I'm back home. There are some pictures from the trip up. Go look. Here's a little tale about me walking around in Cusco one afternoon.

Every adventurer needs a goal for their quest. A McGuffin, as Hitchcock would put it. Being in Peru, I couldn't find many things I would easily be able to find at home. There were no Wal-Mart's or McDonald's, there weren't big corporate chains everywhere. How am I supposed to tell a story if I can't even find myself a McMuffin?

One thing I was unprepared for was that the air was so dry. After a week in the desert followed by a week in the Andes, in thin air, my lips got really chapped. Not just chapped, but flaming.

Now I had a goal, so I set out on a quest to find some chapstick. I went to two or three stores and came up empty handed. Now my Spanish isn't very good. I can handle most simple things, but a full fledged conversation is beyond my reach. My vocabulary is rather limited. In most cases this is okay, so when I don't know a word but I needed to say something I always end up resorting to gestures, and most of the time this worked out okay.

Well, I wanted chapstick. After going through my third store, unsucessfully. I decided that I would need to ask someone. I found a sales girl.

Me - "¿Dónde está el Chapstick?"
Salesgirl - "¿Qué?"
Me - "Chapstick."

As you can tell this was going nowhere.

So I pointed to my lips, puckered up and made a gesture. Suddenly the salesgirl got excited and nodded her head and led me off. She thought she knew what I was asking for. Now I know everyone sees what is coming, but at the time I didn't. I can be rather dim. Basically I got taken to the makeup section and was shown some lipstick.

Me - "Gracias."

The next store was the same type. A few blocks later, I came across a pharmacy. Surely, my luck was changing, and sure enough it did. After being shown some glittery, vanilla flavored, girl's lip gloss, the clerk revealed a beautiful tube of Blistex. I got excited.

Me - "¿Cuánto?"
Clerk - "Quince."
Me - "Sí."

Now in all honesty, I was a little too happy to have found my goal. I was also thinking a lot about having to speak in Spanish. So I didn't spend any time thinking about the exchange rate, until it was too late.

I paid five dollars for a single tube of chapstick, in a country where this same amount of money could have gotten me a room for the night.

That's the last time I give myself lip service.

(download)

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The air is thin and its hard to breathe. Im a little bit dizzy. Its also really cold. Im wrapped up in alpaca wool. Its so cold that I should be able to see my breath, that is if I had any.

I was going to take a boat across the lake to Boliva today, but no. Theyve closed the border, something about rioting and the potential for civil war. <sigh> and I really wanted to join the revolution.

The air pressure is so low, coke bottles will fizz over with only a tap.

I cant walk anywhere without getting hit up by multiple vendors or beggars. There is so much poverty, it makes me sad and guilty. I gave a little girl today seven sols. Its not much, all that I had in my pocket. Still, she didnt look healthy.

I know I cant save the world, but I refuse to grow bitter and cynical. Though some would say I already have.

This doesnt even cheer me up, but its because Im just dizzy and suffering from altitude sickness, nothing else.

Animaniacs

Lake Titicaca, oh Lake Titicaca
It's between Bolivia and Peru
Lake Titicaca, oh Lake Titicaca
With waters tranquil and blue.
Oh Lake Titicaca, yes Lake Titicaca
Why do we sing of its fame?
Lake Titicaca, yes Lake Titicaca
'Cause we really like saying its name! Titicaca!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazca_Lines

I´m way too overwhelmed by the moment to write about this trip properly. My apologies.

anyway here´s more of a synopsis...

Today, I´m in Arequipa. I had my first hot shower today since going on this expedition. It´s nice to be out of the desert, now I´m surrounded by a pair of volcanos. The overnight bus ride here was troublesome. I was so paranoid that the bus was going to miss a turn and go flying off the mountain that I couldn´t sleep.

I spent the other night drinking gin with this really cool, goregeous Scottish girl and her friends. We liked each others accents. I´m such an anglophile. She invitied me to go to the discotech with her and I declined... I knew I´d never see her again, and besides I can´t dance... yeah I know... I´m a moron.

wait am I still going to La Paz, Boliva?

there is too much for me to say, just as soon as I get a glimmer of an idea of which story I want to tell, something else more exciting happens.

I bought a cool journal, my thoughts are being written down, later when I have the time I'll tell a proper story.

now back to the question at hand...

should I go try to ride a flimsy piece of wood down a huge sand dune?

if I do will I break my neck?

stay tuned...