Peru! Finally!

Well, we made it. We made our final border crossing, and we're now safely and happily stationed in a small, cheap hostel in Nazca, Peru. The truth is, coming over the border felt a lot like we were coming home. We started in Lima in January, and arriving back at the same hostel in the Miraflores district felt comforting and almost brought me to tears after the long, uncomfortable, at times scary trip through Ecuador.

And that's just the thing. Your first experiences make such an impact on the way you view things from then on. For us, we encountered genuine hospitality, friendliness, and a spirit of community in Peru that we have yet to find elsewhere. People here are unassuming, humble, and recognize that people are people, no more and no less, no matter how rich, white, or foreign. Tourists are treated like anyone else, and while that could be frustrating to some, we enjoy blending in, even if it is just in a superficial way.

Leaving Ecuador, we were worried that the rest of our bus experiences would be slow, fraught with safety concerns and staffed by rude, insensitive, penny-pinching drivers and money-takers. We were bemoaning the long (like 80 hours in all!!!) trip down south to Cusco, concerned about the number of taxis we'd have to take, the number of restaurants we would be taken advantage by, and so forth. In short, we were on guard. Waking up on the bus as it pulled into Piura, a little nothing-town stopover between Ecuador and Lima, we realized immediately that things were different, and completely as we remembered them; the taxi driver inquired about our travels, laughed with us, and charged a reasonable rate. Our soft-spoken hostel owner allowed us to change rooms, gave us directions to the center, and commisserated the lack of a computer in his establishment. Sitting down to a vegetarian meal at a local cafe, it hit us. We really have been all over the continent, and we really do feel like we have a place down here if and when we can find a way to come back. Peru is absolutely amazing, and we continually rediscover ourselves and our passion for travel while we're here.

That being said, we're ready to come home. We've seen three seasons here in a variety of climates, checked some big things off our life lists, met hundreds of amazing people from all over the world, many of whom we will be staying in contact with, and discovered places we'd like to live in the future, if only for a time. Even more importantly, we've learned to adapt to what life throws at us. Not every moment has been perfect, not by far. But by and large, the heart of the travel experience lies in the ability to feel the frustration of a bad experience, be it a long unairconditioned bus ride or the death threat of a crazy argentinian hippie, and realize that life is beautiful, enormously varied, and always teaching us new things, whether we are enjoying the lessons or not. No, we haven't suddenly become Stoics, and we are looking forward to the creature comforts of the States, but I think that it helps to rememberthat if the world were different, we would all survive and find ways to be happy. That, my friends, is an encouraging thought, especially in light of our long and so far fruitless job search (ANY TIPS???)

And with that I will leave you for now, perhaps until we get to Cusco. Stay tuned for a post by my dad (Woody) reporting on his visit to Quito! We enjoyed it greatly, but I'll let him talk about it first.

Love you all,
Sam

P.S. photos being uploaded as we speak!