G'day, Jack!

It's been a looong time — over 6 months, in fact. During that time, we've both been reasonably lazy in keeping track of each other, and we've both made a few (failed) attempts to meet up. But now, finally, we've managed to successfully organise a reunion. Tonight, I met up with my mate Jack, whom I met back in Cusco, and with whom I went on that famous adventure, those many moons ago! Jack's one of the greatest people I've met on this trip, and it was good to see that he hasn't changed at all: it was totally sweet to see him again.

So, what's Jack been up to since I saw him last? Actually, his itinerary has ended up being quite similar to mine. He was in Bolivia at around the same time that Chris and myself were. After Bolivia, he returned to Peru, where he spent about 4 months in the small northern coastal village of Huanchaco (near Trujillo), doing volunteer English-teaching work. And lately, he's been going around Europe a bit, catching up with friends in Germany and various other places. And now he's in London, catching up with his friends Max and Joel.

This reunion also happened just in the nick of time. I got back from Bath this morning; and when I checked my e-mail, I saw that Jack had dropped me a line, letting me know that he's in London. I quickly got hold of him, and arranged the meet-up for tonight. As for tomorrow: not only am I flying to Rome tomorrow night; Jack's also leaving town, and flying all the way to Bombay! So it was just sheer providence that this little rendez-vous happened at all.

Anyway, I rocked up to Max and Joel's little apartment in Mile End this evening, where Jack greeted me with a big hairy smile (yep, unlike some of us, he hasn't quit on the beard thing), and where the four of us had a scrumptious vegetarian dinner (Jack's a veggie) of tomato pasta (but this time, not so fatal). After that, we went out for some beer and some jazz.