More of the Peru chapter is written up and more good food consumed. Two days before I'm due to leave, Mika and Monica get a Spanish Couchsurfer who'd never tried sushi, so clearly, the only way to remedy that is to get takeaway from Edo Sushi. They do some of the most imaginative and delicious maki rolls I've ever tasted, and no wonder - they're patronised by the likes of Nobu and various Latin American rock bands. The good thing about Lima is that unlike the sometimes snobby eating scene in London or New York, where mere mortals can't get into some elitist places, here you can go to any fine establishment without a problem.
On my penultimate day, I have a lunch date with Leo. Mike convinces me that Leo's meeting won't possibly finish before lunchtime, so we head for the centre of Lima to finish fitting my crown. As luck would have it, Leo calls me as soon as we reach the centre, so I fidget all the way through my dental appointment. Never trust a Peruvian dentist: Lucho told me that it would take 5-10 minutes to fit my crown, but it ends up taking forty minutes, with constant measuring, drilling and remeasuring. Am very satisfied with the final results, though.
Leo waits for me with typical Peruvian patience at Larcomar, the seafront mall set in the cliffs of Miraflores. Though lunch at the mall food court is not quite what I'd envisaged, I thoroughly enjoy my two hours there, and the course of events lead me to believe that if I wanted something to happen next time, it would. Of course, now I'm not sure I want anything, and after bidding him farewell, I take a long walk along the cliffs to clear my head.
On my last day I'm unable to work; it's taken up by packing, lunch with Monica's delightful family and friends, and flying. At the airport, I discover that the airline I've flown to Latin America with every other time has decided to change its baggage rules, and that I'm only allowed 23kg of luggage. Bloody Iberia. Repack in a frenzy, and manage to use my extra holdall as the biggest bit of 'hand luggage' I've ever travelled with. My Kelty still weighs 26.5kg, but they don't take issue with that. Then I somehow manage to lose my immigration card (which I got at the Chile-Peru border and which you have to hand in on departure); I have it before I put my stuff through the x-ray machine, and then it's gone, and after a fruitless search, I have to pay a 15 sol fine to the grumpy immigration lady.
Am catatonic/asleep throughout much of the flight to Madrid and then to London. Am halfway through 'Lost in Moscow: A Brat in the USSR', written by a Canadian who spent a summer in a pioneer camp there in 1977. It's a really annoying book; she comes across as a whiny kid who complains about everything, and I get the impression that she'd missed the point of the cultural exchange.
[Though the Latin America leg of my travels has now reached its end, what I've decided to do now is to extend '90 Days...' and for the duration of July do a countdown to my next trip - a grand adventure spanning Siberia, Mongolia, China and possibly Vietnam. I have less than a month to get my act together, to write up my South American travels and plan my next research trip, as well as get all the necessary documents - visas, passport, etc.
The countdown begins now.]
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