I'm Back.

Well,

Here we are in Peru again. I have been pretty thrilled to discover that there are two or three new large malls here, which is great. There are more movie theaters, more food court options, and more american brands. I don't buy American brands here (because they are expensive), but it lowers the novelty of some of my stuff, so I don't stand out as much and am less likely to be robbed. (Not that there is any real danger of that usually, at least, I've never had any issues) BUT STILL.

Anywho, so far, we've had a grand Christmas, and a fairly lame New Year. The Christmas was as usual, at Malu's aunt's house. There was lots laughing, her family drank a bit, and we danced quite a bit. On another note, Joe and I sang Karaoke by ourselves in Malu's one night, and I have to say, we are pretty good. Joe has been courting Malu's friend Carolina, so we haven't been with him all the time.

New Years, we went to Camana, a place I've never been. It's a beach, small town, and a place where all the young people go to get bombed on New Years. Since we don't drink, and the weather was cloudy and not at all conducive to jumping in the ocean, it was a pretty lame trip. We had decent food, and I love my ceviche, but then I got the wonderful experience of the runs, so, less great for all that. New Years itself, Joe fell asleep at around ten, and then Malu was tired and didn't want to walk to the plaza and I was sick so I didn't insist. So I watched TV in the hotel room while the rest of the world partied. I didn't take any pictures of Camana, mostly because I didn't take my good camera, and also because I didn't see anything really worth photographing. If you have a choice between Mollendo and Camana for beach visits from Arequipa, go to Mollendo; they have the same quality of beaches, but Mollendo is closer to Arequipa and the Beach in Mollendo is closer to the town.

The most fun thing we did in Camana was on the 29th, we found a Karaoke where we were the only people there. Their selection was slim, but we had a good time anyway. And the person in charge of the music was a transvestite, so that's a bonus. She/He kept saying creepy things to us over the speakers during the non singing parts of the songs. It was flattering.

All in all, there has been some good times had here in Peru so far. I apologize for the lack of interesting tidbits, as you've grown accustomed to seeing, but alas, time is short and my computer has had some issues. I will next post about MACHHU PICHHU!!! so look forward to that.