Lima, Day 1

Last night, I arrived in Peru.




I had an amazing flight, sitting next to a really nice guy named Mike who was coming down to Peru to be with his wife for the birth of their child. Which she had literally scheduled with the doctor so as not to conflict with Tuesday's upcoming futbol match. Damn. That is a true love of soccer. Sitting next to Mike proved extremely fortuitous, as the man was an expert on how to best experience for the first time, and he gave such good advice that, at one point, I was taking notes. Likely, few of you are surprised by this.

Upon arriving and getting through immigration, my fellow passengers and I were accosted by the largest group of taxi drivers I have ever seen. I feel like I now know what it would have been like had I made it big as a musician and come out of a concert venue to my waiting fans. Pure chaos. The literally stand behind ropes in lines 50 people long and 5 people deep shouting for customers. Fortunately, I had arranged for a pickup with the hostel, so I found the driver with my name on a sign, and away we went. Manuel, my driver, chatted with me the whole 45 minute trip, and I felt much better about my Spanish by the time I arrived at Casona Roja.




Because I didn't check in until 11:30pm, the place was pretty dead, most inhabitants being either out or asleep. I settled in, chatted with some Frenchmen in the indoor-yet-open-air lounge, and tucked in for the night. I slept like a rock.

In the morning, I went straight to the supermarket to stock up on water, sunblock, and much-needed shampoo, which wouldn't fit into my carry-on. Then, I met my sweetheart-of-a-roommate Cody, and we decided to explore the center of Lima together. After a pretty long bus ride, we disembarked near the Plaza de Armas.




After a few minutes of trying to discreetly take photos and not appear as obvious tourists, we recognized the futility of such ambitions, because of his blond hair and my red and the fact that Cody literally stands about a foot taller than any native Peruvian we saw. In fact a schoolteacher on a class field trip actually approached us to see if her English-learning students could interview us for a project. We, of course, obliged. Besides, they were adorable.




After that we had an amazing 2-hour lunch that cost us each about $7. I tried two of the suggestions I'd received from Mike: tacu tacu, which is basically, two pieces of pan-fried steak with a deliciously spiced beans and rice mixture, and Inca Kola, the bubble-gum-flavored soda of choice in Peru. (I normally don't drink soda, but I had to try it just once, and it really was pretty tasty.)

Then we explored more of the centro, between Plaza de Armas y Plaza San Martin.























We took a lovely private tour through the Centro Cultural de San Marcos, where poor Cody had to deal with me translating from Spanish to English for him. But our guide had astounding patience and smiled graciously the whole time. (That's her on the right.)




I loved wandering through the labyrinthine series of verandas and patios.











On the way back, we saw this crazy statue. In the yard of a KINDERGARTEN. What the hell.




Finally, we went to watch the sunset two blocks from our hostel.







An excellent first day. Tonight, I'm going out with my Limeno friend Andres. We'll see what happens next.

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Location:Miguel Grau,Miraflores District,Peru