Cusco, Peru

5pm Thursday 11/10, Cusco, Peru. Arrived in Cusco about 4 hours ago and I'm now starting to understand what it feels like to be affected by altitude. According to my trusty Lonely Planet, I'm 3326m above sea level, and lack of oxygen generally affects people once you hit 2500m. Even when I came off the plane into the baggage area, my head felt a bit like you do on the first day of a head cold. Four hours later and it's more intense, and I'm feeling light-headed and headache-y and a bit short of breath, which is apparently all normal. I'm onto my 3rd mate de coca, or coca tea, which is made from coca leaves and smells somewhat like dirty socks (and doesn't taste too flash either). And I'm resting watching TV, the only English-speaking channel I can find - CNN Internacional - which is entirely people arguing over the US presidential election *yawn*  Hopefully this acclimatising thing happens quickly!

PS: this is funny - I got chatting to 2 guys while waiting in line to check in at Lima airport, who live in Melbourne, in the suburb next to mine. Small world :-)

PPS: The pics are the hotel I'm staying at - beautiful!

If you're interested, you can view all of my travel pics here on Facebook.

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South America - Lima

8pm Wednesday 10/10, Lima, Peru.

Much as I want to love every part of South America, Lima presents a challenge. There are about 9 million people, so it's more than twice as big as Melbourne or Sydney. And it's located on a relatively narrow strip of land wedged between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes, which somehow creates a state of perpetual fog, and no rain. It's just... bleak. Overcast, barely anything green, dirty and very, very crowded.

Having said that, the people are fantastic. Going through Customs was amazingly simple, and friendly (unlike some places I've been where they terrorise you purely for their own amusement - yes, I'm looking at you, LAX), and efficient (now I'm looking at you, Melbourne baggage handlers). The trip from the airport was eye-opening to say the least, but the hotel I stayed in was lovely and the food was great.

Some things I've learned so far:

• Airline boarding & flight times in South America appear to be more "suggested guideline" than "set in stone".
• Ditto for lanes & lines on the road.
• Do not attempt to drive a car in Lima unless you are prepared to blare the horn at least once every 5 minutes.
• It's almost entirely possible that I am currently the tallest woman on this entire continent.

:-)

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How to be the best of unfriends

I've thought about this a fair bit in the last couple of years. Have we "sacrificed conversation for mere connection"? How many of your Facebook "Friends" have you actually even interacted with in the past 12 months? And I don't mean random "Likes" of each others photos - I mean real interaction, conversation. I bet if you take the time to look through your Friends list, you'll find names you've forgotten were even there, or people you don't really know at all. I like the idea of a "friend-decluttering exercise" like the author undertook... or perhaps I just like the idea of all that travel! :-)

My favourite line in this article is: "A terminated friendship, after all, needn't necessarily signal a horrifying defeat, to be expunged from memory. One might just as easily think of it as "completed". "

The other interesting line is this: "Facebook itself hates unfriending, for commercial reasons".

http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/how-to-be-the-best-of-unfriends-20120917-261gy.html

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Study perspective

Got my marks back for last study period - turns out the difference between almost killing myself with stress and over-the-top-perfectionism, a'la previous subjects, and just doing what needs to be done without obsessing over it (TOO much), a'la this one, is 5-10 points, which includes approximately 3-5 hours less obsessing... err I mean STUDYING, per week. Have decided I'll happily live with a Credit as a fair trade for sanity and a more acceptable work/study/life balance :-)

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Tooth Fairy

6yo: "How does the tooth fairy know when someone loses a tooth?"
Me: "Well, it's like magic..."
6yo: "OR, the tooth fairy has a tiny computer and they keep track of everyone, and... "

My child :-)

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