20K and a Year Away

This is our last few days in Santa Fe. We will pack our stuff up and head to El Nazareno this Wednesday, January 5. It is definitely time. We have done all the exploring we want here and are ready for some new scenery. It is really pretty up here and the temperatures are fantastic, but it is time to go.

Today, we will visit Sra. Petra one last time. She has been so nice to us. We want to make sure we tell her goodbye and thank her. She talked about cooking so many different things for our last visit, I am curious to see what she does cook. Whatever it is, I am sure it will be tasty. I just called and confirmed our visit with her and she said to come hungry! Ok!

We got every piece of clothing we own dirty last week. We are sending everything except what we have on our bodies to the laundry person. I send our clothes to be washed every week, but we usually have one or two things left to wear. This week, we got everything dirty! I think that is a good sign.

Friday, December 31, Axel and I spent our last day down at the river. It was so calm and beautiful. I sat there with my feet in the cold water thinking about how glad I am that we came here. It was a moment of feeling very much at peace with the world, especially with all of the unknowns around us now. I just sat there and let everything be as it should be for as long as possible. It was one of those moments where I could quit questioning everything and just relax. I have to take them where I can get them!

I have started the research/planning for Peru. I am not sure what all is in Peru and need to get some information to be able to make some plans. I know we will go to Cuzco, Machu Picchu, and Lima. Beyond that, I am open to suggestions. I have Axel doing a country report on Peru so he can suggest some places to go. I was just talking with Panos about possibly going to Argentina for a month rather than spending all three months in Peru. That might be a great idea. I will need to look into restrictions for travel in Argentina. I really (read reaaaalllllyyyyy) like the accent in Argentina. It’s like the gamma in Greek that is driving me nuts. When I hear it, it sounds amazing. The double ll/y sound there is incredible. I might need to stay there long enough to talk like that.

I suppose I should have started with Happy New Year! It was a pretty uneventful celebration for us. Axel wanted to stay up until midnight – for ulterior game-playing motives – so we did. We looked outside for two minutes, saw the residuals of someone doing some mini-fireworks, and that was it. Whoo hoo!

Saturday, I went for a walk on the same road down to the river. It is a beautiful walk on a dirt road with all kinds of views and different scenery. The other day, right after I crossed the river on the footbridge, one of the local residents stopped to chat. He just wanted to say hello and that he had seen me walking several times and wanted to let me know this was a safe route for me – even the dogs don’t bite. That was nice of him – a little unsettling that it would be something someone felt they needed to tell me, but nice of him.

So, fast forward to Saturday, January 1, I am crossing the same footbridge and see a very old man starting the ascent on the other side. The other side is pretty steep and this old guy – over 80? – is going very slowly with a cane. I get to that side and wait on the edge of the bridge for him to get up the ramp – rather than push by him, hey, I’m a nice person – and so, of course, he stops at the top to chat. What a strange chat that was…

• I say good morning – Buenos días.
• He says – Buenos días. ¿Qué hace por aquí, caminando? What are you doing here, walking?
• I say, yes, just walking.
• He says, Ah, me gustan mucho las mujeres. ¿Te gustan los hombres? Ah, I like women a lot. Do you like men?
• I say, ¿Cómo? What? Which is the polite thing to say when you are not sure what just came out of someone’s mouth.

Then, this old guy goes on to invite me to go with him into one of the fields nearby for some quality together time. I declined the offer and told him, yeah, no, I am heading this way. Adios!

It all makes sense, maybe, why that other guy felt he needed to tell me it was not dangerous. I suppose I should learn some lessons from that encounter, but they are not new lessons. Just reminders that everything is not what you think it is.

Well, the walk was nice regardless.

Saturday afternoon, I had a delightful Skype conversation with the girls. The wifi here is sketchy, so I used the phone. We managed to keep the video on for the whole call. I am looking forward to being able to use wifi like a normal person. We talked about how gross the snow is where they are and what they did for New Year’s. Lydia is covered in snow and 30F, Matilda not so much and 40F, which seems backward for Bellingham and Boston. I let them know it was 80F here and that I felt really bad for them. Did I mention how much I hate the cold? I think I did… Even though they are ice cubes, it made me immensely happy to see them.

Sunday was Greek day. Greek day is my favorite.