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Published: August 12th 2008
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awesome painting
In the bathroom at the great steak place. I didn´t take many pics of doing nothing, so here´s the only 2 I have... I woke up Sunday morning at 6:30am (a whopping 4 hours of sleep this time) and debated rolling out of bed or going back to sleep. Sunday was supposed to be a big white water rafting trip in a town about 3 hours away by bus. I had been debating it for the last few days. With 1 wk down without any breaks, and 2 weeks coming up with no breaks in sight, I was dying to just do nothing for a while. I kept debating all the way through getting up, taking a shower, and getting dressed. After wrestling for a while (it was supposed to be great weather out there, plus really fun, plus everyone was going, plus I could sleep on the bus), I finally decided not to go.
Turns out there were about 6 of us who didn´t go (but only 3 were social -- the rest were old guys who kept to their own little group, which was fine with us). I leisurely had breakfast (it´s so good, but so dangerous! I can´t believe how much I´ve eaten on this trip... I´m afraid to weigh myself... hopefully all the walking and lack of snacks makes
a shout out
Coney Island! And if you look closely you can see the skeeball in the background. too funny... it break even). Then retired to my room to roll around in the down bed and watch some tv. I read for a little bit then took a nice nap. It was nice that I was already showered, but I still didn´t feel like doing anything. I didn´t even feel like walking to the mall (which I was dying to do). I had all these grand plans of finishing the tour of Lima with a couple of things we left out, but ended up staying in bed then finally mustering the energy to go to the grocery store. There´s a very nice Peruvian version of a whole foods or trader joes, just down the street. I called up one of the other guys who stayed behind and we walked the half block to pick up a few things. Ended up getting a big bottle of chilean wine and a big bottle of peruvian wine, which we have yet to drink. Hopefully a good story will come from that one. I stopped at the pharmacy on the way back (it´s literally right next door to the hotel), and tried to buy some mascara (the only item I forgot at home). I can´t tell you how ineffecient that was. Behind the counter is just about every prescription drug you could imagine, all over the counter. They also had a few items like makeup and feminine hygiene products that were sold in the same manner. The process is very convoluted (and I´m really not sure what it accomplishes). First you wait in line to tell someone what you want. He pulls it aside and gives you a little ticket. You don´t get your item. Then you wait in another line with your ticket so you can pay for the item. You still don´t get your item. Then you wait in another line with your new receipt so you can pick up your item. I was like "Can I just get my freakin tube of mascara please?!" After a much too involved trip, I finally had my mascara and was headed back up to my room.
A little more relaxing, and a little more tv, and I was downstairs blogging while waiting for dinner. (I´ve found that the blog is more convenient than a journal and in the end is a work of art, but can sometimes be a big pain in the ass when writing it. I´m glad you all appreciate it!) The 4 of us who were left (the 4 social ones anyway) met up and walked to the mall for dinner. Lucky for us, one of the 4 was Dr. Martin who is our group leader, and used to live here. He took us to this amazing Argentinian beef place. I haven´t been eating much meat lately (just hasn´t been sitting right, and sometimes downright making my nauseus). I had been embracing my crunchy granola side, but that´s hard to do in another country. I went with everyone not intending to eat much (still satiated from my huge brunch), but it looked so good, I caved. I can´t believe how good it was. Put ruth chris and mortons WAY to shame. Was the juciest, tenderest, tastiest, most amazing piece of meat I may have ever had. And Dr. Martin knew the waiter so we had great service with amazing food. It was really incredible! La Vaca Loca. A must when in Miraflores (though a bunch of other people went there tonight and said the service was aweful). We took our time coming back and even stopped at the Atlantic City casino across the street for the much talked about ice cream. The gelato there was actually pretty good (if a bit overpriced compared to local prices at s/ 5 which equals about $1.75. My point of view of what things should cost has really changed -- overall stuff is much cheaper here). They had exotic fruit flavors, the likes of which I couldn´t even pronounce, much less have ever had before. We walked back across the street licking our dripping ice cream cones.
Sometime while we were at dinner, everyone else had finally come back. Sounds like they had a great time rafting, had a great lunch, and stopped for a pretty amazing dinner on the way home. But they didn´t get back until 8:30 at night. In retrospect, I´m very glad I stayed behind. It was a much-needed rest from the vacation. haha No, seriously. It was nice to be on my own schedule, just hanging out and relaxing, and taking a break from some of the strong personalities on the trip. Some good alone time. It was very hard to go to bed that night knowing I´d have to wake up the next morning and be back on a schedule. 😞 I always try to make the most of my time when I´m traveling, which usually means sacrificing sleep. I am able to work a lot in that way, and just sleep a lot when I come home. The downside is that it only really works in short bursts. We´ll see if 3wks is short enough... Here it is almost midnight, and I´m still up, proving my point (I have to get up at 6am tomorrow.) I´m off to sink into a plush, downy haven for the night -- rolling around as much as possible and trying to use as much of the bed I can. I think I´ll sleep diagonally tonight.
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Mom
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Sounds like a wonderful day of R and R. Can't wait for the next installment. How is this week shaping up? Keep up the good work, have fun and be safe. Love you.