Broke down

I can hardly believe it. I'm in a foreign country and what did I eat today? Chinese food for lunch and good old KFC for dinner. The Chinese was excellent, but at dinner I decided to get something to go, and KFC was the easiest. Well, if I'm going to be mainly eating beans and rice for a while, I figured it wouldn't kill me to have a taste of home. Who knows, maybe fast food in Peru is healthier than in the States. Very doubtful, but oh well. Oh, and I had chocolate cupcakes for dessert. Maybe tomorrow I'll have Tony Roma's for some down home barbeque ribs. Globalization, that is what is overtaking the entire world. On the street, it is relatively easy to find Doritos and Gatorade. McDonald's signs adorn the buses rumbling down the street. Next thing you know, there'll be a 7-11 out in the middle of the jungle.
In comparison to the lowlands east of the Andes, Lima seems quite affluent. There are many very nice towering apartment where only people with money could afford to live. Though not all of them are full. Every morning in Lima, except for Sunday, at exactly 730 in the morning (and I mean on the nose), there is sawing and hammering and downright thunderings coming from the building that is being renovated within a few feet of the wall of my room. I bet most of my friends and family find it hard to believe that I am even capable of waking up at that time. In my defense, the noise is almost deafening. There's no way I can aviod it. It's worse at the research site. The residents start moving around 4 and start making breakfast at 5. There is no way to avoid the noise, as there is a single wall of 2x4's separating me from the noise. But it is easy to go to bed because it is so cold and there is no electricity. One week til I am back there.

Dismal ocean view 

Shopping center 

Lima

I took a stroll see the ocean, but I didn't walk all the way down. Just to the cliff side to look. The weather has been cool and cloudy, so the pictures aren't as clear as I like. John and Jason were bumped from their flight and are camping to save on hotel bills. I'm just continuing to do what I want. The overlook to the ocean has a shopping center, with higher priced shops and restaurants.

Just chilling

All I have been doing is hanging out in Lima. It is nice to take a break and relax after being carted alot on a boat. My backside is thanking me. The hot showers are fantastic also.

John getting a close up picture 

Taking pictures 

Flowers galore...maybe a legume

Pedro and his moth sheet. He set it up every night (5 times) to collect morpho species. 

One of Pedro's moths that he was collecting 

This is a fruit that you cut in half and you can make a stamp on a shirt that turns reddish and permanent when you wash it 

John's arm after massive insect bites, luckily I was attacked mainly by blood sucking flies 

Our cosy little boat 

Very interesting insect 

When we were stranded for an hour or so on "Mosquito Beach" 

Coca fields (cocaine is made from these plants) The plants are in the far back 

Crazy little catepillars 

Who knows, but it was very pretty 

Really cool lichens  

Epidendrum, one of the orchids I will be studying. 

Wayqechas 

me, up in a tree 

View from Mirador, our 10 mile hike 

Part of the Pantiacolla lodge 

Just left Atalya in a boat 

The group for the expedition

Pre Incan tombs outside of Cuzco 

First things first. Arrived in Peru and got to spend the night in the airport to catch a 6 am flight in the morning to Cusco. Flying in to Cusco in the morning is gorgeous, with the sun hitting the mountains. You have to take it easy in Cusco because of the altitude, so the first day there you are supposed to eat little, drink coca tea, and move slowly. Well I for sure drank alot of coca tea and only had a minor headache. I did chew some coca leaves (mom, dad, don´t worry, I´m not addicted). They were interesting, they make your tongue go a little numb. Got to see one of the plazas and walked around for a bit. We caught a ride out from Cusco on a bus with tourists on a one lane dirt and rock road. They dropped us off at Esperanza, which is the research cabin. You have to walk 2 km or so up the road to Wayqechas. We walked some trails and saw beautiful orchids. There are only freezing cold showers, so I won´t be using a ducha often. Only when necessary. We took a truck down to Atalya where a boat took us down the Alta Madre de Dios River to a lodge called Pantiacolla. It is nice, but you do have to contend with some blood sucking flys. We spent 2 nights there and took a 5 mile hike to Mirador, which looks out over the region. Also swam in the river, and while waiting for my turn at the shower, got eaten alive. But it was worth it. We did more boat travel and got stranded for a bit waiting for the AABP (
BRIT) boat to pick us up. Camped that night on a beach with more moscas (flies) and mosquitos. We went by more boat to Los Amigos (Cerca) which is a large research station. The town we stopped at before that is where I ate some food I shouldn´t have. So my time at Los Amigos was spent puking and sleeping. But it only lasted one day. So we took another boat to Labyrinth and a taxi to Puerto Maldonado. A very tiring trip because of all the traveling, but it was worth it. In two days we´ll fly to Lima.
Pedro, the guy studying moths, was with us for 6 days, and we would sit on the boat or talk on walks. He has been helping me with my spanish. I like him alot. Of course, it would only take a few days and the truck driver was asking john if i had a peruvian boyfriend. At times, I feel like I have bright face paint on or a giant birth mark because of all the staring. Not a problem, I just ignore it. By the way, the pictures people have seen of wayqechas don´t do it justice. Hardly any bugs, unlike Pantiacolla where I got tore up after swimming in the alta madre de dios. I did have a little minor batch of food poisoning, but that only lasted one afternoon. It was from eating fried fish from the river. I didn´t even think anything at the time, but I will now. It was pretty brutal. So overall, I´m having a pretty good time. I itch alot (picaduras) but I will survive, which is important. Because I don´t speak well enough spanish, there is no one to laugh at my fantastic wit. Sarcasm doesn´t come out well with hand signals and a few palabras.
This whole experience has been unreal. The lowlands are fascinating, but the heat and the bugs are a lot to handle when I had just come from the cold and no insectos in Wayqechas. Cerca has too many people but better amenities. It was more like a little community and John says that not enough research is done. Wayqechas is very isolated, but it is glorious. I want to videotape it so you can get the whole perspective. I have never seen anything like it.

Peru!!!

Officially made it to Peru, no major disasters. I am sitting in the airport waiting to fly out to Cuzco at 5 am. But the next week and a half will be a scouting trip to see the various sites, help out with some research, and an overall view of this part of Peru. Hope to have some pictures soon.

Two weeks from today is the official date of departure!