where my bichitos at?

5-3

IM IN PERU!!!!!!!! WOHOOOO! wow, what a long journey to get here! started off by getting BRAUMS on the way out of town. of course. all of my flights were either delayed or pushed back and the trip from bville to lima took almost exactly (a little over) 16 hours if you count driving. yeah, looong day. where do i start?

haha i met some pretty interesting/ fun people on my flights, including some guy who, baha ok so i didnt have to change planes in dallas. theres me and this one guy and  we were the only ones continuing on to miami, so there was like idk 10-20 mins where we were just chillin on the plane, so i was like, so, where are you headed? he tells me that his "buddy" just bought a house in miami and hes going out there to help him move or whatever and just visit and play. i told him what im doing in south america and he was like, oh yeah i did an internship type thing back in the day in montana (shout out to  EM!!) i was like, back in the day? umm how old are you? (i honestly thought he was 24) turns out he was 33! baha! anyways hes like so do you read? im like, uhh yes?....hes like well, hey my friend gave me this book... its about native americans in arizona so its kind of related to latin america. want it? (im like uhh, what??? and also not really...i mean its a stretch) and hes like, i probably won't finish it anyway. im like, do you normally do this to strangers? haha so im like, umm no i think you should probably finish it. hes like, no really, its ok! and im like umm haha thanks, but yeah, its ok, i think you should keep it. haha then im like, yeah imma go sit down now. so then i end up surrounded (two african americans surround me-tanner), or i guess in between two people who are talking about  turtle eggs. so the girl to my right goes to vet school at st. kits and starts talking about her project with preserving turtles bc too many people are eating them and their eggs. then the lady on my left is from nicaragua, and shes like, oh i LOVE to eat turtle eggs! im like, what? people eat those? (i had NO idea). apparently you like steam them and they are liquidy and you just slurp them up. weird.

Miami airport:

so then i got to maimi and met a lady named emily who was on my connecting flight to lima. she was turning 70 and going to cuzco and machu picchu has been her dream for the last 40 years at least (she said her whole life, then said 30 years, so ill give her 10 years cushion, haha) so she that was her bday present to herself. pretty cool. so anyways, we get on the sky train and there is a cuban lady who is super spicy and feisty (oh yeah shes also like 85 years old) and shes like this old cuban lady pole dancing on the sky train. oh- clarification- she worked in the airport. oh thats not helping. she just basically was joking w her friends and it was for like 1 sec, but it was hilarious! so then i get a sandwich and on the way to my terminal, some dude pulls up in a golf cart and hes like, "hey sweetheart want a ride? ;)" and im like, no, thanks im good. then hes like, "can i have a bite of that sandwich then?" BAHAHAA!! oh man.

my flight to lima was long, but good. i had a window seat and the seat next to me was empty so i cant complain!! haha and the guy 2 seats over was this old, very composed guy from lima and he was blasting michael jackson on his ipod! haha! then FINALLY the pilot was like blah blah begin our descent into lima, and im like, wohooo! haha i did that out loud and it was awesome! and so when we landed some old guy (american) with a fisherman vest and hat (tanner-old man uh fishuh man, baha they are everywhere) stands up and he has this HUGE and ridiculous button/pin thing that says "talk DERBY to me". im like, really?! bahaaaa!

LIMA:

oh also (Alison!) i get off the airport in lima and there are sings everywhere that say DUTY FREE! omg what is that even??!

so then zara (love her!) picks me up and immediately when i step outside of the airport, my flip flop breaks. of course. haha so i change shoes then we go to the van and as we are leaving we have to get clearance, and the guy starts walking towards a bus to help them, when zara says in a lil flirty pouty voice, "ay, senor, porque no me ayudas?" bahaaa and he came straight over to help us! i was like, yeaaah girl! and i instantly liked her! she is really awesome and fun! so on the way back to her house shes telling me all about lima and cajamarca and tips and good info, and im just soaking everything in, and LOVING the palm trees and buildings and i realize how much i love latin america. mmmm so good! and there are inca kola billboards!! ok so then we get to her place at like 5am and im super dead, but running on pure adrenaline.  

so i share a room for the night w a six year old super cute kid named josue! haha he woke up and started jumping around on his bed and he was super exited to meet me! haha, this kid is hilarious! zara brought us some natural oj!!! and josue was like, shhhh dont tell, but i never drink this! i just sip it till she leaves then i give the rest to the dog! bahaa hes like, you cant tell!! i told him his secret was safe w me! haha then he filled the sink w water and was making a mess in the bathroom. at this point i was so tired i could not even form sentences in spanish and it was difficult to try to communicate w him, but he was crackin me up! i was like, umm you prob shouldnt do that. hes like, yeah i think i should. so i was like, ok. whatever haha.

breakfast- a fried egg w the yolk not cooked all the way. yep. had to swallow that one down. made me thnk of the gooey turtle eggs....and i washed it down w my (least favorite thing ever) latin american leche. from a box. yep, its got that same flavor as the stuff in mexico. luckily i was able to add chocolate powder and sugar to this stuff. so then i took a shower and conked out hardcore. had some weird dreams.

lunch- (almuerzo) my first peruvian dish. 

called papa ala huancaina. (dont worry i had zara repeat it at least 7 times haha.) it was potatoes with this creamy salsa, half a boiled egg, a pience of lettuce, and some weird purple grape lookin thing. i had to swallow that stuff down. super wierd. and i swallowed it down w some drink called carambolla? or something. its a fruit from the jungle oooooh. exotic. tasted kind of like tamarindo mixed w apple cider... so then dorita, the maid, (best name ever!) brings this HUGE plate of rice, beans and fish and im like, seriously?! SO MUCH FOOD! it was good tho.  but i was SUPER stuffed! and zaras family is funny!

anyways right now im headed to cajamarca on the longest bus ride of my life. i left at 4:30pm (its like 10pm by now) and it arrives in cajamarca at like oh idk 8am. yeah. my butt hurts to say the least. and im kind of queezy and i have a headache, but i did get a meal, along w INCA KOLA!, and they played bingo- which im pretty sure was the cause of my headache. the announcer lady was super loud. awesome.  anyways ill post this pnce i have internet access! cant wait to meet the ninos and get settled in cajamarca!

love you guys! im really loving peru minus this long bus ride!! AHHHHH sorry, mom. my heart def belongs to latin america.

amor, besitos

 jill :)