Still in the aeropuerto

We´re on hour 9 of the Lima airport. It´s been super fun. We´ve accomplished a lot since we got here at 9 this morning. We solved world hunger, figured out how to stop the Darfurian genocide, and cured cancer. I know, I know, it sounds unbelievable that we did all that in less than a day, but what can I say? Sarah and I are brilliant, brilliant people.

Seriously though, you´d think that an airport in a town of over 9 million people would have a bit more to offer than this one does. Not to complain or anything, because I´m sure that they have their reasons, and it´s likely that the majority of those 9 million people can´t actually afford to take a flight at the airport. But still. Okay, yes, I´m being incredibly American and probably a bit naive right now, but honestly. I´m bored.

Speaking of being American, a thought occured to me today. Although we haven´t experienced too much negativity about the fact that we´re from Los Estados Unitos since arriving here, there have been certain instances were I think people were less than thrilled to hear that we were American. Plus, I of course projected my own trepidation about my nationality on to other people, particularly two girls who I chatted with on the train to Aquas Calientes, who turned out to be from Vancouver. When I had to tell them I was from the US, I got really embarrassed. Which is just sad. I shouldn´t be embarrassed to let people know where I´m from. Anyway, my point.

I think the American idiot stereotype is a cyclical thing, which is probably obvious. We go out in to the world, and encounter people who have these preconceived notions about who or what america/ns are and what we do, and because of these ideas, they react in a certain way when they learn that someone is from the United States. In turn, people from the US react to those reactions negatively, thus reinforcing the negative ideas that others have about us. Etc.

Cycles are hard to break. All cycles. I learned this watching The Wire. Just kidding... about the Wire comment, not about the cycles.

God I´m bored.

I guess I could take this opportunity to get a massage in the middle of the airport, but for some reason that just doesn´t sound appealing to me. Plus, I figured out that the Enya music actually isn´t playing over the airport loudspeakers - it´s coming from the massage place that´s just outside the door of this internet cafe. They´ve had the same album on repeat for about 5 hours as far as I can tell. Then again, all Enya sounds really similar, so maybe I´m wrong about that.

Okay, I´m getting off of here for real this time. We only have 30-ish minutes before we can check in to our flight (woo!), so time is actually moving. Slowly, but it´s moving.

xoxo