Redemption

Having visited only the most touristed areas of Peru, I hate to badmouth the country too much, but it has been a bit of a letdown. The people haven´t been as friendly as Bolivia, the prices have been more expensive than expected (3 years ago Maccu Picchu was $10-- now it´s $40), there is always a tax or fee not included; you have to pay to leave the airport, the train station, the bus station, the port. It´s not all golden backpacker paradise like I somehow led myself to believe. But today, Peru redeemed itself.

It started innocently enough; a lady named Pilar who was on the amazon boat trip offered everyone a free place to stay at her house. Since our group was large (20 or so altogether) we declined, but agreed to come over for dinner the next day. And it was amazing; there was loads of food, kids bought us drinks, volleyball, soccer, singing, dancing, laughing. I taught some 13-year-old girls how to say 'you have beautiful eyes' in english. When I took their photo, kids came running from every direction to be included. Then more came running to see the photo; everyone wanted to do everything at once. It gave the day such a triumphant energy, erasing the lethargy lingering from the river. Finally, the most adorable kitten curled up in my lap and fell asleep, while I talked about great horror movies with Marcela from Chile; all it took was getting off the map for a moment, and trusting in the power of the group.

Peru, you´re OK in my book.