Blogs from Lima, Lima, Peru, South America - page 91

Day 1: Shortly after we pulled away from the airport, into chaotic, screeching traffic, the city went black. The streets snarled with no guiding lights, cars began zooming down the wrong side of the road to bypass the mess. Daredevils on bikes or foot wove shadowly between the honking vehicles. I felt like I had landed in Cairo or Delhi. But no: Welcome to Lima! I am beginning to think Ecuador was a gentle introduction to South America... Despite the heart-thumping introduction to Peru, Lima has beguiled me. I am not sure why it is sniffed at on most itineraries, seen as simply a necessary transit point to Cuzco and other parts of the country. "No reason to linger...," I have been told on several occasions. However, in my short time here, I have observed pious ... read more

I guess I should preface this entry. I am working for no pay (i.e. soy una voluntaria =P) at a school para los niños con neurological disorders. Sus edades son de 2 a 40 años. Work is weird. I'm not doing much, and I'm not really sure what's going on. They do pretty interesting physical therapies with the kids. I'm not sure how to describe it other than being very interactive. This kind of therapy would never fly in the US because there would be lawsuits left and right. The most shocking therapy is what I call "la mesa" (the table). They take a kid and put him facedown on a cushioned table. This therapy needs five people to perform it. Each person takes a limb, and there is one person who holds the head. Then ... read more

Ok, this should be the last entry. Ted and I are bored waiting to go to the airport, so we thought we´d get online. We just toured around Lima today. Went to Chinatown - much like other chinatowns, I guess. We went to where the president lives and took pìctures of all the police around. We toured the San Francisco monastary, which was very interesting. It was built in the 1600´s. It was huge. There were murals and gold statues everywhere. In the basement, there were catacombs. It was wierd. Thousands of bones that were not discovered until 1943. It was kind of creepy. There were skulls and femur bones arranged in different patterns. Strange that you can just go look at human bones at the bottom of a church. Anyway, we then went to Miraflores ... read more

Well, today is the day that Ted and I head for home. We don´t leave until about midnight & we get back tomorrow morning around 10 am. We have been having fun in Lima. On Sunday, we went to the horse track. That was a lot of fun. We got to sit with the rich people because we are Americans, I guess. It only costs round .80 cents per bet, so it was cheap fun. I came out ahead by about 4 soles & Ted lost about 10 or 15. Ted kept betting the trifecta. I just bet on placing and winning. Anyway, yesterday we went to the fancy mall and watched Agent 86 - it wasn´t very good. It was something to do, though. We then had a crazy taxi driver who took us through ... read more

After landing in Lima last night I checked into a hostel in the district of Barranco. I was really overwhelmed about being in a foreign country. I don´t know that I ever felt that lost when I was in Europe. I went to sleep to see if I´d feel better in the morning. When I woke up I had a BBQ pork bun that Mom had packed me before I left and eventually made my way outside. I wandered to the shore, and around the district of Miraflores. After mustering courage to ride unofficial public transport I boarded a taxi collectivo (shared taxi) and proceeded to get out in the middle of a busy street (it was stopped at a light but I got out when it just turned green) where I almost got runned over ... read more