Eternally stuck in Perú. Or at least airports.

First of all, some responses to some past comments, which I never actually do.

Ian: Thank you for that suggestion, though I think Oprah's book club is a bit too out of reach. Though I have decided that if I ever did decided to take this all and spice it up a bit, it would be called, "Young, Dumb, and Looking for Fun: How to Survive in Perú at the Ripe Old Age of 18".

Uncle Gerry: Yes, I should've listened to you. And therefore, we may be looking at Spain for a next trip. Spanish will still be utilized, and yet, the safety will be a lot higher. After all, how can the locals be angry when they take siestas every afternoon?


So I'll open with saying that this post will be shorter than normal, considering how much I have to catch you all up on. And the reason why is because Harry (my laptop of course. Harry Potter, HP computer, get it? heh heh...) decided to go caputz on me, and will not start up. Henceforth, I can't type up my blogs at home the night before as I usually do, and can only update from internet cafes, which I have to pay for. SIGH. I try to update from home, but our monitor is dying a slow death, along with our router. Oh the shenanigans!

Still, I come to you right now from some janky internet café across from Máximo with a super abridged version of my past week.


Wednesday:
- We all called our respective projects and teachers and told them we wouldn't be in for the whole week. I can assure you that after 52 hours of terror, wanting to stay close to homebase is all one can think about. Lounging in your pjs in a familiar place all of a sudden takes priority.
- I finished Harry Potter finally. =) I'm finally somewhat in the loop lol.
- Jake went to go fill out his police report for insurance purposes today, and went to the tourist police. Before he left, we agreed I would be his witness. We decided to say that the theft happened on Tuesday, so that it would fit within the 24 hour limit of reporting a theft. So Jake comes back home as I'm reading, knocks on my door, and tells me the police officer is here. Shocked that he came back with Jake, I go downstairs, a little nervous. The officer starts to question me, and I go along, telling him exactly how I remember hearing it from Jake. However, when we get to the time that it happened, he reveals to me that Jake eventually told him it happened on Monday, and that lying about that sort of thing can be considered fraud. Jake starts to feel really bad, and starts pleading with the officer, telling him that he asked me to lie for him, and to please keep me out of trouble. Now I suppose that at some point of growing up in the "inner city" lol, my wires got crossed, and my common sense isn't totally in tact. Instead of being scared about the fact that I could go to jail or anything, I'm more offended that the guy could even suggest sending Jake and I to jail for fraud. So I start giving him a mini attitude, raising my eyebrow as I speak, and all of these things, completely unknowingly. Only after the police officer goes up to Jake's room and starts going through his things (making sure he's not just hiding the camera) do I start freaking out to Luke. "Oh my gosh! I can't believe I just gave a police officer so much attitude! What if I prevent Jake from getting the police report signed? What have I done, Luke?" But Luke assures me that I reacted naturally, and that the officer was merely doing his job as well. The police officer and Jake return, heading off to the police station. Oddly enough, the officer tells us that in another circumstance, he would love to practice his English with us.
- We go out to lunch at Jack's as a farewell to Luke, who left later that afternoon. I indulged in bean and cheese tortillas with guac, sour cream and pico de gallo. Trust that it was finished quite quickly, and finished off with a chocolate cake shared by all. Jake arrives to lunch late, as he had to fill out more things at the police station. I profusely apologize at the fact that I may have diminished his chances at success, but he assures me everything was settled, and apologizes for making me lie. In the end, we're all okay because the officer signed the papers, and we're all still free women and men.
- When we got home, I dyed Liz's hair, which she wanted darker than her current red auburn. She's planning on getting some dreads here, and thinks a dark brown would be a safer bet. We made Jake sit in to watch, as he may have to do it when Liz needs a touch up and I'm back home in the states. It was real funny actually at how intent he was at learning, making sure to clarify each step.
- Later that night, we head out to Pub Quiz as always. However, the only available spot is the couch that everyone always warns us about. But there are no more open spots, so we sit down. We all are nearly passed out by the end of the fourth round, and can barely keep our eyes open. I'm pretty sure that one of us has a picture of Jake, Yoeun and I in a sleep train on the couch, each person's head on another's shoulder.
- When the quiz is over, we all want to head home, but Liz reminds us that we agreed to go out for Thai food. Grudgingly, we follow her to Indigo, and grab a couple of different curries and noodles. We couldn't even Jenga tonight, because we all agreed we didn't have the fine motor skills necessary with this level of sleepiness.
- We walk it off on the way home, and crash IMMEDIATELY.

Thursday:
- Thursday was Pisac Market day, so Yoeun, Jake and I took the bus there. The market was pretty nice, though the prices were so much more expensive than Cusco, which is the exact opposite of what I had heard. Still, I was able to squeeze in some souvenir shopping, which only reminded me that I'm leaving way sooner than I'd like to.
- We had a fantastic lunch at this little café there, all for 8.5 soles. It was the "house menu", and included a soup or salad, plus ají de gallina with rice, plus a dessert. We also threw in a brownie cheesecake in the end, whch was to die for. Oh how I love Peruvian prices!!!
- When we got back home, we just relaxed until getting ready to go out for dinner. Again. Tonight was deemed Korean BBQ tonight, which ended up being closed. However, we weren't deterred, and just headed to the Indian restaurant instead. And oh, am I happy we did! It turns out that for some Indian Christmas holiday...they cut all of the prices in half. Each main dish was only 10 soles, and each bread dish was only 5 soles. I got the chicken curry, which was so bomb over rice! I know, shocker, yes? Me eating rice? But with Indian food, it became my best friend. We all played it family style, sampling each other's dishes here and there. The night ended with our stuffed bellies walking home.

Friday:
- Today I meant to make it out of the house, but instead I stayed home all of the morning, making phone calls home. By the way, everyone's envious that I'm able to talk to my parents for a whole 4 or so hours. I just tell them that the closeness can't be achieved by anyone outside of my family, haha.
- After lunch, it was bungee jumping time, and Marco and Yoco drove us over. The place was kind of random though, and not at all what I expected. I suppose since it's referred to as an action theme park, I was expecting a mini Great America. This wasn't the case though, and it sort of disillusioned me from the jump. Still, the boys went, and enjoyed it a whole bunch. I ended up chickening out though because it was super cold and windy, and not the conditions I want to jump into. I'm still thinking of doing it before I leave though, if for nothing more than bragging rights. After all, it IS the 4th highest jump in the world at 122 meters.
- Post jumping, the boys went home, while Liz and I roamed around, wanting to scout for good shopping places. We didn't buy anything, and eventually just went home, where the shower and internet were both out.
- Our dining out choice tonight was Fallen Angel. Super expensive, but worth every penny. Or centimos actually? I had this Andean Ravioli which was to die for (filled with crunchy noodles and sweet potatoes in a cream sauce). Jake had a fettucine covered in peanut sauce, Liz a Vegetarian Lasagna, and Yoeun a steak covered in mole sauce. MMMMM. Talk about indulgence.
- We meant to go out dancing afterwards, but we were all too tired, and home again we went.

Saturday:
- I woke up Saturday with one mission only: Take a shower. The only way to do this with a spastic shower in my room was to head to the gym. So out I went, and worked out I did. It was actually really satisfying after not working out for so long. An hour of the iPod, stretching, and mind-clearing exercise was exactly what I needed. And when I though I couldn't feel any more relieved, it was time for my shower, which I soaked up (no pun intended).
- I walked around for a bit afterwards, getting some more souvenir shopping done, and just enjoying the feeling of being clean. I was super happy with my purchases, though I can't say what they are for fear of the person reading it!
- When I got back home, we left for Jack's as a possible farewell lunch to Yoeun. However, he told us that he'd had his flights changed, and would be with us until Wednesday. I bet you all can't guess what I ordered. Hint: Breakfast item usually topped with butter, syrup and cinnamon.
- The Máximo party was that night, but not until 10:30. You should've heard how depressing of a person I was that night. The thing was that I had fallen asleep before the party, and therefore, woke up really grumpy, and not in the party mood at all. The whole time I was getting ready, I kept making man grunts in protest to going out, which my friends reminded me wasn't the most feminine thing in the world. Somehow, I made it out of the house, dress and heels, make up done, and jewelry on.
- The party itself at Máximo was not fun at all, and you can believe we left as soon as we possibly could to hit up our normal dance spots. The night got better as it went along, and I was actually quite sad when it ended. After all, we pulled an early night, rolling in around 3:30.

Sunday:
- Sunday was a pretty chill day. We all woke up around 10:30, walking down to breakfast with eyes half open. The boys went to the Cienciano futból game, but Liz and I accidentally fell back asleep and missed it. We weren't too disappointed though, and were happy when we saw the boys yawning later that afternoon.
- Today was the day that we went in to the tattoo shop to get Liz's hair dreaded. I didn't really want to go as it was raining, but she needed moral support.
- While she was still there, I made a Molino run and bought a bunch of DVDs for us to watch. Trainspotting, Snatch, American History X, Love Actually, Entourage seasons, Arrested Develoment seasons, and more seasons of Weeds.
- When we got home for dinner that night, we were happy to see that we had pollo a la brasa waiting for us! We popped in Snatch, and ate dinner while watching the movie.

Monday:
- Yesterday I woke up to a call from one of the mamitas, saying that only two kids were going in that day, and I didn't need to go into work.
- So I stayed home, and cleaned my room, reorganizing my clothes, throwing out trash, and ultimately making it a more desireable place to live in.
- I went to class with Jorge for the first time in a while, which was really nice. We caught up, and he kept gasping at the details of our Arequipa bus ride of horror.
- Afterwards, I shopped for about 3 hours until it was time to meet up with the gang for Indian dinner again. (We had to go before today to get the Christmas prices!) I found some really great shops, which I'm extremely happy about, and in which I hope to get a lot of souvenirs out of the way. Sadly, I also had a super creepy taxi ride. The guy wanted to take a picture with me, kept asking me about my love life, attempted to touch my leg a couple of times, and "missed" my spot to get dropped off at. When I told the group later, they told me that that reason alone is why you're supposed to sit in the back of the taxi when you ride alone.
- Post dinner, Jake and I headed to quiz night, where Yoeun facilitated. We joined the other family house's team, not wanting to be the pathetic pair of two. It was actually really nice though, and more pleasant than we expected. Sure, it could never compare to our house, but it was a start. "An olive branch in the right direction" as Yoeun put it. Also, as a group of 10, we won trivia, which the other house was really happy about. Apparently, they had never won before, which was a shocker to Jake and I. Spoiled and conceited as it sounds, our house has come in the lead many times, so the glory was a normal and welcome feeling for us.
- When we returned home, we continued our movie marathon by putting on Love Actually. Boy, I can't wait for Christmas now! And I always feel so warm and fuzzy after watching it. The boys even teared up, though "eye allergies" was the explanation. SURE.

And here I am today, writing to you from the aforementioned internet café. By the way, here are the highlights of today, which inspired my title for this blog.

- I got a call from LAN, my airlines, saying that due to the weather and the fact that my flight out of Cusco is an afternoon flight, it's been cancelled. I say okay, not really able to do much else. So I head over to the LAN office, and try to change my flights. It's all working out, and I've got a morning flight now, which is more likely to be able to fly out. Of course, the cost comes up, and kills it all for me. To change the LAN flights is 80 dollars, which I nod at. 80 dollars to be able to fly out safely? Sure, why not? But then the girl checks the price to change the American Airlines leg, and it comes to 150 dollars. I tell her it's much too expensive, and that I'll have to pass on the change. She assures me that sometimes, a flight will become UNcancelled if the weather holds up, and I should just go to the airport anyways.

So on Monday, I will head out, and hopefully be able to catch some flight home. Of course, there's always the poor lost little girl shpeel as Dad puts it, which will be whipped out if necessary. But as of this moment, I officially have no flight home, which is a pretty crazy thought. =)

P.S. Hope you all got your postcards!