embarking on. in fact, these are the things i've found myself pondering most as i've cruised from town to town down here. and i'd say that even more than the rice and chicken meals and UV treated water, these thoughts of you folks has been the fodder for fuel that's helped to keep me going in the times when i've needed it (though the chicken and rice has done its part too). And so in the course of ...

... walked off with it.

Simon arrived to kindly meet us at the airport and quickly ushered us into a taxi with a newfound friend of his ´´Inkaboy¨. They had met yesterday when Simon was buying some stone necklaces from him and had quite a random night out ending at his house in the outskirts of Lima before coming to meet us at the airport. He was a very helpful guy (wanting a tip but also genuinely friendly) and took us to buy bus tickets for Huaraz (we had decided ...

... with strawberry dessert. We had planned to meet our British friends Emma and James for dinner, so with a few hours to kill we sat down in a little pizzeria and shared a jar of sangria while we watched local futbol matches on TV.

It was really great to see James and Emma again, like old friends, and humorous to be meeting up with them in another country. We walked bac k to the plaza on the water and walked around talking about our ...

... to get us to Santiago, the first Cusco to Lima which is about an hour, and the second Lima to Santiago, which is about 3 1/2 hours.

The second flight didn't leave on time in the end as we had to wait for some people from a delayed flight from Bogata so ended up landing in Santiago at about 3am.

... said our goodbyes. It was a vastly different farewell from last years'. It was interesting only having mom to say goodbye to. I liked it because then it wasn't such a big deal - like I wasn't leaving EVERYONE at once. It was slightly less stressful to say goodbye to people before I was at the airport. This departure was different, too, because I didn't cry - at all! Last year I was a basket case when I had to leave but this year I'm just excited. Don't get ...

... I was at the airport when you grabbed the wrong bag.´ Oh! One of the two guys bugging me! So we chatted for a bit about Lima, traded notes and what have you and met up for dinner that night. We ate in this great open restaurant with a Peruvian jazz/reggae band. Tried the beef hearts. Very good :-) So I had a lot of fun in Lima, most of which were the long conversations over breakfast and before bed with Leo and her husband, exchanging pieces of our lives and our languages.