An amazing week in Lima

So the traveling has begun and it is great to be back out there. I just got back to Buenos Aires from an amazing and relaxing week in the crazy city of Lima Peru. The plan was to go there find Jaron, a friend of mine from LC, and then head off and see other things. But in the end the week flew by and I did not leave the big city for even a moment. Being in Lima was totally crazy because it is the polar opposite of Paraguay. The city of Lima has a population of 7 million people and the country of Paraguay only has 6 million so I was a little overwhelmed at first. I also stayed in a really ritzy part of Lima called Miraflores which was full of American fast food restaurants and had an overall western feel. It was really crazy at first but a really nice break from heat and differences in Paraguay.
I spent most of my week doing nothing at all which was really nice. I ended up meeting up with Jaron which lead to a lot of hours just sitting and catching up and also finding a coffee shop with Scrabble which occupied the majority of our time. I was also able to meet up with a couple of other connections which lead to a lot of time just relaxing wathcing pirated movies, wandering the streets and talking about life and other things. It was the perfect way to spend a week. I did get an opportunity to see some of the sites such as the historic downtown with beautiful old churches, the cool hip neighborhood of Barranco, the art museum and the beautiful beach front cliffs of Miraflores. A lot of people have bad things to say about Lima but I loved it. It is a big city but full of parks, friendly cab drivers and a lot of cool history. Lima reminded me more than anything of how much I love and crave the comforts of home. I found myself with amazing people with whom I felt totally comfortable and it was such a nice feeling.
While discussing home I have big news... I got a job in Portland so I know where I am going to be for at least the next year. I am going to be working with an organization called Adelante Mujeres which works with women Latina immigrants on econoic empowerment and education. I am really excited about the opportunity to work with a small nonprofit in Portland and to use my spanish. So for those of you in Portland I will be back around the 20th of January. For those of you in MN I am going to be back there from the 7th until about the 20th so please be around because I would love to catch up and for those of you in other places come to one of those places so I can see you!!!!
Right now I am awaiting the arrival of the whole Brown clan. They are all somewhere in the air en route to Buenos Aires. We are going to spend a week in Patagonia seeing the sites and then a couple weeks cheering on Zac in an international soccer tournament here in Buenos Aires. It is going to be a wonderful couple of weeks. Happy holidays to everyone and I hope to hear from you soon.