Lima - City of the Kings

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Traveling

Travel day rundown :

- Two hours of sleep, wake up at 4:30 in the dumb morning. There
seems to be an equation that goes something like: not wealthy+desire
international travel x probably not a morning person=always traveling at
subhuman hours.

- Marleah cries all the way to the airport because the cats were upset, they knew we were leaving.

- Fly to Miami, 2 1/2 hour layover, lunch and coffee.

- Layover goes from 2 1/2 to 4 hours.

- John needs a cigarette. This will be a recurring theme.

- Sit on the tarmac for another hour.

- Bad movie, bad food, bad smells, can't sleep.

- John really really needs a cigarette.

- 5 hour flight, arrive in Lima around midnight.

- Immigration and customs. Totally third worldish vibe.

- Taxi to the hotel, speediest speeding along the ocean. Wild dogs
on the beaches. Packs of them. really surreal, running against a moonlit
backdrop of crashing waves.

- Check into our hotel and get to sleep around 2:00 am. That's over 20 hours of traveling! Geez!




Lima

- Slept until noon!

- Breakfast/lunch/coffee at a place across the street. Marleah ate
pancakes which was awesome because of her gluten free diet and she
didn't even get sick. You'll never guess what John ate...a cheeseburger!

- Our hotel is in the Barranco district of Lima. We picked it
because it's the bohemian/arts neighborhood and because it's so close to
the ocean. After breakfast we strolled along the ocean cliffs and
wandered through the old crumbling houses mixed in with modern
beachfront apartment buildings. Most of the old homes were once summer
properties for the upper class, the architecture is in the colonial and
republican styles and they're gorgeous! We saw old churches with tons of
vultures perched on them, walked across the "bridge of sighs" and ate a
horrible restaurant (most places are closed on Sunday). John had lomo
saltado, the national dish of stir fried steak, fries, potatoes and
tomatoes with a peruvian beer. The steak was so tough we couldn't really
eat it and the beer was the WORST! Marleah ate ceviche and drank a
pisco sour. The fish was rubbery and served with boiled potatoes and
that huge corn that's really chewy, the pisco sour was way too strong!
What a waste. Well, we had fun sitting outside watching the people and
the restaurant played some Bon Jovi so we had a blast singing along.

- Stopped at the grocery store to buy snacks and water on our way
back to the hotel to lay in bed and watch bad tv. It was a good day,
Lima was fun.

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