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We left Santiago Adventure at 4am having woken up Alejandro to take us to the Airport. The streets of Santiago were empty, something we hadn't seen before in the week we had spent there. Alejandro shook our hands & wished us good luck as carried our luggage into the terminal. The information desk was swamped with people presumably wanting information as the check-in screens were rather vague, suggesting only that you check in at the airport & not really specifying a counter. Sam was about to throw herself into the throng when I spotted our flight number on a tiny board next to a counter & we managed to beat the subsequent rush of people who had reached the front of the info queue.
Our flight left Santiago with its lights twinkling in early morning smoggy haze & we saw the bright sun spectacularly rise over the Andes as we did our best with a cold toasted mushroom sandwich. The inflight movie was the Chronicles of Narnia but as we had seen it on a previous flight we tried watching it in Spanish, but that just made us doze off.
The whole of Peru was covered in cloud far beneath & the captains weather report told us Lima was in thick fog. There was an interview with a Peruvian sports star being conducted on the plane. We could only assume that he was a sports star as he looked Peruvian but his stature was very unlike any of the other Peruvians. The cameraman was standing in the aisle getting in everyones way while the interviewer asked her questions.
Lima was still covered in thick fog when it was time to land & all we noticed was that the wings disappeared & then were on the ground. Having passed through immigration we met a guy who was waiting with our bags & we played the customs lottery where you pressed a button & if it came up green you passed through, if it was red you had to have your bags x-rayed. We both won the lottery.
Had arranged a pickup with
Flying Dog backpackers but there were no signs with our or the backpackers names on it in the arrivals lounge. We knew that the official taxis into Miraflores were expensive & there was a chance of being robbed if we took the unofficial ones. Luckily there was a helpful girl at the Inka Wasi tourist info stand & she tried phoning the backpackers but it was continuously busy. A group of Americans later came up to the stand wanted accommodation for the night & transport. The girl booked them a hotel & asked if she could hire them a van into Miraflores. The spanish speaking South Americans often pronounce V's as B's & the American replied 'You want me to go in a ban? A bap? What is she saying?', Sam stepped in & said 'Van'.
Not having had our transfer turn up the tourist information girl suggested we got in the van with the Americans as there would be space & it would be very cost effective. On the way to Miraflores we discovered that one of the Americans had been in the peace corp in Bolivia for two & a half years, spoke fluent spanish & would have been perfectly aware of pronunciation quirks but still chose to speak in English! Outside the airport we passed police in riot gear awaiting the arrival of some prisoners caught in Argentina but we couldn't work out exactly what crime they had committed but it was probably pretty serious as there was continuos live coverage on TV all day.
Our room at
Flying Dog was not ready yet so we went out for lunch. The fog had lifted & we found a restaurant 'El Vegetariano' doing typical Peruvian dishes but with soya meat instead & we ordered the set menu. To start was cold potatoes in green sauce with a corn drink & yoghurt, then steak rice & vegetables. The cashier who had been watching us, had a word with the waiter who came over & explained to Sam that the sweet syrup on the table went in the yoghurt & not on her rice.
Back at the hostel there was a pool table, DVD lounge, table football & a bar that was being renovated with a notice: 'When you have been in the disco with the rappers, don't bring home any slappers!'
We knew we were definitely in Peru when later that day we heard panpipes outside our window.
Drink of the Day: Inca Kola
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