Currently I am sitting on a 21 hour bus ride from Lima to Cuzco so I thought I would take a little time to update the blog. We left Mancora and decided to go directly to Lima rather than split up the drive because of reports of riots that had made travel time double around the country. We had no such problem and made the trip in the usual 20 hours. Some buses in Peru are double deckers and we scored seats right at the front of the top row. Talk about living like a king! We had an unobstructed view of everything happening in front of us. As much as I can gather about Peru, the entire West coast is desert. Vast nothingness for miles on end with the occasional town popping up.
Finally we arrived in Lima. From what I had read, Lima was nothing to look forward too. From what I saw it was a south American version of Los Angeles. Dry and barren mountains surround the city save for one side where the Pacific Ocean sits. The streets are clean and most buildings very modern with upscale restaurants and bars all around. We stayed in the Miraflores district, which is apparently very trendy and fashionable. Upon checking into the hostel we asked where a few good restaurants were. The lady at reception listed a few before pausing and saying there is also a store that sells brand name clothes not too far from the hostel. Apparently my sap stained shirt, pair of basketball shorts, and 4 month old Amish looking beard repulsed her.
The girls were placed in an all girls dorm and since space was limited I was placed upstairs in the volunteers dorm. We only stayed one night because the following day Jackie’s family was flying in. They arrived late on Friday and I found the most American meal I could for them (and me). Domino’s Pizza.
Jackie and her family will fly to Cuzco tomorrow (Sunday) morning, while Angelica and myself took the more economically friendly 21 hour bus ride. It is Saturday.
Everything ends. Well everything except time. Time a permanent vehicle that links everything in the universe. Do you ever get those moments when you wonder what another person in another part of the world is doing at this very moment? It is Saturday. A week ago today, at about 3.30 am in Mancora, Peru, the night of St. Patty’s day, I was lying awake in bed because my stomach was upset. Probably from something I ate. Thousands of miles away my grandmother was taking her last breathe. Now I am on a bus in southern Peru, while the rest of my family has gathered in Burbank, California to attend her service. Such a strange sensation it is to not be with my family, especially my mom and aunt, to pay our last respects to mine and my brother’s last remaining grandparent.
I had the intention of making this post some sort of tribute to her, but to be honest my mind is moving too fast to organize my thoughts. On this trip I have been exposed to a lot of references to universal energy. Feeling it or sensing it in some way. Redistributing it. Harnessing it. I wonder if I focus my mind hard enough on my family back in California so that some part of me will be present at the service…
Kev, you have to climb Huayna Picchu while you are at Machu Picchu. I think its a different ticket and they only let 400 people a day do it but it looks totally sick.
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