For Barrie

I've been meaning to post my last bit of Peru, but alas Vascular Surgery at the VA has completely taken over my life for the past month. Luckily it is over and now I am on to ENT for 2 weeks and the Urology for another 2 weeks. Pretty excited about Urology as right now I'm between Urology and OB/GYN. But let's be real, we all know I'll end up as an OB/GYN.

Back to Lima:

Despite my begging and pleading and my sister's secretary trying to get me on a flight back home, all the flights were booked and I was stuck in Lima for a day and a half...a tragedy, I know. Luckily I booked a decent hostel and took a cab out to Miraflores, which is a beachy town on the outskirts of Lima. I got in when it was dark, so I snuggled up in bed and did a lot of FaceTime-ing with family and friends and then slept a solid 14 hours. It was bliss. I literally forced myself out of bed by 11 am and set out for a day of exploration. I did a lot of walking and shopping and eating, surprise. I headed over to a delightful sandwich shop called Hot and Cold recommended by Lonely Planet. Usually I'm not all that impressed when a place is recommended, but I loved this sandwich and the customer service was awesome. I even got to mark a pin on their world map for visitors. And they spoke English, which is always helpful. I took my sandwich to the beach and watch hanggliders jump off cliffs. I can't tell you how glad I was to be eating and not jumping off cliffs. I then headed over to LarcoMar, which is basically a shopping mall on a Cliff. I wasn't quite sure why this place was recommended but I went with it. And happily shopped. I went to another restaurant for dessert and coffee overlooking the ocean, but unfortunately the power went out and they weren't able to heat anything...oh South America.

So I picked myself up and headed up through the main square and window shopped and stopped in for a real dessert and cappuccino. It was very quaint and I read my novel for a bit. Then I headed up to this market and shopped/bartered for a solid 3 hours. I was very happy and I bought a lot of stuff... alpaca blankets and scarves and god knows what else. Before I knew it, it was getting dark (aka hiding time) and I headed home ready to get showered and treat myself to a wonderful meal at some super expensive place that was recommended in my guidebook. I showered with real shampoo and conditioner and basked in the hot water. I even got all dressed up and put on makeup. And then my sister called and I got in bed and we were chatting and before I knew it there was no way I was leaving my bed since I would be waking up at 3 am and it was well past 9pm. What can I say.

The rest of my flights were pretty uneventful. I met a number of young travelers per usual and had some interesting conversations. I was headed to Colombia for my layover and I was quite impressed with the number of solo male American and Parisian travelers who were going there to backpack. I guess things are different if you are a male, or maybe just someone not raised to hold mace up whenever walking alone(Okay my mom did not actually teach me this, but somehow it has become a habit at night.)

Weeks later, I'm not entirely sure of the details of my flight, but I can imagine it involved sleeping which is why I cannot remember it. All I know is that when I arrived in Miami 15 hours later, I was greeted my little Bauer and my mom. We stopped off to see my sister at work and then headed home for dinner (something delicious and healthy and not greasy prepared by my loving mother.) My sister was in the process of obsessively buying a new car, so I decided to sacrifice sleep and go with her to the dealership with my dad and her to buy her new car. It was well worth the 3 hours of sleep I got since I had to be awake by 730 am for orientation in Gainesville (4 hours away) the next morning.

I laughed a lot. In case anyone is unaware, my father drives his younger brother's beat up 92 Honda Accord. For some reason, he has yet to fix the handledoor that has fallen off his driver's door, the multiple dents in the car, the peeling leather seats, the speedometer that stopped working at mile 80,000, etc. He was trading in his car and getting my sister's Camry (his previous car, another creampuff). So based on the vehicles we drove in with, the creampuff we were trading in, the dealership obviously assumed we were a bunch of homeless people. Which worked for awhile until they started asking us what we all did, and out came the lawyers and doctors and the fact that my father just truly enjoys driving beat-up cars. My sister and I could not stop laughing, we've grown up with our parents and realize how absurd they are.

Anyways, my sister drove off with her brand new Acura SUV, as the dealership watched my 59 yo father get in his old creampuff back (which is about 20x nicer than his previous creampuff and about 50x junkier than my sister's new car.) Thanks mom and dad for always sacrificing the world for Alexis and I. We do appreciate your oddness.