I’m back in the Atlanta airport, waiting, this time, for the plane that will take me to Lima, Peru. No, this is not part of the book tour. I am going to Lima to speak at an American School there, the same way that I went to Warsaw, Poland in 2007.
Many people have written to ask if I’ll be going to Machu Picchu. Sadly, the answer is no. I get altitude sickness easily and I have wicked asthma – the combination of the two makes it unsafe for me to travel to altitude alone. But I hope I can come back with the Beloved Husband one day. He will take many photos of me wheezing or passed out amongst breath-taking scenery.
I am under strict orders from BH to avoid wheatgrass, btw. He would be happiest if I abstained from all adventurous eating on this trip. Not sure I’ll be able to comply fully (I’m going to PERU, for crying out loud. Must try new food!!!) But no wheatgrass. Never, ever, ever, ever again. And no llama beans, thunderchiken. No, thank you.
This weekend I will be absorbing a tiny bit of Lima courtesy of the peripatetic Hoiseth family. Monday – Friday I’ll be giving presentations about my books and writing workshops at the Colegio F. D. Roosevelt. Late Friday night I start the long journey home. I would have loved to schedule some vacation time, but the next week I head to California for the LA Book Festival, and shortly after that is the International Reading Association Conference in MN.
At this point, being able to wake up in my own bed for a week running will feel like a vacation.
I am not sure if I’ll be able to blog or tweet from Peru. So I will post a bunch of links right now to keep you busy while I’m gone:
1. Publisher’s Weekly has a nice article (with photos!) about how I used Twitter on the book tour. Hello new media! You can read my Twitter stream here, if you want.
2. The YAthenaeum has posted a terrific recap of the poetry slam, Time Warp, and my time at Books & Books, complete with video. Booksellers – if you’re looking for a model of how to run a teen book club, here it is.
3.
Watch my Q & A session from my book tour stop at Kepler’s in Menlo Park, CA. Really there was a BUNCH of people there, but no one wanted to sit up front. They had no doubt heard out my tendency to foam at the mouth and spit (unintentionally, of course) when I get on a rant.
And spitting brings us, at llong llast, to llamas. I have been assured that I won’t see any llamas in LLima, but I might get llucky. I am llonging for a llama encounter. I am playing with all kinds of multi-llingual puns along of the lines of “Como se llama, llama?”
(If you were walking with your dog and you saw a llama who resembled Perry Como, you might ask your dog, “Perro, como se llama llama?” And then, if LLorenzo LLamas joined you….)
I definitely need to get more sleep.
I’ll be back here sooner, hopefully than llater.