Monday, March 2

Needless-to-say Peru has been treating me very well!

I live in a big house on the outskirts of town with about 17 other people from all over the world. We have cooks that make us 3 amazing meals each day, clean our rooms, and do our laundry. We have satellite, internet, a house phone, and all the comforts of a Saudi princess... it's unreal. I figure they want to make us as comfortable as possible when we first get here and then gradually blend in, either way, I'm not complaining. There are some things that you just can't help 12,000 feet above sea level - cold showers and internet are very temperamental. I'm still yet to have a shower where my lips don't turn blue but like I said ... I'm not complaining.

It’s been a whirlwind getting here but it was worth every penny and parasite. After landing in Peru, Maximo Nivel, the school I'll be studying and teaching at for the next year, sent over a driver to pick me up from the airport, Bryan. He was a small Peruvian boy that had been studying English at Maximo and was now working in the international office. Bryan barely looked legal driving age, and had been so nerve wracked when he picked me up that his palms were drenched in sweat. He had been running around all day picking up students and volunteers for the new quarter and quickly warned me that it was the first day of Carnival in Peru and that the street would be filled with people trying to get me wet with water balloons and shaving cream - I rolled up my window.

The drive up to the school was quiet entertaining. The streets were filled with kids running around with water guns and shaving cream. They were spraying anyone and anything that moved... it actually looked like a lot of fun. Maximo Nivel was located on one of the main roads in Cusco, down the street from the big Plaza de Aramas (they must have one of these in every city), and conveniently located right next door to the only post office in Cusco.

When Bryan pulled up to Maximo, Owen, my advisor who I had been in touch with back in Chicago, was standing right outside waiting for us. He looked like he might be Korean but I don't want to politically incorrect so we'll stick with Asian. It was late Sunday afternoon and I'm sure no one wanted to be at school right now so after Owen gave me a quick tour of Maximo, Bryan drove me to my living quarters. Avenue Del Sol was definitely the biggest road in Cusco because the farther away we drove from it the the less populated it became but my house was only 15 minutes away from school and on the outskirts of this small neighborhood. The door was gated and Bryan helped me grab my bags from the cab. As we walked up the curb and towards the door, all the dirty stray dogs cleared the way and a Peruvian lady with a sweet smile opened the door and welcomed me with open arms - as if she was the "house mom". So far everything was far from what I had expected and in a good way.

The Family House, much like the hostel, was mixed with many different personalities and backgrounds. I walked into a small living room packed with students and a few older people with laptops. A girl named Laila stood up and introduced herself right away, after her everyone else followed, then there was the questionaire -- What's your name? Where are you from? What brings you to Cusco? etc.... Everyone was very nice but I was too tired for this conversation tonight. The altitude in Peru makes you very tired and its hard to catch your breath even when you're just walking so I conked out pretty quick and never seemed to regain any sort of energy that night. Not to mention, I was still recovering from what I came to find out was "Jardina" aka "The Snake".

Now it's been a little over a week and I'm finding it harder to focus on myself. My classes are pretty intense and it leaves me little time for blogging and exploring. For the next 4 weeks I'll be in TEFL courses which basically certifies you to teach English in any foreign country regardless of the language barrier. My personal translation -- a one way ticket around the world. The method is interesting and it's definitely much different then your typical method of teaching. I taught my first class on Friday and I think I did ok. I had one of the higher scores in the class and I played a fun game with my students at the end class - having them all sit on top of their desks and throw a nerf ball around saying one city or country they would like to visit in full English sentences as they went down the alphabet. I focused my lesson on travel - go figure!

There are four other students taking the TEFL course with me and in between all the craziness and madness I managed to find someone from Wheaton, Illinois! Nick and I got along from the get-go and we started to get to know each other in between breaks and during group work. Half way through the first week we realized how close we lived to each other back home. On top of that -- his girlfriend happens to be Indian! How much more familiar can it get? Sometimes we make these weird looks at each other in class and I swear we're thinking the same thing - he's definitely going to be my study buddy for the rest of TEFL. J is another boy in our class and he's about 23 years old and yes he spells his name with one letter. He used to live in San Francisco in a garage with a bunch of guatemalans where he picked up Spanish and worked in construction- don't ask. He also looks a lot older then any of us and lives in the one of the apartments behind the big Family House. Then there's Sonja, a german girl whose second language is English. She and I walk to school every morning together and she's already been in Peru for about 2 months so she knows her way around the town. It sounds like she doens't really want to take TEFL but her parents are making her do it so when she comes back to Germany she has the ability to teach English which is a high demand job over there - smart parents. Sonja originally came to Peru to work as a volunteer at one of the orphanages which she still visits regularly on the weekends. Sonja is a sweet girl, obviously a lot younger then me and seems very naive. So in a nutshell -- that's my class and for the next 4 weeks I'll be writing papers and working my butt off as we jam pack a year of schooling into one month.

I must admit I feel like I'm in elementary school again. I walk to school everyday just as I did in kindergarten, get a lunch break where I can go home for lunch or have one of our amazing chefs pack me one in the morning, and every night I go home to a great home cooked meal, trivia or a movie with the housemates, and finish up homework, only to wake up and do it all over again. We just got a new housemate today who came from Oregon, he's a few weeks away from graduating med-school and came down to Peru to do some clinical work before graduation. I guess that would be the big difference between the Family House and the Hostel -- I'm surrounded with responsible adults and students looking to add to their resume or lend a helping hand. I'd like to think I fall into this category but I think I might be a little bit of both. Either way I'm glad to be here and I'm anxious to start teaching.

I've been looking into different programs and there are so many opportunities, it's hard to decide. Teaching at Maximo would be great experience and they would pay me the most amount of money but I would love to go out into one of the jungle schools and teach English there or work with people in Ourambamba -- a small village in the mountains. However, these schools don't have many resources and most of the teachers who do go out there are volunteers or get paid a small stipend. I have some time to decide... so we'll revisit this later.

This past weekend I took a break from class and went out into the mountains with a travel group known as Mayuc. Me and a couple of the housemates met up with some other travelers which happened to be a group of Oklahoma frat boys taking a break from their corporate jobs to drink, travel, and drink some more. Then there was this other group of Dutch girls, and Holly, Amy, and I from the Family House. Two hours out of Cusco and through a couple of small mountain towns we reached The Urubamba River. The tide was high and rainy season had just begun in Peru. It's a great time to White Water Raft and I couldn't wait to get into the water as we made our way through the indigenous mountain range.

That night I slept with all kinds of bruises and bumps, I think I may have caught a small cold, but it was fun. We actually ended up meeting up with those Oklahoma boys and the Dutch group for dinner. A place called Jacks is a restaurant in the center of Plaza de Aramas and is supposedly a big Gringo joint which basically means they have American food that won't get you sick. I have to admit I had the best Cheeseburger ever and ate most of my bread this time because I couldn't resist, Peruvians can make a mean burger. Afterwards everyone wanted to go out dancing and drinking but Holly and I made our way back to the house. The previous night we found ourselves dancing on top of the bar at Roots (a club in the plaza) and didn't make it home till 3am so we were running on empty.

This past weekend I also managed to catch one of the biggest games in Soccer - Cusco vs. Lima. The streets were filled with a big parade, and shaving cream pirates again looking for victims. I made sure to walk in between my housemates (Phil, Dan, and Steve) who all happened to be bigger then me so that helped protect me for a bit but this group of Peruvian kids managed to spray me when I wasn't looking and I quickly hid my camera between the sleeves of my jacket. The streets were chaotic and I'm still not quiet sure what the Cusco team name was but I know their colors were red. We hovered in a restaurant for shelter as we waited for some other people from the house. Fortunately for us, we were able to get our tickets early and not have to haggle with the street vendors. Laila, Sonja, and Amy were the only other girls from the house that we ended up finding before the game. After some serious pushing and shoving we finally made it inside the gates and was able to get a decent view. It was an awesome game that ended in a tie between Cusco and Lima but Cusco should have won. They had a huge home court advantage -- the other team couldn't breath at such high altitudes. It was almost unfair - Cusco should have blown them away!

Sunday, February 22

Today I left Lima. When I woke up this morning, I was more excited than ever to get to my next destination but it was 5 in the morning when nature came calling and the thought of traveling mortified me.

I basically spent the rest of the morning in the bathroom. Many people warned me about this and again, just like the sunburn, I never thought it would happen to me, after all I never get sick. Sitting on the toilet, hunched over, I try to massage my belly, anything to take away the pain. It feels like there's a snake going through your stomach, twisting and turning through your intestines, and just before it settles -- you make a run for it! No joke, whatever it is that you get here shows no mercy. I won't go into too much detail for fear of losing friends but you get my drift. The minute I got up I felt the snake again and I had to sit back down. Luckily I made it to the airport without sharting and ran to the bathroom as soon as I checked my bags. I was in bad shape - hair not done, sunburn, no make-up, big puma pants with a jacket, my college cap, a black backpack, and my heavy as hell laptop. I briskly walked around the airport trying to find the closest seat to the woman's stalls. To make things worse my flight was delayed 3 hours so after emptying the tank I curled up in a ball in the corner of the airport and slept with my hat pulled over my eyes. If someone stepped on me, so be it... I had no energy.

"LAN Peru 021 to Cuzco boarding passengers rows...." I shot up and power walked to the gate. I knew I had a comfortable seat by the window up front. Perfect to fall asleep and no one sitting next to me - double perfect. The plane was in the sky no longer then 5 minutes when I passed out... next thing I know the captain is announcing our arrival. My stomach felt the descent earlier and I looked out the window -- arrival? Where? All I could see was mountains - big monster mountains that slopped up and down and around each other like they were playing a game of tag. We passed through some clouds and again more mountains, twisting and turning like the snake in my ... never mind. Where were we going to land? That was my only question.

Then the plane took an abrupt nose dive, swooped left, and maneuvered around the curve of another mountain, through a cloud and WALAH... Words will never describe this part so I won't even try but "Majestic" comes to mind. This little town held protected by mother earth in all its beautiful shapes and forms, nestled somewhere between the Andes and heaven, hidden like a wonderful secret that I just uncovered.... Cuzco.

The plane continued to descend and as we got closer to land the little town stayed little -- it was very odd. Normally, a person lands in a city and the town grows bigger, louder, more like Chicago or New York. This town was still small, despite its recent popularity, it hasn't lost its charm yet. The airport had one lane and, just like in the movies, we walked down a staircase that fell onto the runway. A little man with a hat ran up to the plane to help us off, our baggage was wheeled over to this half outside/half inside baggage claim area and security was no where to be found. There were no television sets propped around the terminal displaying nothing but bad news 24/7, there were no annoying "show my your ID 20 times and take your shoes off 18 times", and I didn't see one person with a cell phone in their ear... it was just Pura Vida (Pure Life).

I need to rename this blog.

Saturday, February 21

It's about a quarter to 7 Saturday night. Tomorrow morning I leave for Cusco with that crazy driver again. It's weird but this Hostel in Loki has some how become my home for the last 4 days. I'm comfortable here, I know everyone, and I really like my new roommates. When I was living in New York people would always say that friends are like drifters in the night or something to that affect... the point is people would come for one reason or another, some for money, some for passion, fame, career, or just for the mere "I live in New York" response that came around in casual conversation. But I have to say I never really understood it until now, I never really missed anyone I would meet in New York or if I did I would find a way to see them again.. It was a 2 by 7 mile Island. It can't be that hard to reconnect. But here, on the tropic of cancer, in South America where people from all over the world look for that safe haven, that familiar face in a foreign land, the hostel. Here nobody is the same, nobody and everybody is alone, and fear is a mutual understanding that we somehow are able to mold together and dilute. We all dove into this from fearing the unknown, the untamed, and different. But at the end of every person's chapter, here, in South America, the biggest fear of all ends up having to go back home.

During my 4 days in Lima I've met many characters. The only way to describe them is in 3 categories, some sane, some slightly insane, and some completely insane! There's John Potter who loves to introduce each of his conversations as my uncle is Harry Potter and I grew up on a farm in Grand Rapids Michigan. He's the most hated guy in the hostel but his sarcasm and cynisism makes him funny as hell. He takes nothing seriously but knows enough about almost every subject to make fun of it and hence piss people off. It's quiet extraordinary how he does it... I must tip my hat to him. He's been living in South America for about a year and traveled the whole west coast stopping at towns along the way to write his book which is based on political sci-fi or something... His goal is to get on the American "banned book list" so he can cash out and live off the proceed forever. Apparently every banned book becomes a best seller... hmmm. anyways, continuing on... I don't know if I told you about Tobi. He's from Canada and was just about scared and freaked out as me. We became friends on my first night here in Lima and he hung out with me and Alberto. In a matter of 4 days he's become a coke addict feen addicted monkey. Sorry if you're reading this Tobi. But I'm pretty sure he didn't do it as much in Canada. A lot of the hostel crashers here will party all night, bring local girls over to the hostel, and snort coke till about 7 or 8 in the morning. Actually, I think Mr. Potter is still sleeping. Then there's the Alaskan fisherman whose been traveling for about 2 months and he loves it. As a matter fact I was just talking to him today and he said he's gonna go back to Alaska soon but definitely do it again. Then there's Brandon the bar tender who secretly sells dope from behind the bar, Irish Emily and her boyfriend who have been traveling for 7 or so months and who was extremely upset with Potter the other day for making fun of Ireland. John the Australian traveler who now works and lives at Loki Hostel and for some reason had a part of his ear bit off in a bar fight which I awkardly asked about the other night... put my foot in my mouth but I was able to recover.

Then there's my new roommates, Andrea and Marrette. They have been traveling for 2 months together and they're TOTALLY sane. A little too sane for a Hostel but none-the-less great girls. I love talking to all the crazy boys in this house but in the morning there's no one to hang out because everyone's knocked out sleeping or dead. jk. So today Me, Andrea, and Marrette went to an old Inca ruin outside the city. The tour started at 10:00am and we all packed up our bags and headed out. As we made our way out of the city of Lima neighborhoods and streets got progressivly poor. We started to see the real Lima as soon as we passed the cliff with the big cross and Plaza de Aramas.

There were shanties and shilling, children walking around dirty from head to toe. Everyone wants to sell you flowers or candy. The border of the city has new slums popping up all the time and you can see the neighborhoods like a shelf of books stacked upon one another. Farmers, truck drivers and construction workers doing what they can to feed their families. Everyone loves to wave and at times I felt like Cinderella on a parade float... had the the wave down pat. One farmer blew a kiss so I blew one back and he grabbed his heart and fell over. haha It was cute.

Pass the slums and into the outback we went and the farther we would drive the more peaceful we would feel under the blazin peruvian sun. It was getting sandy and dessert like we had been driving days. The city of Lima looked like a cloud of smog behind us and all the colorful shanties decorated its perimeter. I look forward as we approach Pachacamac, the old Inca ruin which is still under excavation. The bus pulls in and we all tumble out, excited to climb the pile of rocks and accept our gift, the view from above.

As we go through Pachacamac, the sweltering sun burning our backs, but despite the discomfort it's peaceful and serene. I could fall asleep atop one of their watering holes and probably have the best sleep of my life. There's no reason to talk to one another we just listen to the silence. The guards stand on top of one big mound and follows our group as we go up and around... finally we reach the top of Pachacamac and looking around I notice this weird climatic difference. On one side of the ruins is green hills with farmers, crops, and irrigation tunnels, on the other side desert and dust like we landed on the sun. The climate in Lima was weird to begin with and this just confirmed my belief... very eerie. Climbing down the ruin and around the maze we see our bus in the background, everything about it looks out of place. And I think to myself, it's sad, because in a couple years all this character and flawlessness that makes Peru so majestic is going to be taken over by western travel and tourism and just as that thought crosses my mind a big Mercedeas bus pulls in with a bunch of elderly gringos ready to get their money's worth... which if in Solas is probably $4.00.

As we get back on the bus most of the people who sat on top now sit on the bottom. The heat has made the majority of the red as prunes. I on the other hand stay on top... it'd be nice to have a tan for once. And we shall revisit this mistake later....

Driving back to Lima was relaxing... the hustle and bustle of Plaza de Armas and Larcomar made its way to my ear. The great thing about Loki Hostel is your always happy to be back and there's always something to do... As soon as we got in Carlos (front desk guy) reminded me about our lunch date. He had been talking to me about this amazing restaurant called Punto Azul since I arrived on Thursday. Today was perfect timing too because he got off in 10 minutes. I asked Andrea and Marrette to go with and given that we were all perched I knew that was gonna be a yes.

Punta Azul was a 5 minute walk down the street and it was PACKED. The line wrapped round the corner and the whole place was filled with people from all over the world. We were ticked 110 and they were only on 86 when we arrived. Was it worth the wait??? yes, yes, yes. The food was amazing! Top 5 places I've eaten at for sure... Ceviche Pescada, ay AMORE! It's raw fish, lightly fired over the stove, but basically raw, surrounded with this lemon juice sauce and just amazing. Carlos lit up as we all devoured the four dishes he chose and I couldn't stop eating. Luckily the plates were big enough to fill each of us up and we shared everything.

The WWF was in Peru tonight and Carlos promised his little brother that he would take him. It started at 8:00pm and we finished eating at about 3:00pm. That's when his little brother started calling him in a panic to come pick him up. His little brother had never been to a wrestling match but he loved the WWF. Carlos got tickets for him a while back but his brother was soo nervous someone would take their seats he wanted to get there as early as possible, four hours early if need be. He was soo excited, he made 16 signs, one for each wrestler, and was now at home with all his signs waiting for Carlos. We excused DC (Don Carlos) from the table seeing as we didn't think his brother would let him off. Tonight he'll be back at the hostel for a few drinks and tomorrow morning we say goodbye.

Oh and before I forget -- that sweltering equatorial sun has done me in this time. I just got out of the shower now and I'm burnt to a crisp. It hurts like hell when anything or anyone touches my shoulders, back, or chest. I'm two toned with all kinds of farmer tans and weird patterns. Tomorrow I purchase sunblock and can someone please send me a lonely planet on South America (the traveling on a shoestring edition). They're all out here but I'll check the airport tomorrow.

Time to go up to the roof top for some drinks... I'm beat. Later!

Thursday, February 19th.

Where to begin??? --> hmmmm. ok..... hmmmm. I can't even find the words. Lets start with the flight into Lima. It was 5:30am and I was still thinking of America, that's right, America. I was thinking I'm on an American Airline, I'm comfortable, and I still feel sane. I was dreading the touch down into Peru where my new life will begin. I was thinking I miss Nasser, I miss my friends, and I miss my home.

As I heard the pilot annoucer overhead annouce our arrival, I opened my eyes and looked out the window. All I could see was clouds and couple moutain peeks. Then far off in the distance a small peak of light that could only be the sun welcoming me to Peru. It was the warmest welcome and by the time we hit ground the light had fully engulfed the city of Lima. I started a brief conversation with the man next to me who was on "Holiday" in Miami. He tried talking to me at the beginning of the flight and normally I would be very responsive but I was still nervous and uncertain of my decision to leave Chicago. After a few minutes of casual conversation he learned of my stay in Peru and gave me his card. He urged me to come up to Chiclayo and visit his city. He was very proud of his business and he began talking to me about his bean factory. It was funny to me but in actuality he makes a lot of money. Any Peruvian who goes to Miami for "Holiday" is a very wealthy man. I wish I had engaged in conversation with him earlier but I'm glad I slept. We exchanged contact information and parted ways at the gate.

As I made my way out of the terminal and into the street I had the toughest time finding my ride. Right now I was still one of those "gringos" who had a driver waiting for me upon arrival with my name posted to a big fat white board. I looked around the sea of taxi drivers and saw names like John Smith, Carrie Barker, Dave Taylor, and finally KAREEMA BAHAMOU! I found it. I ran up and tapped him on the shoulder. He looked at me and said rapido rapido! I was like, um. ok. He grabbed my big red suitcase and literally ran out to the curb, we jumped in his car and sped off like we were being chased by the cops. Seriously all I could think was holy shit slow it down buddy I'll pay you extra!

We zigzagged through tiny streets squeezed in between 2 feet gaps and almost ran over pedistrians. At some point I got used to it and reached in my bag for my camera. I could see him looking back nervously as I fiddled around with the dials. For as much as I could make out he said something along the lines as put that back in your bag or someone will grab it -- like literally reach their hand in a moving vehicle and snag it. So I put it away and thought this is wonderful -- mind you I'm staying in a hostel and I can't wait to see what that looks like... we arrive.

Again the driver jumps out of the car, grabs my big red suitcase, and runs to the hostel down the street. I was like F-that I'm walking. The hostel is gated with a video camera in front and big green button you have to press for entrance. We get inside and I'm greeted by Carlos and Alberto. As Carlos starts to gather all my information Alberto looks at me -- I can tell he's trying to make out what I am because clearly I'm not a gringo and only gringos stay at this hostel. I reach out my hand and introduce myself -- he knows english and smiles back. Finally he asked "what are you, nationales?" I laugh and say Morrocan and Indian. Then he goes "I like your hat, do you surf?" haha It's the most static conversation I've ever had but I answer "Thanks and no I don't but I'd love to learn." His eyes light up and in disbelief he says "really!" We talked for a bit until Carlos had gathered all my stuff and then it was time for him to show me my room. Alberto told me to meet him by the beach "Playa del Makaha" after I was done eating and getting ready he gave me directions but that didn't make a difference because I knew I was gonna cab it either way.

Carlos showed me to my all girl dormatory and it was 8am by this time so when I walked in two girls were sleeping. I tried to be quiet but Clarrissa woke up and greeted with a chirpy aussie "Goodmorning mate sorry for the mess." These girls had a wicked story and for those of you who are on my email list you know what I'm talking about but I wanna skip forward to surfing because that's where my story begins and I had a great day!

I met Alberto's cousins down at the beach. They were all suited up and looked they had been surfing all morning. Their skin dark and tough from all the equatorial sun, their feet rough from walking on the rocks (no sand beaches here) and they love life! I don't remember Alberto's cousins name but we sat and talked under his green tent for a while. His english was very broken and he tripped over a couple words but for the most part we were able to communicate. He was excited to know I was moving to Cusco and described it as heaven on earth. He said the only reason he's not there is because it's not by the ocean. Alberto's whole family lives and breaths the ocean. They are very humble people and despite the many gringos that come and go they have never had any desire to visit America or Australia. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of this experience because I didn't want my camera to get wet but I will go down to the beach tomorrow and try shooting around.

Alberto finally got done with his customer and was suprised to see me again. He said "you came!" I don't know what's so suprising but regardless I had a blast! We surfed for 2 hours and I never got a full wave which he calls The White Wash. But I was able to stand up on the board surf a couple bumps on my chest and spin in a 360. Nothing amazing but it was fun. We talked about Peru, the spainards, obama, bush, and capatilism. It was an intense conversation for a day at the beach but sooooooo interesting. He really needed to get back to work with other customers but wanted to take me to an authentic peruvian restaurant. So after the swim, soaking wet and tired, we got in his van and drove to Catalinas. An amazing family place by his house, not too far from the beach and about 20 minutes from my hostel. There were all locals there and I blend in like nobody's business. We sat down and ate our hearts out -- chicken, rice, soup, and big fat slice of cake all for 6 Solas which is the equivalent of $1.00. It was amazing!

During lunch he talked about this girl he was seeing from Australia. He had met her on one of their tourism tours to cusco. He was definitely in love with her and teared up at the thought of even talking about it. He said he couldn't handle all her drinking and smoking, it would break his heart. When Aussie's come to Peru they party like there's no tomorrow and they usually come for the drugs. You will rarely see a peruvian smoking hash or doing anything like that but they'll grow and they'll sell it - no problem. As he explained their 4 month love affair I couldn't help but to wonder why he was spilling his whole life to me. There was something very endearing in everything he said... and I was interested.

After lunch we went past his house. It was a quiet neighborhood and he pointed out his next door neighbors place because apparently 48 people live there and they're all related in like a 2 bedroom pad. It was nuts. As he ran inside to grab something I sat in the car and saw like 15 kids come outside that place. Some as little as 2 years old just walking around shoeless and dirty. I wish I had my camera!! It was so adorable. Peruvian kids look like little thugs. His mom came outside at one point and I thought it only respectful to come out of the car and say hello. She was a little lady with a lot of wrinkels and very smiley. I said Hola and gave her a kiss on the cheek which is pretty standard over here.

After that Alberto drove me back to the hostel. He's my first Peruvian friend and tonight we Salsa with Locals!

Monday, February 16 2009

It's 3 days before I leave for Peru and I thought I'd start this blog a bit early. I have to admit I'm feeling a little jittery like there's a bug crawling around in my stomach. I haven't packed yet and I'm trying so hard to soak up every moment of my comfortable life, here, in Chicago.

Last night my 2 best friends got together for a last hooray -- how many more times will they have to give me going away parties??? lol

As I look back on the last 6 months I realize that coming back to Chicago was the best thing I could have done... I've learned to appreciate everyone and everything in my life. New York was tough but I learned a lot and I feel like it gave me a stepping stone into Peru. I'm about to make myself a new home, new friends, and have new challenges. I know parts of this journey will be lonely and I expect to be homesick along the way but something inside me always welcomes this sort of self-discovery. The pain makes me feel alive, the experience makes me feel small, and the journey makes it all worth while...

I think I'm ready.