Has it really only been four days?

Entering Peru, I thought SWEET, FOREIGN COUNTRY. I was surprised to find that it does not actually seem so foreign to me - the parts of Lima that we saw were actually a lot like Bucharest (my home town in Ro), and maybe even slightly cleaner, and where we are now (Tarapoto, jungle town) reminds me of my grandma´s street - humid, kind of crumbling, but quaint. The biggest difference here (in Tarapoto) is the MOTOCICLETAS. There are SO MANY MOTOCICLETAS! (Pictures coming soon... if I ever figure out how to use the internet).

But maybe to begin at the beginning? My general impression of Lima was that it was covered in grey. I don´t want to say¨"blanketed" by grey because that sounds too... comfortable. More accurately, it was suffocated by grey clouds of pollution and humidity. The city is all mildew... a nice recipe of the city´s dead shedded skin and its skunky sweat.

But to be fair, we had a lot of fun in Lima. We enjoyed the Peruvian cuisine, checked out the catacombes, chilled in the Ayahuasca Bar (one of the world´s top 25 bars, but NOT a place with actual ayahuasca, just fyi), and went dancing in a salsa club. We couch surfed, so we got a full-force introduction to la vida limeña. Maybe it´s unfair to feel like we´ve gotten to know it in such a short time... but we feel that way regardless.

Yesterday we arrived in Tarapoto, a city of about 100,000 nestled in the trees under the shadow of the volcano San Martin. Oh wait, I lied. San Martin does not cast much shadow and it is really friggin sunny here! And hot! And humid! But beside that pesky little detail (and the peskier little mosquitos), we were instantly enchanted by this place. The house we are staying in, with the lovely couple Sylvia and Martin, is sort of half outdoors half indoors. Sylvia also provides us with food, and the two of them prefer to eat vegetarian. Que lecheras somos! (How lucky we are!) There is a 91 year old neighbor lady who told us she would pray for our future marriages (oh...kay...?) We visited a traditional medicine center that uses ayahuasca to treat drug addicts and also does some research. We will be returning there frequently these next two weeks to interview people for our research. They will also put us in touch with some local curanderos (healers) to speak to. I cannot stress how generous and welcoming everyone here is. We feel relatively safe, though we continue to be careful.

And I should note that, thus far, no stomach illnesses, yayyyy! Thank you, acidophilus.

Besos y abrazos,
Ana