Lima, Peru

I am officially living in the house that my father grew up in! Going to spend over two months here and I am already off to an awesome start. Last night I left the house in search of food and ran into my aunt on the corner. We went out to dinner, bought a map, got ice cream, waited in holiday lines. I met a man at the mall who grew up down the street from my dad and all my uncles and aunts when they were kids! Today my cousin, his girlfriend, and I walked around Lima, got sandwiches and tattoos. I just walked to the corner store under a beautiful smog sunset, down the streets that my father did! Walked through the intersection that defined his entire childhood. Now I am helping my aunt, my cousin, and her boyfriend string up Christmas lights. Tonight we will dine on the traditional Christmas Eve midnight turkey dinner! Man it's good to be Peruvian.

living a fantasy fairy tale

I am going to start this blog post off with something Robin said to me: “monica, you could bend this world and make it get down on it's hands and knees and bark like a dog for you.”
That is exactly how I feel right now. I feel like some kind of queen after the way my life has been unfolding in such an incredible, peaceful way the past couple weeks. After Cuenca, I went to Baños which gets its name from the natural thermal baths. It was so gorgeous and I rented a bike. My first bike ride in six months and it was like 5 hours long! The bike also meant that I got to stop whenever I wanted to take pictures! I am getting pretty good at the self-timer. I met a guy who lived in a little town called Rio Verde and he showed me around the waterfalls and the city. I met so many incredible, helpful people! I feel so grateful when I can meet people to talk to in Spanish because invariably other foreigners will opt for English with me. Damn international language.
Actually, I retract. I was just thinking today that I should be really grateful I already know English, it’s extremely useful. That thought occured after a guy from Berlin approached me to talk about the Mumia Abu Jamal shirt and the Camille Rose Garcia tattoo. So awesome!
So yes… I highly suggest Baños just as it had been highly suggested to me. After Baños I took a bus to Guayaquil. Actually, first I hitchhiked to Riobamba! At this point I need to make a public apology to my parents for hitchhiking alone in South America. Sorry mom. Sorry dad. Sorry World Tourism Organization.
Immediately upon arrival in Guayaquil, I knew I was going to be so happy to leave the next morning. But don’t worry I didn’t forget to salute the four sets of glorious golden arches on the way from the bus terminal to the hotel. I left my stupid over-priced hotel briefly but it was already getting late and Guayaquil is known as the most dangerous city in Ecuador. So after enraging a man by accidentally calling him “señora” I retreated to my hotel room, sinking into a deep Seinfeld haze triggered by the level of discomfort I was feeling.
Finally I am at the beach and I went swimming in my familiar Pacific today and laid in the sun long enough to burn the parts of me that I forgot never see the sun. After being down here for so long I don’t have to wear sunscreen anymore on my face and arms so I forget about like… the back of my legs and other typically-shaded body parts. What? That wasn’t supposed to sound like I was at a nude beach. I really just mean the upper legs.
I met a lovely woman from Amsterdam and we shared a couple meals. Also, I just ordered a beer and the guy was like “no beer on Sundays. All of Ecuador doesn’t serve alcohol on Sunday” and now I feel guilty for disgracing their sacred native beer tradition. Actually there was a holiday going on in Baños when I was there and supposedly they also don’t serve alcohol on holidays but my recently acquired friends and I speak-easied long into the night anyway. Where there is a will, there is a way.

I finished my project and now I am traveling through Ecuador!

Yes, I am sitting in a “common room” at a hostel in Cuenca, Ecuador. It is day #3 of being a tourist and I have decided that I am pretty terrible at it but want to continue trying. I am in this historical city, full of gorgeous buildings and rivers and delicious restaurants, tours, I don’t know… mountain climbing, jungle treks, whatever else you are supposed to do as a tourist. And yet, I spent my day reading in a park and taking pictures of anarchist graffiti. I did attempt in the morning to visit tour places but I just stood outside and looked at the happy foreigners canoodling with happy indigenous folk and then I walked away. I started feeling a little anxious like “what am I doing here?, maybe I should consider cutting my trip shorter, etc. etc.” But then I read Eduardo Galeano in the park. You know, about the open veins of Latin America and what the conquests left behind. It was exactly what I would want to do in a historic city in Latin America! Robin said “uh, DUH” when I told her. Also, I talked with these women who run a women’s shelter for a while. I asked them about their lawyers and psychiatrists and everything and they gave me information to read.
There is so much that you find out traveling that no one could ever tell you. There are so many tour books and websites but the activity runs deeper than that. You know like what’s your bag system? Mine is a little backpack inside of a big backpack. And how do you prepare for the next city? I draw maps in my notebook! See, I just figured that one out today.
So I am getting on a bus to Baños tomorrow, which is a beautiful town operating almost solely for tourism! I know that going in but still everyone I talk to is always like “ohhh you have GOT to go to Baños” so I figure, why not? I am going to ride a bicycle which I have not done in six months. And I am going to go hiking and lay in the natural hot springs. Ok, so now I have a plan! Then from Baños I am going to go to Guayaquil and maybe meet up with a friend from Peru and then go north to Canoa. I met a couple women tonight who are going to “pick my brain” about Peru and tell me all about what to do in Ecuador.
Get it?? At the beginning of this post I complained about not understanding tourism and now I am forging my own path! Growth!

I just stopped writing this and had a really long conversation with this guy from Australia and he was surprised that I was from United States because I “have an accent.” Oops, now I feel like one of those people that goes to England for a month and speaks with an accent the rest of their lives. It wears off though. I just had it today because I have been speaking Spanish consistently for a few days. Now I am going to be hesitant to speak with my family or friends because I will embarrassed. Please don’t judge me.