Salut!

Five hours into my flight from Houston, I finally have a breakthrough with the girl sitting next to me, a plain Midwestern-looking girl I later learn is, in fact, from the Midwestern Plains. I passed her a glass of water and, seeing the opportunity to avoid watching 'Mean Girls' in Spanish, I engage her in the typically small talk of complete strangers. She tells me her name, her life story, her hopes and fears about teaching at an American school in Lima; useless details about a decently useful life. I forget her name almost immediately and then must feign interest as I try to remember it.

Eventually she asks me where I am from, what my jobs is, and who I was visiting in America. To be mistaken as a Peruvian an hour before landing - even by Sarah Plain and Tall - is a good omen for my bad Spanish.

I wait in Customs for nearly an hour before Diego and Jeff welcome me to Lima, the City of Kings.