Mayday, Mayday!!!

Is it true? I was updating my calendar today, and it seems to indicate that it's May already. Yikes!!! Didn't think I'd get to that page for a long time.

 

I'm just sitting down to work out the schedule from here across the border to Loja, Ecuador, leaving tomorrow afternoon. In a few short days Peru has made its way to the top of the must-see-again list. I recently mentioned to a friend, who agreed with my theory, that Peru may just have everything in the whole wide world: gigantic mountains and beautiful beaches, endless lifeless deserts and dense jungles, plants and animals galore, culture and indigenous people with their crafts and music, enough development to be fairly comfortable but enough un-development to lend a touch of reality. Not to mention it's full of latinos. (A big plus in my opinion anyway!) Like any other place I'm sure it has its fair share of problems - for instance I met a lady recently who told me that most of her family was killed by terrorists a while back, that she has 6 kids and her husband took off, and that it's normal for girls to get knocked up at 14 or 15 years old - so yeah, there are a few problems... but it's also got the lion's share of treasures.

 

Today I was walking down Ave Libertador or some street when an old lady named Dora randomly stopped me to talk. She lives in Lima but is fixing up a house here, and told me that the place will be much better soon and I should definitely come back to visit. At first I thought she meant she was going to rent out rooms, but as I was leaving she said, "When are you coming back? You have to come for lunch or dinner or coffee." She also asked if I was 23, which made me want to be her best friend, heh heh. But even amid days and weeks and months of travel to various corners of the world, it's still a rare treat to meet someone who's being nice just to be nice, not asking for money or business or anything else, and totally out of the blue!

 

Guess that's all for now, I've got a little more business to take care of and there's a beach out there calling my name...