Cuzco, Peru

Last June I convinced my bff to cash in some more miles and head back to South America for the 2nd time to join me in Peru. If you knew M, you'd know that it doesn't take much convincing or arm twisting to participate in any kind of travel adventure. I think it was our first trip together in the summer of '08 to San Francisco that proved that we were compatible travel buddies, and her husband was even lucky enough to follow us around while we each tried to "out-itinerize" the other with tours of Alcatraz, wine tasting, baseball, biking the bridge, and reading street maps to try to get back and forth from our hotel using streets that weren't steep enough to require an oxygen tank.

Sorority pose at Alcatraz

Lots of wine tasting of course

Brewers vs. Giants on a chilly summer night

Biking the bridge on a 45 degree cloudy morning

Prepping for a whirlwind adventure in Peru was a little different, especially when your point of arrival is at approximately 11,000 ft. above sea level and you need to drink tea made from cocaine leaves to combat the altitude sickness. (oxygen tank mentioned above would've come in handy there too)

They say it's important to plan a couple of days in Cuzco to acclimate before heading to Machu Picchu just in case anyone in your group gets altitude sickness since obviously it's not ideal to end up puking and in bed the day that you have your entrance permits to see it. Cuzco is charming and we both put on our nerdy Spanish teacher hats and decided to explore the local sights like Pisac Market, NOT drink alcohol (which is hard for the 2 of us to do when we're together), rest up and NOT eat cuy picante (a guinea pig type of delicacy that they eat there). For two adults who exercise and are in pretty good physical health, it's really not an exaggeration that you get winded walking up and down stairs. Altitude sickness really is just dehydration, so it's also important to chug water like nobody's business, and that means lots of trips to the market to buy bottles and bottles of water. After having spent a year in Chile with clean water, it was definitely an adjustment to remember not to put my toothbrush under the sink.

Plenty of tiny markets selling souvenir crap like this stuff that I first fell in love with in China "adidas/alpacas", really???

We spent lots of time around the Plaza eating, drinking Coca light and people watching

A shot from one of the second floor balconies where we could sit and observe

Pisac Market

I miss getting my produce like this 

So many varieties of potatoes

and corn...

Burying and cooking Pachamanca, a dish that's cooked underground using hot stones, potatoes, meat, etc.

I was obsessed with taking pictures like while I lived in South America, I must have known deep down that I'd end up in AZ...

Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans

I can't believe that it's been almost a year since I touched my blog...When I look back, I see myself so focused on what was supposed to happen next that some days I forgot to live my life, something totally contradictory to what I had learned while I was living abroad. Instead, I came back and reverted to my good old American ways of worrying about what people would think if I was unemployed or what they would say about me having to stay with my parents for awhile. I buried my head in my computer and spent hours online looking for job opportunities that simply weren't there. When I finally let go and decided to go with the flow, I found myself here in Tucson, a place that I had previously visited 4 times. I'm not sure why I was resistant, but when I got here in December I decided to make the most of it. I got a part time job, I started volunteering, I joined a hiking group, and I met a good girlfriend who is in a similar position as me and we decided to combine our "new to Tucson" forces and see and do as much as we can on our limited budgets.

Here I am almost 6 months later, and with a lot of perspective I realize that my biggest problem had been trying to control all of the tiny details of my circumstances that simply didn't need to be controlled. I got everything  that I was asking for in coming here, I just didn't know it at first.I wanted a place with a good climate, outdoor activities, beautiful scenery, job opportunities for teaching both English and Spanish, an "international" type of environment, a situation where I had enough money to live on, and health benefits.

Tucson has been the perfect transition for me from Chile, I just didn't know that I'd have to wait 6 months before I could even start my transition. My part time job is fun, I get to work outside 90% of the time in a beautiful nursery with hardworking, fun people who make me laugh and make me feel like myself again. I teach English classes to refugees and adults who can't afford to pay for classes but understand the importance of transitioning into their new culture. I tutor English and Spanish, and next week I'll begin teaching university ESL classes for foreign students coming to the University of AZ to begin their studies here in the US. I'm lucky that my parents have a place for me to live here with beautiful views of the canyon and within walking distance of a National Park. I'm finally living my life and not making any other plans, and it's a great place to be.

Proof that our pets will adapt to any new circumstances

Happy Hour in the desert

May 5th Super Moon

June 4th Lunar Eclipse