Lima

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Hi! I´m in Lima. I´m not supposed to be but glad I am. Most people will tell you to spend as little time as possible in Lima. My plan was actually to take a bus to Ica to the south of Lima as soon as I got in. But, still having too much fun in Colombia, I didn´t actually find out any specifics. I took a cab directly from the airport to the bus station, but alas, there were no more buses to Ica for the night. Another bus line would get me to Nazca which is kinda sorta near where I wanted to go in Huacachino and where the Nazca lines are. I was planning on hitting up Nazca later this week anyway. Attempts at calling the hostal I´d stay at failed and I just wasn´t up to risking a 4am arrival in a strange place with the possibility of not having a place to go.

So I looked in my Lonely Planet and called up a couple of places that were near the bus terminal so I could hightail it out of here in the morning. The first place I called was $30 per night. The second place was 14 soles, or about $5. So off I went. The taxi driver did exactly as the books say - tried to get me to stay at a different hostal in a nicer part of town. Where I´m staying is in downtown Lima opposed to the nicer Miraflores neighborhood. The place I´m staying is actually really neat and a bit funky in a good way. I´ll take some pics in the morning.

I was pretty starving when I arrived so I immediately headed out to a place next door. It was too expensive so I decided to walk around. Yes, I was walking around downtown Lima at night but I´ll tell you something, it is far more sketchy to walk around San Francisco´s Tenderloin district. There were loads of normal people on the street. Apparently I´m staying near the jeans district - store after store of jeans for sale. A couple of blocks down, the neighborhood wares conveniently turn into underwear. At one point, I came across a huge market with all kinds of stalls inside organized by what they sell - vegetables, cheese, and just for kicks, I walked down the raw chicken aisle which had hundreds of skinned (or feathered) chickens with their heads still on hanging upside down. Even though I was starving, I was intoxicated by all I saw around me and couldn´t bring myself to stop to eat.

As I walked out of the other side of the market, I chuckled to myself when I saw a chinese restaurant across the street. I turned to my left and low and behold, I was actually in Lima´s chinatown! So of course, I ate chinese food for dinner. Most of my other options were exactly like what I´d been eating in Colombia recently. And let me tell you, the meal I had was totally average. But it had vegetables, and not one single iota of fried anything. It was kind of amazing!

On the way back, I stopped to ask a security guard to help me locate where I was on the map. He assisted, asked where I was going and then warned me it was dangerous. I laughed in his face. Just kidding. I told him I had just come from there and asked him to help me find another route. It was only four blocks away and little did he know I had a lethal inch and a half switchblade in my pocket. Turning the corner, I was in front of a civic building. There was a military jeep one the street with a cage covering its front end. Pretty interesting sight.

Okay, cafe is closing down. Love to you all and I promise to fill you in on Colombia soon!

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