Well I finally made it to Peru

Hi, I'm in peru. So there's that. Actually i meant to be here sooner, but i got denied boarding by delta because they don't know visa rules. and before that i denied myself boarding due to serious, serious food poisoning. Las Vegas buffets? Not as glamerous as they sound. and if you say they don't sound that glamerous, you're right (once i figured out that i was basically eating dorm food, i was ready to go). so 15 days past schedule, here i am. but first, i really need to say that i am now in the land of latino keyboards, with screwy, un-american layouts and strange keys and extra-tiny shift buttons. so my typing sucks and i know it and that's why. also that means that some of my stories will be truncated.
so for those of you who don't know, i am now in south america thanks to a generous grant i received from my college. i will remain in this unfavorably-portrayed-in-mercator-projection-maps continent for 10 months, during which time stuff will happen, some of which will be reported via this blog. i might post pictures and video, too, making this a truely multi media experience. while i'm here i aim to study comparative economic policies, particularly in boliva and chile. peru just happened to be a lot easier to fly into than bolivia, whose national air carrier is bankrupt. and international carriers aren't interested in servicing poor people i guess, which is probably one reason bolivia started a national carrier to begin with. so i'm in peru right now , whre i'll work my way to bolivia to study their movement towards socialism (MAS is the name of the political party in power; mas means "more" in español and the party literally is movimento al socialismo. clever, no?). in the meanwhile i plan on heading down the southern coast to see the worlds largest sea lion colony, the nasca lines, arequipa - la ciudad blanca, or the white city (made of white stone), and lake titicaca. See, this is as exciting as a tele novela, so stay tuned!
It's funny how different south america is from travlling in asia, and how not different it is from the US. Unlike Thailand, i am not immediately pegged as a visitor here That is until i open my mouth (or walk around, or eat, or do anything but be very still. i guess if i was posing for a portrait one might mistake me for a peruvian) but even the language situation is totally different than going to a place where the word "mai" means 5 different things depending on how you say it (high/low/mid/rising or falling tone) to a place where i can almost feel like i already speak the language, i just didn't know it - it's actually pretty simple to decipher signs in spanish, or to identify at least some words when someone speaks to you. But at the same time, i have had plenty of chances to feel like an idiot in my first 24 hours, like when someone asks "do you understand spanish?" and i just stare blankly, or worse just smile and nod.
so anyways, i'm in peru for a while.
p.s. i hope to make my future entries more about travelling and less about nothing. so despite this diatribe you should check back again sometime. also, i should apologize for this blog being half journal. i guess that either makes it really interesting or dreadfully boring. i don't blame you if you decide the latter