Introductions and exploration

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Hola mi amigas!

After travelling a total of 33 hours I finally made it to Lima in one albeit exhausted piece. My airport pickup and hostel arrival went smoothly. I´ve found it quite easy to make friends and organise trips about town.

My first day I explored the local area and found the Parque de Amor unfortunately didnt have my camera so I dont have the token photo of the famous kissing statue. When I returned to the hostel everyone was going to lunch so i tagged along, me and english girl, belgian girl and a half aussie half columbian guy and an US guy plus a mexican girl!!!! haha multicultural to the max. We went to a Cebiche restaurant, cebiche is like the peruvian equivalent of sushi. We drank a traditional non-alcoholic peruvian drink - Chicha made out of black corn, pinapple and cinamon, it was strange but yum. It looked a bit like ribena. And I ate grilled fish, with yuca - a peruvian potato and fried banana chips with aoli on the side!

After lunch we went into the downtown area of lima and visited the Franciscan monestery musuem and catacombs. The catacombs are a sacred grave site of people from the 1500´s we saw lots of bone and skulls. We got a guided tour for 45 mins and learnt all about the history it was really interesting, we had to go in tunnels under ground to see the bones. The half aussie half columbian guy touched a pelvis and a femur bone when the guide wasnt looking!!! I touched part of a skull! Then we went to the plaza de armas it was dark by this time and all the lights made it look really pretty. We drank a peruvian soft drink called Inka cola!! it was yum, doesnt taste like coke though, its yellow and tastes more like lucazade. Apparently its the biggest selling soft drink in Peru, bigger than coke!!

I´ve been practicing my spanish ALL the time, its been fantastic, even during the taxi ride to a nearby park two nights ago. The park was beautifully manicured and hosted a number of fountains which were lit up. There was a music, light, fountain show and all the local kids were running through the fountains despite it being really cold at night.

Yesterday I went with Christina the mexican girl to Huaca Pucllana a local pre-inca ruins site. The site is from 300-500AD during the period of the Limas people. It was a nice start to my ruin adventures. The guide was fantastic and gave us a wealth of knowledge about the peoples and the significance of the site.

I´ve also purchased an Enrique Iglesias concert ticket for the 28/11 so I am the most excited girl in the world!!!! I´m in lima for another day and then I´m heading to Cliclayo, will give more update soon.
I´m having a great time.
xxx

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Photos

overfilled taxi
my first photo taken in lima

police and tank-like cars
APEC is on at the moment so security is high.

Comments

[Ira]

Yeahee for first comment!!! Im glad you've made friends, looks like you're well on your way to a year of adventures! Can't wait to sample some Inka Cola! :P Keep abla-ing espanol so you can look super smart by the time i get there! hehe love love.

[Kathie]

Yay for travel blog! Sounds like you're having an awesome time, Mulface. Keep up the Spanish! BUENO! xoxoxox