Well as many of you have probably heard by now, I am no longer in possession of my cellphone. I will start with that story because it is the most traumatizing and basically all that has been on my mind since it happened (yesterday around noon). Shelby and I decided to go downtown to see the "change of guard"at the parliament building in Lima, Peru before heading to the bus station to continue on to Paracas. We got there fine, watched the change of guard, and had hailed a taxi to take us to the bus station. The traffic is horrendous in Lima, especially downtown, so we were basically not moving. Shelby and I were worried about being late for our bus. I took out my phone so I could read to pass the time and try not to worry about it. That was the wrong choice and I curse myself for it over and over but there was no way I would have guessed that it was going to be taken from my hands only a few minutes later. My bags were on top of my lap so my arms were crossed on my bags, my one hand holding my phone, and I was reading. The phone must have been visible from the sidewalk, or else the taxi driver set us up, but before I knew it there were two hands grasping my phone from the driver side window. (Also questionable why the driver let this guy stick his arms inside the vehicle if he had nothing to do with the theft). I was sitting in the back seat behind the driver looking down at my phone so I saw none of this until it was much too late. Anyway, in that split second when his hands were grasping at my phone, and my grip was being lost to his, I was in total panic mode. I had a sickening feeling of panic, shock, disbelief, and despair all rolled into one, and the worst part was I knew I was going to lose. He caught me unaware and the tug of war lasted all of half a second and yet I can remember things running through my mind. Mostly "NO!!!" and "s***" and "WHY ME". I did scream out '"NO!"but of course that did nothing and he left scratches on my hands as he yanked my phone away from me and took off down the street. Me being in panic mode now, I jumped out of the taxi (we were stopped in a traffic jam anyway) and screamed for help and for someone to please stop his as he escaped from view around the corner. There are lots of police around in Lima and there were three officers who came to the scene within a minute. We found from stander-bys that they had ran down a dead end ally. This gave me much confidence because I thought they must be hiding, how else could they have esaped? The police looked under and in all the vehicles parked in this ally but didnt find them, and a man was pointing up at a ladder that led to the second lfoor of a building. The police went up and found one of their jackets there, discarded, but no boys and no phone. I was still in total disbelief that this had just happened to me. The policeman escorted me back to my taxi where Shelby was waiting. I could have filed a report but I knew my phone was long gone and me and Shelby were moving on to the next city, and we were DEFINITELY going to be late if we stuck around any longer so I got back in the taxi and we drove to the bus station. Once on the bus I finally had a good cry, as embarrassing as that is infront of all those people, I was totally depressed. That phone was brand new, I had just gotten it replaced a month before and it had over 400 pictures on it just from this trip. Not to mention my books, music, spanish lessons, workouts, and videos that I used to pass the time. Besides my passport, that was my most prized possession. And of course I hadnt been able to back any of that stuff up over here. I had posted about 60 pictures onto Facebook, so at least I didn't lose all of them. And I'm trying to focus on the positives of the situation: us being unharmed, passports intact. I can certainly live and continue my trip without my phone, but it definitely hurts to lose everything that was on there. I've borrowed a book from the hostel here to help me pass the time and Shelby is letting me use her phone when I feel I need to. I was really glad she was with me. I cried a lot yesterday but today I am starting to feel better about it. Still that moment when his hands were pulling my phone away just haunts me!!

Now we are in a tiny town called Paracas. This morning we went on a boat tour to Ballestas Islands. We saw lots of cool marine life including penguins, seals, and a pod of dolphins! There are also tens of thousands of birds on these islands. Apparently the bird excrement is up to 50 m deep in some places and is exported as nitrogen rich fertilizer! Needless to say it didn't smell too great out there. After our tour we made ourselves lunch (Shelby is a great cook!) and went to the beach for a few hours. The weather certainly doesn't compare to Costa Rica but it did get up to 21 degrees today in the sunshine so we sat and enjoyed ourselves. Tomorrow we head to Ica where we will get to do sand boarding and sand buggying!

In Lima we took a culinary tour the morning Shelby arrived! She got to the hostel at 8:30 am and we were off at 10 am! The tour was 5 hours and was so great. It was kind of a city tour and food tour combined, as we got to see a few different areas of Lima and learn some histroy, none of which I can remember of course. Our first stop on the tour was a local coffee roastery, owned by a guy who apparently has taken some prestigous coffee course (one of 700 in the world). We got to see the workers sorting through the coffee beans, according to exact colour and shape. We sat outside and they served us cappuchinos. Next we went to a little restaurant called the secret garden. Here they have a fruit tree with fruit called the Lucuma (pronounced Lugma). They made us milskshakes with this fruit and the taste was totally not what I expected! It tasted exactly like butterscotch! It was so so good. Then we went to a local food market where we got to try about 10 different kinds of fruit I had never heard of before. Our guide told us there are 5000 different kinds of potatoes that grow in Peru. Then we went to the fish section and got to try a fresh scallop (was raw at first but the guy marinated it in lime). I learned here that the white/pink round scallop we are used to seeing in Canada is not all a scallop is composed of. It also has what they call a "tongue" which is a bright orange/red thing about as big and round and wide as a thumb would be, that wraps itself about 3/4 of the way around the scallop. Apparently they eat it this way in France (there was a couple from France on the tour with us). I tried to eat the tongue but when i bit it the skin didnt break which freaked me out so I decided to leave it! After this our guide took us to a local resturant where we learned how to make Pisco Sours and Ceviche from the head chef. A Pisco Sour is a drink (apparently much like a whiskey sour) but Pisco is derived from distillation and fermentation of grapes. First we had to take shots of straight Pisco (gross) and then we learned to make the drink which was a mix of Pisco, lime juice, egg white, and something else I can't remember! Then it is shaken up. Ceviche is a seafood dish. It is very easy to make. You start with raw fish or a mix of raw seafood, and simply add lime juice, fish stock, chile pepper sauce, cilatro, and a "special sauce" from the restaurant. The lime juice "cooks" the fish so it is safe to eat. Because the limes here are more acidic than in Mexico for example, the fish is ready to eat in two minutes, where as a lime from Mexico will take a day to marinate. We added sweet potatoes and corn to our bowls and then we got to eat our bowl of Ceviche and sip our Pisco Sours. After this we still had lunch to go to! They took us to an upscale restuarant called Cala, on the ocean. We had bread with three different kinds of butter and fish with a tomato sauce for appetizers. Then they brought us platters of seafood which included breaded prawns in a mango sauce, scallops in a sweet onion sauce, breaded grouper, marinated swordfish, and octopus! I loved all of it, even the octopus. It was cooked really well so it was soft instead of rubbery like I have often heard it is. After seafood we had dessert which was a big brownie is a pastry crust with cherry ice cream, cherry sauce, and chocolate crisps on top. WOW it was a fabulous tour and I was in a food coma by the end of it! Shelby and I went back to the hostel where I took a nap and that night we went to this cool mall called Lacomar that is dug into the side of a hill along the ocean. (It is outdoor). We had strawberry daquiris and caught up on our lives. The next day we went downtown and I'm back to where I started! I hope I can continue to enjoy my trip, I am trying hard not to let the phone incident affect my stay, but it was the first time I actually felt like I wanted to go home. But I won't! I am going to stick it out and when we get to La Paz in two weeks(the next big city we'll see) I'm hoping I can pick up a cheap tablet that I can use for skyping, reading, watching videos, etc. the rest of my stay.