dec. 21

When travelling in a foriegn country there are few things more important to keep track of than your passport. whatever you do, don´t lose your stinkin passport. you´d have to go to the u.s. embassy, fill out a ton of paperwork, pay an enormous amount of money and feel like a complete moron.
yesterday we went to the beach for the first time which is pretty amazing since we´ve been here for over a week and are staying only a few blocks from the giant staircase that leads down to it. well, we went down there and went a little north of where all the people were and found a spot where a peruvian family was enjoying the day as well as a couple of beet red european guys. the water was a wonderfull cool temperature as it usually is here and the beach consisted of tiny little pebbles that made a loud hissing sound as they were sucked back into the ocean by the waves. it was quite pleasant all around and after getting thoroughly roasted by the sun without realizing it, we strolled on back to our place.
that´s when i realized that my passport wasn´t in my pocket. my passport has spent every second of every day in my front left pocket since we´ve been here and i knew perfectly well, could visualize clearly, that it was now sitting amongst the pebbles on the beach. that is, of course, if it hadn´t been found and kept for some nefarious action to be carried out in my name, or washed out to sea, or at the very best, picked up by the europeans who would have had to walk past it and turned over to some authorities in which case who knows if i´d be able to track it down. these and all other possibilities were running through my mind as fast as i was running through the street, down the stairs, up the beach, nooooooooo! It was nowhere to be seen, the europeans were gone, the family was gone, all hope was lost. crap! what a dumbass! i lumbered back up the beach, up the stairs, and back toward home grumbling to myself and halfheartedly looking along the ground as i went. i made it back to our street and when i turned the corner, i swear my eyes popped out of my sockets like in the cartoons and my head spun around a couple of times and i had to keep myself from hugging the cop that was standing outside the hostal next to our front gate holding my passport in his hand. serendipity! he didn´t know that i lived next door and was checking to see if i was staying at the hostal. i walked up right before he left. apparently the europeans came through for me afterall. needless to say, i was thrilled and now have a copy of my passport to carry around and lose at will.