Bienvenidos a Peru

My new love is flying South American airlines. Yesterday, we flew LAN from Buenos Aires to Peru. It’s a four hour flight and we were blessed with comfortable seats and our own TVs in the seats with about 30 movies to chose from, music, games, and TV shows. I was exhausted (we had to get up at 5:30 to catch our plane) but I wouldn’t let myself sleep because there were so many movies I wanted to watch. Combine that with constant drink service from nice stewardesses and hot food and I was ready to fly another four hours.

We got to Lima and had a taxi waiting for us that had been arranged through our hostel. We ended up going that route because we’d read that some taxi drivers won’t take you to where you want to go, some might rob you, and some might just rip you off. So we paid a little less than $20 for the arranged guy. We’re staying in the suburb of Miraflores at the Stop ‘n Drop hostel. Downtown Lima isn’t safe and it’s not recommended that people stay there, unless they really need to be in that location, so we’re out in the middle class suburbs, surrounded by McDonald’s, Burger King, Starbuck’s, a plaza with an old church and craft vendors, and a ton of backpackers and tourists. The guy that runs the hostel is way too overambitious and keeps trying to sell us everything from surf lessons, to paragliding, to guided trips, to nasty breakfasts with cold eggs. We got conned into one day of the nasty breakfast and one traditional Peruvian buffet that cost about 4 times as much as any other meal we’ve had here. But, in fairness, it was also really good food. We’re finally out of the land of ham and cheese, it’s glorious. Peru has great fish, shellfish, vegetables, potatoes, fruits, and ceviche (raw fish marinated in lime juice with onions and cilantro). They actually like to put fresh fruits and vegetables into their dishes which is very excellent and much needed after the meat, cheese, and pasta fest I’ve put my body through over the past three months. If I don’t get sick from the water, maybe I’ll be able to poop normal for awhile. Bonus.

We went out last night with some people that were staying at the hostel. Chris and I haven’t been very social and spend all of our time together so it’s now time to talk to different people. On our last night in Buenos Aires we had sushi with an Australian couple and last night we hit up some karaoke bars with Irish and English people. There weren’t many songs in english to choose from to sing but I did do an excellent version of Total Eclipse of the Heart a’la the movie Old School.

Today we did a tiny bit of wandering around Miraflores and saw the beach (cold, some surfers, cloudy) and a pre-Inca ruin. The ruin is just sitting in the middle of Miraflores. In the guide book it said it was free (it wasn’t), and when we walked into the entrance, the girl working the counter was asleep so we figured we could just go in. We figured wrong, and a guide came up and asked us if we wanted a tour to see the ruins. Everything was roped off and the only way you can see anything is to pay a guide (who only speaks Spanish) to take you beyond the ropes. We declined the offer and went back to the hostel.

Tomorrow we’re going to the city center to see some churches and old bones in a crypt. We also need to go to a bus station and buy a ticket to leave Tuesday for the town of Chachapoyas. It’s way north and we should be going that way when we leave Peru next month for Ecuador, but we have some time to kill before we go down to Cusco to meet Liz so Chachapoyas it is. It’s a 22 hour bus ride. Blech.

We’re going to Chachapoyas because it’s the city you need to visit to see Kuelap. Kuelap is a pre-Colombian city that apparently rivals Macchu Picchu. It’s not as cleaned up, and a lot harder to get to, so most people skip it. I’m still not sure exactly how we’re going to get there (most tours are expensive) but we’ll figure it out. Some routes to Kuelap involve some serious trekking, some involve hiring a car and driver, and some involve minor trekking. I’m hoping for minor to no trekking. We’ll also be in the Amazon so hello scary bugs, humidity, and malaria! I have pills for the malaria so we should be fine. After that, a long bus ride back to Lima and from there we will travel south to Nazca to see the Nazca lines. From Nazca, we’ll probably head to Cusco.

I’m anxious to get out of Lima and see Peru; I think there’s a lot of interesting things to be seen.