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Sketchy sketch

Happy Sunday everyone!

I am happy to report that I made it through the first week and half, and first episode of midnight toilet time, and I'm now sitting in my room in Arequipa. This is my home base. The family that I am living with is going to be my host family through the end of November. AND I can see the epic volcanoes from the top of my roof where I just hung my first load of laundry!!!! (I am very excited about this last bit, can you tell?)

This post is about the funny things that happen when you are traveling alone, in a developing country, and all that jazz. You know how tweeting people use the hashtag #firstworldproblems when things are not going their way? Well, if I were twitter savvy, which I'm not, here are some of the things I would have tagged #thirdworldproblems #whitegirltravelingalone #neardeathexperienceinmymind.

I had a six hour layover in Mexico City, during which I decided to do some yoga. You know, yoga is good for quieting your mind, and relaxing your body, so it seemed like a good idea. I found an out of the way place, popped my earbuds in and started 30 minutes of yoga. Well... It turns out that white girl doing yoga is really conspicuous. Maybe that was why my little corner of the airport suddenly turned into a highway, and suddenly everyone was staring. Or maybe it was just my shirt color?


Stephanie, one of the physical therapists from MMI was telling me that she runs whenever she is out on the projects. "Really, is it safe to run in a strange city?" I asked. "Oh yeah," she replied, "I just pick up rocks whenever I meet strange dogs."


Wait... What?


Then, there was the third day at our clinic when all the boys from the boys home came to have their eyes and teeth examined. All of them came up to us and kissed our cheeks and offered us saludos. Was it my imagination or did one of the older boys just put his hand on my side boob and leave it there for a few milliseconds too long? How do you say "Ummmmm, that is my chest you are touching" in Spanish?

Last night we took an overnight bus from Ica to Arequipa. Now, normally I don't let my brain engage in near death scenarios, but for some reason last night my imagination was kicked up into high gear. We would take these tight turns at 80 km/hour and my whole body would tense up. Something like, "We are going to fall off of this cliff and die..." was running through my head. A car/bus accident is not high up on my list of preferred ways leave planet earth. I would rather die in a plane crash, from a shark attack, or be struck by lightning. Yes, I really would rather be eaten by a shark. I know that this conversation has taken a morbid turn and it's doubtful that we were in serious danger last night. But, those were really the things I was thinking at 2 am.

And finally, yesterday when we went to visit the Islas Ballestas our tour guide stopped to point out that some of the penguinos were mating. "Don't worry everyone, they are endangered!" He shouted.


:)





Comments

  1. OMG you took an overnight bus?????
    That's not your imagination, those things are really crazy depending on which company you use, sometimes they don't rotate the drivers for 24 hours, ouch!!! - Angel

    ReplyDelete
  2. Haha. That makes me feel so much better. But not really. :)

    ReplyDelete

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