We Miss You, Mad Dog

{{Tanto tiempo juntos y ahora te tienes que ir}}

This past weekend I had to say goodbye to two more of my friends here, Maddie and Pasta. Maddie came down to Peru with me in the beginning of September and we did everything together from the very beginning. First time in Cusco, Machu Picchu, Lake Titicaca, early explorations of Urubamba, Halloween, Pitusiry hike, meeting the "plaza men", Ollantaytambo, Pisac, all our time around Urubamba. She and I got to be very close and Peru just doesn't feel the same now that she's gone. Who else is going to make fun of me with her big smile, bright curly blonde hair, and sarcastic, bring-me-back-to-earth comments? It's just strange knowing that now when I walk to ProPeru I can't poke my head in her window in the green house just down Torrechayoc to see what she's up to and if she wants to go get potato wedges (the answer is always yes!).

Pasta was a Peruvian friend from Lima who lived with two of our other good friends. Hilarious and fun to be around, he quickly became someone I would always look to hang out with when we were all together. He, too, teased me 24/7, renamed me Wheeeeee, and added another dimension of amazing people to my stay in Urubamba. "Pasta pásamelo pasta pasta pásamelo pásamelo pasta". He's hopefully coming to live and work in Barcelona next spring, so I'm hoping I'll be able to see him and we can explore Barcelona together!

Having to say these goodbyes this weekend reminded me of just how soon I am leaving. Now it's only two days until the great departure date and I can't believe how time has passed. I have to think about things like packing and obeying weight restrictions and paying exit taxes and how hard it's going to be to do those final goodbyes. It'll be easy to reunite with my ProPeru friends and the staff, who have all made my time here absolutely spectacular, but so much more effort and much less likely with my German and Peruvian friends, who were a special extra touch in my life and made it even more international. There are so many more things I wish I could do here--go to my friend Nube's birthday party, explore the Sacred Valley even more, install more stoves--but I guess it's true that all good things have to end. But I do have amazing memories (and lots of pictures!) to sustain me until the next time I see everyone and Peru. But I'm not gone yet...still got another day and a half to take full advantage of my city, Urubamba!