i see black people

first of all, i just noticed that my right arm is about fifty percent more tanned than my left arm. this is most likely due to leaning out passenger side windows. its fairly severe, i look like the jungle fever poster when i hold my own hand. which, you know, i do all the time.

second of all, im in el carmen, which is supposed to be the center of black peru. it sort of is, its like going to the south side. suddenly everyones taller here. it soothes my homesickness to be hit on by sketchy black guys after all those sketchy ... brown guys. funny here everyones peruvian, but if i took them home with me suddenly theyd be different races.

still fighting off this damn cough. in chincha the day after i shopped and ate i went to bed at six pm. i probably havent done that since i was six years old. then i went to lunahuana, which according to lets go is an underappreciated jewel of the coast. it wasnt bad, but it seems to be a tradition there to offer things you cant get. food on the menu, horseback riding, i tried to do a lot of things and was turned away every time. i finally went to bed at sunset again, in a tent i rented from the campground i slept at. on the way to lunahuana i stopped in canete, which i think is a wild beach town during the summer but now is not really happening. i sunbathed on principle, since i was at the beach, but left when i was burnt and being harassed by twelve year olds and sixty year old retired professors who insisted on having their picture taken with me. then i had ceviche which was very good, although when clearing the table the waitress spilled the juice from the plate into my bag, so now my knitting and my camera bag smell like fish. its been that kind of few days.

this morning i got up at sunset and did what passes for yoga when no ones watching, which was lovely with a view of mountains and the river in the distance. i also went for a run and went whitewater rafting. the rafting was not all that intense, but it was fun nonetheless. the family i went with also wanted to have their picture taken with me. odd.

ive gotta think of something useful to do with myself for tomorrow. theres no music tonight, apparently friday does not count as the weekend. i wish i would have known that. i dont like looking forward to the next thing, it makes me feel like im wasting time in the present. oh well, life is still good, full of tiny moments of interest rather than all encompassing ones. tomorrow ill go running again and enjoy my lungs that though tragically weakened by disease are way stronger since the mountains. also, i just had an amazing dinner and dessert.