Mid-trip review

I haven’t mentioned anything about the music here. One word: Kumbia. It’s all the rage now, a mix of salsa and… reggaeton, maybe? Anyway beating out the path and drawing the crowds for Kumbia is a Mexican band called Grupo Cinco, and I literally hear them on every single bus. At first I thought all Latin music just sounded the same to me (true to some extent) until I realized after a while that I was legitimately just listening to the same song. I think some of these radio stations have a total of three songs on their playlist that are played over and over again.

“Te Vas”, by Grupo Cinco. Listen for the “¡Grupo Cinco!” at the beginning. It’s in all of their songs.

“Sueños”, by Lucho Paz. Hear this all the time.

“Me Gustas Tu”, by Manu Chao. This my friend told me about. I don’t hear it that often on the buses but I love it.

Now for my mid-trip review.

I am about exactly halfway into (out of) this trip. Time is running ouuut… I’m definitely feeling the urgency to make the most of the very few weekends (three?) I have left.

Checking back on my to-do list:

• Paraglide in Lima – not yet, but easy to do.
• Bike the 31km to Pachacamac – not happening.
• Effectively explore the city – I’d say so. Also a work in progress.
• Blog once per day – BUZZ
• (At least) one photo per day (on the blog) – Totally forgot about this. Oops.
• Don’t get robbed, don’t lose anything, stay safe – So far so good.
• Speak exclusively in Spanish. Try to think in Spanish? I might become simple-minded though. May not be a bad thing. But moving on… – yeah pretty good. Thinking part not working. But speaking/understand-wise, I really think I’m improving.
• Try ceviche – too easy.
• Visit Cuzco – Yep. But I definitely need to go back.
• Unfortunately I don’t think Machu Picchu is going to happen this trip. There’s just not enough time, and it needs to be booked far (around a year) in advance. Anyway it’ll be good for me to focus on more than just the big tourist points. But I think it would make a fantastic group trip sometime in the future… – Got lucky. Again, going to go back, via Camino Inca.
• Develop a good relationship with my host family – in progress.

More on this to-do list:

• Take a budget trip.
• Be a gracious guest. Get good farewell presents!
• Finish a goddamn book.
• Ride a wave standing up for more than five seconds.
• Dance it up in a discoteca
• Hike, or camp, or mountain bike.
• Visit the Islas Ballestas
• A photo atop Cerro San Cristobal (view of all of Lima)