Home again, home again, jiggity pig

It truly felt that South America did not want us to leave. First the bus incident in Mancora, then a wonderful 10 hour delay of our flight to Buenos Aries. This layover had the added bonus of a Grippe de Cerdo scare. Everyone in the airport was wearing surgical masks (except us and the old man and small child sitting behind us coughing furiously). I have a hard enough time understanding Spanish-the last thing I need is something to make it sound more muffled! We finally caught our plane around 9pm and arrived in Argentina at 2am. I was really disappointed and felt cheated out of my last night in that great city.
The next morning we did some last minute shopping and went to my favorite empanada place, Remanio's, for one last south of the equator hot pocket and a liter of beer. Then it was back to the airport for our 10hour flight back to the EEUU.
Our flight was uneventful, aside from noticing how incredibly rude and impatient Americans (in this case stewardesses) are to people who do not speak English. It is as though we go out of our way to make foreigners feel stupid and unwelcome. I mean, if you are serving coffee and tea and a passenger asks for a cafe con leche, I would think you can figure it out without adding attitude or rapid fire questions in English to the mix. Thank god almost every single person I had dealings with in South America were kind, helpful and tried to make me feel welcome. The behavior I witnessed from the USA airline and airport workers made me a little embarrassed to be an American.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, we were completely surprised to see our friend Jason at baggage claim waiting to take us to our temporary home here in Atlanta. I know for sure our friends would go out of their way to help others, lord knows they have all bent over backward to help us throughout our incredible journey.
I know it seems as though the interesting material for this blog may have dried up, but I plan on continuing to write and keep you updated on our next adventures. Thailand? Amsterdam? the Pan American Highway? We will keep you updated!
Later!

Ciao Peru

We had an awesome time in Mancora, Peru. The town is a small surf town that makes you think what America's beaches might have been like 50 or 60 years ago. No highrises, no chain hotels, but lots of little mom and pop hostels. Ours was named WaWa's and was located about 70 feet from high tide. This was also the local surfer hangout, due to its prime location right at the point break.
Brent and I spent a lot of our time sitting in the sun, but we did get out and move a little bit. We took surfing lessons and I really loved it. How about that, a sport I like that I can get into for less than $300. Maybe not a great sport for Atlanta, but I will be in Panama City Florida for a while so maybe I will be able to keep it up. Brent took some kite surfing lessons. He learned to fly the kite very well and was able to practice in the water some, but ran out of wind and time before he could attempt the board and kite together. I went running a few times and explored the area. On the first run I headed out and ended up seeing where the real people of Mancora live. Kinda scary. I took a wrong turn at the beach an was in the middle of shanty town. No power, not sure about running water, but surprisingly neat. Still I was a little nervous being "white american girl with ipod alone" but made it thru without incident. I have found that every Peruvian I have met has been extremely friendly and helpful.
We met a fellow American at our hostel named Earl. He was traveling alone from California and we hit it off immediately. I got a lot of surfing pointers from him, as well as some really funny and interesting stories.
Our last day in Mancora was supposed to be Friday, leaving on the bus at 5pm. However, when we arrived at the terminal, we learned that it was labor day and no busses were running. You would think they might tell you this when you buy your ticket 5 days earlier. Fortunately we had wiggle room in our schedule and were able to enjoy a bonus day at the beach.
We are flying out of Lima this morning and will be spending our last night in South America in Buenos Aires. I am looking forward to seeing my adopted home again and am sad it is only for a one night stand. Well, gotta finish packing.
Later!

bring on the beach!

I have found that 4 weeks in Lima is about 3 weeks too long. The people here are amazingly friendly, the city is safe, the spanish school is well run, it's just, well, boaring. Lima is too much like any other city in the states. I have eaten more fast food and watched more tv than I have in the last 5 months. I know that is my own fault, but the other options feel touristy and like a rip off. I can't really explain it, but I know I can't wait to see some other parts of this country.
We are headed to the northern coast of Peru, to a town called Mancora, on Friday. It is a 17 hour bus trip; I look forward to looking out the window and seeing some new landscapes.
We have 3 more days of school, unless the learning god strikes me with lightening I have not learned nearly as much spanish as I thought I would. I feel that I tried really hard but language does not come easy for me. Hell, I have a hard time with english pronounciation! ( Just ask Brent the story of Cheyenne.) We hope to continue taking classes in the states because I don't want to forget everything I fought to learn on this trip. Speaking of learning it is time for class so-
Later!

In sickness and in health

On Friday Brent woke up with a sinus infection and was pretty miserable for most of the weekend. After class he came straight home and went to bed. I felt fine so Sarah and I went out for manicures and pedicures- only about $15 total! One of the girls was learning english so we had fun correcting her pronunciation of difficult words, like sausage. Listing to a young woman trying to say sausage over and over cracked us all up. She had a good time trying to fix my pronunciation as well. Sarah's pronunciation is fine, but some of the things that come out of her mouth...A 50ish balding american man came into the shop with two 20something, spanish speaking girls, one on each arm, and Sarah asks, "Are they your daughters?" Oops!
After our day of beauty we returned to the apartment to pick up Nate for dinner. We went to parque Kennedy to a restaurant we had been to before and apparently had tipped too well the last time, becuse we had 2 waitresses fighting over serving us. Unfortunately after the battle was over, the girl who won kinda sucked. Sarah and I ordered margaritias and when we got them, about 15 minutes later, they were so strong that we couldn't drink them. We sent them back for more mixer and didn't see them again until we were done eating. They tasted the same, except strangely a bit colder. Oh well.
There is a tiny bar across the street from the apartment that had a band so we stopped in on our way home and listened to a Beatles/Rolling Stones cover band. Sarah was the first to call it a night at around 12, I headed in about 1:30, and Nate headed to the casino and did not return untill 4ish! Good times.
Saturday after a late lunch we had to say goodbye to our friends. They caught a bus north to continue on their trip to Equador. Hopefully we will meet up again back in the states! Brent seems to have recovered from his illness and we will probably go out for dinner and then get ready for our last week of spanish classes, I can't believe they think I am an intermediate!
Later!

The whirlwind that is Lima

It has been a few days and we have been fairly busy. Our friends decided to prolong their stay in Lima. We have been having fun with them at night and working hard at school during the day, so something had to give- sorry!
This week we went to dinner with a couple from Lima who spoke minimal english. You would think that would make for a pretty quiet evening, but fortunately Sarah is getting pretty good in spanish and at the reduced rate of speed I was able to understand most of it, and even participate a little. We went to a parrilla in Barranco and had a great meal, I think I like the meat (especially the chorizo) better here than Argentina. Blasphemy!!!
Wednesday was the highlight of my week. After class a group of us met up and headed out for a little parapente-ing. For those of you not in the know, a parapente is similar to a parachute, a hanglider, and a kite. You stand on the edge of a cliff attached to a guy and parachute thing already full of wind. Then you take a few running steps off the cliff and you are flying! I had a great time with spectacular views and a few scary moments- my guide decided to do a few acrobatic maneuvers- and a beautiful landing 15 minutes later right back where I started. Amazing! Others, however, were not so lucky. Brent and Nate both took off smoothly but apparently had eaten too many cookies, because both of them ended up down on the beach and had to cab it back up the cliff with their guides. Needless to say they got a bit of teasing. My guide was Marco Antonio Mercado www.tandemperu.com and I would recommend him without a doubt. Interestingly, there were no releases signed before we took the jump. I have a sneaking suspicion that all casualties from this sport are drug out into the sea and never mentioned again-that would be bad for the tourist trade! Anyway our group made it back safe and sound.
The rest of the week was spent preparing for our test today. Brent and I both passed with flying colors, Brent flew a little higher than me and brought in a 94, I didn't hit the beach, but I was a bit lower with an 87.4. I am not as good as Brent in the oral section (that's what she said...ha), but do a little better with the grammer.
Tonight unfortunately Brent is not feeling well and has a bit of a fever so he will be unable to join the rest of us for a night of celebration and carousing; we will just have to have fun without him!
Later!

Felize Pascua

We spent Easter weekend with our friends in Lima, rather than heading to the beach. After many days of travel and roughing it, Sarah and Nate were very content to stay in one place for a bit. On Friday we headed to Barranco for dinner and then back to the apartment for some cards and scrabble. I lost at every game and called it a night. Brent, on the other hand, won at cards, lost at scrabble, and then decided to head to the casino around 2am. Bad Idea. We will leave it at that.
On Saturday we went down to the ocean for breakfast and looked around the mall a bit. Apparently I should stay away from either raw fish or roadside eggrolls because my stomach was not 100%. Who knew? After breakfast and a nap, Sarah and I went for a walk around and did some shopping. Last night we went to a great restaurant and listened to some music before returning home for a rematch of cards. I lost again.
We began Easter sunday getting back to our North American roots- all you can eat Sunday Brunch. I ate my weight in french toast. We are planning to go bowling this evening after a busy day of scrabble and watching the masters in spanish. Should be fun!
Happy Easter!

Semana Santa? Is he anything like Christmas Santa?

This week is Semana Santa which is the holy week leading up to Easter and apparently has nothing to do with Santa Claus. School is closed tomorrow as well as most of the stores. Since we have a long weekend ahead of us, we are going to do as the locals do and head to the beach! Our freinds are coming in on Friday, and Saturday morning we a hopping a bus to Playa Asia which is about an hour or so away.
Yesterday Brent and I went on a school excursion to the city market which is very much like a huge flea market. If you have a need for any kind of pirated brand name goods from Calvin Klien perfume to Quicksilver skateboards, this is where you go. We bought a few dvds to watch for ourselves and a bunch of kid disney type movies to give as gifts. In total we came away with 12 dvd for $12. Can't beat that, right? The only problem is...All the animated movies are in, you guesed it, Spanish. Oh well I have always thought it was easier to learn another language while you are young.
After the market, we took a cab to a new barrio called Barranco. It lies on the coast and is very scenic. We walked around for a bit and found a restaurant to sit on the deck and watch the sunset. The restaurant is named El Delfin and we had the best waiter,Louis, that I have had in almost 6 months. He helped us with our spanish and brought us samples of local dishes. We tried choclo, which is like eating the half popped kernels in the bottom of the popcorn bag, only bigger, we had our first pisco sour, some delicious ceveche, and a dessert which unfortunately I cannot remember the name of, but was like a small funnel cake with honey instead of powdered sugar. After dinner we joined the staff downstairs to watch some futbol.
Brent has been having some luck at the casino; winning another $100 soles from the house the other night. I let him go on his own, there is no sense in me loosing cash on one side while he wins it on the other.
Tonight we will probably go to the grocery story and have a quiet night at home. We need to rest up for our beach weekend !
Later!