Outskirts of Lima

So we left Central Lima on Thursday and went to the South region of Lima City to Miraflores a suburb on the Pacific coast. The ridgelines are the highest I have ever seen and they have an open air, very upscale mall built into the side of it. The coast is lined with surfers. This is still spring here so the water, which is not that warm to begin with is very very cold right now. There are 7 beaches on this coast and we walked about half of them on Thursday when we first got to Miraflores. It looks like they line the coast with rocks to keep the sand and rock cliffs from eroding. There are hundreds of stairs to get down to the beach. The view from the tops of the cliffs is amazing. Thursday night we went to the centre of Miraflores where there are several cafes, restaurants, and salsa bars. We enjoyed an awesome cafe latte, and ate supper at Govinda a vegetarian restaurant. This is where Leo the Peruvian man who we met the night before works as a chef. In the centre of Miraflores there are two parks Central and Kennedy and both are filled with people, vendors, and activities. Around the outside of the parks are two story buildings with hostels, McDonalds, restaurants, cinema’s, bars etc. In the park there was a group of teenagers doing hip hop dance routines, which was really cool. Scott and I watched both the girl and boy group for at least a half hour. That night we stayed at the Friends House Hostel. We were in a dorm room, which is a room with 6 beds - bunk bed style. It was only the two of us, a girl Carissa from Arkansas and her Peruvian boyfriend. She spoke English, which was a treat for us to be able to have long conversations in English. She was completing her Masters in Archaeology at a local University and she explained to us about the history of the Moche, which were pre-Inca. In Peru the cable TV gets WB channel which is sometimes in English with Spanish subtitles and a lot of the Peruvians watch this channel so we watched the Wedding Crashers with others at the Hostel that night.

The next day we thought we should move on, to another suburb called Barracas. We grabbed a taxi, the driver was so nice, as we could not find the hostel Kaminu and he was determined to get us to the right spot. Finally we realized it was in the valley, which required us to walk off the street and down stairs to get to it. The hostel was great and Piero and his wife the owners were so upbeat and friendly. The place is very bohemian and since we were the first guests to say that we had found the place that was published in the newest revision of the Lonely Planet Peru we got a 10 Soles discount. The doors there are thin and about three meters high and there is a dog named Bingo who is so docile. We walked around Barracas, which is not very big; however very nice as it looks over the beach and is where all the Peruvians go to eat out, go to dance etc. After touring around we went to the Metro, which is a chain grocery store to get sandwich fixings to eat in the park overlooking the wooden bridge and valley right by our hostel. Later we went back to the hostel where we hooked up with a Peruvian guy named Joseph. Joseph was so friendly, in that he helped us figure out where to go tomorrow, where to stay and how much it would cost. Joseph is mentioned in the Lonely Planet guide as he can speak Japanese, German, and English. He is a friend of Piero the hostel owner. Later another friend of Piero’s came up to hang out with us Juan. Juan kept razzing Joseph saying he was a bad tour guide. They hugged it out though and both gave us their email address. Juan is going to Cusco, near Machu Picchu on Dec 16 when we will just be done our trek from Machu Picchu. He is staying with his brother there and told us to connect with him once we are done our trek. He is a surf instructor, free spirit type who loves the f-word and is proud to be a hippy :).

On Saturday we got up and took a taxi to the local bus station Soyuz, where we got tickets to Paracas. The bus is about 3 hours and very similar to taking the Grey Hound. I didn’t expect this but once you get out of Lima and start travelling south it is all dessert with huge mountain looking hills completely made out of sand. Houses are built on the side of the sand mountains. It is so neat. Something is to be said about what we have seen and are now observing on the bus heading to Paracas, everything looks like it is under construction all the time. Buildings or dwellings will be one or two stories and look like they are going to add another story on top but never finish. Construction is done a lot with bricks made into small 2.5 by 2.5 meter walls separated by re-bar where they form up while in construction and pour concrete, thus you will have walls separated by concrete pillars next to each other and then built on top of each other. There is the ever presence of crime in Peru, as all the buildings especially more upper scale ones have fences built around them, either brick walls, or iron fences that are all toped at least 8 feet high with wire, electric wire, broken glass, or sharpened re-bar welded together. Thus when you walk or drive down a street it looks barren but behind these protective curtains could be parking lots, markets, restaurants and the like you just need to find the door or buzz yourself in. Now that they have walls surrounding everything you now have infinite canvases for people to graffiti and post signs onto... it is quite interesting to see.

Central Lima

So the flight from Toronto to New York was short and sweet... we started watching the movie Inception but since the flight was only 2 hours long we just got a taste. Then we had 4.5 hours in the New York JFK where we watched some Big Bang Theory on our net book and had a bite to eat and we were off to Lima, Peru. The flight was overnight 8 hours so we had lots of time to re-watch Inception which was a fantastic movie and it made our dreams all that more interesting. Lan Chile was our airline and if you ever have a chance to fly with them you will not be disappointed... drinks, sleeping eye covers, ear plugs, blanket, pillow and infinite channels of movies, shows, music and the likes are all free. Lots of leg room was a super plus. We arrived in the airport and customs was like we were citizens just returning from a day trip away it was a breeze. We sat in the airport for half an hour and in that time had figured out where to stay, where to buy a SIM card for our cell phone, the current exchange rate and how to get to our hostel. Let’s start with the cab ride... insane... if we go with the theory that rubbing is racing... it was a race through the streets of Lima. Just to sum up the situation here ... cars are beat up more than back home... most cars have bond-o patching holes, there are 400,000 cars in Lima and 300,000 are cabs and they drive like cabbies... fast, pushy and rough. The part of the city between the airport and Lima Central was a mess of broken down buildings and even those were surrounded by walls topped with glass, barbed wire, electric fences and other ramparts. The taxi driver told us not to cross the river as we (tourists) would be stuck up at gun point and robbed. Once we crossed the river things really brightened up... nicely painted buildings, sidewalks and a safer atmosphere. Lima is a beautiful city full of massive Baroque architecture. Baroque style has the French/Spanish type iron, concrete and wood balconies. Lima also has the garage door type shops, and open air cafes and restaurants like Thailand had. There is a shop in every nook and crannie. Since the city has survived two recent massive earthquakes which destroyed some of the city you would not think that there would be much left; however, we are getting our fill of churches and museums, as they are very abundant here. There is rich cultural and religious history. We ended up doing a 4 hour group tour around Lima with an English speaking guide that despite being a lot of money was worth the knowledge, orientation and experience of areas where we might not have wandered. We went to a museum where we learned that there were local people in Peru named the Moche, Nazca, and Wari from 400AC where as the Inca’s did not come until 1450 AC. The tour guide explained that the number one employment is mining, then fishing, then farming and the average salary is $200 American a month or 600 soles. We then went to the Convent San Francisco, which is a huge beautiful church. There we saw the beautiful paintings and visited the catacombs, which are underground graves. They had unearthed all the graves and placed them in cases. So basically you walked through several underground very tiny tunnels (Scott almost lost his head a few times), where there were hundreds of bones on display. Food in Peru is very good. You have your rice and beans (Tacu Tacu), all types of potatoes(fried, French fries, ones that look like dessert as they are mashed in various shapes and colours. Drinks are basically pop (inka cola-mountain dew type stuff), coffee, tea, juice, and pisca sour (a cocktail of grape brandy and lemon lime juice). The most important meal here is lunch and it is huge. You can get lunch and a drink for about $5 a person. We met some Peruvian guys Bob and Leo and had some drinks with them last night. Both were very nice and told us a lot about Peru. We met Bob in the Plaza de Arms which is a city square about 100 times bigger than Goderich square. The buildings around it are the house of the Arch Bishop, the President, the Mayor and two private companies. Bob is a waiter and goes to the square to try to get people to come to the restaurant he works at. When we were having drinks he showed us that he had met Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins in the Plaza de la Arms and got a picture with him. It was very cool. Last thing to talk about is our hostel “Le Espana”. It is an older 5 story mansion. The rooms are basic, bed, bathroom, fan, tv ... but the place is amazing with beautiful church like art and chandeliers and spiral stair cases everywhere. There is tons of pets roaming about, 2 parrots, 3 large turtles, several pigeons, a dog, and a cat. Scott is going to make a video of it “Cribs style”. Thanksto Jason for the idea. Lastly, we are starting to pick up Spanish. Bob, restaurant staff and our handy Spanish guide have all been really helpful. Well that’s it for now. Peru is wonderful and we are still in the city, I’m sure the Inca trail and the smaller towns will be very beautiful.

On Our Way Finally!

So over the last week it has been a frenzie of meeting up with family and friends, getting our house ready to be occuppied, and getting packed for four months. We love our family and friends. They are the best!

Oh packing... we have been setting stuff out all week. On Friday I packed and repacked twice, each time taking a little out. Trying to get everything into one bag is a skill. Saturday I packed and uppacked again and then on Sunday I finally got Scott to pack with a little help from Chris and Heather. He was trying to get us all to watch you tube so that he could avoid it.... but there was no avoiding it! it needed done. After he packed we both repacked and got rid of a ton more items. We were finally down to about one back pack each weighing 20-25 pounds and then a day pack each weighing 10 pounds each. Man it really comes down to 3 pants, 2 shorts, 5 tshirts/tank tops, bathing suit, a shamwow :), one pair of hicking sandles, one pair of hiking boots,hygene items, travel books, and electronics. Thats it and really even that is too much.

Sunday we were up till 1:30 AM loading our IPods, as this will be our familiarity of home. We were up by 8am on Monday. finshed up a few things, said good bye to the neighbors and family, and we were off. We dropped Scotts truck off at his work said good bye to his co-workers and were off with the airporter. We got to the airport at 1:30pm. Our flight leaves Toronto at 4:30pm goes to New York, there is a 4-hour lay over until 10:30pm then we arrive at Lima, Peru at 6:40 am. I am so excited to get there. Thanks everyone for all your help! The big day is here.

Getting things done.

So thank you to Craig and Christena who have been keeping me updated on my own blog
...Christena informed me I had a blog :)
and Craig explained the route we would be taking on the trip for the next four months:)
So there you have it ..1-Scott updates the blog, 2-my friends check the blog, 3-I call my friends, 4-they update me on the blog.
I realize this is crazy and so I've decided to become more internet interested and I have told Scott that if he puts up any more posts before I have a chance I'm breaking free and starting my own blog. He thought that was pretty funny and so here I am so that I don't have to start my own blog... cause I'm not sure how that would go.

Well the last three days have been craziness. I swear I have clocked over 10 hours looking for flights. I was able to find an all inclusive in Panama for the first week of our trip and then to Peru for the next three weeks all working out to the same price,... but after thinking about it I thought this is not what this trip is about and I would rather have the extra week in Peru. With that all said we then decided to go to a travel agent to make sure we had insurance on the flights. I definitely felt over prepared and I believe she booked the same flights I had picked and same price, but at least if we lose our ticket or the airline goes bankrupt we are covered. Also while we were there she looked into booking a four day treck for us from Dec. 15-18 on the Inca trail, up Machu Picchu and then a train ride back to Cuzco. The treck is like 7 hours of trecking a day. I'm thinking Scott and I should hit the gym hard for the next 10 days so that we aren't dying carrying our 50lb packs on this treck (maybe we can find somewhere to stow them). Although it sounds hard I am so excited!

I believe in the last 3 days I have met my computer quota for the year. On top of checking fligts I have also been searching out cell phones, looking up other peoples blogs and trying to find a cheap net book. There was a post on kijiji for a $100 net book but the lady never got back to us and so then we tried to get one on sale yesterday but they were sold out everywhere. I finally found some in London and so I finagalled it so that I could order it on line and pick it up in London over the weekend, as the sales man assured me twice... you cannot buy it over the phone with your credit card... crap! So I had to try to figure out how to order it on line. So done and done. We now have purchased a samsung 10.1" netbook, which we need to pick up in London on Saturday. We also bought an unlocked blackberry quad band phone fairly cheap, so that we can send texts to all you awesome people.

We just purchased an additionall 45 days of insurance, as the insurance we bought through Scott's work only covers the first 60 days. Good thing we read the fine print. One lesson I have learned is that insurance companies have a magic number and it's called 3 MONTHS and medication needed for longer than this.... you will be paying for. I think I've decided that my next trip will be 3 not 4 months :). Well I feel anxious after all this... I'm sure you feel the same way after reading it all. This is craziness but it is going to be so COOL. I can't wait.

Cell Phones, Netbooks, SIM Cards... Technologically Un-inclined

So we have decided to try our trip high tech... again in last minute fashion we are looking for the following "make your life easier devices".
Unlocked Quad Band GSM Phone... sounds easy... ya there is not many choices.
Netbook... again not cheap and it would be nice if someone did not want there's but I don't even know of anyone that has one...
SIM Cards... there are a bunch of these out there but the International Use anywhere cards seem to have huge rates and thus it seems like we will buy SIM Cards for each Country we go to that we want to have the luxury.
As well in working out some flight details we may have completely reversed the entire order of our trip from now starting in Peru and working our way North... silly us.

Vaccines

Well we went to a travel clinic in Kitchener last Friday and thought we were prepared but entered a woorl whin of fun... fast talking doctor that was confusing us more than helping us... it is tough when you think you know something and then it comes down to the question as to if your drug plan covers some of the vaccines and pills... (thrills and bellyaches). So it turned out that most of our vaccines are covered but some of our pills... specifically Malarone a malaria pill was only covered for a portion of the needed use... with having to take it 2 days before you leave and 7 days after you return and with the lenght of our trip they figured we needed 125 pills each and our drug plans only cover 100... at $6 a pill per day for each of us... that adds up quickly... anyway Safety First... as I always say... and that is my career... anyway now is the time to wind down our working schedules in which Shannon is done on Friday and I have another week after her... it is time to get the house ready for us leaving and determining what is happening to it once we are gone... until next time.