turning twenty-six

i had FULL intentions of posting pictures but left the requisite hardware (i.e. memory card reader) at the hostel so there will be no picture posting today. oops.

so i was going to let my birthday come and go without any fanfare - as i do most years - until the irish guy i´ve been traveling with found out it was my birthday and announced it at the morning meeting. anyways, i went out with a couple other guys into a community to dig a trench to lay piping to get running water for a family. so i spent the morning digging through sand and then ended up playing with the kids for the rest of the day while everone else continued digging. i don´t think the kids understood that i didn´t speak spanish becase they would yammer away and ask me questions and i´d tell them, ¨no comprendo. no entiendo (i don´t understand)¨ but they would just throw out more questions and talk louder. a couple of the older girls got it and just started playing charades with me. but despite the language barrier, it´s amazing how much you can have just jumping back and forth over a trench and counting to ten. and then i became the amusement park ride and span kids around. and then they all thought it´d be fun to just jump on top of me. and then they thought it´d be funny to put sand down my pants. yeah, that last one - not so fun. even after taking a shower i was still sandy. anyways, went back to headquarters, hung out, built a fire, drank and chatted with people for the rest of the night.

i left pisco yesterday and came to huaccachina all by myself! didn´t get lost. i´m a little impressed with myself. anyways, it is HOT here. hostel´s got a pool and i spent the afternoon by the pool reading. and burning. chatted with a guy from holland and ran into a couple of american guys who were on the same tour as us in pisco. pretty mellow day yesterday. and i hate to admit it, but my arms and shoulders were definitely sore from digging the day before. heck, they´re still a little sore today.

so i´m going on a sand dune tour this afternoon. huaccachina is surrounded by massive sand dunes. i took pictures and will post them at a later date. gonna go sandboarding, as well. gonna head into town and see if i can catch a bus tonight or tomorrow to arequipa. some locals say that there´s a general country-wide strike tomorrow. so hopefully i´ll get on a bus tonight...

that´s it for now. i´m twenty-six. can´t say it feels all that different yet...