Peru Trip (August 11th- 27th, 2012)

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Day 1: Saturday, August 11th, 2012 Toronto, Ontario to Lima, Peru

Buenos Dias, Me llamo Marissa and this is my 2.5 weeks Intrepid experience exploring the country of Peru with my twin sister, Renata. On this journey, my sister and I will explore the city of Lima, Peruvian Amazon at Puerto Maldonado, Cusco and the Sacred Valley and the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. Our first stop is Lima, Peru.

We arrived at Pearson Airport by 5:00am for our 8:00am flight to Bogota, Colombia. At the airport we had our last Canadian Tim Hortons breakfast for the next 2.5 weeks and took our first dose of Malaria tablets. We then said goodbye to Toronto as we boarded our flight to Bogota.

The flight to Bogota took approximately 5.5 hours. During the flight, I watched two movies to pass the time (Mirror, Mirror and The Vow) . Surprisingly, I enjoyed watching Mirror Mirror; however, I found The Vow to be a little too sappy.

At the Bogota airport, we had to wait 3 hours before we boarded our flight to Lima, Peru. There was a lot of security at the airport, because Colombia is known for its drug smuggling. We had to go through another security lineup for the international departures. Drug sniffing dogs and airport security wandered around the airport. After, getting through the security checkpoint, Renata and I explored the many shops at the airport. The duty free in Bogota, was a lot cheaper than what we pay in Canada. I will definitely buy liquor there when we return to Bogota for our flight home.

Our TACA flight left at 5:45pm and arrived in Lima at 8:45pm. In Lima airport, we got a phone card to call back home, exchanged $100 US to Peruvian Sol and took the Green Taxi to our hotel in Miraflores (Embajores) 45 sol. I was afraid of taking a taxi from the airport because I heard stories about tourists being robbed or cheated. However, Green Taxi had a stand, and it is an official airport Taxi. The rate was also set before hand depending on which part of Lima you were going to. At the hotel we were greeted by a welcome Pisco Sour (delicious :-) and then we got some much needed rest.

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