I'm back! After many hours/days of delays and unexpected setbacks, I made it back to the States. After crossing back over to Peru from Ecuador, I decided I wanted to fly back to Lima because it was a lot faster than a bus and wasn't that much more expensive. When I tried to buy a ticket, it turned out that they were already full for the next few days because it was holiday time in the country. So I resorted to the next-best option--an 18-hour bus ride down the coast to Lima. But even the buses were booked way in advance that weekend, so I had to wait til the next afternoon to leave. The bus ride was fine until we stopped for dinner after about six hours. They discovered there was something wrong with the battery, so we had to wait around for them to try to jump-start it with another huge bus. We got going for another couple hours but then they decided we had to get a new bus. So we waited around for another few hours until the other bus arrived. It was the middle of the night and we were all super tired, but we tried to make the best of it. We got to know the other people on the bus better than we normally would. I was sitting by a guy from Colombia that I got along with well, so we looked out for each other, making sure the bus didn't leave without the other whenever we stopped for the bathroom or something. All in all, our 18-hour trip turned out to be more like 29 hours. Yuck.

When I finally got to Lima I only had a few hours to spare before my flight left, so I got a cheap hostel just to shower and set my stuff down for a bit. At the airport, we all boarded the plane headed for Houston, but after about two hours of sitting at the terminal, waiting for them to take care of the "technical problem," we de-boarded so that we'd be more comfortable in the airport gate waiting area. Then after a while, they decided to officially postpone the flight because they needed a part that had to be sent from the US. So after voiding our passport stamps, we were sent to a fancy hotel for the night. ( I say "night" but it was about 5 am by this point.) Most people just waited around the hotel until the next night when our flight had been rescheduled. I, however, took advantage of an extra day in the city to do a little shopping and sightseeing since I didn't have a chance before. I made sure to eat ceviche, churros, and mystery meat on a stick one last time before I left.

And now I'm back in the US, once again enjoying luxuries such as drinking water from the tap, using a washing machine and dryer, recycling, listening to my own music, eating lots of fresh fruits and veggies, and being with the people I love! It was a good trip, but I'm very glad to be home. My next order of business is finding a job and figuring out if/when/where I'm going to move. Please continue to pray for me and drop me a line to let me know what's going on in your life! Que te vaya bien!

In the last couple weeks I went from the coast of Peru, through the freezing Andes, over to the sweltering rainforest, and now I'm up in Ecuador. It feels like I spent more time getting to these places than actually being in the cities. But sometimes it's not all about the destination! The places I went were not very touristy so there actually wasn't that much to do when I got somewhere. The mode of transportation I took from city to city was usually a combi, a shared taxi. The car just waits until there are four people who want to go to a certain place, then we take off on the highway--a dusty, winding dirt road. Usually the "4" people actually turned out to be 8-10, many of them kids. Kids under 5 don't have to pay, but that also means they don't get a seat. So they sit on laps, the floor, or on top of our luggage when it's a station wagon. Let me tell you, it's not too fun to be in a stuffed car with screaming kids for hours at a time! Especially when it's so hot and the road is super bumpy. But that's how things are done there.

Other signs that you're in the jungle:
You are dive bombed by butterflies that have wings as big as your hands.
Your hotel provides you with just a sheet on your bed, and, if you're lucky, a fan.
In a restaurant you are served by a shirtless, shoeless guy. Yes, I do kind of question the sanitation of places like this, but I try not to think about it.

In one of the cities, I took a hike to find some nearby ruins. I ended up getting lost and never actually found them, but the scenery was spectacular and I found a cool piece of pottery on the trail. I probably could have sold it to some museum, but I just took a picture of it and left it there.

It seems like things cost more here in Ecuador than in Peru. This may be due to the fact that Ecuador recently switched its currency to the US dollar to prevent the excessive inflation that it was experiencing. I crossed the border via a rarely-used route so there was nowhere to change my Peruvian soles to dollars. It's a good thing I happened to have $12 with me from home. That was enough for lunch, dinner, and the six-hour bus ride to the nearest city with a bank. Oh, side note about the buses down here: lots of them have a button that the driver pushes when we pass through something stinky. It pumps heavily-perfumed air into the bus to relieve our poor nostrils of the nasty smell. It makes me laugh every time they use it.

My hotel tonight is right by a casino, so maybe I'll head down there to waste a few cents on the slot machines. They're called tragamonedas, which literally means "coin swallowers." How fitting.

You may be wondering why I'm not in Lima, teaching English at the orphanage like I was intending to do. Well, I decided to not do that, and instead, to just continue traveling, seeing more of the country. You may ask, "But why, Susan? Don't you want to help those poor children?" Sure, of course I would, but this seemed like the right thing to do right now, and so far I'm enjoying myself!
Now, here are some random bits of info about me and my current country of residence.

• Hardly any car I've been in has a speedometer that works.
• Staples of the Peruvian diet include potatoes, rice, cheese, potatoes, trout, chicken, white bread, Inca Kola, and did I mention potatoes?
• When I told a lady that I was from the US, she said, "Wow, you're skinny. I thought everyone in American was fat!"
• People have some strange beliefs here. One time I was cutting onions in the kitchen with Hilda and started to tear up. She put a cup of water by an open window and said that will prevent crying. Okay.... Another time I was in a car with a sick lady and she kept sniffing eucalyptus oil because she swore it would cure her.
• No one ever has change here. I can give someone a 10 sol bill (worth about $3) and they will ask if I have anything smaller. It even happened when I bought something that was .50 and gave the lady 1 sol. She said she didn't have .50 change. Well why not??? Hotels, the bus station, the post office--no one has change!
• I can't read in cars here. (I do it all the time at home.) The roads are either too bumpy or the cars or buses are so old and dilapidated that they rattle or vibrate the whole time.
• Peruvians like their sugar. Everyone I've seen puts three or more teaspoons in their coffee or tea. Blech!
• The people who sell stuff at the markets are usually very specialized. I saw one lady who only sold rope, another who had a booth full of coca leaves, and another who just sold eggs. I guess you know where to go when you need one of those things!
• There are a ton of Chinese restaurants in every city. I haven't seen many other international restaurants, but Chinese chifas are everywhere!
• I saw a local guy wearing a Seattle Supersonics sweatshirt. I wanted to take a picture of him, but by the time I thought of it, it was too late.
• All the bananas are bruised here, which I don't understand. The ones we get in the US are nearly spotless, but the ones that they sell in the country where they're grown are bruised. Hmm...
• My hygiene has gone by the wayside here. I don't shower every day, there is always grime under my nails, I haven't plucked my brows since I've been here, I don't wear makeup (not that it would match now, anyways, since I got a tan), and I wear my clothes for many days before washing them.
• In the US, we teach our kids not to take candy from strangers. Here, when I give kids candy, they accept it eagerly. I guess they just take what they can get.
• I haven't tipped since I've been here.
• I haven't paid more than $8 for a hotel room, either.
• Kids play with pogs, wooden tops, or just rocks and sticks in the streets. It's amazing how they can be so easily entertained without electronic gadgets (much like we could when we were kids!).
• I haven't seen a McDonald's or a Starbucks in this country. I'm sure they exist in Lima, but I have yet to see one.
• There is a Mormon church in nearly every city I've been to. It's strange because they are always so pristine and behind a gate and they just look out of place with the filth of the rest of the neighborhood.

And now for some random pictures:

The alpaca that wasn't sacrificed. :( Isn't she cute?

Coca leaves.

A "toilet." I think you can figure out what to do...

Close up of a bumble bee.

Another great translation.

The gorgeous Cañon de Colca.

Today I woke up and thought, "Wow, what a beautiful day. I think I'd like to slide down a giant sand dune on a piece of wood." So that is exactly what I did. It's called sandboarding and is just like snowboarding, only softer and warmer. It was such a workout just to hike to the top of a dune that I had to wait a while to catch my breath before I zoomed down. The first couple times I was scared, so I went down sitting on my board, which was like a big fast slide that throws sand in your face. Then I worked up the courage and went down standing up. I had to bail out a couple times when I started going too fast for comfort, but I had a great time, despite ripping my jeans and getting sand in my mouth, ears, and every other part imaginable!

In the desert city of Nazca, I got to see the world-famous Nazca Lines. I took a tiny plane with two other people on a flight over these mysterious figures etched out over 200 square miles. They can only be seen from the sky, so there is much speculation about the purpose of these designs that were created so long ago. And, yes, alien landing strips is one accepted theory! The flight was really fun and pretty bumpy (the German girl was about to throw up). You would have loved it, Mom!

While on the coast, I took a trip to the Islas Ballestas, also called the "Poor man's Galapagos." No giant turtles here, but I did get to see a whole bunch of turkey vultures, gulls, penguins, and sea lions. And the bird droppings on the islands used to be one of Peru's best exports because they are an excellent fertilizer. In some places it is many meters deep. Needless to say, the islands had a distinctive aroma.

In the last week I have tried two common foods of Peru. The first was cuy. Yes, guinea pig. I had to forget poor Peanut and Twinkle while I chomped on my cute little critter who was lying on my plate with his legs sprawled and little head still attached. It was actually quite tasty, although there wasn't that much meat on his little bones. The second national food I tried was ceviche, which is raw seafood marinated in lime juice. I really liked it, which I guess isn't that surprising since I like sashimi. And of course I washed these down with Inca Kola, the national soft drink of Peru. A bit of trivia for you: Inca Kola is the only national soda that sells more than Coca Cola. As the chairman of Coca Cola said when he tried it, "Looks like piss, tastes like bubble-gum." Delicious.

I had a treat today--wheat bread. Yes, that's right, after so many weeks here, I've finally eaten something made with whole grain. It seems like everything here is white--bread, rice, potatoes (okay, not all the potatoes are white, but you get the picture)--and I'm not getting any fiber because I don't eat their salads and fruits washed in their nasty tap water. So wheat bread seemed like a treat for me.

My clothes were so caked with dirt that I decided to take them to a laundromat instead of washing them by hand once again. I guess I didn't realize how incredibly dirty they were because my jeans looked like new again, they were so blue!

There was a big game on TV the other night, Mexico v. Argentina, so I went to a bar to watch it with the locals. Mexico lost, unfortunately, but I still had a good time rooting for them along with everyone else in the bar.

I was sick a lot of last week, so I didn't feel like doing too much. One day I went to a movie, Ocean's 13. This time it was in an actual theater, not a crappy pirated version like that other one I saw. They showed a preview for a Die Hard movie and in Spanish it translated to "It's Hard to Die", which I thought was funny. Sometimes they have the worst translations here. The best one I saw was on a menu for crema de tomate (creamy tomato soup). The translation was "it cremates of tomato." Nice work, guys.

The last three days I've been hiking in the (arguably) deepest canyon in the world, the Colca Canyon. It's more than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon, and just as majestic and beautiful. The first day we hiked all the way to the bottom where we slept in little huts with many layers of alpaca blankets because it was so cold. The next day we hiked to a little village known as "the oasis" where there were palm trees and a pool. So we enjoyed that and then, when the sun went behind the mountain at 3pm, we just sat around talking. We had a good group and really got along well. It was me and seven Europeans--from Belgium, Portugal, Germany, Lichtenstein, and Denmark. Our Peruvian guide cooked all our meals for us and taught us a lot about the local plants in the area. The last day, we woke up at 3am and hiked up in the dark in order to make the 8am bus. We stopped at a scenic point to watch the famous condors that live in the area. They are so huge! Then we went to a natural hot springs to relax. It was lovely.

I'm finally leaving Arequipa tomorrow. Apparently the strike is on hold for two days so the buses are running normally. Then after that, I might get stuck somewhere again. But at least I'll be at the beach!

I feel that I have been incredibly lucky in who is assigned the seat next to mine on buses and trains. When I was waiting in line to take the train to Aguas Calientes, the city at the base of Machu Picchu, there were a bunch of rowdy English guys and I was hoping I wouldn't be placed next to one of them. It turned out that another Peruvian girl sat by me. The whole train was filled with gringos and I got to sit next to a native. What luck. So we chatted, and she wanted to know what hostel I was staying at in Aguas Calientes. I told her I didn't have a reservation and she looked surprised. She said they would all be full, but she had a friend who owned a hotel and she could get me in (wow, how VIP). So when we got to town, we went to the hotel and ended up getting a double room together and we got a big discount since she knew the owner.

The day we were in Aguas Calientes (07-07-07) just happened to be the day they announced the new 7 wonders of the world. I don't know how much press this has gotten in the US, but ever since I've been here in Peru, there have been stickers and signs everywhere that say "vote for Machu Picchu." Some cities even had computers set up in the plaza where you could vote online. So this night, after Machu Picchu was announced a winner, there was a HUGE party in the plaza. There were balloons, free beer, musical acts, and lots of shouting "¡Viva Machu Picchu!" It was quite exciting to be there at that time. All of Peru is proud of their famous "wonder."

I really don't know what to say about Machu Picchu itself except that it was amazing. I think what makes is most incredible is where it is located--high atop a mountain that is sometimes covered in clouds. That is why it was discovered only 96 years ago. I got up at 5 am to take the first bus to the top, because it's supposedly really cool to see the sun come up over the mountains. I don't really think it was worth it because it stayed super cloudy until about 10 am. It even rained a bit! (I guess I shouldn't be surprised since it's right by the rainforest.) One of the first things I did when I got to the top was climb Wayna Picchu, the large peak you always see in the back of pictures of the ruins. They only let 400 people do it each day and I was number 67. It was a tough climb up and after I got back down, I was exhausted. But I still managed to wander around the ruins for a few hours and I took a side hike to an old Incan bridge. They don't let people walk across it anymore because a tourist fell to their death a couple years ago. Whoops. You've probably all seen pictures of Machu Picchu before, so I'll only show you a few that I took.

The switchbacks leading up to the site

Here it is!

Gorgeous views

The architecture isn't crooked; it's just how I set up my camera

The dangerous Inca bridge

Right now I'm in Arequipa, the second largest city in Peru. So far, I love it. What I did NOT love was the 14-hour bus ride to get here. First of all, it took about two hours to get out of Cusco because of the strike. (I don't know if it's been in the news at all in the US, but pretty much all of Peru is striking right now. It started with the teachers who didn't want to be forced to take a competency exam, and now it's miners, farmers, and health workers who are fighting for better wages and benefits.) There were rocks all over the highway leading out of the city, so we had to stop a lot to clean them up. There were police (with big rifles!) on the road helping to clean, and also to control the masses of people who were marching and chanting along the road. It was crazy. I got to sit next to a Peruvian on this bus trip as well, which was nice because we talked a bit, although she had trouble understanding my Spanish. I don't blame her; she was old. :)

I don't know if I'll be able to leave the city when I want to because this strike will continue indefinitely, but at least I'm in a place that I don't mind being stuck in!

Wow, what a week. It seems like it just flew by. (Well, for Peru time, anyway. There were still plenty of slow moments.) I finished up my teaching in Chucuito with a little fiesta with my class. We ate junk food, we danced, and, to my surprise, they gave me little gifts. It was so sweet because I know they gave me things that belonged to them, like stuffed animals and a necklace that has a chip out of it. I was seriously touched.

On my last day in town, we went to Hilda's house to have lunch. She and her sister made what I like to call "poop potatoes" but is really called guarachi. It is made by making a fire in the ground but with animal dung instead of coal or wood. They let it burn a while so it's really hot and then they bury a bunch of potatoes underneath it and let it cook for a half-hour or so. Then we sat down outside for our little picnic. We had to peel our potatoes by hand which kind of reminded me of how in the south they sit around peeling crawdads and it's so much work for so little meat. They were covered in dirt and poo and there were no napkins so it was inevitable that we ingested some of it since it got all over our hands as we were peeling. We ate them with cheese and they were actually quite tasty. I also got to see the ladies working on the farm in their very old-fashioned manner. They piled up a bunch of grain stalks and them beat the crap out of them with a stick to make the wheat fall off.

Now I'm in Cusco, the gateway to Machu Picchu. My time here has been relatively uneventful, but my trip here was quite an adventure. Let me tell you about it. I left Chucuito early in the morning in order to catch a bus to Cusco. I took a colectivo to Puno, just like normal. But this one, I swear, was trying to transport something illegal. Before we left, these guys put a bunch of plastic containers of some liquid underneath the seats and they put some on the driver's seat and covered them with a blanket that he then sat on. And one guy asked me if I wanted to put a bottle in my bag. Uh, no thanks. Then after we left they seemed nervous until we got to the checkpoint. I think it's some kind of customs (even though it's not on a border) where they search our car and check the driver's license. Obviously they don't do a very good job, because they didn't find anything out of the ordinary in our van. When I got to the bus terminal, I attempted to buy a ticket to Cusco, but every company told me that buses couldn't take the road to Cusco because there was a paro going on (again) that would not let anyone pass. So, feeling defeated and wondering what to do, I walked down the street where I found a minibus whose driver told me they were going to attempt to get to Cusco via a different route. It seemed like my only option, so I hopped aboard. Then a guy came along and wanted to rent the whole bus, so the driver said "sure" and made us get off. That's when I met Karina, a Peruvian chica who was in the same predicament. We walked over to a travel agent, but they weren't open yet. Then a lady came up to us and asked us if we needed a hotel. Karina told her "no, we just want to go to Cusco." And the lady said a bus just left and maybe we could catch it. So she made a call to the driver and told him to stop and we took a taxi and raced to catch up with them. We made it, and thought, "Wow, that was lucky." Since the main road to Cusco was closed, we took a different route, which was actually a dirt road over a mountain pass. Boy, that was fun! We had to stop a few times and all get off because there were these little ditches that the bus couldn't get through (obviously, big tour buses don't normally take that route). All the men helped stack up rocks so the bus's big wheels could get through the ditch without bottoming out. When we made it to the paved road again, we all heaved a sigh of relief because we could breathe again without inhaling mouthfuls of dust. The second half of the journey was not as exciting, but we did stop at a few ruins to look around and we also stopped for a buffet lunch that was included in our tickets. (expensive first-class tickets--I'm glad something extra was included!) I'm glad I met Karina so I had someone to talk to on the looong trip and we also hung out last night while she was waiting for her friend to show up. She's actually from Arequipa, so I'm going to try to hang out with her when I'm visiting her city next week.

That's all I have time for now. I'm going to Machu Picchu on Sunday so I'll probably write about that next time!