Peru, Day 46: Nina's Back!

I just want to start this post by saying something that I already said: NINA'S BACK!!!!!!!

I'm a little excited.

And by "a little" I obviously mean "a lot."

First of all, who is Nina? Well, I have one, or two, or three, pictures of her, so I'll include them, then you'll know, right?

Nina and I met on our first day in Cusco. 

All the random people who were not in the enormous group of Middle-Schoolers who arrived the same day got thrown into a group together and taken on our own special city tour. Nina, Sophie, Soph, Yikke....more people I don't remember. Soph, Sophie, Nina, and I spent a lot of time together that first week, and then when Sophie, Nina, and I spent our second week together in the Sacred Valley we all shared a quaint room and talked non-stop, all 7 days. 

Sophie only got a few more days with us, but Nina, Sophie, and I continued to spend almost every evening together, eating, talking, practicing Spanish (Yea...right....), dancing, drinking, meeting each others' friends, and in general just getting to know each other and getting closer every day.

Nina is my age, from Cologne, and starting Graduate work in Vienna this fall. We can be very different, but also very similar. Out-spoken at times, at times hard to please, at times critical, but at other times laid-back, accepting, and adventurous. We both tend to be a bit odd. That's the nice way to put it, of course. We both loved dancing and therefore when everyone else was tired, we could always count on the other to go out with us. Neither of us big drinkers, we never had to worry about "taking care of" the other. But when it came down to it, we were always taking care of each other. She was the one who helped me figure out what to do about my stolen credit card, I was the first one (in Peru) she cried to about her back-home issues. She was the one who helped me say no the night I really wanted to say yes, and I am the one who's still here now that she's back!

After traveling around Peru for a few weeks, she ran out of things to do, and decided that 4 days in Cusco would be a beautiful way to end her 2 months in Peru. Comfortable and cozy, Cusco was like home to both of us. But one big reason why? We were both there!

So I spent a few days by myself here in Cusco. All my friends have either gone home, gone to travel, or gone for their own week in the Sacred Valley. Except Nina! She's back!

My favorite part is this: when we get on our respective planes on Saturday, they are both going to Lima. Yes, she's going to fly home on Sunday and I'll be making my own journey back to the States on Thursday. But if she can come back to Cusco to spend a few more days with me, I'm pretty sure I can jump the pond sometime in the future. In the meantime, there's Facebook.

I have thoroughly loved my time in Cusco, and I am convinced that Nina was at least half of that. Nothing would have been the same without her. Good, sure. Just not this good!