Not a lot of time to post now, but lots of fun adventures have been had! We just saw the 2nd deepest canyon in the world, and are going mt. biking down a volcano tomorrow.
Lots of pix of course, too!
OK I will try and post manana. Hasta Luego!
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
Primera dia en Lima
Our one-day stop in Lima proved interesting and tiring. The owner of our hostel sat us down with a map and showed us many fantastic places to go with lots of recommendations--especially for food. This was awesome, plus his name was Frances, but we were all in dire need of naps, so a bit prolonged. The best part was though, that everytime he told us of a new food he would say "You will put it in your mouth, and you will lovvveee it!" (He turned out to be right, too).
I'm finding my Spanish can get us by just fine, and we've learned from guidebooks Laura brought to negotiate a price to our destination BEFORE entering the cab. This didn't stop our first cabbie from trying to rip us off--we had set a price of 6 Solis to get to a restaurant for lunch, and upon arriving, he demanded 15, which I refused to agree too. We were in a bit of a bind, because we only had 10's as our smallest bills. Finally, after me stating several times "Ud. dice NUNCA quince!" He gave me 2 solis change for my 10. He also seemed to be saying that it was a fake 10, but I was like, "Yo recibo del banco esta manana!" haha, anyway, paying 8 for a 6 solis ride did not seem bad after that.
We went to lunch at a place Catia recommended to me as well as our hostel owner. El Bolivariano in Pueblo Libre was fantastico! We had cepiche as well as a lot of other seafood and some potato and yucca that were great, and of course, some pisco sours. After lunch we visited Plaza Mayor and I talked to some policemen because they were everywhere; apparently there had been some protests recently, and we were right by the Palcacio de Gobierno, but I couldn't really understand all they said.
We took a tour in English of la iglesia de San Francisco, which has Catacombs where over 25,000 people are thought to be buried from the Fransiscan era. There were also hundereds of people waiting outside for, from what I could discern from asking a few people, was some kind of workers conference or organizing. We made a quick stop at Plaza St. Martin, then got a cab to an ocean-view park
called "Parqe de Amor", yes, the Love Park, which was a wonderful place to stop at around 5:30 (remember it is winter here; the sun sets early). People were hanggliding (or maybe it was paragliding) and the ocean view was spectacular. The park also had a long wall that looked mosaic with several phrases about love painted on it. Of course, there were several people making out, which was cliche but, admittedly, pretty cute all the same. The picture is of a huge statue of two people making out, haha, I love it.
We meandered for awhile, and a bought a stocking hat (tuke for you Canadians) with Apacas (small llamas) on it from an artesan market. We ate at a small Vegetarian restaurant en Miraflores, but I waited to get dessert at a different place on our walk back to the hostel. We had 3 different desserts, and I remember none of the names right now, except one may have been Cimmayo (I am slaughterhing that). We leave for the airport to fly to Arequipa in 30 minutes. I think we are skipping Puno for an extra day there.
Oh and it is Independence Day here on 28 de Julio, so there are flags everywhere; red and white; very fun!
I'm finding my Spanish can get us by just fine, and we've learned from guidebooks Laura brought to negotiate a price to our destination BEFORE entering the cab. This didn't stop our first cabbie from trying to rip us off--we had set a price of 6 Solis to get to a restaurant for lunch, and upon arriving, he demanded 15, which I refused to agree too. We were in a bit of a bind, because we only had 10's as our smallest bills. Finally, after me stating several times "Ud. dice NUNCA quince!" He gave me 2 solis change for my 10. He also seemed to be saying that it was a fake 10, but I was like, "Yo recibo del banco esta manana!" haha, anyway, paying 8 for a 6 solis ride did not seem bad after that.
We went to lunch at a place Catia recommended to me as well as our hostel owner. El Bolivariano in Pueblo Libre was fantastico! We had cepiche as well as a lot of other seafood and some potato and yucca that were great, and of course, some pisco sours. After lunch we visited Plaza Mayor and I talked to some policemen because they were everywhere; apparently there had been some protests recently, and we were right by the Palcacio de Gobierno, but I couldn't really understand all they said.
We took a tour in English of la iglesia de San Francisco, which has Catacombs where over 25,000 people are thought to be buried from the Fransiscan era. There were also hundereds of people waiting outside for, from what I could discern from asking a few people, was some kind of workers conference or organizing. We made a quick stop at Plaza St. Martin, then got a cab to an ocean-view park
called "Parqe de Amor", yes, the Love Park, which was a wonderful place to stop at around 5:30 (remember it is winter here; the sun sets early). People were hanggliding (or maybe it was paragliding) and the ocean view was spectacular. The park also had a long wall that looked mosaic with several phrases about love painted on it. Of course, there were several people making out, which was cliche but, admittedly, pretty cute all the same. The picture is of a huge statue of two people making out, haha, I love it.We meandered for awhile, and a bought a stocking hat (tuke for you Canadians) with Apacas (small llamas) on it from an artesan market. We ate at a small Vegetarian restaurant en Miraflores, but I waited to get dessert at a different place on our walk back to the hostel. We had 3 different desserts, and I remember none of the names right now, except one may have been Cimmayo (I am slaughterhing that). We leave for the airport to fly to Arequipa in 30 minutes. I think we are skipping Puno for an extra day there.
Oh and it is Independence Day here on 28 de Julio, so there are flags everywhere; red and white; very fun!
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Bienvenidos a Peru
We made it to Peru! A bit early and without any problems. My friend from Denver, Catia, who is from Peru arranged for her parents to meet us at the airport, and they even had a sign with my name on it, but we were a little early so they did not get to use it. Her parents, Jorge and Karla, were so nice and got us two taxis to our hostel in Miraflores, aways away from the airport.
Our hostel is very fun and has a lot of character; I'll try and post some pix at some point. They have dos paredes (walls) with tons of pictures of other turistas who have stayed here in the past, as well as posters, shells, cameras and some musical instruments.
Nothing too out of the ordinary as far as the travels thus far, besides slight confusion in Mexico City as to how to get to the terminal for our Lima flight.
I forgot on International flights you get free booze; I had some nice whiskey yesterday afternoon on the plane, as well as diet coke and cafe. I love vacation! Besides the fact I have had the same clothes on for 24 hours, things are good.
(Oh and there are fake flowers planted next to the computer I am at; Me gusta Peru!"
Our hostel is very fun and has a lot of character; I'll try and post some pix at some point. They have dos paredes (walls) with tons of pictures of other turistas who have stayed here in the past, as well as posters, shells, cameras and some musical instruments.
Nothing too out of the ordinary as far as the travels thus far, besides slight confusion in Mexico City as to how to get to the terminal for our Lima flight.
I forgot on International flights you get free booze; I had some nice whiskey yesterday afternoon on the plane, as well as diet coke and cafe. I love vacation! Besides the fact I have had the same clothes on for 24 hours, things are good.
(Oh and there are fake flowers planted next to the computer I am at; Me gusta Peru!"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)