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!