Peru!

I just wrote a post last night, but it´s now 6:00 a.m., everyone in the hostel is asleep except for me and the orange cat that I´ve named “Calabaza,” and to the best I can tell by looking out the window, Lima itself has finally gone to bed, save the occasional passing car or stray dog. So I thought I´d post a few disorganized ramblings about a few of the many things I like about Peru, and about traveling abroad in general.

I love to be reminded that the whole world isn´t composed of big-box stores. When I want envelopes here, I don´t drive to Wal-Mart to wade through the aisles of clothes, food, hunting equipment and pens until I finally find envelopes. I just walk a block or two to the nearest Papeleria and ask for them. And when I need five envelopes, I don`t have to buy a box of 40 or 100. I can buy just 5 envelopes.

I love to be in a place where people spend time outside, conversing in a central city square or walking around in the streets. In my town in Wisconsin and I suspect across the United States, people´s lives take place in their houses. They watch TV, play video games, surf the net, read, putter, etc., all inside the confines of their homes. People venture outside only because they have to get somewhere or because they have a specific task that needs doing, like mowing the lawn. Here, people live much more outside their homes, socializing, seeing and being seen, engaging in outrageous displays of PDA and just being. It´s a little bit what I think America may have been like 50-plus years ago in the days of front porches and before Ed McMahon and the others brought everyone inside.

I love the varied geography. If we had a little more time here, we could explore the jungles and the deserts and the canyons and the coast. As it was, we saw amazing mountain vistas and looked up at snow-covered peaks and down at clouds. I don´t get motion sick, but the others took Dramamine to prevent motion sickness on the crazy bus rides through low-lying rock hills. We took a boat ride on a lake with a maze of reeds that hide the man-made islands they are used to make.

The food has been spectacular. They cook a lot with fish and avocados, not to mention potatoes, meat, onions, etc. I adore fish and avocados. If I had to choose one food to eat for the rest of my life, it very well may be avocado. And the cakes, rice puddings and other sweets are impossible to resist. My one complaint is that despite three tries, I still haven´t had a good flan.

The architecture in Cuzco, Lima and Arequipa is stunning. Lots of elegant colonial buildings, with overhanging balconies, columns, and engraved facades, in various shades of white or of bright colors.

So I´m going to miss it here. I would give a lot to be able to stay a few more weeks. Maybe my bosses would understand, but probably not. So I´ll see you all soon.

Anne

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