So, I arrived in Lima in the wee hours of the morning on Saturday, it was dark so I wasn’t able to see us flying over the Andes. When I got on the plane in Toronto I started to get my first waves of ?. my. god. I am actually going to Peru?it only hit me when I realized that everyone around me was holding a burgundy passport and has an unmistakable mestizo look. There was a Peruvian beisbol team on board as well. The boy that I was sitting next to was Japanese and going to visit his grandparents, he was a sweet boy but also a little apprehensive about his trip to Peru because he didn’t speak any Spanish, I asked him about the places he had been in Peru before because it was his third trip to the area, I asked him about Iquitos, an area I have my heart set on visiting, he said it was really neat, it?s on the edge of the Amazon and the ?ian look really funny, really weird and speak funny, I told him as am anthropologist it is my job to meet them, he sort of shrugged and went on reading his anomie. About an hour in I realized that the girls behind me were speaking French, so I turned around to talk to them. It turns out that they are visiting Peru for 6 weeks, they don?t speak any Spanish and are backpacking. We exchanged names for Facebook, talked about what we would be doing in Peru and made a date to go hang gliding in September! I finally touched down around 130am and then had to hit immigration and customs, this was more or less fine and then baggage and such, which again was fine. I was impressed, i should have had more faith in AirCanada, I totally though they would lose all of my bags!When you pass customs youre smacked in the face with women trying to rent you cell phones in tacky blue suits and men rushing in your face to get you a taxi. My new supervisors and upstairs neighbor were there to meet me, MariaIsabel, Wilfredo and Earsmo. We shoved all of us into a small Toyota pick up and hit the streets of Lima! The drivers here are absolutely out of control, even at that hour, absolute madness, I honestly feared for my life! There was a lot of silence in the car and it mostly consisted of me pointing at things and asking what they were, a clothing factory, a kombi, etc etc. When it was actually sinking in, I am here for 6 months a very fitting song came on the radio, I think it?s pretty much the my mantra for the trip, it was Reigna de al Rumba, Celia Cruz?s ?La vida es un carnival? and I tried not to cry.We passed glittering casinos with names like ?Hello Holllywood!?and ?New York? and lot and lots and lots of little shops, it looked a bit different by the daylight, but not much. I live in a relatively poor area called Pueblo Libre. In Lima it is winter time, when people told me this I was like, yeah, as if, but winter exsists in South America! I know! I was shocked! So what does winter in Lima mean?Well, it?s probably 12 degrees C and 100% humidity, the sun NEVER shines, ever. I seriously haven?t seen the sun since I left Toronto Airport. Pobresita. My house-office is pretty large but much to my dismay hot water is nonexistent here! I just recently got a little electric water heater that you hook onto the shower head, unfortunately I am a giant by Peruvian standards at 5?3 and my head touches the top, and the head... of the electric shower head... and it shocks you! No joke. I have no idea who designed this but I will probably come back in a body bag thanks to this great innovation. I also think I might be allergic to llama wool, I fall asleep to coughing fits and a tight throat with sneezy runny nose. The food is awesome and friends don?t be too alarmed when I come back nice and plump. Whats interesting though is that although they eat and eat and eat there aren?t that many big people, well... maybe thats not true, but I have noticed that many of the women carry their weight very differently they all have very small thin legs and no hips or waist but carry it all in the front in a sort of ponch. Oh, for all of you that enjoy churros but ask youself )because you?re in Atlantic Canada or whatever) man the churros here are divine! They are thick and the middle is filled with caramel! I almost died when I found that out. Um there s a lot of interesting stuff to talk about, my observations, etc but I have already written all about those in my journals and I am sure I will explore them further in upcoming blogs but for now I will talk about things that I think are funny, or awesome.Um, the water, totally not cool to drink, even boiled, it?s McNasty! Buyer beware of bottled too, I recommend San Luis Sin Gas and would tell you to stay away from San Mateo ew ew ew. Sodas taste different, probably because they use real sugar and not corn syrup. The beer is good and cheap, you can get a bottles thats probably 2.5 bottles for 3-4 soles, less than a dollar! Go for Cristal it?s a blonde, but it you like darks Cue?is ok too. You can buy tetra packs of Sangria at the gas station. They play Aerosmith at the department stores which is sorta sweet. I was at a discoteca last Saturday and they were showing music videos and such on the TV, well, on came a person in a Panda costume lip syncing Daddy Yankee and in the background was a midget in a clown costume doing flips, it was awesome, the people in the crowd were going nuts! Everyone dances, it?s really cute to watch adolescent boys just given er to the salsa and little little 3 year old girls with their dads, all of this at 11-12pm'2am! As or right now, I am tired so I am going to finish up. We had the internet installed on all of the computers at the office last night and the tech was here from 9pm'730am! Bang bang bang all night, it was miserable! I turned on the radio to block it out but that was without luck. I had to translate for a conference call at 7am too... boo hiss... I am going to a folk market on Saturday with folk music, arts and dancing, I hope to take lots of pictures. I am also going to the zoo on Sunday if I am not too hungover from the night before! OK miss everyone, keep in touch!!