Dazed and Confused

Our time spent in Lima was much like the city´s weather, dreary. I spent most of the time in my head thinking about what I should do once I get back to the States. Five months seems to be too long for me to travel, I need to do something to keep my mind occupied, to feel like I´m advancing myself in a credible fashion. I´m lucky to have the luxury to take a trip like this, but sometimes it´s hard to focus on what I´m seeing because of my want.
Pilar and I tried keeping ourselves occupied in Lima by visiting the many museums and religious sites. I´d had enough of those too. After seeing Pizarro´s body in the Lima Cathedral I vowed to stay out of museums and churches for awhile. The rest of the time there is hazy. An exhibit on the varieties of the Peruvian potato, a ceviche seafood medley, a thousand fast food restaurants. Peru is being reeled in by global corporations and the hook is set in Lima. There´s even a Chili´s restaurant. I must say we were tempted to eat there for familiarity´s sake.
Western desires aside, we had no problem with the crime there, something we had been repeatedly warned about. Now that we´re in Colombia we have begun to think more about safety and crime. I´m not really worried about kidknappings or abductions, those things only happen to businessmen or more valuable travellers (right?) just petty street crime. When we arrived in Cali we strolled to a street market a policeman recommended to us. Once there we were convinced that a few men were shadowing us, apparently, we were correct because a nearby street cop chased off the men and later told us they were definitley thieves. We´re trying not to be to paranoid about these sorts of things because what, then, would be the point of visiting here? But it is tricky because there are almost NO gringos. I saw none our first day and five the second. I´ve had to forego wearing my stars and stripes Hawaiian shirt.

Other than our one fearful encounter, Colombia is fantastic. Warm weather, lack of other gringos, unbelievable landscapes, and excellent food (mostly free of gluten). There are ridiculous varieties of fruit for me to try.
Colombia´s reoutation has kept it off the map for most tourists, it feels like we´re having some very fresh experiences.