When is it all right to throw stuff away?

I came home with lots of stuff, mainly clothes and books and paper. But I still have to make room for all of it. My bookshelves are almost full, although one of them was half full with stuffed animals. My closet is full. My desk is a mess… So I decided to get rid of stuff, everything I don’t use. And I began the task by clearing the stuffed toys on my shelf… On that shelf I also found other things, such as the tip of the flag pole that I picked up 10 years ago on the main square of the little town I used to live in, in Germany. It made me realize how much junk I collect for the sake of memory.
I also found handcrafts made by the displaced population I used to work with… some of them are nice, and some of them just make a nice memory, you see they gave them to me as a sign of appreciation.
There’s also some birthday presents… from those people who don’t really know me, so I don’t really like them, but still didn’t have the heart to throw away when they gave them to me (I wouldn’t pass them on… that’s how bad they are).
Clothes… well I’ve got tons, and I don’t wear half of them, but I’m always thinking I will sometime. The day before yesterday I finally got rid of the jacket we had done the last year of high school… I had kept it because “how could I get rid of such an important thing!”… but the truth is I would’ve never worn it again…. It was hanging in my dresser the last 8 years.
As a policy I don’t throw books away… even if I know I won’t read some of them again. So that’s that.

I know that I will manage to get rid of some of those memories… maybe I’ll make some sort of inventory… so I won’t forget, and that way I won’t feel so bad, although I don’t really know why on earth I should feel bad. But some of those things will wait until I feel I’m ready to let go…
…I am struggling about that flagpole tip….

(More on my adventures in Peru is still to come...)

Is it really over?

I am looking back on all the events of the last month and I can hardly believe it: Farewells, my mom’s visit to Vancouver, graduation, seeing my family and Dany again, going to Peru. And now I wake up in my bed, really confused, knowing I have to figure out my life again, but not knowing where to begin.
So one thing at the time, one day at the time, I’ll start…
Drop dress at the drycleaners for wedding next Friday, finally see Star Wars, upload pictures on to the blog, finish to write about Peru before I forget, call friends/see friends, spend the rest of Dany’s vacation with him, ahhh yeah… the job thing, organize room, get gym membership, go to see doctor… my head hurts already.

Our trip around Perú - Pisco/Paracas/Islas Ballestas

We left Lima and drove to Pisco, it took us 3 hours to get there. The landscape through the whole road was a desert along the sea shore, very interesting and beautiful. Just as in Lima the sky was constantly midsty (Mario wouldn't have liked it).
When we got to Pisco, it took us a while to find the Plaza de Armas where all the travel agencies were. In the end we met Percy, who booked us to the trip we were to do to the islands the naxt day. That afternoon we went to the Paracas Natural reserve, we were told we needed a guide, so we took Gino.

For some reason, we thought we were heading to the jungle or some sort of forest... but the natural reserve is a desert. There we saw very interesting rock formations an beautiful beaches, and of course lots and lots of sand.

The next day in the morning we went to see sea lions, penguins and lots of birds in the Islas Ballestas. At noon we left Pisco and headed for Nazca...

Our Trip around Peru - Lima

We got to Lima on Saturday, the 4th of june at night. That same night we went to the mall at the coast, Larcomar, and ate very good ceviche and Lomo saltado... the only problem was the waiter who was too fond of Dani (and completely ingnored me).
The 5th we strolled around the city centre, and since it was sunday it was very quiet and we could appreciate it very well... unfortunately that day a fire had just occured besides the San Francisco monastery, and lots of 16th century art was lost.
We had luch at Punta Sal, ceviche and tiradito, accompained by Cusqueña beer.
On monday we rented a car, a toyota yaris, and left for Pisco...
Traffic in Lima is crazy!


Mientras paseábamos por la plaza de Armas en Lima nos tocó ver un desfile, con personas vestidas con traje típico. Iban cargando diferentes santos y mártires católicos. El último de la procesión, tenía como gran atracción un loro en el árbol en el que el muñeco iba amarrado... el loro se llamaba pepe, y descubirmos eso porque tuvo a bien caerse del árbol como una guanábana y fue toda una odisea volverlo a subir.

Otro incidente curioso en esa plaza, fue cuando le fuimos a preguntar a la policía cívica sobre la bandera multicolor que ondeaba en el palacio al lado de la del Perú, y lo primero que nos dice es "no vayan a creer que es la bandera gay..." la cosa es que tiene los mismos colores pero invertidos y es la bandera de los incas. La verdad a nosotros si nos había parecido raro cuando la vimos... por eso preguntamos.

Quick update

So... now I am writing from Pisco, Peru... the past few weeks were crazy, and I still have to wrap my head around the fact that I am out of Canada...
It was great to see family again... and now hollidays with Dani...
Pictures will come as soon as I figure out how to download them from the camera and upload them to the blog (without my computer).