Peru is perfect
Hello everybody
Firstly all these emails and more are all found on journeyfile.com. Its a great site for travel diaries and stories on foreign and exotic destinations.
Dear friends
All those books I read about what to eat, what not to eat, what to watch out for, what to expect, all the dangers, the scary parts of town...etc...are a conspiracy to keep people out of these parts. Im sure of it. Its not at all like I thought.
This place is awesome...the people are so friendly, the food, albeit sweet and quite often covered in sauces, is fine, and the taxi drivers arent out to get you. One just needs to bargain. Simple enough. I guess I got scared with all the things I read...but so far (things might change) everything has gone very smoothly and has been mucho gusto.
I keep getting hooked up with people. The people I met on the plane introduced me to some friends who brought me to their parents home here in Piura and that is where I am currently staying. The people I have met are continually speaking spanish (obviously) ...sometimes, since a few speak english, their conversations are translated for me but for the most part I am on my own. So I have been listening intently to their language and although I have learned a lot...I am still nowhere near a full comprehension, or even a half comprehension. I would recommend not to come down here unless you are fairly well versed in spanish. I wish I had studied harder. :) If you are only interested in meeting english speakers no worries but if you try to mix in like I am attempting its essential. (by the way just in case you are wondering why Sean doesnt use single quotes...its because he doesnt know how to type it off this keyboard...I can see the stupid thing but I cant figure out how to get it on the screen...the keyboards down here are a little more complicated...instead of two characters per special key...they have THREE!!!!!) Anyways I am working hard on my spanish...I think I will take a class for a week or two in the next few days.
I am in Piura which is a 14 hour bus ride from Lima and is approximately 4 hours from the border of Ecuador. Since I am so close I will definitely be visiting Perus northern bordering country. I like Piura because it is not a tourist trap...the books say little about it. I have yet to meet a fellow travellor. It is very hot here ... hotter than Lima although I might argue with that because my first night after my plane arrived I stayed in Anabells house and it was mucho caliente. Mucho, mucho, mucho caliente. A few days ago Franklin, Anabell, Andrea, and myself went to Mancora...supposedly one of the nicest beaches in Peru although I hear they are all nice. I was very smart (as usual):) and only went in the sun for about half an hour...I was swimming so I didnt use lotion...I got burned but only minorly...nothing to keep me up at night. HALF AN HOUR! We stayed with a woman...one of Franklins friends...who had what most of us would consider a dream home. Although she had nothing to her name...the place was as baren as bare can be...a table, a couple of chairs, a sink that didnt seem to work, and a toilet that didnt seem to work, and a couple of beds...if you think Im missing something you are wrong. oh yeh wait...she had a stove. You were right. Anyways...it wasnt what was in the house, or should I say cabin, it was where the cabin was located. The cabin sat about 10 meters from the crashing waves of the open ocean and the place was almost completely private. It was such a beautiful view from her balcony. You can just imagine what I saw...sitting there looking at the Pacific Ocean in the north of Peru with noone around...it was amazing...I heard it has been snowing in Vancouver. Ha ha.
So here I sit in an internet cafe that sits below my room. It is a blessing and a curse. Its nice to have the internet so close but the geeky computer nerds come in at night to play games and they yell LOUD every now and then till about 11pm. By the way for your info western Peru is 3 hours ahead of Vancouver.
So anyways friends and family...there you have my first few days. I am leaving out the dirty parts. Hope all is well with you ...
Cuidado
Sean
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