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Published: August 9th 2007
Peruvian Friends
Jose, Paola, 3 sisters (Ylliana, Bety, and Claudia) Me, and Claudias boyfriend AntonioWell my last few blogs have now been deleted due to server problems with Travelblog. The past week and a half have been fun filled.
I spent 3 days in the center of Lima mostly hanging out with a fun Canadian girl named Arielle and a Peruvian guy I met on the plane named Jose. Jose invited me to have breakfast and lunch my first morning (which I may have mentioned in my last blog entry which was deleted). I was amazed at how friendly the people are here. The rest of the days Arielle and I mostly just walked around the city, eating food at random places and seeing what Lima had to offer besides a consistent cloud cover. We found a fun park in the middle of the city where there was an abundant amount of couples making out on the benches. I have never seen so much public affection in my life. Kinda strange. We then spent one morning going through the San Francisco Convent and Catacombs. They said about 25,000 people had been buried there and I would love to show you all some pictures, but they were not allowed. The next day Arielle and I
Sand Dune
Conquering the Sand Dune went to an Art Museum near the fun park and saw all sorts of artifacts and paintings from Peru´s past. It was amazing to see the changes in art after the Spanish entered the country. It was also in this day that I got on a bus to Barranco to meet Paola. It was only a 1 hour bus ride away that cost me about 60 cents. Upon arriving, I met Paola, a beautiful Peruvian (or Peruana in Spanish) and her beautiful friends. The luck was on my side for the next few days. We spent much of the time taking taxi rides from city to city. (Barranco, Miraflores, Chorrillos, and one other) I was also lucky enough to not have to stay in Hostals. I spent my first night at the house of her friends parents. (three of her friends are all sisters ages 21, 24, and 28) All lookers! Its amazing how friendly everyone in Peru is. I met them only 2 hours earlier, and they were letting me sleep in their home. Try doing that in the U.S. The next day was spent doing the same thing as before. Walking around the cities and looking at the
beautiful ocean. That night I met Paolas family. Her mother, brother, and father. Lucky for me, her dad, a radio disc jockey was hosting an event at a club/restaurant. Hes a short guy with a huge personality. I even got a shout out from him. The event he was hosting had a mix of music and traditional dances from around Peru. I attempted to dance, but I realized soon enough that I am very white and I need some sort of alcohol to at least think I can dance. My moves made Paola laugh. I truly can´t remember what we did the next day exactly, but during my time there we went to another museum and got some good photos, especially of a well maintained mummy lady. During this time I also met some of Paola´s uncles who were just as nice as her and her family. The best part so far about the Peruvians besides being genuine, is their food. They feed you until you a full as can be, then they feed you some more. I have become accustomed to eating three meals every day, most of which is delicious. (By the way, lunch is their big meal
of the day). After 3 nights with the Salgado family, I got onto a 5 hour bus ride to Ica which is right by the desert oasis Huacachina. I arrived after 8:30 in the evening during a large party at a hostal. Too tired to drink, I went up to my room and went to sleep after chatting with some of my dorm mates. IN the morning, I woke up and signed up for the first dune buggy/sandboarding excursion into the sand dunes. What a kick in the ass the trip was. We had a nine person buggy, with 6 people in it (including the driver) and we represented 6 different countries. The ride through the dunes felt like a rollercoaster. An old rickety wooden one like Collossus at Six Flags. Everyones ass was a little sore by the end. It was a cool experience being out in the desert like we were. I do not have any pictures of it yet because I did not take my camera with me for fear of breaking it like many others that went before me. After two hours of adrenaline, we went back to the Oasis for lunch and to hang out in the small town. Most of the day we waited for the sun to set so we could set off up the 700 + verticle feet of sand to see it. Little did I know that it would be the hardest hill I have ever climbed. Close to 45 degree slope of soft sand is not fun to climb. I made it to the top just after the sun had set, so I only got to see the last little bit of sunlight fade away. It was all okay though because i still got to run down the slope afterwards. It felt like being on the moon going down the slope. Big long slow graceful steps (and you just pray that you don´t bite the dust like the girls running after us) That night a few of us went to dinner and had a few beers before going back to the hostal to drink a bottle of rum. By two in the morning we were all feeling quite good and some of us were feeling too good. (nick an english guy passed out by the pool for a little bit). The next day was spent lounging around, recovering from the headache, and writing in my journal which I had fallen behind on. I left for Arequipa on a bus at 9 in the evening and arrived 11 hours later. So now I am here and thinking about going white water rafting tomorrow. I hope to keep you updated more than this, but if not, its only because I am having too much fun.
Check out some photos!
http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=39491186695087262/l=290230304/g=58754570/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB
http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=96991186695170266/l=290230305/g=58754570/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB
Lima (barranco, miraflores, chorrillos) huacachina, and arequipa
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Harry Potter
Is eaten by a Hungarian Horn Tail in the end! NOT! :)