Evacuation 2008: Phase 2 (we had tshirts made)

Yeah, in retrospect, that was pretty cool.



The belly of the beast -- it is sooo loud in there! And no windows, really, so three hours later we landed and it was a surprise to everyone.



So we landed, were greeted by the American ambassador to Peru, who was great, the embassy and Peace Corps Peru staff who helped us out so much. But what we really needed after all that stress was a little party ... which turned into a roadblock. The second group of us arrived laughing, crying and carrying their luggage through all the while singing Bolivian folk songs and chanting 'Vive Cuerpo de Paz!" Que viva ...



And later, Allison plus two of my lovely roommates ... one of whom faceplanted, lost her flag (nope, nothing under there) and skinned her knees something fierce. The other managed to switch out her outfit with one of the guys, not sure where or when.



City of Lima, 8 million people. The downtown is very modern -- we have every convenience and there's a Starbucks and a McDonald's across the street from me. The other day I had a dunkin' donut, and that moment of truth made me realize that some things I really missed from home just weren't all that good in the first place.

*photos courtesy of Emily Rupp*