Lima!!!

So we arrived and now I want to speak solely in Spanish. It is incredible here!!! The people are so willing to help you, and are so willing to let you help them as much as is possible. I cannot get over drastic differences between here and America. I realize that I am flying all over the place but I want you to get a little taste of what is going on in my head right now. I cannot even think about things outside of here so consuming and inviting is the culture. I expect there will be a storming and normalizing period, I think I even had a mini one today where I tired of speaking in a foreign language and just wanted to sit and do nothing, but after that I had an hour and a half conversation with a Peruvian student of English in a park not too far from one of the local churches where I hope to attend mass tomorrow morning.

Life here is so great already, there are some adjustments, obviously, but the best of these is having to speak a foreign language at all times. In that way you are fully immersed in the culture and all there is. I want to give a quick overview of all that has transpired and so I will, but there will be much more to read later. The flight from Ohare to Atlanta went so very fast, probably because I slept for most of it, then I explored Atlanta which is a tremendous place during my 8 hour layover there. I met up with almost our whole Peru group at the airport and we flew out together for Lima at about 5pm. We arrived, survived customs, baggage check, and finding our bus to the hotel, then collapsed. I awoke around 9am, ate, and jumped on a bus tour that ultimately led us to a tour of the Convent of San Francisco where there were paintings, sculptures, yet most importantly las catacumbas or catacombs. Bones everywhere, and the strangest part was that it made sense, in truth there have been few times that I have felt uncomfortable here. From there we explored the shopping places, the coast, ate for 1.50US, then proceeded on the hotel. After a brief respite, fully recharged we went out where I bought and consumed my first Inca Kola which is excellent by the way. The other bebida here is Pisco sour, but they supposedly serve them daily in Arequipa so I await that to find out what it is like. After that we ate in an excellent restaurant, which again was quite cheap, then proceeded on to the park where we encountered Denny, Antonio and the other students of English and had a long and fruitful conversation amidst those who solicited our money. There are a lot of those by the way. And you definitely need to take care with your papeles.

There is so much to say, but all I can say for now is I am off to bed, there will be more to come. May God bless you all, ¡hasta pronto!