Lima

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Well our day started with our 7am flight to Los Angeles, which was a beautiful flight, watching the sun rise and seeing Mt Rainer poking its head up above the clouds. Arrived in LA and found where we had to go, which was a chaotic security line, took off our shoes and jacket for the 2nd time that morning. Love US customs!

We arrived in Lima at 11:35pm and walked out into a sea of people looking for our driver who was supposed to pick us up. Walked around and around some more. Finally asked this lady at information and in our very broken spanish managed to get her to call the hostel and see where our driver was. It turned out he was there and manged to find us... and ...after getting stuck on the parking curb several times, we were off.

Lima is big, 12 million people or so. The biggest city either of us have ever been in. So much car exhaust and noise, horns and car alarms going off all the time. Where we were staying in Miraflores was really nice, close to the ocean. Where there are 200m cliffs down to the ocean, an open air shopping mall built into the cliff overlooking the ocean, nice parks and seaside walkways, ...this area is definetely catering towards tourists and wealthier Peruvians. Lots of shops in this neighborhood, feel like we could have been in any city in the world.

Our hostal was basic and clean, and very helpful. They booked us bus tickets and cabs and everything just went on our tab, very easy. One of the biggest perks was the breakfast included that was served at a place around the corner with real coffee. Not expecting that coffee will be like this for all of our travels!

Rick unfortunatly got sick on our 2nd day. Something in the sauce from our lunch we think. Well let´s hope that we get the getting sick out of the way early! The food is different here and its been interesting trying to decifer the menu, checking with our phrasebook and dictionary to see what we are eating. Lunch is the main meal of the day here and is usually served in a 3 course menu from around $1.50-$2.00. Cheap. We are finding that prices can differ greatly for what seems like the same food.

Next stop Huaraz, via an 8 hour voyage to 3000m up in the Andes. Let the journey begin.

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