A few random stories.

The other day, while leaving SECAP, I walked by a huge pile of poo on the sidewalk. Two steps later, I saw some toilet paper. The above lead me to believe the poo was human poo.

I tell that story despite the fact that Eileen’s Uncle Bill will probably read it and make an inappropriate comment.

Two days ago, a nearby volcano coughed up a little vapor and ash. They say it might blow its top within the next two months. How cool would that be? (Don’t worry, worriers. We’d be covered in ash, but far from the lava.)

In Peru, we tried coca leaves. It’s not that great tasting; kinda like chewing on tea leaves, except that in larger quantities, it makes your mouth a little numb. The Peruvians are very proud of it; they are constantly toting its nutritional value and its important cultural role. They are also quick to explain that it’s not cocaine. It doesn’t get you high in the least.

Nonetheless, when we were at Machu Picchu, all of the gringo tourists in our group refused to take any of the coca leaves our guide offered them — except me and Eric, of course. Eileen and Joni had tried it before, but they didn’t like it as much.

One night in Cusco, while I was looking at email on our hostal’s free internet-providing computer, I opened a Google page and began typing something in the search form. When you do that, a list of prior searches comes up. I saw “drug test” and “coca leaf,” in that list and, intrigued, I selected it. Turns out coca leaves would show up on a drug test (just like poppy seeds would) for about a week after chewing them.

This morning, I balled out my students for being consistently late to class. They were like scolded dogs for the rest of class. It was kinda awkward. But at 7:15, when the class actually starts, 2 students were there! By 8:00, I had 11 students. There are 16 students in the class.

I finished the short story which I’m submitting to the Madison Magazine short fiction contest. It’s not perfect, but I’m pretty happy with it.

We’ve been invited to a “pimps and hoes” party tonight, but we don’t have the money to spend on nasty-ass clothes we’ll never wear again. We’ll go as ourselves, Pimp T-Dawg and Skanky E.