68 days and going down

I know I said in my last post that I don't want to be reminded how many days I have left, but that's only because I constantly remind myself. I wake up and immediately do the math. Torturing myself, I suppose. But nevertheless, it's only the truth and inevitable.

A general update was due, so this is it.

My parents came to visit me the days of April 13th-18th. We ambled around Lima and took a quick detour to Cusco and Machu Picchu (detour of 3 days). My parents arrived at midnight of the 13th and 11 hours later, we were back in the airport to head off to Cusco. We spent the night in Cusco, and early in the morning, we headed off on the journey to Machu Picchu. We took a bus from Cusco to the Pachar train station. We boarded the train and went all the way to the little town set up at the bottom of Machu Picchu mountain, MachuPicchu Pueblo (pueblo=town). We arrived at the pueblo around noon. We meandered around the pueblo the rest of the day, and the next morning at 8, we hiked up the Machu Picchu (hiked as in took a bus the the front gate). We (I) searched for a tour guide, and it turned out, he only spoke Spanish, barely anything of English. I translated everything during the tour, a duration of 3 hours. With all of the steps at the ancient city, my parents were showing their age towards the end, and we ended up going back down as soon as the tour was over. We got back to the town around one, and out train didn't leave until 9 that night. So, we had 8 hours to blow. Most of what we did was sleep though. We boarded the train from the town at 9, and arrived in the train station Ollantaytambo at 11. We ordered a taxi to wait for us at the station and take us back to Cusco. We arrived in Cusco at our hotel around 2am. Once we got to our room, I realized I had made a grave mistake. I had left my iPhone in the taxi. I called the number of the company and the boss called the drivver, but the drivere didn't answer. Finally, in the morning, the driver answered and swore that no such iPhone was left in the taxi. I was super upset the night, but the next morning, I realized that it was my fault and worse things could have happened. C'est la vie, no? Our plane back to Lima was at 11:30am the next morning, so we left the hotel around 9. Our plan was delayed until noon, and we touched down in Lima around 2. The rest of the day, we just slacked off. At night, we went out to eat, then to Rotary. After Rotary, we went to the fountain park. We turned in early that night. The next day, we took a taxi to the Center of Lima. Saw the President's Palace (bigger that Buckingham Palace), the cathedral, and other big churches. But, as it was Holy Thursday (in Peru on Thursday of the Holy Week ((week before Easter)) the people try to go to 7 churches. If you go to 7 churches that day, your wishes will come true). We weren't able to go inside all of the churches, as there were lines blocks long to even enter. We stopped to eat lunch at a marvelous restaurant, then headed home. That night, we had lunch with my family. It was nice, and (as usual) we turned in early. The next day, we headed into Miraflores and walked around the district all day. Along the ocean and all that fun stuff. For dinner that night, my friends came to join us, about 9 of them. Then, we went back to my house so they could finish packing and off we were to the airport. My parents went into security around midnight of the 19th, but still the 18th in most people's minds. I had fun during the week, even if I was exhausted from translating every single word spoken.

I have officially bought my tickets to go to Ecuador! I will leave the 4th, and come back the 18th. Two whole weeks! I'm going to visit Ghimel, the girl from Ecuador who was hosted by my sponsor club in the states (shoutout to the Petersburg Rotary Club for everything they have done for us!!).

My time in dwindeling, but I'm not letting that bring my spirits down. May as well enjoy all the time I have left instead of feeling sorry for myself.

With that said, I am going out to hang with friends now.

Until next time!

Emily