I had a lovely two weeks with the ladies. We went gallavanting through the jungle, ate guinea pig, and had many bus bathroom adventures together. Not everything was sunshine and roses, however. What is, really?

We had a hell of a time crossing the border from Ecuador into Peru. It was definitely in the top 10 of sketchy experiences in my life. Laura said it was a lot like Tiajuana, and though I have never been there, I think she's probably right. Basically everyone was coming at us from all directions trying to rip us off, lie to us, or touch our boobs, or more than one of the above at the same time. Long and annoying story short, we totally got ripped off by a taxi driver charging us like 800 times what he said he was going to originally, but at that point it was sort of too late because he had our packs in his trunk and we were driving down the highway. I felt totally retarded about the whole situation because I was the one who was actually talking to this people, and I hate confrontation, and still, after all this time, I prefer to assume that people are nice and honest and good, when in fact this is not always the case, especially not in Tiajuana.

Anyhoo. Eventually we got to our destination beach town of Mancora on the northcoast, and everything was cool for a while..that is until we went to the beach. We were laying out, all three of us, working on our tans, and at some point some facist stole Laura's bag from riiiiiiight beside her head. The balls, I tell you! This was not a good introduction to Peru. Then, the next day, when we were swimming in the ocean, Laura got stung by a sting ray! We had to go to the emergency room and everything. At this point though everything was just going so badly, it just had to be funny. Besides it's a totally hardcore story that she can tell for years to come, and hopefully it will leave a bitchin' scar.

Besides THAT though, Mancora was cool. We rented a boogie board. I think I have a natural gift. I picked it up right away. We rented it two days in a row and by the end of the second day you could basically say I was already an expert. The surfing though..that's another story. We rented a surfboard too, a really huge training one that had this squishy padding on it so when it bonked you in the head you wouldn't get a concussion. And I think it tried to kill me. Perhaps surfing lessons are in order. I might do that one of these here days soon in Huanchaco.

Yes, I have made it to Huanchaco, my homebase for the next two months. After I left Laura and Maresa (They continued on back to Ecuador, lived through many more adventures at the border, and made it all the way to the Galapagos, the happiest place on earth) I travelled down south and spent a few days visiting some archeological sites near Chiclayo with this Argetine girl I met on the bus whom I couldn't actually understand at all. I sort of pretended I did, but I swear to God, I had no clue what she was talking about most of the time, her accent was so strong. Eventually though I toddled off on my own down to Trujillo, and from there, to Huanchaco.

Which is where I am right now. This town is pretty cool. A surfer's paradise. And if I get off my bum, I might just try to learn. But after the last board tried to eat me, I'm not sure I want to. Basically I've been concentrating on working on my tan instead. I'm volunteering at this sort of disorganized English school, but at the moment I only have one class, though I might pick up more. I'm also volunteering at this boy's home here in town, a place for some kids who used to live on the street. I'm trying to get plugged in to the social life, but I still feel a bit on the outside. I have met a lot of cool people, but unfortunately a bunch of them are just about to leave! This town is pretty chill though and the Peruvians are pretty nice, sometimes, too nice...

Yea the guys are way, way sketchier here than they are in Ecuador, it's weird. I think it's a coastal thing, but I also think Peru is sketchier in general. That has been my impression anyway. You cannot, simply cannot, walk anywhere without some man, often fat, old, or toothless, yelling out "GUAPA!!" Or some bad English like, "Ghello my fren, ahy loff joo!" It gets real tiring, real fast. When I'm by myself it's not as bad. I can almost, almost blend in. If I started to wear a bunch of makeup, a crop top, and jeans so tight they make a muffin top, I'd be in there like swim wear. But I'm not willing to do that, so I continue to stand out.

Anyway. Speaking of men. My favorite topic. It took me exactly two and a half days to make out with a Peruvian. I say this after telling you how sketchy they all are. Well, he's a bit sketchy too, but at least he's honest about it. His name is David (Dahveed) and he's the director of the school where I'm working (sex with the boss!). Before I came here and had only read things on the internet, I thought he was going to be an elderly English man, but au contraire mon frere. He is in fact young (younger than me, of course, 24) and cute. Very smart, very funny, and charismatic. And from the way he salsas, I would say he's definitely got the motion in the ocean, if you know what I mean. He actually corrects my Spanish, which nobody has done down here up until this point. Funny and I thought it must have been because I was speaking perfectly the whole time! Apparently not.

Anyhoo. I liked him right away when I met him, and things basically progressed from there. He's a nice guy, but also a self-proclaimed player. But who am I to judge? I DID have sex with Jorge less than a month ago, after all. At least I'm on my next menstrual cycle. So I think we might be starting up a bit of a thing..I mean nothing serious at ALL, and I think we're actually on the same page about that this time. I'm a little afraid I'm going to start liking him too much though. I always like the ones who don't like me! But eh, I'm on vacation, goddamn it.

It's kind of weird though because it has to be kind of a secret. Well, it doesn't HAVE to be, but I sort of live with David's boss, well not boss, but business associate, and with a bunch of other volunteers..anyway, it's a secret. So I can't over analyze it with anyone! Gagh! It being a secret is kind of fun though. Eventually though, if this keeps up, people will probably find out anyway. This IS a small town, after all.

Yesterday was really the first time anything serious went down with him. And eh, it wasn't that serious, but let me tell you this funny story. This embarrassing event has superseded all other embarrasing events that have occurred in South America to claim the number one spot on my life list of embarrassing events.

Okay, so we made plans to "meet up" last night. So we met at 10:30 on the beach and then went walking around a bit, sort of looking for a place to make out basically, since I can't very easily take him home with me. So we found this building under construction that was just perfect for our purposes. We talked for a bit, sort of made sure we were on the same page. And once the formalities were out of the way we started going at it.

You guys. Seriously. How old am I? Going to third base with some random dude in an abandoned building in the middle of the night in Peru? Didn't my mom warn me about situations like this at some point? I felt like I was 14 making out in the back seat of my parents' car. Course I didn't kiss a boy until I was 16, but I IMAGINE this is what it would have been like.

Anyway, so we're getting it on. A few people pass by, but I don't actually think anyone is going to come in. It's like midnight, what would anybody be doing around there? But then, inevitably, it happens. Right in the middle of our passionate embrace, rolling around on the dusty floor, smashed up in between some two by fours and some stray wires, in walks some guy. I have no idea what he was doing there. I think he might have been the owner or something. He probably has to patrol that building every night to make sure something like this doesn't happen.

I freeze. At this point my pants are undone, one of my flip flops has fallen off, and David has his hand up my shirt. The guy doesn't yell at us or anything, and actually I don't understand everything he says, but he says something about this is why SOME people get hotel rooms. We scurry around quickly to put right the situation and get the fuck out of there as fast as we can.
Yea. So about that. Pretty embarrassing. So after that we walk around for a while, talk a bit and stuff. Hopefully there will be a repeat sesh here soon one of these days, hopefully in a more private local. I'll keep you posted.

Oh, and Jorge. About Jorge. He's still in love with me and I don't know what to do. I mean I think he knows I'm not coming back, but I'm still talking to him through email and stuff...which I'm not sure is better or is worse for him. I'm actually supposed to call him in half an hour. I will probably not mention the story I have just told you.

So that's my life in Peru so far. I'm still settling in, not sure how I feel about being here two months yet...We'll see. I like Ecuador more. Peru smells like pee. Basically everywhere. Because it never rains here, and there's lots of dogs not to mention men peeing in the street all the time. But there are interesting things about the culture too. And not everyone is sketchy..today I went to some ruins with some of my students, that was fun. We went to Lucy's grandmother's house where she had a bunch of guinea pigs in pens, fattening them up to eat. They're actually quite tasty. But I was somehow expecting that the ones you eat wouldn't be as cute as the one's we have as pets..but no, they're just as cute. Peru, I have also found out, has this special breed of hairless dog, which they actually call the perro peruano. It's like their national mascot. And it's the ugliest animal I've ever seen. My students were telling me that there are actually laws protecting this specific breed of dog, because it's like endangered or something. Apparently they've existed here for centuries. Their urine is supposed to be therapeutic, and their body temperature is higher than that of a normal dog, so old people with arthritis often have them to lay over their feet and stuff. There is actually a law saying that at all these archeological sites they have around here, they have to have at least one of these hairless dogs. Is that not the weirdest thing?

Anyway, those are my most recent adventures. I have to go call Jorge now.