Trip to the South of Peru and Chile.

After just ten days out of Lima, I realize that there is so much more to Peru than this city. The 'real' Peru isn't dirty, with tons of traffic and people everywhere. (Not that that's a bad thing, I love Lima!!!) The people of Peru are so hard working! I bought little souvenirs from women that handmade them for 70 cents or very close to that. I bought a hand embroidered coin purse for 5 soles (about 2 dollars). I'm sure that woman spent more than an hour on that because it's beautiful craftmanship. It's wonderful to see people who do their work right and with pride.
    The people of Peru are such nice people who will really give you the shirt of their back for nothing in return. One woman in the small village of Cambaya told me how much she wanted to invite me in for lunch, but she couldn't because there was no cheese, only potatos, but I could have those if I wanted. This woman was living in a house made with a thatched roof and what looked like the leftovers of building material. She had a donkey that I'm sure was how she went to the fields to work. It was so lovely of her to want to give me everything she had, even though to me it seemed like nothing. I politely declined, but thanked her immensly.
   I think the sun and the clean air was one of the best parts of the trip for me. I got a good tan on this trip, something I can't say I've ever gotten in Lima. It was also nice to take a huge breath and know that it wasn't full of truck exhaust. I will say that the deep breath thing was a bit difficult because of the high altitude though. One night, I felt like I couldn't breath at all, all night! Very frightening, but a cool change I guess, I think I'm in better shape now though because of it. The warmth in the south of Peru and in the mountains is very weird though. The sun is super hot because of the proximity to the ecuator and the altitude, but the wind is frigid because of the altitude and climate. There are parts of the mountains that feel warm, but there is snow on the ground. It's very odd.
   I'll start later with specific stories of the trip, but for now here are my general quips.
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This photo was taken at almost 1 in the morning. They greeted us from the bus. Thank you Rotary Club de Tacna. This is the spirit of Peru for ya.