Wow, how time flies! (Heading home...)

The last month of the trip was kind of bittersweet, both in knowing it was coming to an end, and having to stay in place, when there were so many other places we wanted to visit...

We woke up in our small adobe room we had been staying in, at Adam's Tierra Langla, on the 4th of March.  It was such a strange feeling to realize that it had already been one full year that we had been away.  I was both excited to return, but also not wanting to be finished yet.

We had a semi easy journey to complete, in order to get to the airport in Lima, and semi easy meaning up to this point, we've already traveled some 14,000 miles, so another 2 hour bus ride is literally nothing!

We said our goodbyes to all of the people at Tierra Langla, and with our bags packed, trudged up the dirt driveway to the street above.

Within minutes, a passing collectivo van stopped, and we threw our backpacks on top of the van, and brought our guitars inside.  A rather short journey back to Imperial, and then Canete, where we boarded "Peru Bus" headed for Lima.  We were graced with a sleazy Steven Segal movie all the way there, which of course was dubbed horribly in Spanish.

When we got to Lima, we jumped into a cab, and within about a half hour, we were at the airport.  Now it really felt like we were heading home...We had a few hours to kill, and started by stuffing our semi-malnourished bodies with a healthy serving of McDonalds Quarter Pounders, that perhaps never tasted so good, especially since we had been eating mostly vegan for the past month.

Our flight was supposed to leave at 1 AM, and was almost an hour late, so we were a little worried about our connecting flight in Atlanta.  When we arrived there, it was bright and early, and nobody was in the airport, so our connection was smooth, and quick.  It was pretty funny, going through US immigration, as the officer looked at my well worn passport, with what seemed like hundreds of stamps, especially from Chile and Argentina...He asked how long I was gone, and when I told him a year, he asked "why?"  Then he asked how Peru was, and how I was able to make it back in one piece...I told him he should get out more.

We boarded our second plane, and we were slightly disappointed that nobody greeted us in Spanish...Now was the final stretch...We would be in Los Angeles in a few hours, and my mom would be there to pick us up from the airport, one year later.

Lunahuaná - Volunteering, and finishing off an amazing trip...

We arrived in Lunahuaná about 3 hours after leaving Ica.  It was pretty straight forward, a bus to Canete, then a small bus to Imperial, then a smaller bus to Lunahuaná.  We passed several apple and peach orchards on the way in to the valley, and passed a fairly large winding river on the way in as well...

We were dropped off in the center of town, which was pretty small, and every other building was a tour guide to take you river rafting.  I guess that's the main source of income here, besides the grapes, which line the river up and down, and they too, have a major Pisco production going on, but in small, handcrafted, artisan style.

I ran into an internet cafe, and used the net briefly to check for Adam's phone number.  After a few minutes of figuring out the payphone out front, we were connected.  He told us how to get to his property, and we were almost there...

Exactly a month spent at this beautiful property would teach us a lot...It was community living, which neither of us were very used to, and the diet was a little (a lot) different than our previous couple months spent in Argentina...

All in all, this place was amazing, and we learned a ton, from Adam, as well as all of the other folks staying and volunteering there.  Building with Barro (adobe), was one of the main themes employed here while we volunteered.  If done properly, it can really be a beautiful, strong, and inexpensive way to build.

During our stay, we went river rafting, which was very fun, utilizing the backyard river that has some pretty intense rapids.  We visited a Pisco distillery one day, that was very interesting, and had quite a bit of local history, not to mention delicious, well made Pisco...

We also all took turns cooking (for the most part), or at least some of us more than others...Lucy, one of the girls volunteering with us, probably did more cooking than anyone.  Looking back at the meals we ate, there really were a lot of delicious, and interesting concoctions.  One thing I think that's safe for both of us to say, is that we ate enough oatmeal to last a frigging lifetime...