Girl talk

Like in the beginning of the movie, ¨He´s Just not That Into You¨ we learn that no matter what country you´re in...girl talk is still girl talk.
Today was very much like that.


I got into Lima 8am. My shuttle driver was late so I hung around looking for him around the terminal until 8:45am. He came at a timely manner as I was about to jump into a taxi (not knowing that my driver was late. I thought he just failed to show up).
I was warmly welcomed by the hostel owner, Marcello.
He sets me up in my own room and i get settled in excited to do a whole day of planning. My plan of doing a whole day of planning was just that...a whole day of planning.

After some aimless wandering around Miraflores, I got back at the hostel 12:30pm to meet Marcello´s travel agent friend who was going to work with me to customize the next couple of days here in Peru.
Her and her daughter looked surprised to see me sitting there on the hostel computer. I think it was because of how young I looked. But they were even more surprised when they found out I am travelling alone.

Ines and Jarmy worked for about 9 hours (with several long breaks and an early dinner break to talk about boys and future travels to Norway) to complete and finalize my tour. Here´s how it looks...
-Lima to Ica to do some sand buggying
-Ica to Arequipas to do the Canyon tour and overnighter (2 days and 1 night)
-Arequipas to Puno to do the island hopping+tours+homestay (this falls on my birthday) (2 days and 1 night)
-Puno to Cusco to do Machu Picchu (4 days and 3 nights)
-Sacred Valley tour in Cusco
-Cusco to Lima to chill for the afternoon before a flight to SF

It´s a packed schedule and it comes to about a little over 700usd.
Not cheap, but much more value than if I had booked something like this at home.
I got a trip customized to my schedule aaaaand I´ve gotten to know Ines and her daughter Jarmy.

Jarmy is only 20 years old but some might mistaken her for someone a bit older. She looks like she´s a fiery Latina woman but in actuality, her and her mother are quite sweet.
Jarmy has had several long distance relationships (it seems like) with mostly men from Norway. This is partially the reason she and her mother would like to go back there to see the men. As much as i would hint to continue with planning the trip, conversation would manage to find its way back to the men in our lives. We´ve tentatively planned a trip together (a girl´s only trip) to Norway next year in March/April.
I have something in common with Jarmy...I am in a long distance relationship. It´s new(ish).
New...old...doesn´t make a difference, it´s still hard. Days prior to leaving for Peru, my mind was running wild with things to do as well as things to think about. After talking to Jarmy and Ines, my mind was put a bit more at ease. Warm text messages came in and I felt even more so at ease.

A friend of Ines comes in to join us and soon all four of us head over to Mango Cafe which overlooks the Pacific Ocean on a cliff for dinner. I did what I normally wouldn´t do; I had the buffet. I may regret it now, but i wont be regretting it later on the days i don´t have time or energy to eat.
As we sat there, conversations in Spanish got a bit more intense. They were talking in Spanish before but this seemed serious. Wouldn´t you know it, now it was the friend who was talking about men problems. She has two men to choose from and doesn´t know who to marry. The man that she Loves (who´s also in Love with another woman) or the woman who Loves her (and nobody else) but she´s just not that into. I didn´t ask for what her final decision was. I continued to eat my endless plates of food and drink my Pisco Sour. I don´t know her nearly good enough to even ask questions.

We walked back to the hostel and finalized my tour. I made sure I understood everything and had it all printed out. The ladies left. I wished their friend good luck with the decision in men. I thanked Ines and Jarmy for everything and told them perhaps I will see them in Norway.

Marcello came over to book my final bus ride from Cusco to Lima. ¨Was everything ok? Thing´s are ok? Everything clear?¨, he asked. I told him things were clear after I had asked my million of questions. I explained to him that I´ve got poor memory and had to have everything written out.¨I´ve never seen it take this long to plan before¨, he had explained. So I told him the truth, ¨...girl talk is never quick...¨