Peru Trip: Ascending To Over 12,000 feet

On our second day in Peru, a Saturday morning, Melissa and I met the final two members of group of six - Jacqui from Austin and Dinh from Ottawa - when we met in the hotel lobby ready for our departure from Lima to head for the high altitude city of Puno on the shores of Lake Titicaca. Both Jacqui and Dinh had arrived at the hotel around 2am, so they literally fell into bed and got back up again in time for the flight into Juliaca airport. Of the 6 of us in our tour only Jamie, Sarah, Melissa and I were doing the Inca Trail. Dinh and Jacqui signed up too late to get their passes since only 500 people are allowed on the trail on any given day - 200 tourists and 300 porters - so they were going to be doing the 2-day Lares trail instead.

Sarah and Jamie came down to join the group just as we were all introducing ourselves. "How are you today?" I asked Sarah.

"Oh I'm fine," she responded.

"She's not being entirely honest with you there," interjected Jamie confessing that both of them had been sick during the night.

Uh-oh!!

"I hope that's because of something they ate and not due to a stomach bug," whispered Melissa in the bus en route to Lima airport.

Puno sits at an altitude of approximately 12,600feet (3827m) while Cusco is at approximately 11,200ft (3400m). Compare this to Lima which has an average altitude of just over 400ft (133m) and...well after all the warnings I'd received the prospect of altitude sickness had me quite concerned. "Don't do anything when we arrive in Puno, don't even go for a walk around the city," advised our group leader Ybone in a serious tone. "Just stay at the hotel and rest and drink plenty of coca tea, it has alkaloids that thin the blood and helps you to acclimatize to the altitude and when you go to sleep tonight sleep with 2 pillows and not less than that, because otherwise you won't get enough oxygen."

Note to self: sleep with 2 pillows or you will DIE!!!!!

Our flight to Juliaca took about 2 hours after first stopping in Cusco for 25-minutes to allow passengers on and off after an hour of flying time and then going on for a further 35minutes to Juliaca, where we were to be picked up and driven the 45minutes or so to Puno. None of our group were sat together on the flight and as soon as we made it's initial stop on the tarmac in Cusco hypochondria had me in it's grip. I was conjuring up all sorts of symptoms: shortness of breath, palpitations in my chest, headaches, dizziness, but to be honest I wasn't sure it was even possible to feel the effects of the altitude in the hermetically sealed environment of the aircraft. I was flushed though, as was Melissa I noted when we had an opportunity to chat in the queue for the bathroom.

"I feel like such a moron, but I seriously thought I wouldn't be able to breathe due to the altitude when I got off that flight" Melissa confessed at the baggage carousel in Juliaca. Ha ha me too!!

Puno is a city in the southeastern region of Peru and sits on the shore of Lake Titicaca, the world's highest commercially navigable lake, with a population of 100,000 or thereabouts.

Eager to acclimatize we helped ourselves to the complementary coca tea at the Hotel Italia - basic, but fine, if a little on the cold side with friendly helpful staff - while Ybone checked us in. I have to say I was quite disappointed to find it came in tea bags. Somehow that took all the romance out of the illegal drug thing!!

After a couple of hours rest as instructed - just climbing the stairs to our room on the second floor took the wind out of us - we regrouped in the hotel lounge at 6.30pm for a briefing from Ybone about the following day's trip to the islands of Taquile and Amantani in Lake Titicaca. Melissa and I were a little early and got talking to a fellow traveler from the US who'd done the home-stay the night previously. She absolutely hated it. "There's no running water" she told us, "the toilet is a hole in the ground, it was just horrible." Hmmmm!!! When Ybone arrived she briefed us on the home-stay revealed that during our homestay on Amantani island our host families "will dress you up in traditional clothing and make you dance."

Um...come again!!!

Apparently we were to be the entertainment.

Um...what part of 'I'm paying for this' were they not quite understanding?

After the briefing the group went to dinner at Incabar, where all but Ybone, had the regional specialty of Lomito de Alpaca.

When in Puno!!

Ybone ordered the spaghetti. Clearly she knew something we didn't!! "Alpaca tastes like pork," she informed us "it's very low in fat."

She's right, it does taste like pork if pork tastes as tough as old boots!! Good Lord!! Never again do I need to order alpaca, that was a hard meal to digest. "Alpaca 1, Melissa 0" said Melissa miserably when we got back to the hotel after a brief stop at the supermercado to buy gifts of food as recommended for our host families on Amantani.

At least we tried it!!

Peru Trip: Arrival in Lima

I've only been back in New York for a couple of days, but already my trip is starting to feel like a distant memory and I'm already pondering where I can go next. I'm very much looking forward to my long weekend in San Francisco in a couple of months even if I didn't manage to reserve space on the candlelight tour of Fort Point by the Golden Gate Bridge. Doesn't that sound lovely? I really liked the idea of that. Unfortunately they started taking reservations for the winter season while I was in Peru and by the time I got back it was booked solid for the whole season, however I did manage to score a Saturday night table at the supposedly amazing Flour + Water restaurant, so it's all good. I can't wait.

After spending most of Thursday unpacking and doing laundry I popped into work for the day yesterday - I know, why bother just for a Friday, but why waste a vacation day? Plus it was good to go in and ease myself back into my routine. Nobody expected very much of me yesterday and I pretty much sneaked in under the radar. I didn't really do much, just read through my emails and caught up with colleagues. Thankfully nothing imploded in my absence, it never does, although that never seems to stop me from fretting that something will go wrong despite my best efforts to tie everything up and write handover notes before I leave. I am giving myself worry lines for no good reason. Everyone in work commented on how relaxed I looked - I'm sure it won't last, although oddly I have returned from Peru with an aversion to coffee so maybe the lack of caffeine will help maintain the relaxed feeling a little longer - my boys on the other hand looked anything but stress free after 2 weeks under their own steam and they both said they were glad to have me back after having to deal with not only their own work, but also my client work and some of my management shite.

It felt nice to be missed and I brought them both back some Pisco and Peruvian chocolates to thank them for covering my vacation.

Melissa and I began our Peruvian adventure in Lima, a city given short shrift by most guide books in my opinion. Unfortunately we both paid a little too much mind to what the guide books had to say and only allowed ourselves a day to explore the capital, so I missed out on a few things I would have liked to see, like the bohemian Barranco neighborhood and the Museo Larco with it's collection of erotic pottery although we saw lots of reproductions of these pieces throughout our travels. In hindsight I would have docked our extra day we added in Cusco and added more time in LIma instead. Before we left on the Thursday night my mother called me at work to wish me a safe trip. "And what day will you be climbing Kilimanjaro?" She inquired.

Kilimanjaro????

"I'm hiking the Inca Trail Mum...to Machu Picchu. Kilimanjaro is in Africa."

"Oh right."

Geography was never her strong suit.

We arrived in Lima at 6.30am on Friday August 27th after an overnight from New York and were at our Miraflores hotel by 8.30am after a shared airport pick up with fellow Gap traveller Anup Patel, owner of the most amazing skin I've ever seen. Despite weather.com recording temperatures in the high 60s Lima was overcast and drizzly, which is par for the course in Winter apparently with locals describing the grey skies as 'panza de buro' or donkey's belly. It was much colder than I expected and many of our fellow hotel guests had clearly equated South America with sunshine and were ill prepared for the damp climate in shorts and t-shirts. In spite of my 3 layers of clothing I shivered vicariously for them every time I caught sight of their goose pimpled flesh. Brrrrrrrrr!!!

Check in wasn't until 1p.m., so we had the hotel book us on a city tour for the morning and we were soon on a bus heading for downtown Lima. Naturally the soundtrack to the ride was traditional Andean pipe music. I tell you, you haven't lived until you've heard The Beatles' Penny Lane in an Andean pipe music style.

Now I'm assuming that Peruvian laws are in place to govern road traffic, however whatever laws do exist seem to be taken as a suggestion at best. Crossing the road in Peruvian cities is not for the faint of heart. Take my advice and cross with a local whenever possible otherwise you'll likely find yourself stuttering at the edge of the road forever. Embarrassingly on more than one occasion the locals I found myself shadowing were small school children who fearlessly navigated their way across the roads without a speck of adult supervision. Peruvians must be born with an innate sense of traffic survival, especially in the face of all those reckless combi drivers on the loose.

"We call them combi-killers, because they are so dangerous" said Rosa, our Lima City Guide, matter of factly. Good to know. I made a mental note never to cross in front of an oncoming combi. The traffic in New York seems sedate by comparison.

Female police officers attempt to organise some of the bedlam from their Inca Kola sponsored perches in the thick of the chaos.


"Women police officers are less corrupt" said Rosa emphatically. Apparently this is not just a personal character assessment, but a national sentiment with over 30% of Peruvians believing police corruption to be a major issue. According to an article I read on this blog it was decided in February 2009 that “all male traffic cops would be reassigned to desk jobs, and the streets would be run by women [because] the majority don’t ask for bribes and when offered they refuse them. And rather than letting people off with warnings, they are far stricter with drivers who commit crimes like running red lights or driving under the influence.”

So there you go.

With 8.5million residents a subway system would be a massive advantage for the worker bees commuting in Lima, however the city is built on a fault line, so developing an underground transportation system is a bit tricky to say the least, however the Peruvians are supposedly being assisted by the Japanese in trying to circumvent any seismic challenges, so a subway system may well be on the cards.

The tour bus dropped us off in the winding streets of the historic center of Lima for our first stop at the Museo Banco Central De Reserva del Peru, which specializes in Pre-Colombian archeology including the pieces below from the fabulous Hugo Cohen Gold Collection.

Funeral masks like the one shown below were "intended to protect the remains of deceased dignitaries and signal their status in their transit to the afterlife."


I'm not sure what the significance of this chap was, I just liked his expression.


Nasca narigueras such as the one shown below are "elaborate nose ornaments...an important element of personal adornment." They look eye watering to wear!!

After the museum we took a short walk to the Plaza de Armas, or Plaza Mayor, which was mobbed by school children on day trips. The Government Palace, Cathedral of Lima, Archbishop's Palace of Lima, the Municipal Palace, and the Palace of the Union surround the plaza, which was heavily guarded on the day we were there owing to a visit from the President of Panama. I found the plaza to be very reminiscent of the Plaza de Armas in Santiago.





Lastly we visited the Iglesias San Francisco Monastery where we admired the cloisters with frescos depicting the life of St Francis of Assisi and toured the catacombs which span 2 layers and contain the remains of around 25,000 people. Apparently until 1808 everyone was buried in the catacombs and excavations are still ongoing, so more remains could well be found. In 1808 the main cemetery opened. Unfortunately photography is strictly forbidden so I couldn't so much as sneak a picture of the inside and we didn't have much time to take photos of the building itself, but I snapped this one through the window of the bus as we headed back to Miraflores.

We had the bus drop us off to find lunch at the Larcomar shopping center on the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean. As shopping centers go - and I'm not a big fan of such places - it's in a nice setting and I enjoyed a traditional dish of lomo saltado, a delicious Peruvian staple of stir fried beef served with chips/fries and boiled rice - why have one starch when you can have two? - at Mangoes while enjoying the spectacular, if overcast, view of the ocean.


After lunch we walked back to the hotel via the Artisans Market for an introductory meeting at 6.30pm with our tour organiser, Ybone, and 2 of the other 4 members of our group, Jamie and Sarah, medical students from England, then dinner at one of Lima's finest restaurants, Astrid y Gaston, tucked away on a side street a 15minute walk from our hotel.

I can't recommend this restaurant enough.

We didn't have a reservation, so instead ate in the cosy bar area which offers the same menu as the restaurant and were well looked after by our waiter who, after learning we wanted to eat lightly, suggested we split both an appetizer of scallops prepared two different ways and a mixed seafood main course.


It turned out to be more than enough food and even with drinks - a camu camu sour and a glass of wine for me - I was pleasantly surprised to find the dinner only set me back $40.03. The quality and amount of food we had would have easily been double that in New York and sadly we were too stuffed to sample one of Astrid's famed desserts, but we did get to feast our eyes on a divine looking chocolate something via the guy dining at the next table.

Exactly How Many Screaming Babies Were On That Flight??

About 8 screaming babies too many by my estimation!!!

Good Lord I'm tired.

Melissa and I arrived back in NYC at 8.30am this morning on an overnight flight from Lima after a 9hour wait in Lima airport preceded by a one hour flight from Cusco. In hindsight I would have stayed an extra day in Lima and come back at a more reasonable hour, but I think our options were limited. I was back at my apartment by 10am and in a nice piping hot NYC power shower by 10.10am!! Bliss

Foolhardy Melissa is going into the office today, however I'm all about laundry, picking up my held mail and chillaxing at the movies. I'm thinking my brain will just about cope with that Going The Distance movie with Drew Barrymore and Justin Long.

It was a great trip, but I'm glad to be home and I am very pleased to see that I brought the cooler South Peruvian weather back to NYC with me!! Yay!!

Photos soon...way way way too many photos coming soon ;-)

Back In a Fortnight or Thereabouts

I am so packed!!! Well except for make up and toiletries that is, but that's no big deal. I did it last night and my new rolling duffel bag fits everything in it with ease. Hurrah!! Admittedly it is relatively large, much bigger than I was anticipating, but it's not insane and I can still pick it up relatively easily. It's nothing like the time I went to Buenos Aires for 6 days with 3 girlfriends back in 2004 and one of the women brought TWO large suitcases. For six days!!! Two suitcases!!! Two!!! Her smallest suitcase was bigger than the one suitcase I was taking and when we arrived at the hotel - I loved that hotel, highly recommended if you are BA bound - and she opened her cases it was full of stuff straight from the dry cleaners complete with wire hangers and plastic coverings. Bananas!!


I'm travelling relatively lightly when you consider I do have my sleeping bag and self inflating sleeping mat in there. I know, what was I thinking with the sleeping mat, but it was only $20 and even though mats are provided - a fact I discovered post self inflating mat purchase - a little voice in the back of my mind keeps chanting "bed bugs, bed bugs" at me. Seriously you can't go a day in New York without hearing some news story about a bed bug infestation, even the Empire State Building had 'em, so admittedly I am slightly paranoid, but...shudder!! Anyway this being the case I'm taking my own sleeping bag and mattress pad instead of renting them. They take up a bit more space obviously, but both are very light, especially the mattress pad which is much lighter than my yoga mat, but of a comparable size.


So I'm all set, my mail's on hold, my out of office is enabled at work, Debs is going to keep an eye on my place while I am away, water the plants and all that gubbins, so I'm outta here!!!


Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!!


I'll be back online in a couple of weeks with photos and tales from my trip. I've decided against posting while I am out there as after reading this very interesting article from the NY Times yesterday I've realised I need a break from technology. I'm so fried, my brain is definitely feeling deprived of nature and down time right now, so this vacation has come at the perfect time.


See you in a few!!

Getting Shit Done!!

I realized today that my insurance policy for my Peru trip was in Melissa's name even though my credit card had been charged. Duh!!! After checking in with Melissa to make sure her insurance policy wasn't in my name - it wasn't - I called the Canadian based tour company to rectify the situation and have them email me an updated policy and let's just say that if the tour guide on our trip is as fake cheery as Greg who I just spoke to on the phone I will not be held responsible for my actions.

I felt like such a be-atch, but I'm incredibly busy just now, I'm already working 12+hours days, I'm scrambling to get things done before I leave. Is it asking too much to have a polite, efficient and professional conversation about my policy and get it sorted? Admittedly it didn't take *too* long, however I did have to endure Greg whooping it up for 15minutes.

"Alrighty, so what's your name?" he said with such fake enthusiasm, that if I wasn't so cynical I'd think I was the best conversation to happen to him all day.

I spelled out my last name assuming he was looking it up on the computer

"Is that your first name or your last name?"

"My last name."

"Oh I meant your first name, but I like the way you go right to your last name. What's your first name?"

I gave him my first name

"So, are you from the UK or North America?"

"I'm in the US"

"The good ol' US of A huh? I've been there once it was just okay"

Just okay? Charming. Good for you Greg!!

"So you're leaving for Peru in a few days?"

"That's right."

"You must be really excited about your trip right?"

Um...I will be once I know that my insurance coverage is in place.

"Greg do you need my insurance policy number?" I asked.

"Oh yes, that would be useful."

GET ON WITH IT GREG!!!!!

Seriously I felt like saying "Listen Greg, I don't mean to sound rude, but I'm extremely busy at work here in New York just now and the last thing I needed was to take time out of my day to call you about rectifying a mistake you guys made with my insurance policy, but that's the situation, I accept that, so now I just want to spend 5minutes getting that sorted out so that I can get on with my day. I'm sure you're a lovely guy, but quite honestly I just don't care how your day is going just like you don't really care about how my day is going, so let's drop the pretense that we are buddies. If you could just take my details, revise my policy and email a copy back to me that would be fantastic. Do you think you could do that for me Greg?"

I am such a New Yorker!!

Pondering the packing!!

How was your weekend? Did you have a good one? Other than brunch with Deesha today at Braeburn in the village - just okay, the food was kind of bland, but maybe I made a bad choice - I've been consumed by cleaning my apartment - how on earth does it get so untidy when I'm rarely here? - and packing for Peru. I was supposed to see H - as in OK Cupid H, we are going the friends route for the time being - for dinner, but he got caught up doing Brooklyn stuff and to be honest that was fine by me since it was disgustingly humid out for most of the weekend. Right now we have a corker of a rainstorm going on. Seriously it's bouncing off the roads and set to continue into tomorrow morning so I'm already thinking it will be a taxi to work for me tomorrow morning. I need to get in early anyway, so it's just as well.

Trip wise I'm getting ohhhh so excited now that it's only a few days away, but packing is giving me a headache. Why is it that no matter how prepared I feel for a trip I always end up having to order something critical at the last minute? For Chile and Iceland I ended up ordering boxes and boxes of walking shoes from Zappos. For this trip it's the rolling duffel bag I purchased from REI.com this weekend - it should arrive Tuesday - in the hope that I'll only need to take one bag after Liz at work reminded me on Friday that you can't have anything loose attached to checked baggage - duh, what was I thinking assuming that I could attach the self inflating mattress pad I'd bought to the outside of my bag - and I realized the backpack she loaned me wasn't going to cut it.

Aaarrrrgghhhhh!!!

Typical!! I was congratulating myself for being so organized in advance too, although I think no matter how much time I have there will always be something. If, by some weird freak of nature, I ever decide to get married I should never ever ever plan a wedding, I would be a total Bridezilla I am sure of it.

I stress horribly when it comes to packing, I just hate to overpack, or under-pack for that matter. Right now I have all my stuff laid out on the bed in the spare room, sorted in complete outfits including undies - nothing that's in danger of giving me a wedgie as I am hiking the Inca Trail. Seriously you have to consider these type of things, comfort is everything when you travel.

It doesn't look like a huge amount does it, but I'm pretty sure it's more than enough. Well of course it is, realistically I know have an outfit for everyday plus a pair of sweatpants (a recommended inclusion by the tour company for some reason), a couple of extra t-shirts and the ugly thunder-thigh promoting convertible Northface pants that I bought cheap and have kept 'just in case'...check 'em out

Below is a photo of me with relatively normal looking thighs, if a little knock knee'd looking. Seriously, is that how my legs look to other people? Good Lord!! The camera adds 10lbs, the camera adds 10lbs!!

And behold...one pair of Northface pants later and Thunder Thighs is born.

Not pretty!! Hideous in fact. Still, convertible pants may come in handy and since they were only $40 I decided not to bother returning them as petite hiking pants are few and far between, but take my word for it, these petite REI pants are infinitely more flattering and I may well be washing and wearing them over and over. Yup, even going up a mountain I am somewhat vain!! Well, you never know, there could be some good eye candy in our tour group - she says hopefully ;-)

Phew....I need to stop stressing and think about carrying all this crap. Besides I have my Tide hand wash sachets just in case, although I am wondering about opportunities for doing laundry while there. I was reading the itinerary this weekend and we seem to be permanently on the go. At this rate I shall be rigging up a washing line on the boat when we sail across Lake Titicaca ;-)

I'm also wondering whether I need to take a warmer coat with me given the temperatures drop to 39F overnight. I have a thin waterproof jacket, but I am thinking I might need something slightly more substantial, so I am pondering one of the fleece lined jackets I have, despite the fact that I have layers and layers of clothing available to me.

Hmmmm!!!

I'll see what I can fit into the bag when it arrives!!

TGIF!!

It would be putting it mildly to say work has been a bit stressful this week. Well, it's always a bit stressful, but this week I've felt really overwhelmed by it which is not so good. At least I am not hungover like the rest of my client team this morning, although I'm probably annoyingly smug since I stuck to non-alcoholic berry martini's - fruit puree essentially, I am sticking to my hydrate-to-better-deal-with-altitude-in-Peru plan - at our "we-got-a-great-review-from-our-client" celebration at Cibar last night where a good many flaming suffering bastards (a flaming floater of Bacardi 151, light and dark rums & exotic Polynesian juices) were quaffed. After trying to hold one too many incoherent conversations with my fabulous colleagues I couldn't help but wonder "is this how I am when I drink? Perhaps I will stop." It's really not pretty when you are the sober one.

Oddly I find that I quite often enjoy these busy times, because when I get everything done and out the door I feel exhilarated, like superwoman, and I love the feeling of satisfaction that comes with it - which may explain why I stick around, maybe I am addicted to that exhilarated feeling - however occasionally - like this week - I feel that things are spiralling out of control. Even as I am taking a break to type this my brain is saying "stop blogging, just stop it, get back to work", but a break will do me good. To be honest it's not the actual work, but other factors that tip me over the edge, like dealing with HR as I try and recruit someone to replace the junior team member who left for another agency last month. I found someone I wanted to make an offer to quite quickly, but frustratingly HR and finance dragged their feet on the approval for two weeks. I finally got approval from the CFO (why do I have to approval for a replacement when the scopes are all signed and in place?) on Wednesday, but they still haven't managed to catch up with the candidate to extend her an offer - she and I have been in touch via email so that I can push things internally - so in the meantime my team are getting burned out doing the work of 4 people. Ugh!! I'm also worried that despite the candidate's enthusiasm to join my team she may still turn down the offer so I'm still interviewing people, but HR aren't exactly setting up interviews with suitable people for the junior position I have open. One was a college graduate with a strong interest in literature (not even close to being relevant to what we do) and the other was a PhD who already had several years' work experience!!

Um...hello...pre-screen much?

Added to the HR and finance irritations I have to deal with my former client, J____, who is now working at another advertising agency in New York in a team - run by my former head of department no less (we are an incestuous bunch) - trying to pilfer one of my team members. This is despite the fact that he's working for an agency that has the same parent company as the one I work at and he is therefore subject to the same non-compete clauses regarding staff. He tried to sneakily circumvent this by calling A___ - who used to work here, but who got laid off and ended up working with J____ at the client organization - and had A___ call my team member to see if he had any interest in working for J____. Naughty naughty!! Fortunately my team member thought this more amusing than tempting - J____ was a very high maintenance client who liked things to be done just so - and so told me about them approaching him. I'm sure J____ thinks he's being very sneaky and clever, so part of me feels like calling him out on it on his Facebook wall or something, but of course I won't.

I am also slowly but surely mastering the art of delegation - although sometimes I have to step in as while my guys are brilliant in general, they do have an occasional tendency to forget the small things, like yesterday morning when one of them arrived 5minutes late for the conference call he was leading. I wouldn't mind but he only lives 8 blocks from the office, is it too much to ask that he gets in 10mins before the call and gets organized? Later yesterday afternoon my other direct report and I were heading out for a meeting with the media agency on 7th Avenue and as I was getting my stuff together I asked him if he had the exact address and cross-street and of course he hadn't thought to look it up. Hmmmm!! Good job I was on the ball or we'd have been randomly pacing the Garment District eh. I need to get them out of this "Fish will know where we are going" and "Fish will dial in if I'm not there" mentality because Fish is tiring of it. Fish is STRESSED OUT so step it up boys!!! The humidity isn't helping my mood any either - I'm also PMSing is it obvious? - as it seems to be extra hot and smelly in New York this year. I feel like Summer started back in May and hasn't let up since. We've had something like 5 heatwaves. I was just looking online to see if it's been one of the hottest summers on record and while I couldn't find anything on that I did find an article from 31Jul2009 in the New York Times that said we didn't have a single 90degree day in June or July in 2009. Clearly that be-atch Mother Nature was saving them all up for this year, although apparently last year New Yorkers "recalibrated their threshold for heat complaints....85 is [was] the new 95."

This year it's definitely hit the 90s on a regular basis and consequently I've found myself doing an awful lot of fantasizing about San Francisco's autumnal climate. The thought of being out at Crissy Field with a stunning view of the Golden Gate Bridge to my left and being buffeted by the crisp clean Pacific Ocean air seems downright blissful right now!!

I've been pondering a move to San Francisco a lot lately, and although it's not something I think I will do anytime in the near future - too scary to think of the upheaval of moving I need to build up to it - I am thinking that maybe in a year or so I'll go for it. It's daunting to think about, but my mind keeps going back to the idea, so I continue to consider the pros and cons of moving. On paper there seem to be a lot more cons than pros to be honest, but at the end of the day my gut is telling me that I need a change from living in New York and all the stress that goes along with it - it's been over 10 years after all - plus there's a bunch of other people I know - like my good friend Megan who is originally from California, although Pasadena not San Francisco - who are considering a similar move, so that would make it a lot easier. I also learned from the Department Head the other week that after you've been with the company for 10years you get a sabbatical.

"A paid sabbatical?" I asked

"Yes, yes, it's paid."

Hmmmmmmmm!!! Definitely something to take advantage of, especially since I am only 6months off my 10year anniversary with the company, although I need to check the facts with HR first since Department Head is very good at sounding convincing even when he doesn't have all the facts to hand - I guess that's why he's the Department Head eh ;-) - and it may be that there's a seniority clause in there or something that disqualifies me, but definitely worth exploring. If it does turn out to be true I'm pondering the possibility of taking a short term let in San Francisco and living by the Bay for a month to see if I like it, although spending a month there while still getting paid and not actually having to go into the office every day wouldn't exactly be the most realistic taste of the west coast life style now would it?

"You'd never want to come back," said Megan

That's true, I probably wouldn't. If I do go for that option I'd have to keep in mind that in reality I'd still be a wage slave. Anyway that's at some point in the future, but for now I'm settling for a long weekend out there with my a buddy from work in November.

Funnily enough I am not dreaming of being on top of Machu Picchu - merely elected as one of the new 7 wonders of the world in 2007!! Meh!! - which is where I will be very soon. I'm sure it will be very impressive when I am there, but right now I have no context, whereas I know exactly what it's like to be at Crissy Field. Melissa and I are Peru bound in just under a week. We fly overnight into Lima arriving at the hideously early time of 6.40am and have a day in the city before joining our tour group on our second day in Peru. After Lima we fly to the high altitude Puno region where it's all about rest and relaxation for the first day in order to acclimate before we set sail across Lake Titicaca (Childish, but I can't help but enjoy an internal smirk at the name!!) to visit the floating islands of Uros, then onto Cusco, through the Sacred Valley of The Incas before starting the 4 day hike up the Inca Trail, camping en route, to "spectacular Machu Picchu". Yes...you read that correctly, I did write CAMPING!!! It's not exactly me is it? I mean, I'm the same person that struggled to live without a hairdryer for the two days I spent at Miles' central London bachelor pad a few years ago - Bless him, he's since purchased a hairdryer for me to use while there since my US one doesn't work well with the travel adaptor without sounding like it's about to explode - so 4 days camping with limited shower facilities and potentially having to poop behind a bush.....hmmmmmm!!! After the Inca Trail we have 1.5 days in Cusco, where I shall no doubt spend an inordinate amount of time scrubbing myself clean, before hot footing it back to New York.

I'm going to have a trial pack of my backpack this weekend and keep my fingers crossed that I don't have to make any emergency purchases at Eastern Mountain Sports.

Have a good one!!