The past few days have been filled with traveling, long bus trips, moving suitcases and little sleep, but I love it all. To see people I haven’t seen in months, despite being down here in the same country, has been so nice and definitely made the departure from Puerto Alegria a lot easier. I was able to spend 2 quick days at the Girasoles home in Kusi, which until Puerto Alegria, was one of my favorite sites and I have great relationships with the house parents, family and boys. It was great to see some familiar faces and the cold air! (It was so cold to me that I had to wear long pants and usually three layers. The weather wasn’t any different than normal, but after acclimating myself to a hot, humid jungle, the cool crisp air was freezing. Some of the boys asked me why I was wearing so many layers since they are used to seeing Americans in t-shirts and I said ¡estoy casi congelada, hasta mis huesos! I’m almost frozen, down to my bones… Unfortunately, because of the drastic climate change and dust in Kusi, I have lost my voice, have a horribly sore throat and headache.).

After the quick trip to Kusi with Billy and his family, we returned to Lima on the night bus and as soon as we arrived in Lima, I took off in a taxi to another bus station where I would take a bus to Ica – 4 hours south of Lima. The entire trip, all 4 hours, was only $9. Unfortunately the bus stops frequently to pick up and drop off passengers, so the trip took more like 5 hours.

Once arriving in Ica, I met the Girasoles house father, Augusto and went to the Girasoles home to see the boys before they headed off to school for the afternoon.

The plan is to stay here in Ica tonight and then tomorrow afternoon catch another bus back to Lima, where I will go defrente al aeropuerto (directly to the airport) to catch my flight back home.