For those still reading...I'm kinda still blogging.

Well, I've been home a week and its certainly been a busy one at that. I haven't fully decided what to do about the blog since it was more of a vacation/cultural experience type of commentary but seeing as there is a lot changing in my life now I thought I'd keep up with it at least for the time being.

Last Monday found me at home once again, and after being picked up by Jessice, my airport driving angel made my way to the house which I left just as summer was beginning and found everything in full bloom. Seeing just how green, flat, hot and humid everything is here has been a huge change. I don't know what I expected but after months of brown, mountaneous terrain, dry, cold air I got accustomed to that kind of environment. A week later I still have my cough, which to me says that my body (and newly shrunken, low altitude lungs) is still adapting to the serious climate change and will continue to do so for awhile.

Last week was whirlwind as I started looking for houses to move into in Arlington, a challenge to say the least. I finally got unpacked sometime on Friday and then jetted off to Rehoboth with Joanna on Saturday morning where we met up with Dana and Jesse for a day. They all had to leave but I stayed on with my family who had come up as well. It was my first downtime since coming home and although we had a total blast (especially Saturday night with the rents!) it was the first time I started to feel a little lonely and melancholy at leaving Peru. Surprisingly, culture shock hasn't been too bad, probably because I've kept myself so busy, but that was part of the plan.

Last night I started my first class at Marymount and it went well! I think the class won't be too difficult for me, although my liberal arts education may be a hinderance- my grade is based 50% on the midterm, 50% on the final- what happened to writing long, eloquent interesting papers?! Last night was Bases of Psychopathology (next week: Schizophrenia!) and tonight is Basics of Counseling. Right now I am feeling ok about all my classes as I am lucky to have counseling background and a basic familiarity with the course material. We'll see how it goes from there!

I guess the biggest change is missing my friends and my lifestyle in Cusco. It is such a beautiful city and my friends there were all amazing in their own right. One couple, Oscar and Lizetta are expecting a baby in October and I so wish I could be there when she is born. The others all keep asking when I'm coming back and giving up on this silly grad school idea. I won't be giving up on grad school but I do hope I can maintain my friendships in between trips...and I know that will be hard. But, I'm always up for a challenge :)

Well, I'm off to brave Target (something I missed while I was gone but find overwhelming now!) and check out some houses...I guess we'll just have to wait and see...

El Clima de Lima

Always makes me sick. I swear I don´t think I have been fully healthy one time in the many that I have been in Lima. And I hate to say it but everytime I am here despite all efforts to truly enjoy and see the city I am always reminded by how much I hate it and it saddens me that such an amazing country has such a boring capital city. Oh well, I´ll always have Cusco- which is probably the source of my illness. I haven´t been in cold, humid low altitude weather in months and coming from such a different climate to this one has wreaked havoc on my respiratory system.

Anyway, tomorrow is D day. Can´t believe it. Well, I can and I can´t- its not like I haven´t known this day was coming since I got back here in May but its amazing how time has flown. I can remember so many details of my return, from my frozen bus ride from Lima to Cusco, seeing my house for the first time- even what I ate at my landlords house that first day. Stupid, silly details that don´t really matter but still mean so much to me.

Last night was spent out with friends from Cusco, Lima and well, everywhere. It was (as a testament to how boring Lima can be) my first night out in the city- it was a blast and I can´t believe how many people from so many different groups I have met along the way. AND it was a fun night out in Lima.

This morning was not quite so fun as my fun night out wasn´t too kind to my random Lima illness but after a chill day in the house (and a small family crisis) we´re going to head out later to see more people who happen to be in town and check out a friend´s restaurant (Rafael who we met at the concert in Buenos Aires, the one who looks like a young David Bowie in the Ziggy Stardust days, must get a pic this time to confirm this!) have some drinks and enjoy my last night in Peru. Tomorrow probably catching an Alianza soccer game in the afternoon and 11pm is zero hour and see´s me on a plane, heading back to my other home...

Countdown continues

Back from Colca, waiting for a night bus to Nazca for a morning flyover of the lines before heading on my last bus ride to Lima. Gets harder everyday to imagine leaving and yesterday when we arrived in Chivay expecting sunny warm weather and were hit with a snowstorm it kind of threw a wrench in my plans. After a very very cold night at a friends place in which I was kept awake by both the cold and the all hours Quechua music concert in honor of the towns birthday (of course, because I think I have now been to every small town Andean village birthday celebration in Peru) I got up at 6 (when the music stopped naturally) and headed to Colca Canyon to see the Condor Crossing which was amazing. I have never seen such big birds in my life and they are so graceful for vultures and they fly so close you think you could reach out and touch them! The Canyon is amazing and fringed by snowcapped mountains, the cross itself is higher in altitude than Cusco and the ride to and from Arequipa to Chivay is intense, crosses passes over 15,000 feet and looks like an alien landscape.

Anyway just a quick note, more later after Nazca!

Moving Onward

Heading out from Arequpia (very big, very spanish, pretty in parts but mostly big and crowded city) to Chivay to visit the Colca Canyon and the Condor Cross today. I think today is just Chivay and the hot springs then at 5am tomorrow head to the Condor Cross to see the biggest birds (15 ft wingspan) in the world ride the thermals up above the 2nd deepest canyon in the world. Ah so many records here in Peru.

I did actually like Arequià somewhat, much nicer weather and the colonial part of the city is really beautiful but this weekend happened to be the 466th Anniversary of the city so everything is packed with people. Also, good food is lacking (same for coffee) and after months of weekly if not daily parades in Cusco I have to say that Arequpia just can´t hold a candle to the Cusquenans in terms of celebrations. For days we´ve been hearing about the big parade which finally started around 11am today and hysterically was lead by the city garbage trucks. If this were Cusco the parade would have started at 7am a week ago and still be going. LOL. The party at my local church for the Saint´s birthday a week ago was bigger than this! I´ve always been told Arequpia was pretty but boring and that advice was spot on. BUT I did get to see the Ice Maiden, Juanita who isn´t really a mummy just really well preserved and frozen (in the past three years she has actually collected some perma frost that looks like freezer burn in her fancy state of the art glass freezer and it doesn´t look like it can possibly be good for her!) Also visited the GORGEOUS Santa Catalina COnvent which takes up several city blocks, is completely walled and still has sections which house nuns that have taken vows of solitude and cannot be seen by the public. But the older sections, dating back 400 years have been incredinly restored and were fascinating to walk through- I think we easily spent 3 hours there just wandering about.

So, things are winding down and looking forward to catching a bus out of Arequipa in the next hour or so...hopefully will post pics before I leave Lima. Stay tuned...

Cusco Closure

It´s been an eventful, stressful and sad week of packing, goodbyes and trying to squeeze in all the last minute things I managed to not get done while I was in Cusco. It seems there is never enough time and when you live in a place you get accustomed to what it has to offer and forget to take advantage of it all or assume there will always be time. And then, suddenly time runs out, bags are packed and a life you have come to love and embrace every single day is gone. I always knew leaving Cusco would be hard but this week has proved more than hard, and every day I have had to fight back tears for one reason or another. I suppose that my photos will only be reminders and can never accurately relate the memories and images in my mind and emotions in my heart. I truly love this city, its people, my friends and life here; going home and returning to another (and in its own ways, new) life seems unimaginably hard.

But, life goes on and I at least had the time to say goodbye to those people closest to me here. The last few days were spent packing and moving but also relishing the last moments of life as I knew it in Cusco. Walking to San Blas along Tanda Pata, taking my time to walk accross the plaza, meeting friends for a drink in our favorite bars (where I am pleased to say photos have been added to the walls of friends and family pictures) and eating in my favorite restaurants one last time. Thursday was a night out but not too big at an 80´s party at a bar I had never gone to before. The bar was small, the music mediocre but what made the night was that nearly everyone I knew was there. Friday was similar but with a huge spaghetti dinner at my little house with tons of friends, pisco and laughter. Last night was a last supper with David and then off to Los Perros for a final drink and last goodbyes. The refreshing part of all this is that no one was really ready to say goodbye so instead it was, ¨we´ll see you soon, this is just a vacation from Cusco¨and I so badly want to believe that is true but for now life holds several question marks, some of which I hope to resolve quickly upon my return home and into my new life of school (again, lol)

So, now I am at the Cusco airport after a stressful morning of final packing, talks with the landlord and of course the damn Peruvian dog (hairlless dog aka barking rat) peeing on my computer bag while we waited for the cab. Our LAN flight to Arequipa is a brief 40 minutes compared to the 11 hour bus ride but its already been three hours of waiting at the airport staring at the sliver of Cusco I can see through the windows. But thats ok, because I´ve decided that airports can actually be a very theraputic transitional zone. To sound like a dorky anthro student they are a ¨liminal zone¨ neither here nor there and every airport is pretty much the same and it takes you away from where you just were (physically and emotionally) and gets you into the mindset of where you will next arrive. For me, thats a nice couple days in Arequipa (yea movie theaters and McDonald´s!!) before going to Lima where I will get to see some more friends before the eventual departure and next series of airports.

So that´s it, life goes on and I know Cusco will always be here and maybe I´ll get another opportunity to have a life here again someday- and not just be one of those ¨ghosts¨that pass through never to be seen or heard from again...only time will tell.

She´s ALIVE!

Well, Dana and Jo’s whirlwind trip has come and gone and now I’m really down to the wire with my own time here in Peru…I wake up every day knowing I have one day less to spend in this beautiful, magical place. Of course this makes me appreciate it all the more but sometimes the sadness of leaving this experience strikes at random times and its hard to fight the tears which come with leaving my life here.

I think when I came it was with the least expectation possible and for the most part that has worked well. I had some hard times but the good (if not amazing) far outweighed those times when being away from home was trying, overwhelming or difficult. The most pleasant surprise is how at home I feel here now- it hasn’t just been an extended holiday or immersion experience its been an extension of myself and my life. I had always seen myself living abroad and traveling but to come to Peru to live for a while and find a life for myself here has been the greatest reward imaginable, while also making my departure practically impossible.

I still have two weeks, but only one of those will be in Cusco, wrapping up loose ends, saying goodbye to my wonderful friends and trying to live Cusco life to the fullest while I still can. Next week I leave for a week of traveling to Lima via Arequipa, Colca Canyon and the Nazca Lines. I’ll have a few days in Lima and then, well who knows when I’ll be back. I am telling myself that it will be sooner than I think and that time will fly once I’m back in the routine of school, work and life in the insanity of NOVA. We shall see.

Now, aside from the inner dwellings of my mind these days, I have to say what an amazing time I had with Dana and Jo while they were here (I think they should just be about making it back as I write this). We did and saw more than I did with any visitor yet, shared lots of laughs (including the biggest beer ever- yum Chicha and Jo actually liked it!)
and caught up as only old friends can do. From the second they got here we were off and running, to the Sunday market in Pisac, the last of the Fiestas Patrias in Poroy at Action Valley with all my friends hiking all over the ruins in Cusco, cruising the Sacred Valley in the worlds most unreliable, old and ugly car, hiking more than I ever thought possible (imagine what they thought!), mountain climbing and all this BEFORE Machu Picchu. It was quite a week and it certainly flew by but obviously not without a fair share of everything Cusco has to offer and I am so glad I could share that with them!

Things wound down with what was a fabulous meal at my favorite restaurant in Cusco but regrettably we were all reminded of it by being sick all day yesterday. Fortunately for me I was at home but poor Dana and Jo were stuck in Lima all day waiting for their plane and sick to boot…hopefully they ride hope wasn’t so eventful as the day preceding it.

In case I didn’t mention before this as I hadn’t posted in awhile, but the Fiestas Patrias were amazing after my return from Bolivia and every night found us at a different party with good friends, sharing fun times. I also made it to Action Valley twice and while I didn’t bungee jump I did the catapult which slings you from the ground 600 feet up into the air- CAH-RAZY! As soon as I reached the zero point my legs just started running on their own, as if I had anywhere to go! The day also included lots of dancing, BBQ and friends. Fortunately for Dana and Jo we were so tired by Saturday that we stayed in which meant we were somewhat in one piece by their arrival last Sunday. Now, keeping with my theory that Peruvians, especially in the Andes will always look for an excuse to party this weekend (and week it seems) is the birthday of Saint Christopher after which my neighborhood and church (500 feet from my house) is named and there have been celebrations all weekend long, including the obligatory marching bands and fireworks. Maybe it seems like the parties are constant because it rains the other half of the year and they have to get the celebrations out of the way before the rain starts. Certainly when I was here in January I didn’t see one marching band and they have become a daily affair.

I’ll try to keep updating as I head back to Lima and leave my lovely little house here in Cusco and hopefully the next posts won’t be so backwards as well...Until then, stay safe and see you soon :)




(Yes, Dana and Jo mountain climbing!!)


See Bolivia post (two below) for lots of very belated but cool pics!