I found Mac programs!!

So I apologize for not updating in a while I am not going to claim that I have been more busy than usual but frankly I have just forgotten to do it. So this weekend was when Team America (What all of the americans here are referred to) had a mass exodus. Emily left early last week and then Javier and Nina both left on sunday night. The goodbyes actually started on Friday night where dinner involved sandwiches and then sandwiches only an hour later. We had some butifarras in Parque Kennedy (So good) at about 8 and at 9 after a walk that seemed like it lasted forever, we had more sanwiches at Pascuales. We capped the night with milkshakes at the "Uber trendy" Urban Cafe. Thats one of the ways ot tell if a place is really trendy, is if the name is in english.

After the milkshakes, Nina and I headed to a bar in Barranco with the intention of finding a ride for the hash the next day. There was a gathering of the "drinking club with a running problem" and we finally found a ride with miguel. After securig transportation for the next day and listening to teh cover band playing 80s rock which everybody in Peru seems to be completely obsessed with, we headed home. The next day Nina and I did the hash in the afternoon and it was at this beautiful place called the laderas de California which is about 45 minutes outside of Lima. The run was nice as it sent you through a bunch of woods and then culminated with a beer stop atop this giant cerro. The view was amazing but the run down was treacherous to say the least. At one point I fell and scraped my knee but it felt fine though everyone thought I was really raw after that because I just kept running with it. After introductions, some mingling, some pisco, and some dinner, we headed out around 7 and made it back home by about 8. I have pictures to accompany every part of this story but Nina had them all and as you will soon find out she neglected to give them to me. If or when they get posted online somewhere, I will be sure to either post links or just download the pictures and post them to the blog. The night was once again pretty much the same as most nights as we just barhopped around Barranco and talked about all sorts of ridiculous topics including a long debate over whether this large group of guys were a bunch of high schoolers trying to get laid or whether they were gay (it turns out that they were celebrating one of their birthdays and contrary to popular belief only one of them spoke english which was another source of debate.

Sunday I went back to the Museo de la nacion and walked my way from there to downtown. I later found out that I am not supposed to do that walk because it is dangerous but luckily I am still alive. That is one thing about Lima that I will save for another day, but people here are completely paranoid. I would say that it is probably justified but some people to such complete extremes. A french couple was beaten last week just a few blocks from where I am staying but yet for some reason I usually feel safe. Maybe it is a result of 2 decades of actual and real terrorist threat unlike the sort of stuff that most people in Kansas are scared of.

On an interesting note, I found this bootleg computer market that had all sorts of programs and low and behold I found Mac programs. It was pretty amazing and they are in fact mac disk images as I tried them that night. I picked up a copy of Adobe CS2 and Final Cut Pro HD they had some other mac programs like QuarkXpress and tiger and a bunch of sound editing programs as well. I told my Gonzalo to call me if he could get his hand on Aperture so well see how that pans out. Apparently there is a mac only guy that is there only during the week so I may end up going back at some point this week to try and track him down. Though Im not gonna lie, the whole way the deals went down was kind of unsettling at times especially when guys are pulling you into these shady back rooms but thats the price you pay for doing business with the black market. I have my fair share of shady bootleg markets but this one definately takes the cake. The plan is to go somewhere in Peru this weekend and this time I genuinely mean it. I also bought about 25 movies this weekend so I will be watching those as well. If anybody wants any TV seasons, movies, or programs let me know and Ill see what I can do. This other place I found in Lima even has DVDs of seasons that arent even out yet. Case in point I have the first season of prison break but it is the DVDs with the downloaded episodes that have the little fox icon in the corner. When I get back Ill be sure to give it to Gu and Wilberforce so we can discuss how raw Michael Scofield is.