Last leg of my journey

I spent the past week visiting my old host family in Ecuador (from study abroad '05), with the lovely company of Joy. I didn't do anything new, but I repeated some old favorites:

- Biking 61km from the mountains to the jungle (Baños to Puyo)
- Soaking in hot springs in Baños and in Papallacta
- Shopping at the Otavalo market
- Eating guinea pig
- Climbing well up into the clock tower of the Basilica church in Old Quito

And of course, eating lots of good food and spending quality time with my Ecuadorian family. They are fantastic and treat me like another daughter of theirs.

Tuesday I took an overnight bus to Guayaquil (not the capital, but the largest Ecuadorian city) to fly to Lima because it is so much cheaper. Being the worrier that I am, I barely slept for the 9 hours, preoccupied that we would be late. My chest literally tightened each time we stopped for no apparent reason. But of course, I arrived 4 hours before my flight left, sin problema.

I flew instead of bussed it to Peru because it is a 36 hour bus trip, plus the 22 hours that I'm doing tomorrow to Cuzco, that would be absolutely unreasonable. If I had more time before my ticket home (which I will one day, but preferably with a traveling partner), then I would take multiple days and travel by land stopping along the way. But by now, I am in a hurry to get home and see my dog! Oh yeah, my family and friends too :)

Today, after trying to catch a few ZZZs, I changed some dollars to the Nuevo Sol in the street (it was at 2.78 in the afternoon, and by the evening had fallen to 2.70!), then I went to the Museo de la Nacion. There I learned all about the internal war from 1980 - 2000. A Maoist faction began to gain strength and starting fighting the government/military. It was very gruesome, and sad. The battles weren't simply between the rebels and the military, and as it appears to me, neither side was "good". Both took turns massacaring the common people. Some 69,000 people died or were disappeared during the struggle. Is there a Latin American country that hasn't had an internal conflict in the last 50 years? (And how many of those were spurred by the U.S. CIA?)

Well, tomorrow after a run on the beach and a trip to Lima's ruins in the Miraflores area that I'm staying in, I'm off to Cuzco. Sunday my sister arrives to play for a week and a half! We're flying to San Francisco together on the 13th, then driving up to Springfield. I will be HOME on FRIDAY OCTOBER 15TH!!!!

p.s. I still need to share more about Colombia, which was amazing. I will post that when I get a chance. But note, you should NOT be afraid of Colombia. It is amazing. Just as any country (even the U.S.), you have to know where to go and where not to go.