I have been quiet for a few weeks.  I have not been quite, really because I have been banned from facebook, twice.  I have been blocked by a 20+ year friend and an about 7-year friend.  All in the past week, I think I lost a couple more I don't care about.  We have had a rough few weeks.
It has been rough for me too.  You now what pisses me off more than anything?  I see my country at a stand still.  We have always progressed.  In all my life we have progressed.In all my history classes, even in elementary school, there was some progress.In college, I learned about more progress.
What do I see now?  No progress.  People are fighting about ridiculous bullshit.  World war 2 brought us together when we were divided.  Hell VIETNAM brought us together.  Vietnam era brought us progress.  Ronald Reagan brought us progress.  What the hell has happened since?  The fucking internet?  Some BS health care?  Come on, we got nothing in the crown jewel of the past decade.
What have we done?  Nothing.  Not built bridges, not built societies.  After world war 2 we rebuilt Germany and built a great society.  What the fuck have we done for Iraq?  We told them we freed them, now it is their problem.  Last week, An American still died in Afghanistan.  Was he building anything when he died?  No, he was murdered in a forgotten war.
What the hell are we doing to ourselves?  We used to have wars for great reasons, and after we built great places.  Now we abandon them.  Why?  We can't even fix our own bridges, how can we repair those we damaged?
Now we are about to elect two complete asshats, one who does not know what secret clearance is, and another who needs it revoked.  We are in a country that can not admit its own problems, let alone solve others.  We have a police force that tries to claim that we need to give them the benefit of the doubt, just in case the cameras lie, but we need to assume the criminal needed to be murdered because the camera may lie?  How the fuck is a trained professional given the benefit of the doubt but a random dude with a gun in his face being told he is about to die nigger should not?
What the hell is wrong with our country?  We used to build nations, now we can't maintain our own.  But we are supposed to be some authority?  What the fuck happened to us?  We never were really great, but I remember when I was a kid, when we at least tried to be.

Lima, Pt. 2.

So, Arrival in Lima was right off the bat a refreshing change from America, just from the airport alone.  Being that Peru generally doesn't meddle in world affairs, terrorism isn't much a concern there.  They are more worried about bringing fruit into the country.  They took a quick look at my luggage, backpack around my shoulder the entire time.  I walked out to a massive crowd of people looking for others.  I was pretty tired and overwhelmed by all the people there, I assumed I would see someone with a sign waiting for me, but nothing.  I wandered around about ten minutes, then made another pass from the front gates through the crowd again.  I see my name!  The owner of the hostel came herself to greet me with the cab driver.  I paid a bit extra for this door to door service, but I figured it was safer than some dude trying to overcharge me to drop me off at his friends place rather than where I wanted to go.
When we got to the place, she immediately wanted to make sure I was completely comfortable.  Did I want any food, water, coffee, whatever.  She asked me about my trip and just chatted a bit giving me some visiting ideas and such.  There was no rush to the money until I started becoming visibly tired, I may have even requested it being so tired by this point.  I paid for my room and went to bed.
After three days of travel, I slept a bit over ten hours.  I had been through a lot this past year, and here was a new beginning in every way.  I had left my horrible lying, cheating, alcoholic, pedophile wife went through the most slanderous divorce I have ever even heard of as she tried desperately to stick to her theft and greed, decided she needed to destroy my character with thoughts about herself.  But all that was past now, I was on a vacation of sorts, and didn't need to dwell on anything or answer to nobody anywhere.  I kinda felt like Forrest Gump, I just started running.  Well, here I am and time to walk around.  I have been to Vegas alone, Sacramento, regular places and wandered around town, but ths was my first time in a foreign country alone.  You would think I would be a bit scared.  Nope, not in the slightest.  This was incredibly liberating.  In fact, I would recommend to anyone going through a rough time, a weekend in Vegas or Catalina Island is nice, but if you really wanna blow off steam, go visit a random country.  There is something incredibly liberating abut being in a random place like this and just doing whatever the hell you want for a couple days.  You want a beer?  Go to the place you want.  You check out a museum and decide you don't like it?  You leave.  Nothing is a negotiation you will probably lose anyways.
The arts in Lima are impressive.  I would like to make another trip for a couple more days I can stop at Nasca along the way and see these giant lines everyone has been talking about.  I have been in Peru for a day and already find myself making more plans just from within the country than I can probably accomplish in a couple years, but we shall see.
Peru is a great place, filled with great people so far, A stark contrast to always angry Americans who feel they have to fake it in society by being extra polite.  No, things are a bit less polite, but definitely more genuine here.  I will take genuine any day.  I have been in Lima for a day and I already never want to go.

Day one in Lima. Part one(mostly just talking about photos)

My first day in Lima was possibly the greatest day of my entire life.  I was disconnected, connecting with people through facebook wifi in the few places that had it.  I woke up, took a cold shower(hot showers can be complicated here, but there is hot water I am just an idiot), And had my breakfast and I was off!  My host family served me a breakfast of eggs, coffee, bread and homemade juice.  Here they mix egg white with a lot of drinks and blend it, it makes a creamy, frothy drink, like an orange juliuis.  I cut the bread and made sandwiches, it was great, I wanted more but didn't want to sound greedy paying US $15 a night.

  

My last stop(sorry for being out of order, learning to work the internet), was a museum. Pedro Museo de Osma.  There was a dress gallery, which was kinda cool.  There was mostly religious paintings from when the country was under Spanish Rule, if you have questions about specific artworks(besides the silver or dresses), I took notes, just ask.  It was a very beautiful palace comound, with a guest house that would be worth millions in Los Angeles. I am guessing it was an old home during the more modern Conqueror days of Italy or Chile.

On the way home, I saw a white guy with a nice 'Wicks' Jacket.  Wicks is a really awesome brewery in my hometown, they make great beers and are known for their specialty prohibition ales.  Of course, I was intrigued, so I had to go inside.  It was a fucking English pub!  Complete with fish and chips, warm stouts and bitter ales on tap!  This was kinda amazing.  Everyone spoke English, including the customers, it was a relief from struggling with my limited Spanish, when in Lima, my English speaking friends, visit Wicks, in Barranco next to the photography museum.  I actually went to the photography museum, but there were no photos allowed, and it was a museum some famous photographer from Lima built to remember himself, it was all fashion and glamor.  Not much to be said for.

Street art is everywhere in Barranco, Lima.  A beautiful place.

Here is my host family, the Bareja family.  If you ever travel to lima, you need to come here.  Stay with them, they will take care of you.

My next post, I will tell the story first, then add more photos, as being limited to the photos I noticed kept a lot out.  Next post will be my day in Lima part 2, it will be actually filled with emotion and I will find photos to match.

My Trip

In short, the trip was a drag.  It took 5 days to get to my city, granted I took my time.  Spent half a day in Ft. Lauderdale on Friday, a hop and skip from Orlando, I had planned to find a cigar shop, museum(there is an excellent museum there with over 100 Picasso works), While I am mixed on Picasso, I think half of his work is crap, the other half is absolutely brilliant, So I was excited to see it, and maybe buy a drink at the beach.  However, this is not how things go down.  With humidity at about 1000%, the tail end of a tropical storm throwing down off and on, and being exhausted, I said fuck it and opted for sleeping on the floor after walking outside for about two minutes.  Besides, I had made it to Florida from Los Angeles to be told I need proof of an exit out of Peru to be able to leave.  When did this shit start?
Apparently, it is only some stupid policy they enforce when you accidentally try to board with hidden electronics, a lighter and a criminal past for being arrested at political rallies and talking crap on facebook.  Someone with that list of offenses booking a one way trip to a random country on a large plane, I don't see the issue.  Anyways, after my brother booked me a ticket to Chile after getting out of the rubber glove room(Those guys were very nice, I didn't even have to tip), I went to sleep.  Yeah, I slept soundly, glove rape apparently is not traumatizing enough for me to avoid sleep(Kidding, it was just a VERY THOROUGH) pat down and fondling, clothes on, Don't be mad TSA).  12 hours later, I was on my way.  I had my hostel host family meet me at the airport, The ride was a 1985 Honda Civic with 5 people in it and no trunk space, but that's cool.  I finally made it and slept for 10 hours immediately after getting there.