Advertisement
Published: October 15th 2007
Sweet Sunlight
Along the beach, circa my house. My life is starting to really settle down now; I have my daily routines, I can navigate around my house in the dark, and I am starting to recognize overplayed songs on the radio. I have moved onto the second level of my Spanish courses and am able to have basic conversations pretty easily.
Besides the daily routine (which normally includes some sort of stomach pain; my stomach isn't a big fan of the Peruvian bacteria), I have gone to see a friend in a play (Bodas de Sangre), maybe half of which I understood, taken a trip to the Lima Zoo (nothing to brag about, but it was a fun afternoon), started volunteering at the largest orphanage in Lima (with the cutest kids ever), danced the night away at discotecas, headed into the mountains for a day of relaxation with my host family, and had my first experience with the post office (it is a huge headache to both send and receive packages).
Lima is not really a great city for tourists, but is FANTASTIC to live in. I will encourage anyone I can to spend some time living in Lima. The following is a brief list of
Las flores de Cantuta
Flowers at Cantuta; a resort-like club that my host family took me to one Sunday. what makes Lima so attractive:
1. Public transportation is cheap, ubiquitous, exciting (you have to hold on for dear life every time), and will drop you off as close to your front door as they can on their route.
2. The food is fantastic. Peruvian food itself is delicious (I could go on for days about it) and in Lima there are some of the best restaurants in the world. And nothing is ridiculously priced!
3. At a restaurant, no one ever pushes you out the door. In fact, the check will only be brought to your table when you ask for it, so you can sit back and enjoy your friends company for hours without getting dirty looks from your server or people waiting for a table.
4. Everything delivers. Fast food places, cafes, restaurants, and even pharmacies! It's the most ingenious idea to have medicine delivered because if ever there is a time you don't need to or want to leave the house it is when you are sick.
5. Housekeepers are ubiquitous, so you never have to clean or cook. I actually enjoy cooking, but Maxie, our amazing motherly housekeeper, is a
Cantuta Panoramic
The first sun I'd seen in over a month.. and with stunning mountains as the backdrop! GREAT cook.
6. Cafes are everywhere and desserts here are delicious. Alfajores (peruvian cookie, it's manjar (caramelized, creamy stuff) sandwiched between two soft shortbread cookies), helado (ice cream), pastries with chantilly cream, mmmmmm
7. Convenience is extreme. Not only are tons of shops, grocery stores, etc within walking distance but there is normally at least one convenience stand (on the road, has lots of snacks, drinks, desserts) on every block. Also, there are people at most intersections selling cookies, crackers, and the like.
8. You BARGAIN with taxi drivers. You chat for a little while and decide on a price before entering the taxi. It's okay to say no or to negotiate to knock a sol or two off. This also means there is no incentive to take a slow or traffic-y route home, so service is normally super efficient.
9. Almost all bars and night clubs have an area to dance. Also, Peruvians dance mostly in pairs, but the style of dance is much more like that pre-80s style in the US (i.e. dancers face each other and hold hands and waist, not bump and grind) so it is much easier to dance with new
acquaintances (less pressure to be overtly sexual, thank goodness).
10. Lima is on the Pacific Ocean, but within a few hours you can be in the hiking in the mountains, driving into the jungle, or hanging out on a super posh beach. Peru is SO geographically diverse; it's a outdoor dreamland!
... I'll save some for another day. Moral of this entry: COME VISIT me!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.098s; Tpl: 0.031s; cc: 12; qc: 50; dbt: 0.0428s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
