the hiss of flip flops on a dusty floor

we have arrived in lima. after a surprisingly comfortable 12-hour flight (no we were not bumped up to business but we can sleep like babies anywhere), we arrived to the smell of the pacific ocean. to me it also smelled like fried fish but i think thats because in my mind the two smells are inextricably linked together (and also stem from somewhere in larnaca)

the illusion of exoticism is still there but we will see how long it lasts. our fantastic breakfast tea turned out to be canela y clovo! cono thought it might ve been more like a hundred-year old inca blend not a teabag.

What is to come

You should expect to read a lot on food and language (two of my obsessions), interesting characters we meet (possibly fatses), my fears (la cucaracha better remain just a popular song!), music and all sorts of things I can’t even think of right now (my imagination is probably clouded from some months of grey skies). Inevitably this will all be mixed in with excitement (read exclamations and smileys :)) and lots of oufous*.

*Apologies to English-speaking readers – this is a very useful exclamation in the Cypriot dialect (not to be confused with the somewhat less satisfactory Greek ‘ouf’). It expresses boredom, fatigue, the straw that broke the camel’s back and probably jetlag. If you inhale and then sharply exhale an ‘ou’, ending with a firm ‘f’ as your teeth touch your lower lip, you will see what I mean.

the beginning

This is the story of a big trip that started in our heads at some point in time (possibly in childhood). It was googled and lonely planeted in the grey winter of 2010/11.

It starts on 26^th February 2011 (London – Lima).

We don’t quite know what happens next but we’ll keep you posted.

- elena

- cono