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Published: January 16th 2007
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On January 10th I left Newark, NJ and landed 8 hours later in Lima, Peru, the first stop on my South American journey. With dreams of mate and Che with his motorcycle fresh in my mind, I tried not to have too many expectations of the next few months and just live the days as the come.
By the time I got to Lima on the 10th it was already late at night and I just crawled into bed at the Hotel Espana three blocks from the main plaza. This great backpackers hostel had dorm rooms that we shared with Australians, Germans and even a fellow New Jerseyan and it served as home base the two days I was in Lima.
On Thursday, I spent the day exploring Lima by walking around the Plaza Major and thanks to my incredible lack of direction, getting lost on the way to the bank. We had our first meal at a local restaurant, which was good but I later realized we had a visitor during lunch. hehe. (see pic)
Lima is an interesting city with a slight colonial feel in the Plaza Major, a new urban development feel in a recently
Plaza Major
Plaza Major in Lima built park with trolley rides and fake Inca ruins, and an inner city feel walking around with Limenos hard at work in the many shops lining the main streets. The city was crowded and polluted, but not to the point where it was unpleasent.
The most interesting thing I did that day was walk around the central market and visit Chinatown. Unknown to many, Peru actually has a significant Asian-Peruvian population consisting of mostly Chinese and Japanese immigrants and their descendants. It was crazy to walk around Chinatown in Peru but does show how small the world is at the same time.
On Friday, I ventured out of Lima proper into the wealthy suburb of Miraflores where immediately after stepping off the microbus from Lima I was confronted with a Starbucks, KFC, and Burger King... can´t go too far without seeing ´the Bucks´!! Miraflores was SO different than Lima... the town was much quieter and cleaner. The people in the street were very well dressed and drove cars by brands i had heard of. I had lunch in a nice cafe overlooking the plaza... a little different than the roach infested restaurants in Lima. There were parts of
Hotel Espana
Home Sweet Home Miraflores that had the same colonial feel as Lima, but overall it was a very different experience.
Things I already miss about home:
1) Going to the bathroom. Yes, you read that right. In Peru, going to the bathroom is an interesting adventure. First of all, you have to bring your own T.P., which is common in a lot of countries and not a big deal. Second, you can´t flush the T.P. down the toilet but have to put it in a little bin next to the toilet... ok, it´s a little different, but i can handle that. What I can´t handle? No toilet seats. For real. I think I´ve already built a pound of muscle in my quads from squatting so much. Even in our hostels with private bathroom there are no seats. It´s just not ok.
2) Pedestrians have the right away. Who needs stop signs or lights? Not that it matters since the Peruvians have given a whole new meaning to the term "rolling stop." As Jay put it, "basically whoever moves fastest doesn´t get killed."
3) Real Coffee. I don´t know how long i´m going to be able to take this instant
Chinatown
Chinatown shit.
Things I love about being here:
1) The bus system. Instead of having proper bus stops like the good ole 52/54 of 14th street in DC, the system in lima is slightly different. There are no stops. When you want to get on, you sort of flag down a bus and when you want to get off you just tell them and they will pull over and drop you off. Conveniently, there ísn´t just a driver for the microbuses but a Peruvian dude (only saw one chick) that kind of hangs out of the side of the bus yelling the route it is taking and pounding the side of the bus to tell the driver that someone wants to get off. CRAZY.
2) The exhange rate. One American dollar is equivalent to 3.20 Nuevos Soles. A delicious dinner with salad, entree and drink (and sometimes dessert) is usually 9 soles AT MOST. I had the best soft serve ice dream EVER for 45 cents. No joke. I love it!
3) The experience. Just seeing and learning by exploring new places. No two days are the same.
4) Lack of soy in everything... i can
even eat fried foods here since not everything is cooked in soy oil. YAY!
Other thoughts:
1) I would like to thank my Mom and Dad for always speaking spanish to each other. Although my speaking ability is still shaky, I think that Jay and i would be up shit´s creek without a paddle if I couldn´t understand what was going on. Simple things from asking the price of stuff to buying bus tickets would be really hard. While I wish I spoke better, I am still grateful for my ability to understand.
2) Of course everything about me screams "tourist," but unlike many other places I´ve traveled the locals really could care less about you. Usually a bunch of tourists get stares or questions but here you pretty much get ignored unless you are being asked to buy strange looking finger puppets.
Ok. That´s it for now. Future posts will be shorter and hopefully more frequent. I miss you all!
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Paul Fisher
non-member comment
Some things haven't changed
1. In 1972, toilet seats were non-existent. I think at least in Chile there has been progress there. 2. You may not remember, but you've been through the little basket thing in Chile before. 3. No soy? How long will you be staying? An interesting article on the elimination of trans fats in US fast food says it is all being replaced by soybean oil. 4. You're welcome. 5. Mom says she was getting ready to call in the Marines. Send some email!