Giants and James Blunt

May 13, 2006

Well, we're off to a promising start. I have arrived in Peru and already things are fascinating. The very first thing I saw when I left the airport in Lima was a giant. Like, an Andre the Giant giant, not just a tall man. Wow. This made me happy, and I had just been unhappy a minute before upon having the immigration officer ask me where my ¨other passport¨ was. Um, I only have the one . Since all week I've been discovering that I didn't have any of the proper documents, let alone shots, to get around South America, this question made me nervous. But I digress.

After the giant, I got a ride to my hostel, and discovered that Lima is on the Pacific Ocean. Who knew? (Well, I'm guessing the Peruvians, and probably a lot of you knew, but I didn't). On another note, within a half hour of arriving in this country I heard 4 James Blunt songs. Peruvians must be fascinated with falsettos. For any of you who don't know, James Blunt is the guy that sings that song ¨You're Beautiful¨ with a voice like Tiny Tim. Anyway, I was tired when I got to my hostel, so I decided to settle in for the night. My roommates weren't home, but apparently they are very casual travellers, because they left out (in our completely unsecured room) money on their beds, two iPods, one camera, and a credit card, all in plain view. Hmm. Lucky for them I already have an iPod. So I settled in to bed surrounded by their valuables, and an hour later three of them came home, and one of them, the guy, was the drunkest I have ever seen anyone. Ever. It was his 21st birthday, and he was seriously in horrible shape. I had to keep waking his friends up all night to turn him on his side, because he was puking all over the bed. He was also puking right next to my luggage, and also into a waste basket that was completely filled with holes. Lovely. I'm sure he had alcohol poisoning, and he probably needed to have his stomach pumped, but seeing as we had no idea where the hospital was or what the situation is in Peru that didn't happen. So he just kept puking and mumbling and falling off the bed all night, completely incoherent and groaning in pain. I didn't want him to die on my shift -I was thinking how his mom would be so upset, and how it was his birthday. So I helped his friend to make sure he lived. Despite the vomit, he and his friends were great. This morning we all had tea together. Nothing brings people together like alcohol poisoning.

Well, that's it for now, mainly because a small Peruvian boy keeps asking me how many more minutes I'll be on the computer.