Guayaquil to Lima

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Turning down the Colombian and his repeated begging to stay in Cuenca, I was off to Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city. My friend Andrea lives there and I was so happy to be seeing her, I was smiling and bouncing down the street when I finally heard her voice on the phone! It just happened to be the perfect time for both of us, and we had a lot of catching up to do.

Andrea lives in the newly formed American-style suburbs of Guayas. The house she lives in is a long structure with 4 'apartments' belonging to her family and their help. So even though they are together in a sense, they all have their private space. Andrea's space is bare, hardly any furniture, white, with lots of windows overlooking the yard which runs the length of the house, with lots of palm, mango, and guayaba trees. There is a pool too!

I stayed with Andrea for about a week, and it was just what I needed! Leisurely mornings with coffee and amazing brown bread croissants, yoga, hammocks, and one of my best friends. It was also really nice to be in a house again after all the hostels and buses!! She took me to the yoga studio where she and her friends practice, and after a few little foot massage, I was on my way to several new clients!! Andrea has a table, so we made some appointments and before I knew it I was doing bodywork again!!

We also arranged an Anatomy for Yoga workshop for Andrea and her friends. We spent the weekend laughing a lot about the body systems in Spanish and English! The group was amazing, and we all got a lot out of it. It was great to make some money, since I was down to the last dollars!!

But it wasn't all work!! Andrea (who doesn't go out a lot) was my city tour guide, and we went to all the 'new' parts of Guayaquil (the whole city little by little is being reconfigured). One area used to be called the 'hill of thieves' is now an amazing mix of residential with shops and bars on a large hill consisting of over 400 steps where you can walk to the top and get a great view of the city. And in true Latin fashion, there is a church up at the top too!! One night we went to a bar to see a Radiohead cover band, they were amazing!!! There is something quite special about a room packed with people singing in English where English is not the first language.

After a few days, Andrea and her friends were (also) begging me to stay!!! Makes me wonder exactly how long I can travel for, while just stopping for a few days to work a little, and then keep going..i imagine forever!

I was not looking forward to leaving Guayaquil for Lima, mostly because it is a 25 hour bus journey! I charged my Ipod, bought some yummy snacks and hugged my good friend goodbye for now. Luckily the bus was not full and even though we arrived 2 hours late in Lima, it was good to be back in Peru. We passed through some of the same route as I had been before. How strange it was to be looking out of the bus window and recognizing where you were just a short time ago.

Arriving in Lima, I finally reached my friend Pepe's house. Pepe is a true bachelor, complete with messy apartment, and bare refrigerator. As he was leaving for Trujillo for work, I had the place to myself for the remainder of my stay. Pepe's friend Andreas (nickname Moche) was happy to take the responsibility for showing me around the huge city of Lima.

Lima is a coastal city of about 10 million. It is broken up into districts such as Barranco, Jesus Maria, and the affluent Miraflores. Moche took me all over to the lesser touristy parts of town and we had such an amazing time! Moche is one of the most fun people I have ever had the pleasure of hanging out with and I can't even imagine Lima would be the same for me if it had been otherwise! We visited a privately-owned reservation only museum (free) with many Peruvian artifacts from Inca, Chimu, and Moche civilizations. This amazing collection (in supreme condition!!) included ceramics, jewelry and even textiles. It was better than any museum I had been to in Peru.

One Sunday night, we went to this big park where every Sunday, they have dancing water displays, complete with lights and music. For only one dollar, you can wander around the park with all the other Limeno families and see the incredible displays. There was also a concert featuring the newest winner of the Latin American Idol, who just happened to be from Lima, and the whole of Peru was celebrating!

As all good things come to an end, I packed my bags and headed to the airport where I had my first Cusquena, oh just one more for good measure before I head back to my beloved Miami Beach and my beautiful friends. How lucky I am indeed !!

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