Lima

Well, after 20 hours of travel, I made it to Lima. I'm running on 3 hours of sleep and can really feel it this morning.

As the cab drove to my hotel, he had the windows down, allowing a cool mist to permeate the air. The Pacific Ocean waves were crashing on the shore, their white foam visible even in the dark night.

I was surprised at the number of people out so late on a Wednesday at 11:00PM. And the chaos of driving?! just like in Cairo, it's a free for all. Everyone is honking, there are near misses and side swipes as the drivers muscle their way through traffic with basically no lanes.

Now that it is light, looking out my hotel window, there is a similar sketchy quality to the city. Not quite as bad as in Egypt, but definitely not a place i'll be walking by myself.

Soon I will head down and meet the group. At breakfast I saw two women who are on tour. This part is hard for me- getting to know you, small talk stuff. I'm going to try my best to connect.

Today we ride to Chorrillis then the ruins of Huaca Pucllana and then downtown Lima.

After that it will be Pisco Sour time!

Peruvian Flute Music

Happy Labor Day.

It is currently 44 degrees in Cusco, 65 degrees in Lima and 61 degrees here at home. I have forgotten what chilly weather feels like after the week plus heat wave we endured here in Indiana.

So much for sweater weather.

Soon.

I am down to a few hours before the trip and the nerves are starting to kick in. It's one thing to travel to a different city in the states-- a completely different thing to explore a different country and culture. I wonder if the Spanish will come back to me. Hope so, because when I get back to the states I am teaching ESL for a week!

I haven't been sleeping as the worry about travel woes creep into my thoughts. It is never about danger but more about missing a flight, not having all the details ironed out or forgetting something important. Sometimes I even ask myself why did I want to do this in the first place. "You're way too adventurous," says a colleague of mine. I suppose once the wanderlust fades for me that will be the beginning of the end.

There was a movie that came out in the early 90's (Alive) and was recently remade (Society of the Snow) about a Uruguayan rugby team that crashed their plane in the Andes Mountains. I found the 1993 version of the crash (even if technology wasn't as good as today) terrifying and had a hard time flying for a few years after. Now, here I am, going to the very place the crash occurred.

Here comes the Rabbit hole again...

ON a different subject, The scale won't budge for me. I have been sitting at 119.0 for about 2 weeks now. The training has slowed due to work and home projects, but the discipline is still there. Another worry about travel is losing what I have worked so hard to achieve in the gym. Remember-- this is a bucket list trip. There will be time when you get home to train.

So much to do before I go..adios mi amigo.