Lima!

"The gladdest moment in human life, methinks, is a departure into unknown lands. The blood flows with the fast circulation of childhood." ~ Sir Richard Burton - African Explorer ~

This quote definitiely summarizes the elation and excitement I was feeling today as I arrived in Lima. The plane trip was lovely- the Lan Chile airplane was incredible, the nicest I have flown on since Quantas. After having two glassed of wine at the airport bar I slept on the plane for an hour, woke up and watched "Enchanted" on my personal tv screen and then went back to sleep. All in all I probably got around five hours of sleep which is much less than I am used to! I was exhausted when I woke up at 5am for breakfast on the plane (hot ham and cheese sandwich). The Lima airport was nice, but customs took forever! Eventually I got my bags and headed out to find my ride. I had arranged for trasnport to my Hostal, but there was no sign with my name on it! Luckily there were ample well dressed taxi drivers happy to take me to Hostal Bellavista for the same amount I had arranged. That taxi ride began my full day of using Spanish almost constantly- I am terribly rusty! The driver took us along the coast and the smell of the ocean air was refreshing (although I was completely exhausted!).

After checking in, I talked with the tourist advisor who apologized because she was not actually able to get me on a tour this morning. She arranged for a tour to the ruins in the afternoon.

First thing first- a long nap. Feeling refreshed I headed out to find some lunch and visited a small fish restaurant that had been reccomended to me by the staff at the hostal. I bravely ordered Cerviche de Pescado and Arroz con Mariscos (and a 7up!). The Cerviche de Pescado was a beautiful salad plate (hopefully I will be able to add the pictures later, but it isn´t working with this computer), with raw sweet potato, corn, lettuce and raw fish.

Yes, you read that correctly RAW fish marinated in lemon juice. It was actually delicious and I ate about half of it before I started to get nervous about what my stomach might do! The Arroz con Mariscos was an adventure in and of itself. I recognized some shrimp and scallops, and then there were all sorts of strange sea animals. When I unconvered the baby octopus (pulpo) I was taken aback for a moment. I tried a little bit of everything, but was unable to put the baby octopus in my mouth (I tried some legs though!).



I spent a great deal of time today meandering through Miraflores, the nice modern section of Lima that I am staying in. There are police everywhere and they seem to be making sure everything is tidy and clean (they harass women who look homeless7drunk). It felt very safe to be walking around. I wound up bargaining for a lovely hand woven cloth and a gorgeous fitted grey alpaca sweater. The sweater is so soft, and the deal was so good I couldn´t resist. I asked the man who sold it to me to wish me luck fitting it into my equipaje (baggage).

This afternoon threw me a couple of curveballs. As I waited for the tour bus to arrive to visit the ruins and woman in a tour guide-type outfit arrived and smiled when she saw me. She looked at the woman at the desk who nodded and smiled at her, and then she gestured for me to come with her. Thinking that this was my tour, I followed her and walked with her for a number of blocks (to the bus, I was thinking) while she chatted at my incessantly in Spanish. It took me a long time before I realized that she was some kind of personal walking guide, who would take you shopping or to whatever tourist attraction you wanted. Except the ruins. She said the ruins are peligroso, feo y haca mucho calor (dangerous, ugly, and very hot), and besides it was too late in the day to head out there. Dissapointed I walked with her for a bit trying to figure out if there was anything she could be helpful with, but decided there was not (and that I didn´t need a personal chaperone!) and I handed her some nuevos del sol and headed back to the Hostal. As soon as I went into my room I got a call from downstairs, Why hadn´t I waited for the bus? It came by twice looking for me!

Argh. Needless to say I was bit frustrated. I suppose I just wasn´t meant to see the Pachacamac ruins on this trip, and I will just have to come back to Peru another time. I finally took a shower and had a bit of rest before heading out to dinner. I had a delicious meal of Arroz con Pollo (rice with chicken) which was heavy on the cilantro in a very very good way. I´m doing a lot of people watching, and a lot of internal thought which is new and slightly uncomfortable. It is exactly what I wanted, however!

Tomorrow I will head to the airport in the late morning to catch my 2:15 flight to Buenos Aires. In Buenos Aires I will get a cab-bus-something to the Domestic airport where my flight for Ushuaia leaves at 5am. It will be a long day and night of traveling and I imagine I will be exhausted when I arrive in Ushuaia.

I definitely already miss talking with my loved ones - it is strange to have so many thoughts that are kept to oneself!

Love to all!