My first full day in Lima was a bunch of muddling through Español, pero luckily I've gotten to the threshold of 'I understand basically everything you're saying, I just talk like a three year old in response'. I look upon it as improvment. I visited the beach and, early in the morning, met a bunch of nice old men sitting out there on buckets. They invited me over to join them and I practiced all I could. And it kept on like that. Meet some nice people, practice Español. Rinse and repeat. All day long. I got a few 'Tu miras Jesus! (you look like Jesus)' while my hair was down, and while it was nothing out of the ordinary it was much more hilarious in Spanish. Got a few more 'guapos' and catcalls too. For some reason I find this one of the funnier things ever. Mostly because I remember, back when I was recently in the real world, there was this person who posted this video about role reversal with catcalls and how funny it'd be on Facebook. Then I come here and get to actually experience it, and yeah, it's as funny as you'd imagine.
Marcus, whos house I was staying at, was having another surfer stay at his house. The new surfer was from Colombia and his name was Jordy. This was more than good because Jordy speaks no English at all. Nada. So me and Jordy got to hang out for a full day and I just practiced my little heart out. And I'm getting better. It's kind of fun being on the end of not speaking the language well, I feel like in America people get so entitled that everyone should speak English and they lose their patience when someone doesn't speak it well. Every once in a while everyone needs a little humility to put 'em back in their place and the better of us can enjoy it. I learned all about Colombia and where to go and what to do and all about these other places and Español as a language from Jordy that day. I enjoyed it greatly.
The next day me and Jordy left Lima together. He to Cusco and I to Ica (because that's where the wind is currently blowing), but Ica was on his way to Cusco so we got to experiment with the bus system together. Basically we were told 'go find the green and yellow bus, then take it to Mexico' and that's what we did. This bus was more like a really really really really crappy city bus in America. But I guarantee the driver was 100 times better than any driver from the tame streets of America. Because this was Grand Theft Auto style driving, nothing to hold us back other than we didn't use the flying cars cheat.
Took over an hour to get to Mexico (not the country) and once there we didn't know what to do. Apparently there was a ticket here to Ica for dirt cheap. The tickets at the main bus terminal are 90 sols ($30), we found a terminal here for 30 sols ($10). But even that wasn't good enough. We asked around and were directed to a man on a corner. Shadier than a palm tree (how's that for a simile!?), and he scratched some stuff down on a piece of paper for us. We then walked back to the EXACT same station that was selling tickets for 30 sols and got our tickets for 20 sols. Like what? Why? We didn't understand, but that's all good! I call it another learning experience about the inner workings of Limas bus system. Bueno.
And then we were in Ica. Jordy went his way and I mine. I had to wait until 10pm to meet the guy I was staying with. So I goofed off and met some nice people at this coffee shop that kept giving me free coffee and cookies. Ica is a cool city, but people don't go to Ica for Ica. They go for Huacachina.
Werther met me at 10 in the Plaza de Armas. He's a super cool guy who teaches English to adults here. I learned all about the area and then he showed me how to get to his extra house I'd have all to myself. And I slept pretty damn well that night, but there was still the ever present stress of the waiting game. I dared not stray too far from Lima, but I was exhausting my options of nearby opportunities. Huacachina was the last chance to be entranced for at least a few days and hopefully only a few days ye know? So I fell asleep with Huacachina, the desert oasis only 4km away, on my mind.
It was exactly what I'd imagined. A little piece of paradise tucked inside the desert of Peru. And I spent the next two days chilaxing in the shade drinking Coca-colas and cervezas.
Then I got the message. The waiting game was over. At the soonest possible time on two accounts. It was over. It was time to set the gears into action and work some magic. That's how I was off, back to Lima. Why back to Lima? You're gonna have to wait to find out ;)
Be Happy,
Beacon
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