Mice, Moths (that look like bats), and, well, some BIG news

So the past couple of weeks have been anything but boring. I still don't know how the days go by so quickly, but they do and they sometimes leave my head spinning. So, we'll recap slowly -- to keep me from getting too dizzy.

I have a mouse. He's a little gray bugger and he's noisy. Every room in our house (at least downstairs where I live) opens up to our outside courtyard, which means that bugs and other creepy crawlies are common in our rooms. No big deal. But mice are different. You can hear them coming and going, crawling into the trash can, scurrying about and then settling in under your bed. It was freaking me out.

The first night I heard him, I ran upstairs to get help from Niki and Alvaro. Well, I was hoping for help from Alvaro because Niki is about as useless as I am when I comes to rodents. We scream and flail about when we see one. Alvaro isn't a big fan of them either but I think he realized that he was the only one home at the time with less fear than me and Niki, so we all went down to my room and while I sat on the bed (I didn't want the little bugger running over my feet), Alvaro and his broom did his best to flesh it out.

And every time it darted from one place to the next, Niki and I screamed and flailed about. I'm pretty sure Alvaro was losing patience with us, but eventually he got it to run out the open door. Whew. And then the two of them went back upstairs and I tried to go to back to sleep. And then the mouse came back. This time Szymon came in to help (he was out during the first episode). He picked up almost every piece of furniture and we couldn't get it to leave. I resigned myself to sleeping with a mouse under my bed that night.

It didn't come back for a day or so, but the next time it did, we had a little conversation. I told it to leave me alone and I'd do the same. He quieted down and staying out of my garbage for the most part. He still visits, but we're on better terms now and truthfully, it's not worth the fuss. Unless he brings friends.

What I initially imagined the mouse to look like...


What I imagine it looks like now that we're friends...


And then we had another visitor. I came out of the shower one morning to see a big brown sploch on the wall of our bathroom. I hadn't seen it when I first went in there that morning (probably because I was half asleep) and because I usually don't have my contacts in when showering, I really didn't know what I was seeing. All I knew was that it was big and that it didin't belong in our bathroom. It looked like a bat.

I dressed quickly and scurried out of the bathroom. I put on my glasses and went back to investigate. It was a moth. And it was HUGE. Yes, in hindsight I realized that it couldn't have been a bat, as bats sleep hanging upside down with their wings wrapped around them. This guy's wings were splayed out and he wasn't moving at all. I learned from Alvaro's dad (who's visiting for a while) that they're noctural and blind during the day, so it wasn't going anywhere until nightfall.

It was quite beautiful, but having it so close to my head every time I sat on the toilet was a bit unnerving. So I asked Syzmon to gently remove it, as the thought of it flying about in that little space while I'm trying to pee was more stressful than knowing there was a mouse living under my bed. So, he did and then brought it to my room to show me. I had him stay outside, but I took a few pictures to show you all that I wasn't exaggerating.



Ok, the BIG news...
No, I'm not pregnant. And no, I'm not getting remarried. But something big is brewing and I'll fill you in little by little as we go forward. Yesterday, I signed a lease on a little storefront. I am opening a restaurant!

Until we get the paperwork going, I'm not going to divulge much more because it's a unique idea for Cusco (and you never know who's reading). What I do know is that I am pretty confident it will work and I can't wait to dive in and start cooking!

My new little adventure!




We're off to travel again this weekend. This time, my friend Whitney and her boyfriend Jose will be joining us. We're going north up to Lima and then on to Trujillo, Chiclayo and the beaches in and around Mancora. And then we're crossing the border into Ecuador and finishing up our journey in Guayaquil. If luck is with us, we'll find a last-minute trip to the Galapagos, so our fingers are crossed. I'll try to post along the way, but that isn't always easy. I'll do my best!

We don't know how long we'll be gone -- 2-3 weeks, we're assuming -- and then our lease on the space begins 2/15, so we're jumping right in to building out the space, testing the tiny menu and preparing/hoping to open by April. You're all invited to come down for the grand opening -- and I promise the food will be GOOD ;)