last night...

I'm sitting here in my room, waiting for dinner to be ready. I can't believe this is my last night in Cusco, last night in Peru! It is, of course, freezing. I'm sitting under my quilt in my big pea coat and wearing my scarf. Charging everything I own in preparation for the flight(s) tomorrow. I only have 20 soles left to get myself a couple of drinks tonight, and for taxi there and back and to the airport tomorrow.

I'm kind of sad that I'm the first one leaving. Everyone else is gonna get a long, drawn-out goodbye, but before I know it I'll be gone. I'm not too worried about the flights tomorrow; I still have a couple of movies on my laptop, and they'll show in flight movies for sure. My room feels so empty with everything cleared off the desk. Tomorrow I'll shower and change and pack the rest of everything into my suitcase, and I'll be ready. I'm going to miss so much here. Centro Tinku, Jean-Jacques, Qori, the Plaza de Armas, even Liszy and this house.

But tonight, we party!

last meeting...

Today was the last ISA meeting. The next time I see Gabby and Andy, it will be as they're giving me my plane tickets to return to Lima, and then home.

I still think so fondly of Lima. The time we spent there was amazing. I felt like I was on the precipice of this amazing new adventure, with all these new friends, just waiting to be discovered.

And now I'm at the end. Tomorrow is Wednesday. We leave Saturday, and I'm the first one out. I won't even really have much time at the airport before my flight leaves. I'm sad. All these people, who have kept me happy and helped me survive here, and I probably won't see them ever again.

I went out last night. And I drank, and I partied. Must have been something like 6 drinks by the end of the night. And I had so much fun. Brooke and Micah and Breanna and Jenny and Mary and me. Just dancing. Drinking and dancing to good music. I've never experienced anything like that at home. I doubt I'll ever get to do it again, because Danny would never go with me, and he would hate it if I went. Mythology, Mama Afrika, and the Real McCoy. And others. I want to go again. I'm tired of school. And frustrated with it. I'm not going to fail anything, so I might as well get it all out of my mind.

The flight home. It's so close, and yet the gap is impossibly far. It will come when it comes. In the meantime, I have to buy souvenirs tomorrow.

11 days

So there's only 11 days left on my journey. Since the last time I wrote, I tried cuy and alpaca, went horseback riding, watched like 5 minutes of a soccer game, went to the zoo, and went rafting. It was the five day weekend this past weekend, and so there was a lot to do. And a lot of money to spend, too.

Last Monday we went to trivia night, which we freaking WON, and all enjoyed a free bottle of wine. Tuesday we went out I think, or maybe that was Wednesday or Thursday. Regardless, one of the nights we went out and I expressed my love first for mojitos, and then for American classic rock at one of the local bars. Thursday was the day we went to the Inka Grill, and I tried alpaca medallions. They were delicious, smoky and flavorful and tender. After that we went horseback riding, which was way fun, if uneventful. Friday was the food festival, where I tried cuy, which is disgusting, and Saturday was rafting day. That was pretty insane. Our boat nearly flipped, and we had to rescue people from the water. Another boat did flip, and we had to save them too. Then was Saturday, when through a misunderstanding we ended up at the last five minutes of the soccer game. To lift our spirits, we decided to head out to Tipon, to a zoo we'd heard about there.

None of the taxi drivers even knew where it was really, and it took us a while to find one who did, and who was willing to drive us out for less than thirty soles. When we got to the area, he kept having to ask for directions, but we finally made it. There were five of us piled into the little hatch back, so we were relieved to get out. The first thing we saw was a sloth just chillin in this tree, no cage or anything. He was really, really adorable. Oso perezoso, as they're called in Spanish. There were some cute monkeys, one of which escaped, and some coatis, one of which also escaped. And then the pumas, who were somewhat terrifying, since you could get really close to the cage and one almost got a little girl with its paw.

Yesterday, Monday, was completely uneventful, as was today, except for a lot of bitching about class work and how little time we have left. This weekend is our last excursion, to Puno, for which we will be arriving at our destination at 4am, not one, but two mornings of the weekend. I'm a bit pissed about that, since I paid for a decent trip, not a cut-rate, sleepless nightmare, but it still could turn out okay. I guess we'll see.