TRAGEDY STRIKES OUR INTREPID ADVENTURER.

I lost my camera and all of my pictures.

Here is how it happened. As I was biking from Huaraz to Lima there is an amazing downhill (obviously, as it is going from high mountains to the coast). My camera is usually securely attached to my handelbars so I can (A) know where it is at all times and (B) take pictures quickly and easily. About 5 miles down the amazing zipping downhill, I stop to adjust somthing on my bike and notice that MY CAMERA IS GONE. I huff and puff my way back up the hill to the last place I was sure that I had it, taking about an hour. Nothing. On the way back down I talked to everyone that I could find and told them my name, where I was going to be that night, and how much I would be willing to give for a reward for my camera. I stayed in a tiny hostal in a tiny little town, and in the morning waited around for hours for someone to come back and return my camera. Nothing. I gave the hostal (also the main office building of the area with a total of 4 1/2 rooms) the number of the South American Explorer's Club here in Lima, in case anyone returned my camera. Then I left.

While I was sitting waiting for someone to return it to me last Saturday morning, I was very irritated, to put it mildly. But, after meditating (yeah I know, meditating) and sitting quietly, I came to the realization that it is just a thing. Even my photos that I just lost are just THNGS. I have the money to buy another one (which I did yesterday here in Lima) while many of the people I have met could afford to buy another camera after 3 months of work. I was worrying about my camera while many of the people I have met worry about if they can eat at night. SO, I am not as pissed as I wpould have been.

One thing that really irks me is that for the past two weeks I had been carrying the memory card in my pocket and the camera in the case on my handelbars, just in case something like this was to happen. This day, of course, the memory card was with the camera, and all was lost. My memory card needs a password to open the files, so I am pretty sure that the person who has it (probably someone from a car who saw it in the middle of the road, there were many cars that day) is going to try and open my memory card and will end up just throwing it away. About a thousand pictures and a lot of memories are going to be thrown away. I think THAT is the most irritating. Eh. But my new camera is nice, and pretty cheap.

So here is what has been going on. Besides that bad news.

I can't remember if I talked about Halloween in my last post, so here is the story. I was stying at a very nice hostal in Huaraz (the Albergue Churup, in case anyone wants to go) where there was a group of about 12 young gringos in the dormitories. About half of us were American, and the other half European and Australian. We all threw whatever we had in our bags together, applied a little face paint, and dressed up for the night as a very strange and motley assortment of characters. there was a pirate, a hummingbird, a waterfall, two men in togas (one with a foxhunting hat), a four people with black clothes and terrifying clown makeup. Me? well, all of my clothes were in the laundry, so I was very limited in my attire, with only clothing from the lost and found. One girl decided that I looked very New York Bohemian, and she threw her friends scarf around my neck and called me Mark, from the musical RENT. Fine. I actually looked pretty good, and was a bit warmer than t6he fellas in togas. We played cards and drank untill we got kicked out of the hostal, and then went to "Club Diablo", with absurdly loud techno music and a fooseball table. Hours layer some of us spilled across the street to the high school dance, where we made complete fools of ourselves much to the delight of the 16 year olds there. It is pretty funny, but any of the young people here love to take pictures of gringos. Yep, so years from now several people are going to look back at their high school years and remember a blond gringo in a scarf and two (very drunk) female pirates at their high school dance. Fantastic.

Two days after Halloween I started the descent to the coast. The first day was BEAUTIFUL. If anyone gets a chance to go to Peru, and they like hiking even a smidgen, go to Huaraz in the Cordillera Blanca. Summertime in the US is the best season to go ( a little more crowded but good weather) and if it is anything like the day I was biking away, you are guarenteed to love it. The sky was such a clear, sapphire blue that I didn't want to put on my sunglasses. The 20 pointy, snowcapped mountains were amazing, and the range isn't actually THAT big so as I was biking the scene was constantly changing. I went really slowly for the first part of the day because I kept turning around to take pictures... I would love to share them with you.... but.... yeah.

The second day after Huaraz was also beautiful, and a lot of downhill. I got a little bit later start because I was waiting for someone to return my camera, but I made it to the town of Barranca that evening, right on the coast. A young firefighter my age brought me back to his house to chat with his family, which turned into dinner and the next morning breakfast! His mom was more worried about me than my mom (hear that mom? I got an adopted mother here to worry too, double the power) and she actually CALLED the firestation in the next town that I stopped in to try and convince me to take a bus into Lima. After Barrance I stayed in the town of Chancay, an oceanside resort town about 60 km north of Lima. When she called I explained to her that, "nope I have a bike for a reason, I am going to bike to Lima, thanks for worrying, no I don't need more soap...." My mom would never acually call a firestation to ask if I was there and safe (at least I don't think you would)... it was very funny. After Chancay I biked a twisty turny road on a cliff next t the ocean, and then got into Lima. The milepost marked said that Lima was about 25 miles away, but I was definately in the middle of a city. I biked through suburb after suburb after suburb untill I finally got into the actual heart of Lima, and then it was a few hours more untill I got into my hostal, in the ritzy neighborhood of Miraflores. I am staying in a homestay kind of hostal, with only 15 beds, hot showers and a very nice family, AND some of the people that I have met have said that it is the cheapest plece they have found in all of Lima, about 4.66 dollars per night. I got here Monday night, and am going to leave tomorrow, Thursday morning. I have sort of just been wandering around the city. There are so many rich old ladies in fur coats and nice cars, it is a little ridiculous. Huge apartment builings, doormen, casinos, fancy grocery stores, tiny jars of peanut butter that cost more than my hostal... this Alaskan hick in sandals and a tee-shirt feels a little out of place. And aparently I look it too, because last night as I was walking around looking for dinner a very small, very friendly, very gay man from Peru offered to show me around the city... I wasn't really feeling romantically attracted to this little fellow, and also didn't want to get robbed, so I declined the offer. Yep. He was dressed very well, to give him some credit, but I wasn't really feeling that, so I a hamburger at the Peru version of McDonalds, "Bembo!!". It was far better than any fast food restaurant in the states.

This morning I met up with a Peruvian friend of my Spanish teacher back in the Washington, and myself, her and her friend went out to breakfast. It is always nice to make some local connections. Then some friends from the hostal and I went to a museum of weapons andgold, with the weapons (from all over the world and Peru) a little bit more impressive than that gold. All in all the museum was a bit overwhelming, thinking about how much all of these weapons (ranging from samurai swords to nazi pistols) were worth, to how many thousands of people had probably died because of these objects. The collection of about 20 Peruvian mummies only added to the creepyness. Afterwards I took a nap, and am now here! I am going to do a little shopping, buy some sunscreen and food, and get things ready for tomorrow, like figuring out how in the world to exit this city on a bike. In three days I should be in the town of Pisco, which was hit hard by a massive earthquake 2.5 months ago, and I am planning on spending about 5 days there to help out.

Oh! some more weird news. I talked to the Bolivian embassy, and aparently after the 1st of December US citizens will have to pay 100 US dollars and wait ten days for a visa to enter Bolivia. I am not really feeling like doing either of those things, which might mean that fter Pisco I will take a bus to Ayacucho, and then another bus to Cusco. Biking it would take about 20 days, and if I leave Pisco on the 15th... yep. From Cusco I hope to bike to Lake Titicaca, and triumphantly cross the border on Nov. 30th.

Wow this is long, as usual. Hope everyone is well!