Tina's wanderings around the world

Day five continues without water. My excitement for the day? The most interesting (and most water conservative) shower I've had in my life! Yeah, I totally took a shower using a bucket of water and a cup. Oh yeah, I'm a hardcore traveler now, right? :) Except for the fact that the water was warm, and the air outside wasn't terribly cold. Maybe this is just a transition, a preview of things to come. I'm still going to be proud, though.

Peter, I know you think I'm crazy, but I have to add this--okay, how do you spell Bram? Hmm, B-R-A-M. But backwards? M-A-R-B. Does anyone else see this pattern??? If it was someone else that wasn't so obsessed with words, this would be completely irrelevant, but it's me. Another M-A-R. I am crazy!!!

Day 4 in Lima, and I wouldn't say that I'm antsy, perse, but I'm definitely getting bored. Everybody else has things to do, so what do I do? I sit on the internet planning the upcoming trip to Cuzco, and trying to figure out what to do, other than go out and buy more dessert, while I'm in Lima. Hmm...well, it occurred to me that when I start up the traveling again, I won't be able to sleep in every day and I'll be on the go, in new beds, new places, with less relaxation. And in that vein of thinking, I decided that I should break in one of my favorite going away gifts--Season 5 of Scrubs. Libby, muchisimas gracias! I'm getting lost in the world of my pretend husband, and I am LOVING it. I figure that I'm not going to be taking my laptop when I go traveling much anymore, so I better take advantage of it while I can, right? :) I also realized that I haven't written anything about a strange phenomenon I've been noticing during my tenure here in the ...

I have arrived safe and sound back in Lima, amidst the clouds that never appear to leave (though everyone tells me there was sun while I was gone, so it seems that the clouds came back to greet me especially--ah, thanks friends!) and the pollution. Yet despite what could be construed as gloominess, I love familiarity, and I felt at ease sitting in the back of the taxi on my way home from the bus station. My first day back in Lima was absolutely wonderful. My familia Peruana welcomed me home with open arms (hugs, yay, more and more hugs!). Mama Peruana rearranged my room the night before I got back. Yes, she is a total rearranger. I now have giant pink lacy curtains adorning my wall. Without a doubt they are the most excessive window coverings I’ve ever seen in my life, considering the window is about a tenth of the size of the curtains. : ) Notwithstanding, I love them, because they’re from Mama Peruana and she went out of her way to make my room a little bit cozier. She also made my f...

My last night with my Peruvian family was spent celebrating the birthday of the Señor. We went to an Argentinean restaurant and ate a LOT of meat. The next night, Mama Peruana dropped me off at the bus station, in truly mama form, which was really sweet, if incredibly grade-school-ish. I took an overnight bus to Trujillo and instead of opting to stay in the city I headed out to Huanchaco, a little beach town about 20 minutes outside the city. (Here you have a "lovely" picture...turns out it's not much to look at, but hey, it's a beach! And it's outside of Lima, what more can one ask for?) Although incredibly tempted to just lay down in my bed and catch up on the sleep I didn’t get on the bus, I got my arse up and out the door and took a walk down the beach. Ahhhhhh, the beach, my love, how I’ve missed you! During my entire stay, the waves gave me a sense of calm, as ever, which was really nice. Anyway, I walked down to the little boardwalk in the middle of the be...

Well, i´m actually a liar, because i´m not actually between cities. that would be just silly, wouldn´t it, blogging in between cities? absolutely. and i apologize for the lack of capitalization and what may possibly end up in typos, because for the first time i am writing a blog from a peruvian internet cafe and it´s different--muy, muy different! i started to write my blog last night, and as usual it´s a 4-5 page long affair with even more pictures than usual. but as it turns out, i didn´t finish, so it´s sitting in my laptop right now, just waiting to be finished. just waiting for the laptop to be broken out, yet again. and i have learned a good lesson, in my one week of real traveling--i pack way too dang much! i thought i was really good, just having two bags, but my current traveling companion has shown me the wonders of wearing the same clothes every day and being a dirty traveler. i´m really excited to dabble in the marvels of being a dirty traveler. oh yeah, i´ve been wearing t...

My Lima life is coming to an end, at least for now. Who knows what the future will hold. In the meantime, there are a few more people I wanted to write about, since my people are pretty much my life here in Lima. (Aside from the food, that is, which has been a HUGE part of my life. Evident by my ever-expanding stomach...I definitely have some pounds to work off. Oh yeah, touring, here I come!) Vanessa Vanessa is one of the most laid-back girls I’ve ever met. She seems pretty unflappable, and she doesn’t do much of the whole girl drama thing. She’s lived in Lima for her entire life and has only gotten out as far as Chosica. Although she’s lived in Lima for her entire life, she would, in fact, like to travel, and we’re trying to figure out how she can come traveling with me in January or February. Her knowledge of Lima has been invaluable to me—she helped me find my Spanish school and then enroll, she came with me the first day of school to talk to the coordinator when I had missed a few...

Last Thursday, I went with the family up to Chosica, which is a little town on the way to the mountains about 30 minutes outside of Lima. The trip there and back was an adventure in and of itself, seeing as how we got lost both times and it took the three natives putting their heads all together to figure out how to get to our final destination. It was interesting to see how three people who have lived in a city all of their lives could get lost in it, going to a fairly well-known destination. It just goes to show how big Lima really is. After we got outside the city and started climbing higher and higher in altitude, the sun started coming out. A little more, a little more, until we reached Chosica and there we had it, the full-blown sun. It was the happiest weather day I’ve had since I got here!!! Oh my friend the sun, how I’ve missed you! Chosica was our place of choice, because the club that the family belongs to in Lima has another location up in Chosica (which is so convenient fo...