Cock Fighting Queen- Lima

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Originally we were planning on getting in and getting out of Lima, since thats what many people had told me to do- they had said that the city was dirty and dangerous. However, we ended up having one of the best weekends of our entire trip. After a long bus overnight bus ride, we got into Lima and checked into the Flying Dog hostel, which was right in the middle of the one of the nicest districts in Lima, called the Miraflores. We were very tired so we slept until the early afternoon and then went out to explore the city. First we made a Starbucks stop because it was the first one we had seen in South America and it was nice to have a little comfort from home. Then we walked along the coast where they were doing paragliding off the cliffs. We explored the other nice part of town but there wasn’t much to see. That night we met up with Rafeal, the brother of one of Amanda’s friends from school who is from a very well to do family in Lima. He took us to a very nice restaurant and we drank Pisco Sours, the national drink of Peru, made from egg whites, sugar and Pisco (similar to vodka). After dinner there was a joint party at two of the best bars/night clubs. It was sponsored by Nokia and Rafeal got us VIP tickets for free drinks the whole night. There were tons of photographers all around taking pictures of us and it was fun to feel like a celebrity for the night. There was also a performance by a famous Latin American singer. Although I had never heard of her, I did recognize her songs. We had such a fun night and ended up staying out until sunrise.
The next day after sleeping most of the morning we went out to a nice lunch with Rafeal and then he showed us some of the sights around the city. That night Amanda and Rachel weren’t feeling well so I joined some random people from our hostel and went to see the national ballet of Peru perform Cinderella. When I got back I went to a party with some of the guys that worked at the hostel. It was different to be on my own and it made me realize how nice it is to travel with your best friends.
The next day we were just hanging out and we got a call from on of the guys, Luciano, who I had met at the party two nights before. He invited us to go to a bull fight/cock fight. We drove about 45 minutes outside of Lima to this mansion where the owners had decided to build a bull fighting and cock fighting arena. I didn’t really understand the point of the bull fighting but it was fun to watch. But it was the cock fight that turned out to be one of the best memories of the trip… Luciano told us that every Sunday they have these fights and they always pick a Queen of the fight. So he arranged for Rachel to be picked as the “Mamacona Queen of the Cock fight” So the announcer calls her name and she goes into the middle of the ring and they give her a sash and roses and she gets booed because everyone wants a Peruvian girl to win. So they pick another girl that Rachel has to have a dance off with. They both have to pick guys from the audience to dance with and Rachel got stuck with the drunkest guy there and let just say the dance off was very interesting and Rachel ended up winning!!! It was soooo funny to watch and definitely a great story to tell everyone for the rest of the trip!

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