Dogs, dogs dogs...

So, I´ve been in Peru for something like 8 days now, and I´ve only just gotten my sleep schedule oriented... much to the applause of all the other people sharing my dorm with me. Awake before noon? Impossible!

I´m in a place called Huaraz, an excellent little mountain town in the northern center of the country, famous for the numerous treks that go into the Cordillera Blanca and back. It totally reminds me of Cuzco... with it´s winding streets and colonial feel. The only thing I´m missing is a group comprised of 3 Dutch girls, 2 Swiss guys, and a Swede. Oh, how I miss you all! Happily, I´ve managed to fashion another group to ease my woes. 2 French girls, an Austrian, and an Israeli. I suppose they´ll do! (just kidding you guys! You know I love you) Here´s a photo of us at Laguna Churrup- taken from our trek yesterday. Something about scaling a rock face over a raging waterfall sans ropes on a windy and rainy day brings people together. It was about 3 hours up, 2 hours down... slippy and scary at parts... but with algunos perritos to guide us. Man- I love street dogs in Latin America.

To be fair, I haven´t managed to get too much done since I´ve been here. My first day in the city, I received very sorrowful news regarding my dog´s health, which was then followed by even worse news which I suppose you can infer. I guess it´s better that it happened here, in a city where I may not know anyone very well... but at least I´m not back in Mildura! Something about the traveling spirit extracts the very best out of the people who partake in it, and the two French girls and wonderful Peruvians I´ve met have been absolutely golden in helping me keep myself occupied. There is also a hostel bunny that has been filling my days with furriness and fat. At times he wiggles away for fear I´m going to pop him... but generally, he has been something of a painkiller. I´m not sure what else to say except that hearing about the passing of someone who´s considered to be the absolute heart my family had me incapacitated for a few days. Fucking mierda. Te extraño Tani. Te extraño.

In the effort to fill my time and give less space to grief, I´ve also begun language school here, in one of the TWO language schools in the city. Both of them are nosebleed expensive, and the one I picked seems to be completely unprepared to handle actual students. I went for my first lesson the day before yesterday, and paid close to 25 dollars (a fortune in Peru) to be taught that yo is I and tú is you. Ya puedo hablar español, puta! I´m going back for round number 2 today. It´s like sleeping with someone for the first time, and you realize that it´s bad... but you go back again just because you want to be absolutely sure. It´s painful and embarrassing for you both... but you can´t seem to help yourself. -sighs-

After that, I´m on to Trujillo, a town on the northern coast, on my way to Ecuador. I´m a little concerned about what appears to be a staph infection on my leg (thanks a lot, Matt!)... but it wouldn´t be my first brush with odd bacteriums. The thing is- I don´t mind picking up strange and exotic diseases while I´m in strange and exotic countries. My problem is that I got it in Australia.. which is neither strange nor exotic. It´s so clean there! How can this be??

Hmm... other than that- I´m in love with South America in a way that I could never seem to fall in love with any other region. Central America was good, the Indian subcontinent and South East Asia great... but there is just something... I don´t know... sexy ....here. I´m so god damn happy on this continent- it´s going to be tough to go home. I suppose the only thing I´m missing is a certain hazel-eyed Adonis... but that will come. The window will open! Sometime.

Last week in Oz!

I think you should be excited right now. This post is coming with pictures!

See?? Lookie how many pictures!

The odd thing is that I don't think I have a single picture of Mildura, the spot that occupied most of my time on this continent. Oh, no- wait. I have this one.

This is Simba- the year-and-something old dog that had yet to be potty-trained. I think he was the only member of the household that didn't irritate the fucking shit out of me. His head is deceptively large. Had I gotten a full-body pic, you would have noticed that his body is horrifically out of proportion with his massively large noggin. He's still pretty cute though. So cute, in fact- that even though between the hours of 6pm and midnight, the majority of my time was spent either slipping on dog excrement, or spent cleaning it up after slipping on it--- I still didn't mind him. I even let him sleep on the couch with me every now again~ that is, until he started getting fresh. Crawling into my shirt was cute. Biting my boob after I had fallen asleep was not.

Anyway, I left Mildura on the 18th, and boarded a bus to Adelaide to visit Matt for a few days. Ohhh. Words can't describe the pleasure of sleeping on a real bed, in a real house, with real hot showers after sharing a flat with 6 other people who all do farm work and are much pushier about getting washed up after work than you are. Matt had a pretty ambitious sight-seeing agenda for me--- but the only sights I was interested in seeing were on the inside of his pantry.

After blurry-eyed goodbye at 5 in the morning, I loaded onto a plane to head north and take in the cheery faces of my Indian travel-mates. Just look at these cheery faces! As always- I had a blast partying, reminiscing, and general what-not with these two. Thanks to Pops' generosity- I've also managed to reload my wardrobe before heading on to SudAmerica. A very lucrative stop, to be sure.

So I'm here in Byron Bay- pouting about the rainy weather while munching on Home Brand biscuits. I'm wrapping up my bid-niss here as quickly as possible before going back on to Sydney to watch the Heartbreak Kid and eat my very last Tim Tams with Frase-book. I'm juiced about getting a move-on to Peru, but the very finality of my time on this side of the world is starting to sink in. I'M ON THE LAST LEG OF MY TRIP! Craziness.