The craziness never ends!

Back on the Amtrak - refreshed and re-energized

It's official: cc made it back to the states alive, barely.

I was a traveling public transportation fiend the last 30 hours of my time in Peru:
Bus - Huaraz to Lima, 9 hours
Taxi - bus station to airport, 30 minutes
Plane - Lima to Miami, 5.5 hours
Foot - US Customs, 2.5 hours
Plane - Miami to LA, 5 hours
Bus - LAX to Union Station, 45 minutes
Amtrak - Union station to Santa Ana, 1 hour
Car (hitchhiked) - Santa Ana to Anaheim Mariott hotel, 20 minutes

Whew! And yes, hitchhiked. After 1 month of traveling in Peru and never getting lost or getting into compromising situations, it had to come to the first day when I set foot back on US soil. lol. In my exhausted stupor, I got the wrong directions to my dad's hotel in anaheim and got off at the seedy Santa Ana station accidentally. Lucky for me, the one person I asked for help saved me from a night of catastrophe. Andrew was his name. He happened to live 1 block from the station, let me use his internet, and actually drove me 20 minutes to the Mariott. I couldn't have been more thankful of his kindness and generosity and for the fact that he wasn't a serial killer or kidnapper.

Culture shock is the motto of the week. I can't believe I can take unlimited hot water showers, have flushing toilets, soap, shampoo, AND conditioner, clean clothes that don't smell mildewy, not needing to avoid dog crap on sidewalks, needing to call a cab (by phone), and above all, actually understanding what the hell people are saying! And now, I'm finally heading home to San Diego. I need a vacation from this vacation.

With this sight, I knew I was definitely back in the US of A.