After a rough night...

I can´t believe how I jinxed myself with that upbeat message Friday night. I heard the bustle, but it was time to pick up my laundry, too. So I went to the office to grab it for my ceremony. I didn´t get any farther. I wanted to cry. I couldn´t believ my bad luck! The woman in the office had no idea what happened. I could tell my face was hot, and Spanish was not coming as clearly as usual, but I didn´t want to fall back on English. Did someone else take it? Did it not get delivered? Did the laundry decide to sell it? What bum luck!! And they kept me there as they tried to figure something out, but they were all checking out for the weekend, too. I insisted this was important because I had a 9am bus to Arequipa. I was intending to take my fleece pants and my sleeping bag liner. The other things, and there were only a few, since I did most of my laundry earlier in the week, were not so necessary. ¨Where can we send them in Arequipa?¨ This made me want to cry more because I (1) didn´t know where I was staying, which was feeling a little unsettling for me and (2) I was not planning on staying in Arequipa - hike the canyon, head to Lake Titicaca, and return to Cuzco for my flight to Argentina. No phone or e-mail to reach me. (By the by, it´s Wednesday, and I didn´t have an e-mail from her.) Little consolation, Eva gave me my certificate before she went to the terrace for graduation. I scored an A on the test, and she said I did really well in my written piece! No consolation was that when I did get up there, I had to scrounge for my lousy free pisco sour to celebrate. There was one left in the kitchen. I tried to laugh off the laundry situation, knowing that nothing I could say or do was going to change it. So I waited with old friends and new for the salsa class to start. Meanwhile, I am starting to get cold because I was planning on pulling my fleece pants under my skirt (hippie that I am), and without them the night air noticed my bare legs and feet. The class never happened - for the second week in a row. We stood around long enough, and the Irish chicos from my house arrived from dinner, so a group of us headed to Indigo, a bar with happy hour until ten. I enjoyed my pisco sours and said good-bye to my friends. I took pictures, but I cannot upload them to this public computer. Gratefully, I had something to look forward to all night; Erik was calling before I hit the road and became transient. Ah...sweet dreams. So really, this is about Saturday, which was an okay day. I spent a lot of time on a bus to Arequipa. A lot roughly translates to 13 hours. We did have some problems in Puno, which bought me some time to make a reservation at Hostal Regis. I was relieved to have an address to give the taxi driver when I did arrive in Arequipa. But all during the drive, I journaled and transferred my school notes and new vocabulary into a little notebook. It was a good review, and the time passed quickly. The bus had a few movies - Man on Fire, Eight Below, and Hot Chick. None had subtitles, and all were dubbed. I didn´t mind too much, since I had other things to do, like stare at the window at the amazing mountains. They got smaller the further south we went, but they were amazing! Some had snow, but very little. The picture I got of the Rockies accumulation of snow thus far (thanks, Oren) is quite a contrast to Peru. The primary months for snow are Enero y Febrero. And even then, only on the top halves of the mountains. Additionally, the glaciers are so puny now, I wanted to cry. I have talked with some Peruvians about the glaciers, and they are all too familiar with global warming. The drive was dull from Puno to Arequipa, as the bus filled up. I had a seat mate, and the sun goes down behind the mountains between 6 and 7 pm. I tried to do some sudoku, but the lights on the bus were pretty dim. Sleeping was an option, though I was really looking forward to a bed for that. There was also the smell...not so pleasant. And the curves were tight. The luxury of a double decker bus is nice, but it means that the bus has a high center of gravity, causing it to sway stiffly with the turns, jerking a passenger from one side to another. It isn´t a pleasant rocking motion, more of a - hold on tight, so you don´t steamroll the woman sleeping in the next seat! Hostal Regis was pretty closed up for the night, but I didn´t mind just taking a hot shower, popping in my ear plugs, and going to bed! Cheers! tori