Well, the aventure has begun! Tuesday afternoon when my parents drove ma dn Guy to the airport, my nerves were in full force, and was so hard to think of being away from friends and family for 8 months. There was little time to dwell on such thoughts though, since we needed to get to our flight. We set off for Chicago, followed by another short flight to Miami overnight before heading onto the longer 6 hours flight to Lima. We got onto our first flight at 230 pm and boarded for Lima at 1030pm, so we were both tired and ready to sleep...but unfortunately neither of us got a wink of it. We groggily exited the plane at 430 am, only to be greeted by a MASS of cab drivers and cab companies offering drive us. At that moment I suddenly felt as though my skin got whiter, my pack grew to the size of an elephant, and that I had a neon sign over my head flashing "American." Thanks to Guy´s Spanish speaking skills, we were soon with our cab driver on our way out of the airport and on towards our our hostel in Barranco, a neighborhood in Lima. I had read that Peruvian taxi drivers were a bit insane in the driving department, and this man did not disappoint! As we raced down the road, lines were only suggestions, and it was immediately clear that pedestrians do NOT have the right of way!
We soon arrived at our hostel, which was not labeled as such and simply looked a like a house on a busy street. There was a gate with an electric fence on top (as is common here) that was locked, and no buzzer to call on. Luckily our taxi driver was very gracious and called the owner for us, who stumbled out bleary eyed and welcomed us in. We were eager to get in and sleep, which we were able to do (and I use the word sleep very loosely) for about 6 hours. While "sleeping" we were introduced to the insane world of honking, which occurs constantly on the streets of Peru. Tax and bus drivers are especially bad, and honk to alert pedestrains that they are available to give you a lift, or to alert other drivers they want you to move, or...really for no apparent reason at all. Since we didn't realize we had an open window that morning, we were constantly being woken up to these blasts. In the short times I did sleep, I had some seriously insane dreams that included lots of Spanish, my sister living in the hostel with me and Guy, as well as the most horrifying part - my feet growing huge black fungus on them as well as...TEETH. I hope it wasn't a premonition, and perhaps just a warning on foot hygiene in the coming days.
Anyways, our hostel is clean and comfortable, with a common room with one computer, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths and a kitchen. Its located on a busy street with lots of places to eat and little convenience shops. When we woke up from our restless naps, we decided to head out and take a look at our neighborhood, and get something to eat. We walked towards the ocean a few blocks away to take a peak at the view before heading back to a place down the street for some sout and a chicken and rice dish. We struggled to figure out the menu, but the food was delicious and we were starving. I knew before we came to South America that my Spanish is almost non-existent, but realized how incredibly non-existent it really is! I think my biggest road block with myself on this trip is going to be patience with myself on learning a new language. I am on one hand so grateful that Guy can communicate for both of us, but also feel a bit helpless at the present time. Its hard for me to have to completely depend on someone else, and I'm used to being independent and so bent on taking care of myself. I guess this a good time to both let go of that a little and also to learn some Spanish. :)
That afternoon we also headed to the charming neighborhood of Miraflores where we visited Parque Kennedy, or as I dubbed it "cat park" where several stray cats seemed to make their home. Here we saw some people selling their crafts, as well as ate some very interesting dessert type item a bit like rice pudding with a thick red fruity sauce. It was nice and warm and we a bit chilly. The weather here is perfect for me right now since its winter here, reaching lows of 55 degrees and the days feel like nice Minnesota fall days. That night we headed out once more to a restaurant called Tio Mario, where our hostel owner suggested we go for some authetic Peruvian food. We had skewered meat, potatoes and some of the most giant corn kernels I've ever witnessed on a cob. They were seriously the size of a thumb nail. As we sauntered back to our hostel, we saw that the streets come to life a second time. Street vendors come out with snacks, desserts, cocktails, hot drinks and wares to sell. After a full day we were ready to hit the hay, this time for some actual sleep, which we were successful at doing this round.
Thursday we headed to central Lima to check out the sights. After Guy got brave and hailed a tax (this driver crazier than the first), we strolled through Plaza Mayor and Plaza San Martin, both beautiful parks surrounded by beautiful buildings. We also went to San Francisco Church, where we got a tour of the building and catacombs. Our guide gave us a tour in English (it was his first tour!) and while his accent was thick, he did a great job and it was very interesting...beautiful artwork and lots of...bones in the catacombs. A bit creepy but cool.
One hilarious event that occurred was while we were standing in front of the Palacio del Gobierno (the Presidential Palace) waiting for the changing of the guards. Several school groups were gathered waiting to watch as well as other locals and some tourists. A few children were particularly interested in us and asked if we were Americans. They brought more friends daring them to ask us different things and smiling shyly. Before we knew it, a woman was taking our picture with several children posed beside us. As I was taking pictures of the guards, I turned around to see Guy signing "autographs" for the children, which became more children, and then gobs of kids. He joked that with his blond hair he must be "muy exotico" which made me laugh all day. Pretty shortly after, the kids came after me. I felt pretty obnoxious as the crowd looked at our new papazzi, but the children seemed so excited how could you say no? I asked Guy if he was tired already from his paparazzi following him. Its so hard being famous.
We got more adventurous and ventured through the bus system, which is way nicer than Minneapolis, and went out for pizza at Tio Dans where we had our first sips of Inca Cola, a yellowish pop that is THE thing to drink here and tastes exactly like bubblegum. We then went down the street to the bakery we had gotten some delicious pastries from that morning, to drool over their huge dessert counter. We split some lemon meringue pie (with 5 inches of meringue) and a cream filled donut. When we returned to our hostel, we were greeted by one of the other guests, "Nacho" (as he likes to be called) from Argentina, and his friend Rudy from Peru, and asked to join them for drinks. We obliged. We had a lot of fun hanging out with them and found out Nacho loves American heavy metal and grunge music from the 90s and is a lawyer, and Rudy an economist who is half French and lived in France for 10 years. We were later joined by another girl who stays at the hostel from California who teaches English locally. We had a great time chatting in English and talking about everything from music to politics.
Friday we had a bit of a lazy day, which started with yummy empanadas for lunch, and then we decided to purchase bus tickets to our next destination, Pisco. We then headed to Modern Art Museum which turned out to be a bit disturbing. Very weird art, most of which was from an American (U.S.) man, and very little from Peru itself. I kind of feel like it was more fuel for nightmares and weird dreams than anything! Oh well, they can't all be winners. We were back in central Lima, where we went to try to find the Sports Bar of Guy's co-worker's-wife's-father (whew), which we did. That was enough for one day, so we headed back early and decided to get some more sleep.
That brings us to today...where we headed out to the National Museum. MUCH better than the prior days museum. Lots of Indigenous art, including mostly paintings and pots. We also saw a photo exhibit on a large internal conflict that occurred in Peru between 1980-2000, killing nearly 70,000 people. I was oblivious about this piece of history, and was very sobering to look through and see what occurred in the country's recent history.
Believe it or not, from there, we unfortunately went to McDonalds. I was horrified to go there, but we were both starving, on a busy street, and saw nothing other than Burger King or KFC for blocks. So I ordered my McPollo and dealt with it. It tasted exactly like McDonalds.
Our final visit was to Huaca Pucllana, and ancient archeological sight containing a large pyramid-like structure as well as a plaza that was important ceremonial place for the people of Lima. It was very interesting, and made me more excited for our upcoming excursion to Macchu Picchu.
We are currently at an internet cafe down the street from our hostel in Barranco. We are just finishing up and heading out to dinner shortly. I think that Lima was a great South American city to get out adventure started. While the smell of exhaust and cologne fill the air, overcast skies a bit dreary, noisy honking horns give me a headache and I have to pray for my life everytime I leave the curb to cross the street (so a car doesn't run me over)...wait, where was I going with this? The people of Lima have been very kind to us gringos, and the wonderful food, beautiful parks and buildings, interesting sites and charming nightlife make Lima a great place to visit.
I'm sorry if this blog has been lengthly, rambling, or just not grammatically correct. I feel like its been a race to get it done via internet-cafe, and certainly not my best work. If you've made it this far, thanks for reading!
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