17 February 2006 - End of the road

So i left Diane in Quito where she was meeting up with her boyfriend (incredibly romantic, valentines and all that blah blah blah - of course i'm not jealous, ha) and headed back into peru. This was my journey: Night bus from Quito to Machala (buggy banana captial), arrive at 7 am bus to equadorian immagration, flag down bus to border at Huaquillas, walk across border, one of those funny little motorbike car thingys which I call bebops much to Diane and Cormac's amusement to peruvian immagration, combi (derelict minivan) to Tumbes, bus to Trujillo where I arrived 30 hours after leaving Quito. Not bad. Met an artista plastica on the bus to Trujillo and have an invite to stay at her family's place in Lima should I every want to, which is a big no because that city is probably one of my least favourite places on the face of the planet. Which is why I am not looking forward to going back there, my fourth time (yuck), tonight.

I am currently back in Huanchaco, the little surfing hot spot near trujillo, where diane and i had our surfing lesson and I learned some painful truths about my non-surf-chick self. But this time I stayed out of the water and instead burnt myself silly. I think one of the hardest things about travelling alone is applying suncream adequately.

I've also been practising my spanish. Those who know me well, or even not that well, will know that I'm adicted to harmless fibs and being a lone female in a bikini on a latin american beach has given me ample opportunity to practise some spanish ones. I have changed nationality about five times (this is useful because I can pretend that I don't understand spanish, english, french or german and just sit there smiling blankly until the machismo gets bored and wanders off). I've also lost the ability to swim after a traumatic childhood experience and even the thought of going for a swim with them makes me feel sick, please leave me alone now while I try to think happy thoughts and recover. And the old favourite, my boyfriend has just gone to get me an icecream and is very big, grumpy and possesive, yes I wouldn't like to meet him if I were you either.

So I return to Lima tonight, catching a night bus from trujillo and I've decided to treat myself to the best there is. The whole trip has been buget, and I'm amazed how cheaply everything can be done if you skip the tourist stuff and do things the local way. But more importantly you get to meet people who are plastic artists, get invited to graduation parties and feel obliged to try the guina pig, get private salsa lessons and a tour of skanky Lima, fall down holes on beaches while escaping from latin lovers, follow two local kids into the colca cayon and eat flowers, get fed coca leaves because you have a headache/toothache/sore toe, and lose your bag in the confusion.

Did I mention how much I love this place? I think I did.