Happy New Year's

Spent New Year's Eve and the New Year with my landlord Juan and his friends. A talented bunch who played music, sang songs, acted, told stories. It was wonderful, even if I only understood about a third of what they were saying and singing. Juan, who's written 17 books on Arequipa and has a very nice voice, was a very gracious host.  I'll try to post some video and pictures, but now it's time for sleep. Happy New Year's everyone. I don't really think the world will end in 2012 ...

Once in a lifetime ...

Admittedly, I was a little overwhelmed by my trip to Machu Picchu (or is it Machupicchu? -- some of the locals insist it's one word).  First, there was an 11-hour, overnight bus ride from Arequipa to Cusco. Then you immediately jump into a cab to catch a mini-van that takes you on a 90-minute ride to Ollantaytambo. From there, it's a 90-minute train ride along the Urubamba River to the village of Machu Picchu. Finally, you catch a bus for a 15-minute ride up to The Lost City. A little bit of a whirlwind, but necessary since I'm on a schedule and budget. It was raining pretty steadily the entire way, and the rain didn't let up when I toured Machu Picchu. I opted to go solo (no guide), and as a result, I would probably like to make another trip. I checked maps and had a good idea of where to go and what to see, but a slight detour can lead to some serious and strenuous up-and-down climbing and wandering. My fitness is fine, and the sheer adrenalin rush of seeing Michu Picchu took care of any fatigue from the travel and lack of sleep. (The next day I was a mess.) The setting for Machu Picchu really is awe-inspiring. It's over 7,000 feet up, and you're walking among the clouds and seeing scenery like no other. And knowing you're wandering one of the seven wonders of the world, it's difficult to describe the sensation. The ruins of Machu Picchu aren't that expansive, really, but I spent about four hours looking at the temples, the houses, the plumbing (which is really cool), the agricultural terraces, and, of course, the stunning scenery. I won't bore you with any history lessons: First, I admit I don't know all the history, and second, you can just go look that stuff up on the Internet. I will say, however, that pictures and books are no match for the incredible experience of being there and walking among the ruins (duh!). At first I thought one trip was enough, but upon reflection, I definitely will return to Machu Picchu if I come back to teach in Arequipa. My computer is working at Peruvian speed these days, but I'll try to upload as many pictures as possible. The next day I wandered Cusco, which is an up-and-down experience on a couple of levels. Every street seems to go straight up, and walking is quite the workout. (Again, no guide.) Plus, Cusco sits at 11,200 feet. Luckily I brought altitude pills and drank coca tea. The center of the city has a beautiful Plaza de Armas like Arequipa, and it is understandably very touristy. There's more pizza parlors in Cusco than in Little Italy. Prices are geared to the gringo, and naturally there's no shortage of gringos. The vibe is hippie meets hipster meets hustler. You can't sit in the plaza without being hounded, and I mean hounded, by kids and adults wanting to shine your shoes, sell you a trinket or a pack of Inca cigarettes, or size you up to steal your stuff. I understand it, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. Supposedly, hard sell is illegal in the plaza, but no one pays attention. I'll take Arequipa any day. There are many other ruins in the area, and the Sacred Valley is highly recommended, but I settled for Machu Picchu and Cusco. Next time ... perhaps I'll have a little more money and time. Changing topics: Christmas in Arequipa is nice: fireworks and food prevail over the the pressure of getting presents. I hear New Year's is the same -- more fireworks and food. I miss my family immensely these days, but otherwise I have no real holiday blues away from home. I'm a Thanksgiving guy, anyway.  I have one more month of teaching -- 39 hours of class time a week, which is quite a bit -- and then it's back to the U.S. I'm nervous about that since I don't have any firm job prospects, but who cares? I'll jump off that bridge when I get to it. I've said it before, but for me it bears repeating: I'll really miss the students here.

Angels are crying

Big, big news from Arequipa. It rained. And the first rain I've seen in five and half months wasn't just a little shower, either. It was a steady soaking that lasted about four hours. There's no drainage to speak of here, so the streets flood, and your shoes and ankles get soaked wherever you walk. The stone sidewalks get slippery as well, adding yet another element of danger to the pedestrian lifestyle I live. It's worth it, though, because I love not having to depend on a car to get around. Christmas break started today, and I celebrated by buying an expensive bottle of wine (38 soles, or about $13). It's from Argentina, and the 14-year-old girl who sells me my vino recommended it highly, and she hasn't steered me wrong yet. Of course it doesn't feel like the Christmas seasons I'm accustomed to -- the temperature is about 70 in the day and 50 at night (summer here), and there are minimal decorations around town. Santa isn't really the man in Peru. I like that as well. Actually, it feels more like Thanksgiving, where the focus is on family gatherings and good food. However, most of the folk here love panettone. It's the Peruvian equivalent of U.S. fruitcake, and it's just as gnarly. Give me the anticuchos any day. Which reminds me, I've been going to this anticuchos stand near work, and it's the bomb. Giant pieces of marinated beef heart with ahi' (hot sauce that is tasty as well as hot), and two potatoes. Outstanding at a cost of S/.7 ($2.50 U.S.). You get a good portion as well. The little chicken hearts I've been buying on Puente Grau are a thing of the past. I've also found a place that sells Belgian beer -- Delerium Tremens at S/.20 (about $7) a bottle. That's a good price, but it takes a little classroom time to earn S/.20. The place is called Crepisimo, and it's something of a gringo hangout, but I don't care. It's been a while since I had a quality beer, so I savored that Delerium Tremens. Classes ended on a high note. Students and I celebrated with a secret santa kind of thing, good food and lots of cheer. I'm really going to miss the students here. Heading to Machu Picchu on Monday. Stoked about that. I also want to give a shout-out to Tracy for baking me a birthday cake, to Andrew for doing whatever he did to the cake, to Eleanor for the homemade, snappy ginger snaps, to Tiffany for the chocolate, to my "favorite" students for the awesome tres leches. My neighbor Jon moved on last week, and that's a bummer. He's a great guy. Adios amigo.

Early to rise

Don't plan on sleeping in here. Arequipa rises early. No daylight savings, so the sun's up around 5:30 a.m. and down at 6:30 p.m. year-round. In the a.m., there's barking dogs, the relentless honking of car, taxi, combi and bus horns, and our neighbors pounding on metal with sledge hammers doing god knows what. It all happens before 7:30 a.m. And I didn't even mention our landlord Juan playing opera on his stereo full blast around 6 a.m. Trash pickup here, between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m., is an event. The trash truck plays loud music to signal its arrival -- a recording of "No Place Like Home" on a pipe organ accompanied by flute. When I first heard it I thought it was an ice cream truck. The flatbed truck backs up into our alley, music blasting (sometimes they ring a loud bell instead), and everyone comes running out of their dwellings carrying bags of trash that go on the back of the truck. You've got to be quick. Vehicles, likes buses, combis and trash trucks, wait for no one in Arequipa. Even if they see you, they'll bolt if they're in the mood. Had a funny miscommunication with my landlord Juan. I was asking why our Internet was down, using my spanglish to explain that I needed to keep in touch with my dad. Somehow Juan thought I said that he was like a father to me. Juan seized on this. While he's away, he's having his new son water his countless plants and flowers, and chase the trash truck three times a week. It's nice doing a few chores. I kind of miss my house now, and the endless chores and projects you face as a homeowner. Found a decent coffee/pastry shop where you can hang out. It's got a nice patio, and I go there to lesson plan. The coffee isn't cheap, however. About S/.5 for a small Americano. The ladies are nice there, though, and they like to practice their English with me, and they also help me with my Spanish. We're watching A Christmas Story in my 7-9 p.m. class a little bit at a time. A lot of the dialogue is pretty subtle for the students, but they thought it was absolutely hilarious when Ralphie lets the F-bomb slip while changing the flat tire with his dad. Good stuff. Heading to Machu Picchu Dec. 26. Wanted to be there Christmas Day, but work made scheduling difficult. My contract here ends at the end of January. Wondering what I'll do when I grow up.

Top of the class

Life doesn't get much better when you have students like I have. The group I've had since I arrived in Arequipa finally finished the English language program here with a class called Fluency. We celebrated their graduation of sorts, and our friendship, by going out to lunch for chicharon. They gave me a present, a wonderful keepsake, picked up the lunch tab and said their goodbyes. I admit to getting a little emotional. Every one of those students became a friend, and I'll miss the hell out of them. Another class, the TEFL group I teach on Saturdays, took me out to lunch for ceviche the week before. Yes, ceviche. It was awesome. We went to a place where I was the only gringo in sight. One of the students, Rossmery, aptly observed that all the locals were "looking at the gringo with the four goddesses." They also bought me a cheesecake and I ate the whole thing in three days. (It's a lighter cheese than the U.S. variety.) My night class, which I managed to hang onto for another month, is younger, livelier, and enjoyable as well. They love movies, they hate my dancing (which I use as punishment when a cell phone goes off), and they're all very bright. A fun bunch. These are friendships for a lifetime.
There's a new ASS. director here and two other new bosses, with some new rules and regulations. I wish them the best. I will remain focused on my teaching, which I love.
The other day I ended up on the hood of some douche bag's car. OK, I'll call him Mr. Douchebag out of respect. I was walking between two cars stuck in a massive traffic jam and Mr. Douchebag felt compelled to close the three-foot gap between his car and the car in front of him. I was the monkey in the middle and I had to leap on the hood of his car so my legs wouldn't get crushed. That really upset Mr. Douchebag, who started screaming and gesturing at me. I gave him the universal symbol of displeasure, and he kept screaming and pretending like he wanted to get out the car.  He never did. He was too fat. Didn't matter because I'm in too good of a mood these days.
One of things I really miss from the USA is hot showers. I've had one or two since I've been here. I'm used to cold showers in the morning, and boy do I hit the day running, but every once in a while a long soaker in hot, hot water would be really nice. Also miss milkshakes, but you can get smoothies pretty much anywhere in Arequipa.
One of downers here is the smell of piss on every wall.  Every wall is a urinal, including the one outside my apartment. That gets old. I come out of my apartment to go buy yogurt and some clown is peeing two feet from my door. The smell is everywhere some days, especially in the sketchier parts of town.
Last Thursday was a little rough. No family Thanksgiving dinner. Really missed everyone on my favorite holiday. First one I've missed in many, many, many years. I missed cooking, and I even missed cleaning up afterward. Next year that tradition will resume.
Got really cloudy and windy today, but the streak is intact. Still hasn't rained since I've been here. Got some nice shots from the International Club, which makes the best pisco sour in town, in my opinion. Sitting by the Rio Chili drinking piscos at a classy restaurant ... great students .... good food ... great weather. I can handle cold showers and piss odor.

A day at the beyatch

There's no faster way to shed pounds than a good case of dysentery. I'm living proof. The pounds are melting off and all I do is sit. I've been on this "diet" for at least three days now, and other than exhaustion and incredible intestinal discomfort, I'm finding the results amazing. Knocked a notch or two off the belt, and even my socks are more comfortable. I began this unintended crash and burn diet with a trip last weekend to Mollendo, a beach town due west of Arequipa. Mollendo is a small town of about 3,000, and it has all the charm of ringworm. Buses for Mollendo leave Arequipa every hour, and it's a cheap trip, so to speak -- about S/.10 one way -- or $3.30 U.S. The bus ride is like taking a rover over  lunar landscape. It's brown, hot, mountainous, desolate and, guess what?, it's boring. I didn't hear a single conversation on the bus for the three-hour ride. The movie on the way over was Cast Away, which I like, so that helped.  (Wilson, Wilson, Wilson!!!!) Oddly, the bus would drop people off along the way in god-forsaken, uninhabited, parched places where I didn't see dwellings of any kind. But some lady wearing way too many traditional clothes and carrying a huge bundle of something or other would get off the bus and trudge off into god knows where. Amazing. I took a cab from Mollendo's bus station (50 centos to use the bathroom) to the beach for S/.5. The driver showed me the hot spots along the way -- a market and town center. The main beach area had umbrellas and chairs set up, which seemed nice. I settled under one and this lady with a small girl comes up to me speaking rapid and clearly unfriendly Spanish. The girl is kicking sand on my backpack while the lady grabs the stem of my umbrella, and, honest to god, rolls her dentures around in her mouth with her tongue while glaring at me. Turns out you have to pay $/.5 for the umbrella, and I guess she was the hired muscle. I wasn't about to argue. I fell asleep for a bit, the earth kept rotating, and I got a fantastic sunburn. I tried to go swimming, and entered the roughest, most dangerous surf that I've ever encountered. Rougher than California, Maine, Canada, anywhere. I was in up to my shins and almost got sucked out to my death by undertow so fierce that I can't describe it. It pulls you off your feet -- and I'm only out to my shins. (Actually, there's a controversial Peruvian film called Undertow, but I digress.) The waves were too high to even approach. Once I turned toward shore to make sure my stuff was still at the S/.5 umbrella, and I got slammed to the sand by a rogue wave. Crazy and dangerous. Of course, I was the only one in water above the ankles. After an exhilarating six minutes in the water, I loafed around the beach for a bit and then started walking toward town. Along the way, I bumped into one of my ESL students, and I got a ride to a restaurant for what turned out to be a fateful encounter. I ordered from the menu and the waitress couldn't understand me. I was pointing to the menu, and apparently, she couldn't understand my finger. I got some kind of sketchy fish ceviche, which was gross at best, and then sat in the town center watching an endless parade of taxis ride in a circle. The beautiful weather in the morning and early afternoon had now turned cloudy and a bit chilly. That went well with the sunburn. On the bus ride back to Arequipa (with one of the Fast and Furious movies), I started to feel a little uneasy. The ceviche. I've been uneasy since, although I visited the farmacia last night and I'm sure they'll set me right. To make matters worse, I forgot my camera, so there's no pictures to capture my enchanted trip to the beach. I'll try to post a picture of tonight's dinner instead. Bon appetit!

El narco

I have a new favorite haunt: the farmacia. You can get anything there except marijuana and a girlfriend. You walk in, play charades, and presto! .... you're cured. My headaches disappeared after one or two pills; so did my cough. My friends' stomach ailments have been cured. One of the teacher's toenails was turning a god-awful purple and the farmacia took care of it. Xanax is sold over the counter. It's like a candy store. OK, you have to trust your own diagnosis and the diagnosis of the farmacia worker, but so far so good. Take that Obama-care.

I still haven't adapted to Peruvian time, which is a minimum of 10 minutes later than scheduled times. For example, class starts at 7 a.m. and things get rolling at  7:10 a.m. at the earliest. Apparently, students, teachers and staff here have adapted to Peruvian time better than I have. Being an anal American, it can drive me un poco loco. My favorite lunch spot, Mishka, opens randomly and closes randomly. Walk there for lunch on a Tuesday and the doors are locked. Open Wednesday with fantastic food, closed again Thursday, and who knows the rest of the week. Still love the place.

There was some kind of bottle fight outside my apartment window last weekend at 4 a.m. Glass shattering, guys screaming, and more glass shattering. Sounded kind of nasty. It had to be loud to wake me up. I scored brownie points in the neighborhood the next day by cleaning up the glass while folk walked up and down the alley where I live. I believe the glass could still be there if I hadn't cleaned it. However, Arequipa is a clean city even though I see people littering all the time. Municipal workers are cleaning the streets every morning, sweeping up cigarette butts, banana peels and the like. By 9 a.m., the city sparkles, except for the piles of trash left on some of the street corners. No worries. Packs of dogs look after the trash piles. 

I had three dogs growl and walk menacingly toward me while I stood outside my apartment last Sunday. So I did what any cowardly gringo would do: I ran back into my apartment. The dogs moved along. I don't have to remind myself to not pet the dogs.

I feel more accepted in my neighborhood all the time. The grumpy lady who owns a little shop nearby actually gave me a yapa (a freebie) -- an extra piece of pan. This is the same lady who charged me S/.1,30 for a candy bar while the guy next to me got the same candy bar for S/.1. That's a true story. I guess it's the gringo tax.

I miss the season changes. It's Spring here, which means it's sunny and warm in the day, a little cool at night. Reminds me of winter in Peru, which is sunny and warm in the day, a little cool at night. I hear it's pretty much the same in the fall, too. Summer (Christmas-time) is supposed to start a rainy season. It hasn't rained once since I've been here, and I've been here 3 and a half months.

Glad this month is over. I resigned as ASS. director last week, choosing to focus on teaching starting in November. Teaching is the main reason I came here. The teaching is going wonderfully, while the ASS. job reminded me of my night managing editor days. Been there, done that. Walked into a metal grate on a window and cut my head, and few days later fell off a sidewalk. Sober both times. I've mentioned that walking here can be a contact sport. Also, I managed to piss off George Thorogood. A buddy from ESPN emailed me for information about George's old sports days in Delaware. I joked (and I was joking, sort of) that George was a slap-hitter who couldn't get around on my fastball. He shot back some funny but pretty sharp stuff about me. I'm not going to get into a pissing match with a .218 lifetime hitter. Just kidding George .... I know it's .228.

Two of my good friends here -- Anna and Vanessa -- are moving on. I'll miss their belching and constant illnesses. Later guys.

San tennista

On a very rare cloudy morning in Arequipa, I'm enjoying a breakfast of pepino, yellow granadilla, green apples, little bananas, drinkable yogurt, super sharp cheese, and my beloved pan de tres puntas. I deserve a treat. It was a  rough weekend of homesickness and other emotional maladies, and I even smoked a cigarette or five -- effectively ending a 14-year drought. But back to the fruit. Granadilla is awesome, and I'm sure many of my devoted readers (ha ha) have tried it. I think it's also called maracuya, and it's supposedly good for urinary tract infections and sporadic coughing. Both are on the way for me, I'm sure. It's very light. You crack it open and eat the mucus-like center, seeds and all. Mucus-like is the only way to describe it. Yet it's absolutely delicious. I think it's also known as a passion fruit, but I know nothing about passion. The pepino, which I've been told means cucumber, doesn't taste like it looks. The outside is cream colored with some purple stripes. It looks kind of like a peach when it's cut in half, but tastes a tiny bit like a cross between cantelope and cucumber. It's also quite good, and good for you as well. Helps with depression, I believe. I'm feeling better already. (I have a picture of some of my breakfast. Properly name the fruits and bread and you get a prize -- another blog from me in a week or so.)
I'm playing tennis this afternoon with a teacher named Rony. I'll see if he'll let me post his picture. The dude can play some tennis. He's younger, 36, USTA certified or something, and about 25 cuts above my level. He's a good sport about our differences in ability. We're playing on clay courts, which is kind of cool. I like the color, and the ball bounces all over the place. Rony's top-spin is ridiculously good, and oh by the way, I suck at tennis. On the bright side, I suck even more at golf.
I've hit a bit of a routine. The little shop owners near my apartment all know me now and are quite friendly, and I have a budding friendship with the lady near the Puente Grau who makes my anticuchos. She's great, and so is her anticuchos. She has a daughter or granddaughter who's 11 that hangs with her sometimes. I call the little girl 'once' (pronounce all the letters for 11 in Spanish) and we high-five when we see each other. I guess with friends like this, there's really no need to get down. It's a good scene here.

Word up

My new job as ass. director requires many hours. Too many hours at the moment. I start at 6:45 a.m. and finish at 9:30 p.m. I don't mind hard work, but this is crazy even by Peruvian standards. In Peru, the work week is 48 hours and everybody seems a little stressed. Throw me on top of the pile. Or under a taxi or combi. I don't give a ceviche. This month is a little extra wild because a couple of teachers bailed on us with a couple of days notice. So I had to pick up classes in addition to my schmoozing and catch-all duties as ass. director. Also, I "taught the teachers" in the TELF program in September, which means I taught three young women from the U.S. all about grammar, and I mean all about grammar. Everything. Todo. Word classes, conditionals, phrases, clauses (dependent and independent, relative and non-relative, adverbial and other kinds I don't care to remember), phrasal verbs, mains verbs, auxiliary verbs, the 12 major tenses, subjunctive, conjunctions, adjuncts. Had enough? We sure did. The ladies (see latest picture) -- all in their twenties -- were awesome, and pretty darn funny. We got though that class -- three hours a day for 18 days -- with lots of humor and cookies. We went out dancing one night. Well, they were dancing. I ran out of gas pretty early, got lost walking home (which is dangerous), and collapsed into bed. Oddly, still woke up before 7 a.m. the next day. Guess the early schedule is in my blood. By the way, my schedule WILL settle down next month or I'll start walking the earth barefoot.
Played a fun game of "telephone" with my class tonight. I told a student some phony information about me: "I'm married, but I have two girlfriends in Peru. Also, the police in the U.S. are after me because I killed a mule." The student I told had to share the information privately with another student, who in turn shared it privately with another student, until everyone in the room had been told. The last student then reported "the final version" of the story: "An American guy who is married twice bought a mule."
I took a hundred-sol bill to the bank today to make change, because nobody in town seems to be able to change anything over a twenty. The teller appeared really annoyed and gave me 2 fifties. Took a while to get that settled. Peru has its quirks, and on rare occasions I feel some anti-Gringo-ism. I just try to roll with it.
One of our teachers was robbed and roughed up by a taxi driver. You can't let your guard down. That's true in all big cities, but the taxi thing is creepy here. I don't take them unless I absolutely have to. The teacher was obviously rattled, but is OK.
I'm back with my favorite class at San Pablo until the end of the month -- there's a picture of them on the right which I posted with my previous blog. Those guys are great. It's like old times. And I'm an old-timer.

The joys of teaching

There's a lot to like about teaching in Peru. For one thing, the students all call us "Teacher", or in my case, Teacher John. It's quite endearing. If the students are late to class -- and these are college students, mind you -- they knock on the door and ask for permission to enter the room. They also ask for permission to go to the bathroom, make a cell phone call outside the class, or leave early to deal with their ridiculously busy schedules (7 classes plus their English class with me.) For the most part, these students work incredibly hard and are very cheerful despite their workload. And when the female students get to know you, they greet with you a kiss on each cheek, like in complex and boring French movies. A lot of Peruvians greet each other that way, but it's girl-girl or boy-girl, never boy-boy. I do sense some homophobia here, and sometimes the topic will come up in class. I can tell some of the students are a little uncomfortable discussing it. I don't push it. I'm essentially a guest here. This is a Catholic country and I'm teaching at a Catholic university. I respect that. What I tell the students is that I don't feel I should be judging the actions or choices of others. We seem to have an agreement on that point.
I've been working quite a few hours, teaching and managing at the school. But it's OK. I like teaching so much because when I'm teaching, I'm not thinking about anything else in the world. I'm focused on getting the students to learn the material, and that's it. No problems, no concerns. The discipline issues are very minimal here. I've only had two or three students who were disruptive, and that's out of about 125 or so students I've taught. And as far as managing goes, my boss has been supportive, and we've got a pretty diverse, interesting and intelligent group of teachers. Our teacher coordinator is top-notch. No complaints on the job front.
Sometimes my inability to speak Spanish fluently can be extremely frustrating. People ask questions and many times all I can say is no comprende. I keep trying to improve at Spanish, but progress is very slow. But I am making some progress, and many times I'm able to bumble along with my Spanglish.
I was buying a cell phone Saturday, and the cheap electronics (hot electronics, if you know what I mean), are in a sketchy part of town. I've been down there before, but I've always been on the lookout for evil-doers. This time, as I scoured the streets for evil-doers, I also noticed a lot of prostitutes ... or ladies I was told were prostitutes. I also was told they turn tricks for 25 soles (about $8 U.S. dollars). Rough-looking bunch. It's kind of sad.
I'm going to buy some shoes today, or at least try to buy a pair. I wore down my other shoes walking so much. I've been told I'll have to go to a mall called Saga to find size 12. Looking to spend S/.90 (this is how to write your soles here -- 90 is about $30 U.S. dollars). Saga, or one of the malls, has a TGI Fridays, I think. Ugh. And I thought I was getting away by coming to Arequipa. I guess there's no escape.

Family, touring, reflection

My son Jack came to visit, and it was the highlight of my stay in Arequipa, and it will continue to be. I can't describe how wonderful it was to have Jack here, and I hope all my kids can make it down. We visited the Santa Catalina Monastery, which dates to the 1500s and is loaded with amazing art and artifacts. It's like a little city, with streets and houses, gardens, crypts and honest-to-goodness real living nuns tucked away in a corner of the monastery. We weren't allowed to see the nuns (about 20 of them live there). We hired a guide, a pretty woman who never changed expression or tone of voice as she told us fun facts in pretty good English: "In the 16th and 17th century... OK ... the girls training for to be nuns .... OK .... couldn't speak for at all from ages of 12 to 16 .... OK."  Sounds like a fun life, huh. The tour group we were in included a German couple, and the German guy kept inappropriately fondling his girlfriend throughout the tour. Weird.
Next, Jack and I went to Colca Canyon, or Canyon de Colca (as I work on my Spanish). Amazing place. We saw condors gliding above the canyon, and a couple of really quaint Andes villages -- Chivay and Maca. Colca is the world's third deepest canyon and is about twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. As you would expect, the views were spectacular. Our Colca tour group, which included a whiney American and his silent wife, went to a hot springs/swimming pool. Jack and I didn't have bathing suits, so we took about a 50-minute hike along the Colca River. For me, it was the highlight of the trip. We saw locals plowing with an ox, three donkeys and a horse hanging out on the trail, and dramatic scenery. We were at about 13,000-14,500 feet, I believe, which made breathing part of the adventure. We made it back to the "hot tub" just in time to catch to our van back to Arequipa.
The rest of the week, Jack provided support for me as I started a new job as assistant director at the language school here. I was really quite busy, teaching, eating alpaca and street food (delicious) and guinea pig (so-so), and assuming my duties at the school. I developed a wonderful bond with a class I had in August, and Jack got to meet the students and chat with them. He also was a guest in a couple of classes, talking about his poker business, his upcoming tour of duty in Afghanistan, and life in the U.S. In my class, we played 20 questions to figure out who this young gringo was -- they finally got it that he was mi hijo.
Jack left Saturday afternoon (Sept. 10), and it was all I could do to not start bawling my eyes out as I saw him off at the airport. I miss all my kids so much -- Alec, Caroline and Jessica -- and Jack's visit really brought that home to me.  I love and miss you guys.

Big doings

The excitement of city life apparently was evident today, but of course I missed it. A cop had his gun drawn (pointing it straight up, I was told) as he entered the residence across the street from us. Mind you, our street is just wide enough to get a car through, so this was right in our grills. My neighbors from across the hall watched as the cop entered 118 (we're 115), but my neighbors had a previous engagement and didn't stick around to see what happened. I was either napping or lesson planning, and didn't bother to look out my window.  Didn't hear any shots, so I guess all turned out well.
The usual action in our alley/street is high school kids making out. We're just off the beaten path enough, and close enough to the bus/combi/taxi stops on nearby San Lazaro, that kids wander up here to smooch.
My classes will be ending this weekend and next week with final exams. New classes start in September. Good news: My night class, which has some high school students, had some behavior issues early -- they wouldn't shut their pie holes. But they've turned into a great group. I made a deal with them that I would show more videos and have more games if they would be quiet when someone was talking (like me, for example), and quit playing with their cell phones. I called it fair and square and drew a square on the board to show them their two sides and my two sides. Corny, but it worked. Next month I'll be teaching a TEFL course, which means I'll be teaching the teachers grammar. It'll be a challenge but I'm looking forward to it.
I posted some pictures: the gimnasio where I'm the biggest but not strongest guy;  a photo of my dinner or new sweater; and a shot of one of the cool old cars you see around town. With the dry weather, cars are preserved pretty well here. Just like SoCal. There are some classics around town, and quite a few VW Beetles.
Still eating the street meat almost nightly, and I've also found a wonderful pastry shop/vegetarian restaurant combo. So far I've only sampled the pastries and they're awesome as well as affordable. I cut my finger pretty good (or bad, depending on your preference) slicing bread and cheese, so I've stopped doing my laundry in the tub upstairs. I could get used to (a modal with a phrasal verb!) someone else doing my wash.
Bought a bottle of Chilean wine from some street vendor -- Casillero del Diablo (Legend of the Devil, I think), a 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon. Paid $ 20 soles, about $6.50 U.S., and it's outstanding. But I don't know crap about wine, so take my endorsement for what it's worth.

The simple things

Who would ever think a walk to work each morning would be such a source of joy? But every Monday through Saturday I stroll down Calle Bolivar and Calle Sucre to the Institute del Sur, where I teach English to college students, and it's the most pleasant and relaxing 25 minutes of my day. Bolivar and Sucre are actually one street that has been turned into a pedestrian walkway that cuts through the center of central Arequipa. But since this is Peru, taxis and a few cars "somehow end up there." It doesn't happen that often though, so it's not really an issue. My walk starts in the oldest part of Arequipa where I live, and it's here the walkway is called Bolivar. In three blocks I'm next to the Santa Catalina Monastery, which was built in 1580, and was home to some wild and crazy nuns until 1871, when the Vatican cleaned house, so to speak. I go past another church that I haven't learned about yet, but it's quite impressive looking (it's on my list of things to do). There are hostels and shops along the way. There's also a Crustaceo Cascarudo, which is modeled after the Krusty Krab on Spongebob Squarepants. It serves Krabby Patties. My walk starts at 7 a.m. when the usually nasty air of the city is actually crisp and clear.  It's cool with the temperature in the high 50s. The skies are clear and the mountains and volcanoes are always visible. School children in uniforms, some street dogs, a couple of cops and a few folk on their way to work are on the path as well. Still, it's just so much more mellow than midday Arequipa, where everyone's in a crazy rush and trying to make a sol (or buck). I'm posting pictures of what I see on the walk and maybe you'll see why I like it so much. Sometimes I walk back home, but it's not the same at 11 a.m. (when my classes end Monday, Wednesday and Friday)  or 2 p.m. (when my classes end Tuesday and Thursday).
I feel fairly safe here, but my students are constantly warning me of the dangers of the city. They say the cabs are very risky. They say robbery at knifepoint is commonplace on the combis and buses. They say walking through the city is also extremely dangerous, especially for gringos. I say: How do you get around town if you don't walk, or take a combi, bus, or taxi? I don't aimlessly wander the streets at night looking to get assaulted, and I'm alert. But I don't care to live in fear, so I don't live in fear. I do what's necessary to get to where I need to be, and that's by walking, combi or bus.
Found an OK gimnasio to work out in. It's pretty old school, with lots of free weights and dumb bells. It cost 1 sol to get in, which is pretty cheap. Place is dark as hell, but does the job.

Arequipa Day

Straight up, I'm not a parade guy. That said, the folks in Arequipa put on the mother of all parades on Monday to celebrate Arequipa Day, the founding of the town...  I believe in 1540. I honestly found myself enjoying this parade like no other I've seen. We had a rooftop view thanks to Ale, the girlfriend of Jon, who's my neighbor. We watched that parade for at least four hours, and instead of getting bored, I got more fascinated as it went along. The parade had everything: dancing, skits, bands, rock music, pretty women, break dancing, clowns, more pretty women, more everything. The rooftop view certainly helped. The crush of people below isn't for the faint of heart. Ale's friend Luis lived along the parade route in a part of Arequipa called Mira Flores. I had never met Luis and he treated me like family with chicken, corn, cheese as we watched the parade on his roof. We left while the parade was in full swing. I was told it goes on for seven hours or so and the parade route is 6 kilometers. That's a long way to dance and skit. Great time. I know the pictures won't do it justice. I don't know how there were people watching the parade since everyone in town seemed to be IN the parade.
Before we went to the parade we stopped at a store that was frighteningly similar to You-know-what-Mart. Employees wore blue uniforms and the store was bright and polished. Prices weren't that cheap though, or at least not like the marketplace. Speaking of which, I got ripped off AGAIN on change buying bread at the marketplace. You'd think I'd learn.
Went out with some teachers Saturday night and had a Pisco Sour or two. Pisco is a white brandy made from muscat grapes. The pisco sour I had included raw egg whites (no yolk!). It's like a margarita -- but not really. Strong lime/lemon thing going on, and it's a strong drink. Not too shabby.
I'm surprised how many of the English teachers here smoke cigarettes. Just about all of them. Great bunch even if they do smoke. As a former smoker, it's a bit of a temptation, but I'm too old to start up again, and I can't imagine how I'd feel the next day after a night of pisco sours AND cigarettes.
Try this link for a parade video ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHsVZKgW1QY

Very odd indeed

Two guys knocked on the door to our building yesterday afternoon trying to gain entrance. They seemed to be saying they wanted to come in to do work. That's somewhat believable, since there's been plumbing  issues in the building.There's a main entrance off the street to our building that is always locked, and our rooms inside also are usually locked. Or should be. Anyway, the lady who lives across the hall asked me to come to the front door to talk to these two guys. They knocked but I ignored them. She answered. When I asked them in my broken and battered Spanish if they were from the city to check our water problems, they acted like they didn't understand, and they didn't really respond. They both had on the same gray shirts you used to see auto mechanics wear in the U.S. I told my neighbor to shut the door as I motioned to the two guys to ring the buzzer to reach the landlord. I never heard the buzzer ring, and went to ask my landlord if he had two guys coming in to check the plumbing. It was 3 p.m., but when I knocked on his door, my landlord was sleeping. He finally answered and said, from what I could tell, never to wake him up in the afternoon. But he did send some other contractor down (he was inside scrapping paint) to talk to the two guys. Well, the two guys were long gone in the minute or so it took the contractor to get downstairs. Long story short -- no one knows who the two guys were and most likely they were up to no good. The gang of gringos -- all of us ESL teachers living in the place -- agreed that we don't answer the door. Period. We realize that folk know we're foreigners living here, and that makes us targets. From now on, people can use the buzzer and talk to landlord Juan, unless he's asleep, of course. The joys of city life in Arequipa.
One odd thing I've noticed is that adults do not speak to each other on the street or in the combis (mini-van buses). I ride the combi every day, and I can't recall hearing a single conversation inside one of them. Nothing, nada, nil. You might get eye contact, but even that is somewhat rare.
More oddness, sort of. It cost you 50 Peruvian centos to use a bathroom when you're on bus trips. You have to buy toilet paper, even if you don't need it, to gain entrance. The places are, well, what you'd expect (pretty raw).
I think I've traced my mild stomach issues to the bread here. Stopped eating it and got better right away. Too bad ... the fresh rolls here are cheap and pretty good. I still eat the pan de tres puntas because it's 98 percent crust. And it's still OK when it's stale.
Classes are cool. I have a feisty group at night, but not too over the top. Mainly chronic talkers and texters. Pretty typical stuff.
Found a gym near my place that charges a sol (27 U.S. cents or so) for a session.
Time for more lesson planning. Later.

The working man

I'm not teaching an incredible amount of hours -- about 30 a week -- but my schedule is a little scattered. I work 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 4 hours or so on Saturday (8-12 or 12-4). Also tutor on occasion. I'm teaching college students the finer points of past perfect continuous, phrasal verbs, and idioms. Lesson planning takes a little bit of time for me. Preparing a four-hour lesson on grammar and vocabulary requires quite a bit of thought, actually, because you want the students doing the talking and you want the activities to be interesting. It's a challenge. Luckily, I have the internet and thumb-drives. My students are pretty good. Nice to know that students in Peru are like students everywhere. The students here take an average 6 or 7 courses a semester in addition to the English class I teach. They're pretty stressed and the English class isn't always high on the priority list. But I've had good classes, and my bosses have been very supportive (how's that for sucking up?). Support from you supervisors makes all the difference. I usually start classes with vocabulary -- call my bluff, where I show the students the meaning of the word and they have the option to give the real answer or make one up to tell the class. Same thing with idioms. Then we'll discuss a topic, such as nature vs. nurture, and the students may pick a side and write an essay defending their point. We have workbooks that contain grammar points as well as various discussion topics. I'll show a video (such as Vacation by the Go-gos) and ask them explain what's going on. I walk to class and take a combi (small van packed with people) home from San Pablo University's Institute Del Sur. It's a little more than a mile one way. Walk to my night class at the Institute. That may be a mile round-trip. No more taxis unless it's an emergency.
Things I find myself missing: Fresh brewed coffee -- you can get it but you have to make a trip. Mostly, it's instant. I miss driving my car, but I wouldn't do it here. I miss milk. Fresh milk is very rare here. Got some new pictures of views from my roof, the central market, my 'hood and traffic.

Timing is everything

Ate some midweek ceviche yesterday at the central market. Was told afterward that it's better on the weekend because the fish is fresher. Well, today my gastrointestinal system feels like a mosh pit at a Korn concert. I had to go to school this morning to pick up materials, and I was exhausted when I got home. It's a five-minute walk, so the ceviche clearly had the upper hand. But after a power nap, a walk and some agua con gas I feel like my old street-eating self again. Think'll I'll nibble some bread and cheese tonight to be safe. Bought a camera today and will attempt posting photos again. The purchase is quite the ordeal. I wanted to look at a camera and this guy had to get this woman, who had to go somewhere to get the keys.  There were about 20 keys on the key ring and she tried 7 or 8 before she hit the jackpot. Of course there was no working battery to try out the camera. No problema. I buy it anyway, with cash, but they need to see a copy of my passport. After she logs my info into a book, I go to another part of the store to pay. I pay, and go to another part of the store where I think I'm picking up my camera. No so. I get a little tripod from the man behind the counter and a bill of sale. I take this to the lady with the keys, and she begins searching for my camera behind the counter. After a few minutes, she finds one, and records more info into another book. Then she takes everything out of the camera box and tries it out, which is clearly a good thing. Back in the box and I'm good to go .... 35-45 minutes. I could have probably gotten the same camera for the same price from a street vendor, but I feel like the store may be more helpful if there are problems. Electronics and hygiene products are no bargain here. Chapstick will run you 16 soles, close to $5 U.S. Same with a bar of soap and shampoo. I went deep into downtown yesterday and found some better deals, but it's a long walk. Could've taken a combi I guess, but after my long bus rides Sat. and Sun. I felt like I needed to stretch out. Along the way I saw lots of street dogs. They're all over the place. I'm told that they don't have rabies, but you're advised not to pet them. Good doggie.
School starts tomorrow so gotta lesson plan.

Chile time

Took a quick trip to Chile to see the beach and resolve some visa issues. The bus ride was 6-7 hours, (one way) and some of the mountain roads were really nerve-wracking. I honestly didn't like looking out the window. There's no railing, and the drop would be certain death -- or worse. So I didn't look out the window. I watched a bunch of R-rated movies they show on the bus, which struck me as odd. Peru is a Catholic country, and there are kids on the bus and boobs on the screen. Go figure. Getting into Chile is a little bit of a process. The bus arrives in the Peruvian town of Tacna. There, you hire a collectivo, which is an ordinary passenger car. The car takes you to the border. You check out of Peru, then get a visa to enter enter Chile. The driver then takes you to the Chilean town of Arica. The driver kind of handles the whole thing for you. I was a little nervous when he took our passports and went inside some building. But he came back and all was well. Arica is a nice beach town, and Chile certainly has a more American feel than Peru. Cars in Chile stay in lanes. The poverty isn't quite as visible as in Peru. There are still markets and such, but there's clearly a different vibe in Chile. The beach looked pretty nice too, but didn't really spend much time there. The visa was the main mission. You do the same collectivo thing to get back to Tacna/Peru, going through customs and getting that all-important 183-day visa. Watched the Hangover and Unknown (in Spanish) on the way back on the bus. Police came onto the bus twice, taking IDs and checking passports. There also was a 30-minute baggage check by police about an hour into the trip.  Travel is serious and time-consuming stuff in Peru. I was happy to get to Arequipa. It felt like home and I celebrated with a combi ride and anticuchos from a street vendor. Nothing like it.

Street meat

I thought it was time for catchier headlines. Actually, I've gotten into the habit of eating meals from street vendors now that I live in the old part of Arequipa (girls at the college say it's the barrio).  I'm eating antichuchos -- in all likelihood it's beef heart -- nightly. It's usually about four pieces of thinly sliced beef on a long thin stick, and has one or two potatoes on top. I'm hooked. It's a good balance to all the fresh fruit I'm eating. And the ladies cooking it are kind enough to take the cigarettes out of their mouths while they hand it to me. Well, some of them do. This is one of the real plusses here ... good food almost falls out of the sky. And it's soooo cheap .... one of those wood skewers costs a sol (27.2 cents).
I've noted many of the positives, but there are clearly some drawbacks. I live right off the main drag and the air is awful. Bus fumes, car fumes, taxi fumes, people fumes, everything. While I'm whining ... walking is part contact sport and part chicken. Who will back down as we approach on the sidewalk (and the sidewalks are very, very narrow)? No one? Then we'll collide. There may be a Spanish word for excuse me, but it's never spoken. On the little buses called combis,  which are a cheaper and better way to get around than taxis, it's no shock to have some stranger's arse in your farse. Forget personal space here. If you need your three feet, leave town for the day.
Teaching grammar is a bit of a challenge. Applying terminology to phrases that are instinct for me isn't so easy to do for students who don't speak English. But the teaching is going better as I settle in -- I'm able to lesson plan.  The student I tutor has just arrived so I'm signing off. After class, some queso helado. Look it up.

You can't get there from here

I got an invitation to an Arequipa restaurant opening Saturday. The invitation included a map with a red block showing where the restaurant was located. For the record, it was on Acunsion, which is simply Ejercito extended. I guess it's 3 or 4 miles from my apartment. At 5 p.m., I get on a bus which has Ejercito on the window, but when I'm in a sketchy part of town I'm told it's not going where I need to go. The driver's "assistant" (most buses have these guys who collect fares and yell out the door) tells me to get out in sketch town and walk a few blocks and catch another bus. Or I think that's what he said. Like a good gringo, I do what I'm told. I'm walking and see no buses with Ejercito or any streets I recognize on the window, so I flag a taxi. I show the driver the map, and he's asking questions, but I'm not picking up what he's asking. Regardless, I get in, and away we go. He wants 8 soles, the most I've ever paid for a ride here, but it sounds fine to me because it's getting dark and I don't know where the heck I am. We drive for quite a while and I'm a bit nervous because it's all alleys and side streets. (I'm told taxis sometimes kidnap gringos and rob them ... and worse). But sure enough, we reach Ejercito and appear headed to the red block on the map. He takes me to a restaurant, but it's not on Acunsion, but the name of the restaurant matches the name on the invite, so I get out. At the restaurant, they tell me the opening is not there, but down the street and to the right. It's dark now and I'm walking streets I don't know in a part of town I don't know. I ask two guys at a gas station and they tell me to head back the way I came and turn down some street. I do that for a bit, but get a funny vibe and ask a mom and daughter who are headed my way. She says I'm headed in the wrong direction and need to walk about 12 blocks the other way. I walk those 12 blocks and bumble into the opening, but the person I was meeting wasn't there. So I start walking the 3 miles or so to town. Along the way I see a bus with Ejercito on the window, and get a ride that takes me within a quarter-mile of my apartment. On the way to my place, I stopped and bought street food -- five pieces of meat and a potato on a stick -- for 1 sol (27.3 U.S. cents). Home by 7:10, minus about 11 soles, and in for the night.

Hard to picture

I had my first real bummer of the trip when my camera got stolen. Let my guard down for a moment, and guess what. Knowing that you could get your jock itch stolen here, I should have been more diligent. That's my bad (one of the idioms I'm teaching my students). Lesson learned and time to move on, and besides, it's replaceable. When I get a new camera, I'll post more pictures. On the plus side, and I'm finding more and more plusses each day here, I found a place to live. It's a single room with bathroom, cable, internet for about $200 U.S. a month, or 500 soles a month if you're a currency junkie. There's a shared kitchen, but it's kind of small. So what. The place is right in the middle of everything in Arequipa, and halfway between the college and main office where I work. My landlord Juan seems very cool. I'm understanding the taxi system a bit as well. You're always quoted a price that's a sol or two above market value. If you don't know market value, you pay. If you do, the taxi driver almost always comes down when you name your price. You use ATMs here just like the U.S., which is nice, and they offer both Spanish and English, just the like the U.S. My Spanish has a ways to go, but is improving. I'm able to bumble through a conversation and usually get my point across, and understand some of what is said. I was able to converse enough with Juan to get the apartment deal done. The longer I'm here the more I like it. Hope that trend continues. The other teachers are cool, and we share strangers in a strange land stories. Time to lesson plan.

Get to work

The institute I'm working for needed me to teach right away, which is great, although I came early to kind of ease in. I have two classes I'm finishing up and will tutor a student as well. Brisk pace here at the institute with lots of students coming and going. I'm still trying to learn my way around town, and like I've noted, it's all about the taxis. Looking for a place, and I've been told that one-room setups with shared kitchen run about 450 soles a month. For a reference, $40 got me 109 soles at the bank today, so the prices here are pretty reasonable, although the dollar is sinking against the sol.  Still marveling at the food ... ate one of the greatest mangos I've ever had yesterday -- ate the whole dang thing and it was huge. It cost 4 soles and was well worth it. Internet is a tad slow here but at least I'm able to post and was finally able to call my dad on skype today, although the connection wasn't the greatest. Off to class.

Off the bus

Made it to Arequipa after 16 hours on the bus from Lima. And it was every bit of 16 hours. The bus never exceeded 95 KMH, and averaged about 65-70 KMH, if that. A snorer sat next to me and a kid with whooping cough (or something worse) was behind. I'm sure I did my share of snoring as well, so all's fair.  My boss picked me up at the bus station, and I explored the city center a little. Wonderful ice cream, cool central market (where change back from a purchase is always a controversy). The fruit, veggies, grains, meats all looked great for a very reasonable price, if you pay attention to your change. Food in Peru is really good, so far. Weather is not too shabby either ... cool in the morning, warm in the afternoon, cool again at night. Very bright sun. I seemed to have adjusted OK to the altitude. Had a headache the first day, but Sunday walked about 5K and felt fine. Enjoyed ceviche for dinner (a fish dish with onions, peppers, spices and sweet potato). My attempts at spanish are keeping the locals laughing, and I definitely have some work to do in that regard. I got a few odd looks Sunday, especially when I got lost and wandered into a little farming neighborhood.  A nice man directed me to the nearest calle. I'm reporting to work tomorrow and will begin looking for an apartment, so it's time to sign off and mourn the loss of the U.S. women's soccer team. Peru, however, beat Colombia 1-0 on sabado.

Lima

The flight from JFK was remarkably smooth and included two meals. Can´t beat that. The big excitement was the cab ride from the Lima airport to the bus station. It seemed like a free for all on the roads, with drivers ignoring road signs, other cars, traffic lights. They didn´t ignore their horns, which are beeping constantly. Amazingly, I did not see any accidents, but I  saw,  honestly, about 20 to 30 really close calls. My driver was awesome, rarely taking his eyes off the prize (any open space he could squeeze through). I imagine all big cities operate this way, but this was even a cut above the New York and L.A. traffic I´ve been involved in. It was something else. Also, there´s quite a bit of trash on the street, which takes some getting used to. Regardless, folks are pretty nice so far. Not many English speakers, but they´re very patient with my very humble attempts at Spanish. Had an excellent coffee, wonderful shredded chicken sandwich (with crunchy french fries and a fresh tomato on it), and papaya smoothie for about $4.50 U.S. at the bus station. Weather is very Calif.-like, with overcast skies and cool temps in the a.m. burning off and warming up in the p.m. No complaints so far. This place looks great. We´ll see how I feel after the 16-hour bus ride to Arequipa.

Philly airport

At the Philly airport ... my bag was too heavy by 5 pounds so I transferred books to my carry-on and came in exactly at 50.0 lbs.-- the limit. If it's 50.1 lbs. you pay another $90.  I'll be waiting around a lot ... fly to laguardia and then take a bus to JFK for flight to Lima. Have to check in my 50-pound bag again at JFK. Lady at check-in in Philly was very nice when my passport swipe didn't take. Maybe business is down -- all the Philly airport folk were nice. Internet connection at the airport is free, but very slow. That's OK since I've got time. The lady next to me is texting while working on her computer and talking with a bluetooth. Now that's connected. Absolutely awesome weather in Del. today. Wished I could have stayed one more day since all previous days were hot hot hot. Enough drivel. I'm off to buy expensive airport drinks. I did have a Charcoal Pit cheesesteak before the limo picked me up.

Delaware in July

This isn't Delaware, Ohio. It's Delaware, as in the first state and home of scrapple. I'm staying at my dad's non-air conditioned house, with the temperature around 90 and the humidity in the same neighborhood. Only 10 days until I go to Peru. I gave my cat to my buddy Ron yesterday, and it was a pretty sad moment. My out-of-its-mind ferrel cat from Glen Helen was finally starting to behave like a pet. I'll miss that beast. I saw Vic and Wayne on my way out the door of Y.S., and we had a couple of good yuks. Of course, stopped in  on the Sturm(inator) before leaving town, and he gave me a couple of large waters that were essential to surviving the long drive to Del. Tying up some loose ends and working on my dad's house until I leave.  Also, I'm getting crushed nightly by my new MacBook's chess game.

Almost off the grid

Now that my cable TV, cell phone, and internet have been shut down,  I guess I am really leaving Y.S. I'm not quite off the grid, however; I hang out at wifi spots to check email, pay bills and such.  All the recent blogs I've seen on Peru mostly mention the scary stuff.  Don't you hate that? You can find something scary about any place, even Y.S.
The house is just about ready for the renters -- again, thanks to my son Alec for helping. A little touch-up paint today, some cleaning this week, and I'll be heading to my dad's in Delaware. From there, it's Philly to N.Y. to Lima, then the big bus ride to Arequipa. I still might buy a plane ticket in Lima, depending on cost. It's $250 if you buy the ticket here, so I'll wait on that one. I'm typing this in my car in the parking lot at a wifi spot, and people are kind of wondering ... so I think I'll move on to the next hot spot.

Cleanup crew needed

I didn't realize how much junk I accumulated in Y.S. in 9 years. Unloaded most of the stuff at a couple of yard sales held by my wonderful neighbor Jean.  I've been getting the house ready for the renters, and of course, the house was never this nice when I lived in it. That's always seems to be the case when you move. Some of the jobs I put off for six years ... and I was able to take care of them in a few hours this past week. What a chucklehead I am! Can't wait to get on the plane for Peru. That'll mean all the housework in Y.S. in over. Checked the weather in Arequipa this week and it's 76 in the day, 48 at night. No rain in sight. My cat has been pretty nervous watching all the furniture get hauled out, and seeing the boxes stacking up. Animals know when you're leaving.

All systems going

Kitty has a new home, with my friend Ron "the organic mechanic" Whiteside in Elkton, Md. And my home has been rented. Still got a lot of junk to take care of, but Arequipa is in sight.

Cat for free

If anyone wants an aggressive, 19-pound, all black cat, I've got one to give. Gotta find Kitty a home before I head out.

Getting started

I've committed to a lifestyle change by taking a teaching job in Peru. Still need to rent the house, and do a whole bunch of stuff. But that's OK. I'm also committed to putting things off until they absolutely have to get done.