QueenPuya

Hola,

We just returned from the bus company building where we bought our tickets for Trujillo. We leave later tonight and will bus it north all through the night. We lucked out and got seats on the bottom floor of the bus that fully recline and are supposedly quite spacious. Hopefully I´ll be able to sleep so I can arrive fresh and ready for action tomorrow morning. I have thoroughly enjoyed Lima so far, but will be spending much more time here at the end of the trip so I won´t get too sentimental. I got to go see the fabulous seaside restaurants and plazas of Miraflores last night with Mercedes and her mom Norma. We ate roast chicken and had an ice cream, listening to the waves pounding the beach below the cliffs. Very nice. Today we get to take it easy before the bus trip, so I will work on pressing my plants and identifying Puyas in the very nice Lima herbarium. I think the USM herbarium is very nicest I have seen in South America and the people are extremely welcoming and organized. They are actually happy to see us and grateful for our help with their collections. There is a giant pile of unidentified Puyas and the identified piles are full of problems, so I have my work cut out for me. Yesterday we breezed through the permitting process and found ourselves with all sorts of time to enjoy the quite herbarium. I am thoroughly impressed by the efficiency of the Peruvian environmental beauracracy and for the first time I might be totally, one hundred percent legal in everything I do! I like this country more and more... We´ll see how days of bussing in the north changes me. Supposedly Trujillo is an amazing place, or so says my friend Ann Depperschmidt. Cajamarca is supposed to be a lot like Cusco, so I´ll feel like I am back in Peru again and not some weird California like metropolis. The temperature should drop a bit when we are back in Lima, which will be a relief! I was not at all prepared for full blown humidity and summer. Had to go the mall to buy some summery clothes yesterday...the horror! Add a hibiscus blossom in my hair and I just might look alright in this most fashionable of places. Back to hiking boots and zippy pants tomorrow.... Happy April!