La vida Cusqueña

Buenos días amigos! I am still in Cusco, Peru. It´s too beautiful here to leave. Not to mention all the cheap yummy food, the fun fruit and veggie markets, and the lively discotecas! I must admit, my birthday was a hard day for me. It was beautiful, no doubt about that, and I was so happy to receive tons of messages from friends - that is my favorite part about birthdays, after all! But it was a weird day, in a way. Birthdays are meant to be celebrated with friends, so how does one celebrate when in a place where you do not really know anyone. I had been so proud of myself for making a few friends - Omar the disco dude and Jose my local tour guide -, but Omar headed back to his hometown that night and it felt mildly pathetic calling Jose to ask if he would hang out with me on my birthday. And Santiago, my Cusqueño friend I knew before actually arriving here, was still working on a river far far away and, thus, not available for birthday companionship. So I swallowed my pride - I was getting sick of eating alone, after all - and invited Jose to celebrate my birthday with me. And, fortunately, he agreed to join me. The dinner itself was nothing to write home about, but afterwards, we went to a Peruvian disco (as opposed to the Gringo disco - which is actually a boatload of fun, but I thought, When in Peru, go where the Peruvians go...). I had such an awesome time dancing salsa, as well as learning a number of other Peruvian dances whose names currently escape me. While I do not have the best rhythm and was no doubt the gringo in the bunch - I swear Latinos are born dancing, it´s in their blood! - I held my own and had a grand ole time. I even managed to stay out dancing until 4 am - I couldnt believe it myself!!

Yesterday, I woke up after only a few hours of sleep and went for a short hike along a river running from the mountain above Cusco down into the city. It was so beautiful and peaceful and weird to think that I was only a 15 minute bus ride from the hustle and bustle of the ciudad. I like that about Cusco. It reminds me of Salt Lake City in that sentido. You have this big, bustling city with life and energy and tons of people and stores and cars, but within 15 minutes you are away from it all, surrounded by the tranquilidad de la naturaleza. No people, no cars, no noises except that of the river flowing at your feet and the occasional sheep baa-ing in the distance. I completed the celebration of my birthday last night with a HUGE piece of chocolate cake as somehow or another I actually failed to consume any sweet tasty yumyums on my actual birthday....very much NOT like me. But all was righted in the world with the purchase and consumption of la torta de chocolate - YUM!

Plans for now involve heading to Puno to visit Lake Titicaca and then on to the colonial town of Arequipa before crossing the border into Northern Chile. That´s the "plan" - just not sure when the plan will be executed. For now, I will be here for at least one more night, and must head off in search of a new hostal to dump my bag and lay my head. Hasta la proxima...VIVA!