My Friend Miller

I have had many messages of support and good wishes from people here at home and from around the world. Thank you all. They all mean so much to me and it's good to know there are so many of you thinking of me. It gives me strength. Some of you have moved me to tears of joy and appreciation. All of them are special to me and the fact that I'm about to devote the rest of this post to one of these messages is no reflection on the rest of you.

My friend Miller, from Peru, has given me his permission to use his message on here. He writes mostly in English, any mistakes are my fault as I taught him, well just a little. His English is excellent. This is what he wrote:

"Amigo I just read your blog. You don't know how much I sorry, I could not believe what I was reading. Amigo I would like to be there in this moment just giving you a lot of hug and not separating from you anymore, you know I feel bad, really bad. You have been to me like a father, like a father that I never had, I learned so much from you, thank you for being part of my life. Thank to you I learned to listen to Bob Dylan and The Beatles. Of course you have been a good influence on my life. And I can say, no doubt, I am here on this ship thanks to you amigo. I showed you all I have, my family, my humble room, where couldn't fit more than two people, you met my disrespectful brother in law, which wasn't in my plan.

Sabes amigo quisiera ir a visit you.... pero no se como llegar, but no problema like you told me "be a man" "grow up" I will never forget your words. I will debark in three weeks, the only detail I don't know where the British embassy is located in Lima, but I will figure it out. Amigo I will tell you something that you don't like to hear from me, but I have to, God bless you. Te extrano un monton amigo. Espero escuchar pronto de ti."

I replied to him and he sent the following message:

" Wow, your words went directly and deeply into my heart. No I wouldn't mind if you put those words in your blog. Would be a pleasure my dear friend. I'll let you know when I debark. I have many things to do when I get back...............I need to visit my grandmother.... save some money for my future, time flies!! I need to study I don't have any support of them, so I have to work so hard.

I hope to see you back in Peru one day. You can do it mi amigo. You learned Spanish from the selva, from Pucallpa, where I was born. By the way how's your Spanish? Estas practicando? Quiero hablarte siempre en espanol, no mas ingles. Te amo amigo, te amo como a un padre, eso es todo lo que puedo decir.

I want to see you soon in Cusco and introduce you to my enamorado that which you always wanted from me seeing me with a girlfriend. and show you my apartment. I hope that my dreams come true, to see you again one day in Cusco. Finally I got a girlfriend, she is beautiful, cute, gorgeous, es muy bonito y la amo mucho. Her name is Kelly. I am sure you would be happy if you saw us together."

Thank you Miller for your kind words and for helping to make Cusco such a special place for me. I will never forget you. I hope to meet Kelly some day. Getting back to Peru to see you and Cusco and all my Peruvian friends is top of my list of things to do. Cuidate amigo.... hasta luego....