End of Peru

Ok, so last time I left off, I was in the Amazonas.

Saturday was the big day for the week. All morning and well into the afternoon there was a parade. Not too much like parades in the States though. Here, people from nearby villages walked the route. Some had bands with them and performed traditional dances, others had traditional foods, and others had religious displays. The whole parade was from 9am to 3pm. Some groups had 20 minute performances, so it wasn´t moving very fast.

I met up with my new friends and we hung/balanced very precariously from a school{s fence to overlook the parade. My new French friend had a shell/husk cup made for the week and every time that people with traditional foods/drinks went by he hung out over the crowd and got a sample for all of us in his cup. I later got one. The food I tried was very good, and let me just say that Peruvians know how to make alcohol out of everything!

After watching the parade, we all watched a movie together and then made plans to meet up for the night.

That night we met up with more friends and watched the fireworks. Now, before the traditional fireworks that we have in the states, there is a tower that has small fireworks that spin and have a lot of colors all connected on a bamboo tower. One layer would go, then the next higher up until the end. According to the locals, it wasn´t a very good one, but we foreigners who had never seen a "castillo" or castle, were impressed. Then came the real fireworks. My friend Karina and I wanted to watch the real fireworks but everyone else was itching to go so we kind of walking backwards while taking a lot of breaks to watch as much as we could. It was an impressive fireworks show.

At this point we made a new friend, someone that Karina had met in Mancora named James. He is an American, so I finally had another american although we were still well outnumbered by the French. We had a beer then went to the party. At a park there was a stage set up and vendors and just a festive atmosphere. We fought our way to the middle and started dancing. At one point we were dancing next to a crowd of 6 young to middle aged women and they just grabbed James and started dancing with him, he was quite the hit! I danced with few people. I love to dance and latin music is made to be danced to. We called it a night when I had to go to the bathroom and since there were no public bathrooms, I RAN to the hotel. To be a guy and be able to go in any sort of private place.

The next day I made arrangments to leave on Monday. Again, I met up with the crew at night . We hung out in the park then eventually made our way to a local viewpoint where some people played guitar. It was a rather relaxing night.

When I left monday night my friends went to the bus terminal to see me off which I thought was really sweet.

Now, there have been a lot of comments about my safety. During this week I was with a local woman about my age, so she knew what was and was not ok to do. I was out a lot but had local guides and was generally in a group. I really can´t do anything more to guarantee my safety besides end up the old crazy cat lady in South Gardiner, Maine who never leaves her house.

THe bus ride was anything but sweet. I was so sick, the ride was windy, I couldn´t sleep, and my knees were killing me. THe worst bus ride yet.

I went back to Chiclayo, and this time the museum in Lambeyeque was open. The museum basically has everything from the 1987 excavation of the ruins of Sipan. This was an archeologist´s dream. The tumbs they found were just jam packed with bodies and rather well preserved things. Each tumb had a minimum of 100 ceramic bottles, lots of jewlery, and other things. Look up the museum Señor de Sipan for more information. It was really impressive.

Then I went back to town, caught a bus north, followed by another bus north and ended in teh seaside town of Mancora. Now, I was staying at a hostel, and when I got there none of my roomates were in the room and everyone was huddled into groups at the bar which makes for an interesting time. I decided to delay that uncomfortable scene and ran out to some of the last vendors open to buy flip flops. Before this point I had been almost exclusively to cold places and didn´t need them. THis time when I got back all my roomates were in the room and I went with them to the bar.

THere was a giant beer pong tournament which made for a crazy time. More than that everyone was walking around and supporting strangers, so it was easy to introduce myself to strangers without it being awkward. The party died though when it was over.

I then spent three days in the sun. With plenty of sunscreen. I had a good time, didn´t do too much. My last night there the guys had left and were replaced with women from Argentina, so I hung out with them for a while. Thank goodness I speak Spanish. THey were really nice and I think we are really similar. The big event that night was crab racing. Nope, not with humans doing the crab run, but real crabs. I will have to post pictures, because it was just the weirdest thing. A lot of fun though.

The next day I got my last few hours in the sun then left for Ecuador. I do not recommend the company I went with. I got into Cuenca around 9pm, had to call a hotel to see where I could stay for the night, then got dropped off at the wrong hotel (the have the same name). Luckily the right hotel was two blocks away. Oops.

Since then I have been exploring the city, it is gorgeous! I have also spent way too much money because gifts are a lot more expensive here! Stupid me for not buying everything at the beginning.

Still having fun, meeting up with people tonight them heading out to another place.