Saying goodbye

I just couldn't say goodbye to the kids at the orphanage when I was supposed to, so I snuck back for one day. It was funny. I feel like my last day was a lot like my first. We were down to two other volunteers, which meant I was stuck doing the shady physical therapy that I can typically avoid. So there I found myself, pulling on a kids leg as he screamed. The physical therapist kept telling me to pull harder, so I just pretended I didn't know that word in Spanish. She was onto me though. I can't hide anything on m face.

After pulling on kids limbs, I made sure to squeeze in some time to play with Ruthie and work with Lucho on his signs. He is doing great with, "more," mostly because he's highly motivated by food. If I only got 1-2 meals a day, I'd stick my pointer fingers together to get a snack as wells!

I didn't want to say goodbye. I was really tempted to come back again today, but decided it was time. So I gave all the kids great big hugs, hoping that the future volunteers love them as much as I do.

Luckily, a new volunteer staying at my house decided to work at the orphanage, so I spent the morning giving her the low down n the kids. I know she's going to be great mainly because she is a med student and took crazy, in depth notes on everything I told her. I also made sure to get her email so I can harass her.

The house is suddenly filled with all new volunteers, which makes it a little easier to say goodbye. I am sure there are things I missed out on or forgot to see (you know, like a single museum..oops, and I did never find that walking tour), but I feel like I've accomplished a ton while being here.

Yesterday, I tried to squeeze in a few things on my to-do list, so I had some delicious chocolate-covered fruit at the choco museo and got my first massage. I'm not sure why I wasn't doing that everyday. For 20 soles (7 dollars), it was glorious. And I'd say only 5 out of the 60 minutes were uncomfortable. I'm pretty sure at one point she sat on my head. That was weird. I'm just going to pretend it was a incredibly heavy, hard pillow or something.

Last night, I went out for a fancy dinner with some friends. It was lovely...the food was great, but the company was what did it for me.

Today, I'm making my last trip into town to take my host mom to lunch so I can spend the rest of my soles. I had every intention of going for a manicure, so I looked presentable when I got to Phoenix but got distracted by party planning for Grandma's 90th and packing. Looks like my mind went back to reality after 5 weeks of escape.  I fear that my bag is over 50 lbs. This may result in me chugging your souvenir-sized pisco at the airport. Shucks.

Alright, we'll, here I go.

The Canyon...not the Grand but still pretty great

I tried booking a trip to trek the 2nd deepest canyon in the world, but apparently something got lost in translation, and I didn't realize until I was already back from the amazon that he had in fact booked me for the wrong excursion. I would have made a fuss and changed things up, but Danny agreed to go with me on the bus tour. I thought I might poke out my eyes riding the bus alone, but with a ridiculously optimistic travel partner, I thought I'd give it a go.

Turns out, the bus ride wasnt even close to miserable. We started off strong, when we were forced to eat copious amounts of coca candy (in the form of chocolate and toffee). After that, we twisted and turned through beautiful mountain scenery. The bus stopped every half hour or so for picture taking, souvenir shopping, and coca tea.

We made it to Chivay by lunchtime, where we were greeted by an all-you-can-eat buffet. Turns out, Danny can eat a lot, which means I ate a lot. After plates of alpaca, avocado, beets, deep-fried bananas, French fries, and Inka kola jello, we were two happy campers.

The rest of the day was spent at the hot springs. I'm convinced that if I go to enough hot springs this hip will heal eventually.

The next morning we got up early to see the canyon. There wasn't nearly enough hiking for me, but it was still gorgeous. Nothing like standing above a canyon watching condors sweep down toward us.

That evening, we explored Aeriquipa. And by "explore" what I really mean is we went to McDonalds, Starbucks, and RadioShack. It took care of any homesickness I had previously experienced, and Danny was happy because he got to eat for the 8th time that day. Then I dragged Danny into about 38 little shops, so we could find the perfect earrings for my Grandma.

The trip ended beautifully, when we found a cute little rooftop restaurant that overlooked the plaza. We got there just in time for the sunset, so we got to snap photos as we listened to the local band and sipped on tea. Well, I sipped on tea. Danny ate a milkshake. Seriously, that boy can eat!