The Middle

In the Middle of the Peru, in the middle of the Ancient Inca Empire and in the middle of the longest mountain range in the world, I am now in the middle of my trip. It has been almost exactly four months to the day. So much has happened. In a way I feel as though I have had many distinct trips, each part of my travels being so uniquely its own. There was the Santiago/earthquake part, the Patagonian adventure, the race north, the transition into Peru, and the wonderful two weeks I spent with my parents. Now I am starting another new adventure, as I make my way north into Ecuador.

After saying goodbye to my parents I spent almost 10 days in Lima, a city I planned to spend a few nights in. In fact I threatened myself to leave on more than one occasion, feeling the draw to move northward, but Lima and the wonderful people I met there kept holding me back. I laughed more in those 10 days than I have in my whole trip, well, me and my parents laughed quite a bit too, so maybe more in the past 3 weeks. By luck or the fates of traveling I happened to meet really excellent top notch people. In Lima we went to see two plays, went to countless musuems, swam a handful of times in the cold ocean, ate AMAZING food, and probably 5 or 6 mcflurries (not proud), went to a casino, walked around this park of waterfountains that was way more impressive than you would think, traveled in countless micros so packed I was unsure whether it was even possible to exit, danced at a few clubs, met a handful of really great Limeños, went to a ballet class, and had many other small adventures.

Now I am high up in the andes in a place called Huaraz (the trekking capital of Peru), just came down from the mountains and now I am headed to a small beach town near Trujillo.

Needless to say I am quite content and have a very positive outlook for the next four months, even though I know there will be more lonely times, and earthquakes, and stolen ipods, and times where I miss all of you terribly. I am not sure why I have my heart set on spending as much time as I can down here. Maybe ego, maybe postponing the innevitable decisions that I need to make, maybe just a bit of wanderlust. Whatever it is I feel like I am growing in new ways and pushing myself to get out and see things, some fascinating, some inspiring, some disheartening, but all real, and different from the reality we all experience back home.

love you all!