On traveling to South America

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********THIS IS MY VERY FIRST ENTRY THAT I COULDN´T SAVE BEFORE FOR WHATEVER REASON....SO SOME OF THE STUFF IS REPEATED IN THE NEXT ONE!!********


Wow, I don´t even know where to start. Really. One day, and I have incredible stories.
To begin with though-I haven´t figured out this Peruvian keyboard yet, and as usual, I´m in a rush...so excuse all the mistakes por favor. And there will be many.
So, thanks to Brookie and Steve, I got from Chicago to LA without a hitch....LA was a little confusing. Huge airport.
I started speaking Spanish in LA....South American airline. Left English behind awhile ago, and my head is aching.
Getting to El Salvador was cool-flew over lots of jungle and volcanoes. The airport is close to the ocean....looks a lot like Iowa. Flat, agriculture...except more tropical with dirt roads and shacks. Little kids playing football. (Football=soccer).
Hmm, I had so many things I wanted to write about in my head....
Well, so. My flight from San Salvador to Lima got delayed for 3 hours...this wasn´t so bad. The airport was actually fairly clean. This boy named Jimmy came over and sat next to me...and I thought it would be nice to have someone to talk to but pretty soon, for whatever reason, Jimmy was a little smitten and was asking how many kids I wanted to have someday. I decided that I had some things to do (yes, I had many things to do in the El Salvador airport) and escaped to go wander around. The guy and I later became friends actually...little Jimmy seemed to get the message although he was tearing up as I left him at the airport and quickly scooted away. Oh poor Jimmy. He was helpful though...he´s originally from Lima.
So I traveled for over 24 hours...and I coughed that entire time. The family can comprehend this one....the poor people on the plane absolutely hated me. And I was hating myself. I went through two bags of cough drops, water, mints, gum, cough syrup....but guess what? I really am such a genius that I decided to put my inhaler in my checked bag. Was definitely short of breath on that little airplane. Hacking, gagging....pretty miserable.
Ricardo, the man that picked me up from the airport was awesome. He brought his wife and son along to greet me. His wife was absolutely the nicest person I have ever met. In fact, all the Peruvian people I´ve met so far are so accomodating and sweet.
So Ricardo gave me a little tour of the airport; and by little I mean quite extensive. It was helpful though...but having this man speak Spanish at me and asking me question after question- it was hard. I had just traveled 24 hours, and had been coughing and sucking in air for about 23 of those...and to have this man talking fast Spanish at me in a busy airport was a little too much. He quickly realized this though and then they were all really nice. They were so concerned about my coughing! It was semi-hilarious. "Necesita ir...do you need to go to the hospital? We need to get you to the doctor. Do you antibioticos? Pills? That´s deep in your chest...it needs to be pounded out etc. etc." Constant constant-had to keep reassuring them I was fine.
Anyways, having them pick me up was great. They were so excited to see an American and were telling everyone I was Miss Iowa. ("Iowa is by Colorado, right? Lots of corn?") Hiroshima nearly dropped when I said I was fine carrying my own bag though....after the silence and shock, Ricardo quickly whispered in my ear that maybe in America women can carry their own bags...but not here. Oops. So long for being overly-independent.
Transition...
The man running my hostel is such a sweetheart. Seriously. He fed me this HUGE breakfast...well, for Brooke and I it would appear to be huge. First he brought me out some papaya and fresh squeezed juice, which I was really happy about...thanking him. But then came the rolls, and the cheese and the tea...I had to stop him though because he was about to start frying me eggs. Anyways, he just came over and scooped out a big cup of honey from the comb...it´s for the cough he says. Very sweet. And currently the man is making me tea made out of cocaine leaves. This should be interesting. They recommend it for sickness though.
Ahh! I can´t get my thoughts together. I´m sort of in shock to tell you the truth. I´m suddenly sitting admist palm trees and shacks...
Anyways, I hope you forgive my terrible writing! I´ve got so many things going through my head...and now I have to head out to catch my bus to the Andes!
Love to you,
Paigey.
Oh, I´ve been reading "On the Road". Trying to slow myself down so I didn´t read it all in one sitting. PERFECT book for right now. Plus, speaking of mad people....I definitely have been encountering mad people.
My...I´m still really tired.
BUT good!

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