Well I guess this will be my last post. We have just departed Huacachina and Ica on a bus for Lima. Our flight back home departs tonight at 20:00 from Lima.

Yesterday we had a very lazy day by the pool, eating goodies like avocado salad and ceviche and buying some last minute souvenirs with the remaining sols we have. We took our last hike up to the top of the dunes to see the sunset and spent the night listening to the very amplified party going on across the street. What a way to go out!

It's been an amazing trip but I'm glad to be going home and back to my regular routines. Let's hope that Sivanne feels the same way soon! We have just heard that she has arrived in the beach town of Mancora for now.

To wrap things up here are a few observations I have made while traveling through Ecuador and Peru.

1) Families are close here. Even nicer was to notice fathers being very involved with the little ones - always playing with them, carrying them, walking around the village with them and watching them. Of course the mothers all did this too but it was just interesting to see the fathers just as invested. Of course I noticed this mainly in the small towns and villages and not as much in big cities.

2) The people all have good teeth (and smile a lot!), most people don't wear glasses, the men all have lots of hair (not as much baldness as you see in Israel or North America) and you hardly see anybody (but tourists) smoking. They like to drink though and beer can only be found in huge bottles (over 700 mls).

3) Eating in restaurants: a) the napkins they give you are the size and thickness of a single square of toilet paper (1 ply). What's with that? It probably explains the lack of toilet paper in all the restrooms - it's all being used for napkins! b) The order that they bring you your meal is interesting. Your drink never comes first. You could be halfway through your breakfast before you get your coffee. Or your appetizer will come together with the main course or one person will get his whole meal and be almost done before the other person's meal comes. c) I did manage to complete the trip without eating a guinea pig which is the most common food eaten here. Nothing like seeing your childhood pet skewered on the BBQ! In deference to Sivanne I also didn't eat alpaca which is on every menu and is supposed to be delicious. But they are way too cute!

4) There are a lot of really nice dogs here. Everybody seems to have a pet and they are very cute and well taken care of. There are also a lot of pet stores and veterinarian clinics everywhere.

5) Everything I purchased online from bus tickets to flights to train tickets to entrance tickets - worked! It was sometimes a little complicated and wasn't often in English but all in all I had no issues at all. And they are punctual! All buses, trains and planes left exactly on time and when sites were supposed to open they opened exactly at the time they said they would. This was nice.

6) There was wifi and computers everywhere we stayed and in almost all the restaurants. It was sometimes challenging to make it all work when you needed it but generally it was great. So I don't really have an excuse for not checking into my work during this whole month except for the fact that I just didn't want to!

7) It's hard to distinguish a regular car from a taxi. They all seem to be taxis and are constantly honking at you to see if you want a ride - even when it's pretty obvious that you don't. Like when you are in the middle of dinner?

8) Many street meals and juices are served to you inside a plastic bag. I'll have a bag of juice and a straw to go please! I assume this means they have mastered the art of creating plastic bags that don't leak but I didn't test the theory.

9) I saw the Southern Cross! Using an app on the IPhone we located it in the sky. Now I know that I'm below the equator. It's definitely as prominent as our Big Dipper.

10) Everywhere we went we came across mixed couples - US or Canadian or Israeli/Peruvian or Ecuadorean. It was interesting. Of course all the ones we met were in the tourism business so I don't know if it's as predominant in other areas.

I'm sure there were other things of note but that's all I can think of for now. So this is me signing off from South America!