Day Thirty

Thirty, flirty days flew by so far. 

I got up early this morning so I could go for my last run in Lima. If I'm being completely honest, I'm ready to go back to Castle Island. The slippery sidewalks and constant stopping is getting to me, I cannot wait to just go run in my normal loops. I will miss the view though; it's hard to beat running along the malecón and seeing the surfers in the Pacific below the cliffs. On my way home, I stopped to pick up flowers for my host mom. I went with my favorite, sunflowers, with a bit of baby's breath (Emily would be proud).

After I showered and dressed again, I had to finish packing up my bag for Cusco. Then I had my last breakfast with my host mom and Estaban. The French open has been on the TV all week so there was not a lot of conversation as Ana María was enticed with the match. I do not really understand tennis and cannot really get over the ridícula noises they make while playing so I just ate my breakfast and thought of anything I might have forgotten to pack. Another truth: I cannot wait to grocery shop for myself again, I am so done with bread.

I had some time after breakfast to turn in my essay for chapter four and catch up on my blogs. Ana María has a match tomorrow so she walked me downstairs early to wait for the bus. I waited in the lobby from 10:20 to 11:20 for the bus, but I did come eventually. At the airport, we were confused as to where we were supposed to go so we were rushing and confused to start the day. When we finally found the correct line, we had 20 minutes until boarding. Thankfully, we were able to check in , run through the airport, go through security and get to our gate in the time we had left. However, this rushing was all for nothing as our flight ended up being delayed about an hour, so we all got snacks and waited.

On the flight, I had an aisle seat which I greatly appreciated. I spent my time listening to Taylor Swift, who is newly on Spotify, and solving my Rubix cube. In fact, my Rubix prowess is so impressive that the man sitting catty-corner to me asked to borrow my cube and solved it in less than five minutes. It was quite the international bonding experience. 

When the flight landed, I made the first mistake. I jumped off the plane, ran to the bathroom while babbling to Nikki about how cool Cusco is. Suddenly, it all caught up to me and I felt the altitude. Thankfully, they were handing out free coca leaves and I stuffed my lip full while waiting for luggage.

Once we got to the hotel, I put my bag down and napped like the champ I am. I woke up to walk to La Plaza Mayor for the soup dinner. Finally, I headed to bed and finally slept.