jan. 11

well, we finally left Mira Floresand struck out for the highlands. good decision. we took a one hour bus for 1 dollar a piece to chosica and started walking along the train tracks which parallel the highway all the way to la oroya which is the first town on the map we have and about seven hours by car from chosica. of course thats way too far to walk but i was certain that we would encounter some smaller, perhaps non-map worthy towns along the way. we made camp the first night pretty early. the hike and heat of the day took a strong toll pretty early on and we decided that there is absolutely no reason to be in anything even resembling a hurry. we found a nice little spot by a river and set up our little tarp system which, unfortunatley, will need some improvement if it is to stand the test of time. we got a nice rain shower that started as the sun went down and lasted through half the night. this is the rainy season in peru and although it didn´t really rain at all in lima, and rarely does, we were prepared to keep ourselves and things as dry as possible. nevertheless, i woke in a puddle and was pretty well soaked in parts. it wasn´t cold so it wasn´t too bad and we just tipped all the water off the tarp and slept on. in the morning we snacked on a mango, had some almonds and set off. we still have about two pounds of almonds that we brought to peru with us, way, way too many but we´re carrying them around with us anyway and talking each other into eating more whenever possible. we walked for a few hours and came across a little town with a restaurant that had rice and beans which is surprisingly hard to find in this country. after eating we decided to flag down a minibus and ride for awhile. in an hour we got here, to san mateo, a really cool, rainy, lazy town and got a room for the night. this is when i really love this country, being able to flag down a mini-van turned bus and pop into a cool little town and get a room for 7 bucks. in the morning i think we´ll get some grub and take another bus for a little ways.