¨El bolso perdido¨ and a grand escape from the comfort zone.

Hola!

I´ll immediately establish that this post will not follow the typical elaborate manner in which I am accustomed to writing, as I do not wish to abuse the wonderous privelage of free usage of the communal computer and typing intricate/verbose sentences via iPhone is a wee pain in the patootie :)

Having overcome my misfortune with a bad case of the itchy-scratchies, eaten my way through Vancouver (the plethora of palatable morsels procurable in that city really gets me every time!) and successfully cutting ties with everything I could potentially look forward to returning to in Canada (woo 21 and already so jaded!). I awoke December 10th at 3:30 am and began my journey south. The incipient culture shock engulfed me at LAX in the international flights terminal (note: this is actually in a sepperate building from the terminal I arrived in, the pride I felt in navigating my way from building to building with minimal assistance was monumental, but nothing compared to what was to come!) for the first time in my life, I experienced the sensation of being a racial minority! Managed to bumble my way around with solo steaz, purchased a global SIM card (which doesn´t work) and a little sushi to quell the tumultuous nerves.

LAN Chile is a delightful airline! In each seat, a small self-contained care package awaits each passenger. Earplugs, blanket, pillow, sleeping mask and headphones available to increase comfort levels. Amusingly, a man from Tofino (yes, the canmore/nelson/tofino/vancouver connection lives on!) who I'd managed to somewhat befriend in the terminal was seated directly in front of me and we made small talk until I was delightfully surprised by the fabulous Caitlin Anthony strutting my way. Having my soul sister close at hand diminished my anxiety and I began to feel serene. We were fed a fine lunch of ravioli, brie, cheese cake, and a small dish of salad. I've accepted that my non-ovo/lacto pescetarian, candida conscious diet will be transposed with one inclusive of eggs, dairy, sugar, and tasty little buns bursting with fortified white flour for the duration of this adventure (and no, I am not going to eat cuy while I'm here, you can all cease to inquire, were I slightly inclined to resume consumption of meat, I would not initiate that venture with rodent.) we later received a bun and small fruit dish, sadly uno of my grapes was mouldy....

Landing in Lima was quite an ordeal. I feel as though everyone has some disaccord with at least one element of flying (really.... It's entirely unnatural for humans to be comfortably seated so far above earth) and mine lies in landing; as the tires kiss the runway, I am encapsulated in concern: will the plane halt in time? Are these tires faulty? Perhaps they will burst under the stress of the aircraft!? Once safely within the aeropuerto, we proceeded through customs and on to baggage carousels. Almost instantly, my bag rounded the corner and appeared before me (hoop intact and unscathed! Yay!) Cait's bag however, opted out o making an appearance. Standing around in a state of confusion for a few moments is often the best method of managing any conundrum and we embraced this method whole-heartedly. Alas, ignoring the problem did not yield a solution and I was beginning to feel apprehensive about our rendezvous with our airport-hostel transport. In keeping with our thus-far-pathetic efforts to locate the bag, we approached a man who appeared to be of some sort of official status and used our translation book to inquire after lost luggage..... He didn't seem to know what to do and I was feeling abominably taxed in the life experience department so we decided to go meet with our designated driver and see what he thought of the scenario. As it turned out, the driver didn't speak a lick of English and the best resolve we could collectively muster was to go to the hostel, get some sleep, and return to the airport in the morning.

Three days, several phone calls and two visits to the airport later, (at this point, I was beginning to feel like a lost backpack myself) the pack was recovered and cait and I were feeling marginally less alien to our surroundings.

In the words of the esteemed, mystical Sweatydashikisurfboardjesus: "Cait is a perfect 10." Surprise didn't find me when we passed through the arrivals gate and were greeted with a chorus of smooching gestures, cat calls and whistles. Nor was I aghast at the frequent solicitation of Cait's attention by numerous men on the streets. Men are attracted to beautiful women and I've grown accustomed to witnessing their pitiful manner of relentlessly throwing themselves at mi Amiga. Shock nestled within me when the owner of the hostel in which we reside threw his lot in with the masses of Cait-mirers. Unprofessional may be an understatement of this mans behaviour, however it seems to be entirely kosher around here and Cait has taken a firm stance of "yes, you may assist us and pay us attention, we are grateful, but I am not interested in anything else." 

The language barrier continues to pose significant difficulty, gracias for the kind souls who have aided us in our various quests to date! Here is a list of our accomplishments:
-successfully purchased food from both restaurants and supermarkets.
-navigated our way to the airport and back via taxi and city bus (note, the city busses here are positively BANANAS! They race towards bus stops en masse and attendants hang half-hazardly out of doors shouting street names is a manner closely resembling that of an auctioneer <AREQUIPA!AREQUIPA!MIRAFLORES!AREQUIPA!LA MARINA LA MARINA!!!> they then proceed to race down the streets, weaving and darting without any recognizable sensibility.)
-found la playa (the beach) and observed the surfers whilst acquiring a super sunburn.
-visited a market
-navigated to el centro de Lima via city bus, where we visited the church of San Francisco (saint Francis) an explored a portion of the vast catacombs beneath. (Just look at the bones!)
-visited a free art gallery.
-made some new friends and visited a local bar.


In summary, Lima is a crazy colourful collage of insanity and I am stoked to head onwards to our next destination Huacachina. Spanish is not second nature to me BUT! I am learning.... I feel grand surges of enthusiasm when I am able to pick up familiar words and find ways to communicate! I have learned a few phrases although I must be saying them incorrectly as the locals can't seem to understand me in the slightest! Cait is finding the language barrier more challenging than I and I am attempting to teach her one phrase a day to ease the process... Today's phrase was "estamos aprendiendo" which translates to "we are learning" alas, it would appear as though after an entire day of repetition, word association, and random quizzing, it has not stuck. Perhaps tomorrow will yield better results!

Hasta luego!
Missing Canada but also STOKED to be here.
What a crazy adventure!

Ps: despite the rumours, Peruvian men thus far, are not particularly short in stature and I am overwhelmed at how attractive many if them are! HOT! Stoked! Weeeeeeee!

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