last days in peru...

it's exactly one month after i left the states and here i am preparing to leave peru. jamie and i left cusco yesterday (tear!) for a brief overnight in lima and are prepping and packing to fly to buenos aires today.

our last night in cusco was all good fun. we bounced around to many different places, but the highlight for me was certainly a lounge that luis and moses took us to called mushrooms. THEY HAD A POOL TABLE!! i hadn't seen a pool table in a month and almost had a coronary when i walked in. we sat down and ordered a few drinks but, before long, i left the conversation and was making new friends at the pool table. i even played a few games but was really nervous because they were all guys and i hadn't played in so long and my hands were clammy and they had no chalk so i SUCKED and lost every game, except for the last one and the guy totally let me win.

yeah, that's me not winning
but i've still got a winning attitude!

i still made a few good shots and had a fantastic time. i even met a bunch of peruvian guys and, random, a few from california.

other highlights of the evening
* dinner at fallen angel, running into kevin from boston, whom we'd met at another restaurant last week

this was a salad of red quinoa, tomatoes, fava beans, corn and andrean cheese
it was phenomenomal!

* seeing jesús, my spanish friend, again, at siete angelitos
* cards and beers at gypsy bar with my friend brian and a few of his friends
* dancing at siete angelitos with moses and luís

moses and luís

it was a good last night. i was full of good food, good drinks, good conversation and good feelings about my time here. i have totally fallen in love with peru - with cusco, with iquitos and with the jungle. and there's so much i didn't get to see! i'm excited to go to argentina but, as michael (one of my new pool buddies) told me last night, 'it's amazing in argentina, but you're basically going to europe now.' yeah, i know.

but that will be fun, too!