Day 2

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Peru is so much fun.
I am so exhuasted that I can´t even remember what trip details I gave last time. Hopefully I don´t bore anyone who might be reading this.

We had a slow moving morning on Saturday. Walked out with cameras, the hostel address (per advice of fellower travelers) and a small amount of money. It´s amazing being able to walk out of your hostel and see the ocean. Unfortunately the weather is cloudy and hazy now.

We left in search for breakfast having no idea where a cafe would be. We wondered along the clifs of Barranco for a while. Our initial idea was to eat at the cafe´s along the beach, but it looked as if they were all closed. Evenutally we turned east and found a main road to walk along, and began seeing restaurants. THe first couple we saw looked a little too local for us. Eventually we found a crowded restaurant for 6 sols. The entire menu was in Spanish, and the waiters didn´t speeak any English. Between Lisa´s tiny knowledge of Spanish, and my litle French vocabulary we figured out what dishes were chicken and fish. Ordering became a whole new deal. He kept asking us questions in Spanish, and we had absolutely no idea what he was saying. We pulled out a dictionary, but the waitor spoke too fast to translate. Eventually we figured out that our 6 sols included an apatizer, main dish and juice.

We spent the rest of the afternoon wondering around Baranco. The buildings were a range from beginning to crumble to new modern apartments. We found a few cute areas with markets. Haven´t bought anything yet though. I realized I should do most of my shopping on the way out instead of the beginning. We also saw a library and church.

We found a grocery store as well. We were told not to walk too much at night so in an attempt to save money on taxes/dinner we decided to buy a few items so we could make pb&j sandwiches. We came back to the hostel and watched the sun set over the ocean by an island off the coast of LIma. It was beautiful. I haven´t seen a really pretty sunset in a long time. WE tried to be creative while taking pictures of the sunset so hopefully a few turned out.

>We went back to the hostel to make our dinner. OUr intial plan for the evening was to make a few plans for Lima after our trek with GAP, have one beer at the bar in the hostel, and head to bed early. Well obviously that didn´t happen. The bar was actually pretty empty when we first arrived. We split a large beer and sat at the bar for a few minutes. We began talking to an Australian next to us. He had already been around a lot of Peru so he was able to tell us about a few of the places we are headed.

THe bar also has the largest Jenga I have ever seen. It must have been close to 4 feet tall before the game started. More and more people began coming into the bar and joined our game. I think at one point it was almost as tall as Lisa. We played several rounds and must have had over ten people playing at one point. Later that night the power went out in all of Baranco. Sadly I´m too use to the power going out, and didn´t even think twice about it. Luckily the moon was shining pretty bright so the hostel didn´t feel pitch black. THe power came back 30ish minutes later, and everyone left for the ´beer house´. Before we knew it, it was 4am. LIsa and I, and 2 girls who just graduated high school, went back to the hostel. The rest of our group decided to go to an Irish pub. I must be getting old now. I just can´t stay up the way I use too.

That brings us to Sunday now. We checked out of the hostel in the morning, and took a cab to the hotel where we were meeting for our GAP tour. We spent the rest of the day in Miraflores walking around the streets and parque Kennedy. We saw some really pretty pictures on the streets that we hope to be able to buy at the end of our trip.

We met the other people on our tour at 7, and got a quick briefing of the next 15 days.
There are only 5 other people in our group. Everyone seems really nice so far. Lisa and I are def the youngest by a lot, but they all seem adventurous so thats really good.

Now it´s time for bed as I am so exhausted from the past few days. We leave tomorrow at 9:30 for Puno on LAN airlines. I already asked our trip leader about the flight, and if the airline was safe. He and Lisa both laughed at me. I have my ipod charged so hopefully that will be enough for me tomorrow.

I´m excited to see another part of Peru.

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Comments

[Cate Mckay]

Wish I was there.
I'm so excited that you guys are doing this! I was going to give you a farewell call, but my phone was dead on Friday :-( I hope you guys have a blast and enjoy the Potatoes and Quinoa! Btw, what did you do with Benji?