All alone...

Nic left me. Abandoned me to the mercies of banditos, pickpockets, and maniac bus drivers. If I want to have a conversation in English, I´m stuck whatever random gringos come along... which thus far have been a 23-year-old Swedish girl named Olsa, a lady from Iran who now lives in England (she had a very wierd accent), an Israeli guy who only talked about soccer and bars (neither of which I know much about), and a chemical engineer from San Francisco (we had a lot more in common). Usually, though, I´m surrounded by Spanish-only speakers... which, honestly, is the most fun. Especially since my Spanish is finally getting good enough to have something resembling a complete conversation in Spanish.

Nic, abandoning me. Look at that evil face. I forgot to rotate the photo before I uploaded it, so you´ll have to turn your head to fully appreciate the pure evilness.

We did have one last adventure before Nic left... a traditional Peruvian dish called ¨ceviche.¨ Take raw fish. Soak it overnight in lime juice with lots of chopped onions and chile peppers. The next morning, scoop it out and serve it with unpopped maize popcorn kernels. That´s ceviche. I´d like to point out that the fish is never actually cooked. It just sits overnight in lots of acid.

A traditional ceviche appetizer is a shot of ¨tiger´s milk.¨It´s a glass of the leftover fish marinade -- raw fish juices, onions chunks, concentrated lime juice, and all.

Keep in mind that Nic embarked on this culinary adventure about an hour before he set off on 60 straight hours of travel, including four countries, three bus stations, and seven airports. He´s a very brave man...