Lima!

it seems that we have made it out of the sacred valley and into a crazy, up and coming metropolis! uh-oh, these small town girls really know how to get down so who knows what is going to happen.

we arrived here yesterday after a 21 hour bus ride that went through the night from cusco to lima. well, let me say. bussing like that is crazy. at first, i was all stoked cause this bus was like lux-ur-y: huge wide seats, and you could like super dooper recline and a ton of foot space and emily and i both had window views. we were pretty much set. then all the sudden you realize you are dropping thousands of feet in altitude, and winding, spiraling down the andes on basically dirt roads and your ears are so stuffed with pressure that you feel like you are yelling when you ask emily for a couple of melatonin cause sleeping is not coming easy on this crazy space ship, controlled temperature super bus. it was trippy. and that melatonin i mentioned earlier made it a slight more difficult to wake up. the bus attendant lady had to rewake me up at least three times to get the blanket and pillow and give me bus breakfast. i also tried handing her my old coffee cup randomly and she looked at me like a crazy drugged out gringa who she wished she did not have to attend to. yeah, well big whoop. so i was fucking glad to get off that bus.

we were greeted by the sounds of city again, and to be honest, somehow i had forgotten how it all sounded. the constant honking, construction clangs, and low mumble of thouands of people talking will snap any bussed out diva back to the bussling real world. all the streets here are even, one thing my feet have not encountered in a happy minute. no more ancient streets to walk and ruins peaking over at us, just beyond a hill. instead, we are catipulted back to the world of perfume adds, runners, gyms, department stores. woah globalization. this big city is throat deep in it. we even grabbed some wifi from a starbucks near our hostel. no pumpkin spice, unfortunately, but i am telling you, it smells the same! that whole burned espresso warmth starbucks aroma does not change no matter where you are on the globe. weird. as. hell.

at this starbucks is where we met our lima guide. a friend of the now twice mentioned "nicky kraft". otherwise, and more popularly known as DADDY. wow. those quotation marks and caps really make it dramatic. just what i was going for! anyway, varun has been awesome, and pointing us in all the right directions to try and navigate this very large new place. he is even treating these girls to some sushi tomorrow evening. we ate huge plates of ceviche today, the national food of peru. madi, you would have just loved all this raw fish and tentacles and red onion! all your favorite things. but really, it was bomb and we searched through the mira florres district trying to find just the right place. i think we might even try to find the cevicheria where anthony bourdain ate. last night we walked along the beach, and the sound of soft folding waves reminded me that really, it is all ok. the beach will do that for me. i definitely have a thing the ocean and this city right on the coast has a great combination feeling of busy busy business people and calm surf just at the edge. the change of pace has been a little startling, but i am starting to welcome it.

tonight we got a recomendation for a good karaoke bar and another close by watering hole. i think emily and i are both feeling a bit rusty. i am going to need to dust off these dancing shoes, and maybe finally shave my armpits. ha!

i want to let all you readers know, also, that both of us really felt the hit of homesickness yesterday. it has now been an entire month and we have another month until our return. just know we are missing you and thinking of you often. i do not want to carry it beyond that and lose my wit and get all blubbery on you. we love you, we miss you. bam.

-leslie