Oddly...

We made it from Cusco on Wednesday despite the rain, with no delays. We spent the evening orienting ourselves to Arequipa, visiting the beautiful Plaza de Armas and having dinner at a kebab/falafel-hole-in-the-wall. The four of us strolled the pedestrian-only streets lined with hundreds of years old buildings famously made from basalt. Then we spent a good chunk of time searching for Peruvian flavored ice cream. Turns out we shouldn't have wasted our time. Our first stop found us with cones of coconut, chocolate chip, manjar (carmel) and lucuma (a Peruvian fruit) ice cream. The consensus was that all of the flavors tasted the same....sort of like when you accidentally open your mouth while spraying perfume. On the way back to the hotel, we spotted another heladeria and thought we should give Peruvian ice cream a second chance. We chose canela (cinnamon) and (seperately) mango. No go with those either-the mango tasted like chewing on a bar of antibacterial soap. We will try not to judge Peru's sweet tooth by these two shops alone, but I can say that this is the first time I have ever seen my children throw ice cream away.



Christin and I had a long talk in our hostal room in Arequipa Wednesday night. Despite our pleasant evening, we were both feeling a bit road weary. Our thoughts had turned toward home and I think all of us could have easily stayed on the plane which was headed for Lima next. This feeling didn't set well with us as we are on the trip of a lifetime, right? But after a bit, I realized that for me at least, there were several other issues going on:



1. Realistically, we have been going nonstop for the last three weeks. With the exception of one day, we have had to be out of bed by 6:30 am or earlier every day. We're tired.



2. I can't emphasis enough how I would not change the company I am in for the world. But I am responsible for a lot as far as making sure the kids are up and ready, have clean (or semi-clean) clothes, we have all the wipes, sunblock, rain coats, gloves, books, passports, snacks and bottled water-always with the bottled water-that we need. This isn't extremely different than at home but more concentrated and more neccessary as we can't pull off to the Tom Thumb or 7-11 and grab what we forgot. Being ever vigilant that no one bites a fruit that hasn't been thouroughly washed or brushes their teeth with tap water gets a bit old after awhile. I don't usually do well when I am forced to keep super close tabs on the kids-part of the reason I have raised them to be as independent as they are comfortable with.



3. I have been finding it increasingly difficult to keep my head space wholly in Peru this last week. For me, I think it is because we have so much coming up in the near future. Christmas and all its attendant preperations, of course, but also our big move in February to San Diego. I certainly don't want to live my life looking to the next thing without enjoying the moment I am in, but I am happy that I have lots of good things coming up in the future.



4. Finally, my main purpose in coming to Peru was to experience the people, to learn about their political and economic situation and how their culture fits into that. And also to hopefully contribute something positive to someone (preferably many someones) life. We did that in Ayacucho. Of course we can't leave the country without exploring it further and seeing the world famous ruins of Macchu Picchu. But I think after our time in Ayacucho, it feels a bit superflous and extravegant to just galavant about entertaining ourselves at quite a bit of expense. Particularly how we are going about it is not Christin and my's favorite way to travel. Our guide's arrangements have been flawless and have made things go very smoothly, but there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of challenge in it. The challenges of traveling to a foreign country, and the thrill of overcoming those challenges, are for us, at least half the enjoyment. I think we are missing the frustration of having no idea how to get to the next destination, and the triumph of figuring it out anyway.



Anyway, now that I have catalouged why Wednesday in particular I was feeling apathetic, I am going to set my mind firmly back in the heart of Peru and make the most of our last few days....before we know it, we will be missing our perilous mototaxi drivers and our bread and hot water breakfasts.



Jenny

(Sorry for the spelling errors...spellcheck doesn't seem to work on this computer...)