Touring the City

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Last night was fun. Everson and Nara arrived with Nara's personal taxi at the hostel. Ruben got lost somewhere and since he lost his cell phone, we had no way of contacting him. Nara and Everson took us to some nice family restaurant that specializes in chicken. We all ordered and shared a whole chicken, some fries and a salad. It was GOOD! It was also fantastic to see these guys again. It's been 1.5 years since I left the ship, and yet it felt like I had just seen them yesterday. It was a great visit.

This morning we woke up and ate breakfast (included!) at our hostel. They gave us eggs, toast and jam. This held us over until lunch/dinner around 3pm.

From our hostel it was about a 5-10 minute walk to where we would catch a bus downtown. The plan was to first go to the main plaza to see the cathedral and minestry buildings/plaza de armas and then make our way back across the other side of town to Miraflores area to see the Mall, the "parque del amor", "pizza street", the other parque central and the craft markets.

First was the plaza. We found our way around to see a few churches and then the main plaza. Because of the World Cup, they had a stage and giant screen setup in the plaza for people to watch. We saw a bit of the game, walked around more, and then heard from a woman at our hostel that they have changing of the guard at the municipal building at 12noon. Boy, was that a show! There was a band, lots of marching and flags too. It took about 30 minutes for the "change", although at the end of it, there were no new guards guarding. lol.

We then caught a bus to Miraflores area and got off near Larcoma (?) mall, which was really nice. It's built into the side of the cliff down to the ocean, and is very open-concept. We didn't spend much time there though, wanting to walk down to the love park. We walked along the shore (but high up on the overlooking cliff) and could see a bunch of surfers catching the waves below. The sun eventually came out in this otherwise grey city of blah weather. It was nice to warm things up a bit.

We reached the park and I was impressed with the huge figure in the middle of a couple in an intimate embrace. There was also a huge curvy wall with beautiful designs and quotes made by using mosaic tiles. VERY pretty.

We then walked through central park and circled back to "pizza street" for late lunch. This strip was a walkway full of little restaurants trying to boast their menu to you as you walk through. We decided on a place, as most of the menus were the same. With the set-menu, I was able to get a salad, pasta, chocolate cake, pisco sour (local drink), and chicha morado (purple corn drink) for about $7.

After lunch we wandered over to the craft markets where I searched and searched until I found a piece of artwork that I liked. Also bought a Peru patch to sew on my camp blanket. Frpm there we bused and walked back to the hostel, took hot showers and are getting ready to head out tomorrow. our flight to San Salvador is at 10:30am. We'll get to the airport early but won't get back to San Salvador in time for the last bus to Honduras. We'll have to spend a night in San Salv and then bus it to Honduras on Friday morning. I'll be back at my new apartment with Walt by Friday afternoon and then home in Canada by LATE Sunday night.

It's been a great 3 weeks of beautiful sites in this beautiful country, but I'm happy to be heading back to my handsome Walter and then MY beautiful country... OH CANADA!!!

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Photos

World Cup
They had a huge screen set up for the world cup!

Charing of the Guards
At the Municipal Building at Noon

Larcomar Mall
Built into the side of the cliff with a beautiful view of the water

Mosaics
Fancy tiles around the Love park

World Cup!
Found this guy in the street. He spoke English even!

"Pizza Street"
lots of cute restaurants line the street

Comments

[Lius]

Hi Swills
I am going to Peru next month. I am going with a friend to exlore the country. I have a few questions. If you can answer please... much appreciated.. First.. Is Peru a safe country..should I be on the lookup or stop being Paranoid? Second. Is altitude sickness a real probem? I am glad you enjoyed your trip. I am going for three weeks as well but now I am thinking it is too much time. Maybe I should visit rwo other neigbour countries.. What do you think? Thanks again.. Luis from Canada..