Hostal Christmas Cheer

Between our long bus ride (20 hours) and our flight from Lima airport on Christmas day, we have 9 hours.  With nothing better to do, we hailed a cab to the airport and just before entering decided to get a room in a hostal to eat, shower, and rest.  Our cabbie brought us to a place about 5 minutes from the airport which looks clean and has hot water.  As we sit here typing this, there are screams and moans coming from all the rooms around us.  The hotel rents their rooms by the hour, and our room has a huge mirror on the ceiling above the bed.  Perhaps we should have been tipped off by the fact that they have a sign advertising room rentals for 6 hours.  The revelers here are redefining Christmas cheer!

Lemmeouttalima

Well, the big, head-high swell came...

Todd was not impressed.  The ocean was chocolaty and cold, the weather was the standard "Lima fog", and the waves were uninspiring.  Not much of an endorsement for Lima, Peru.  In fact, we have been trying to decide what would be the best way to describe how we feel about this city.  After much thought, here is what we have come up with:

Todd says, "Let's see... the highlights are ruins, 24-hour hot water, lomo saltado, fried fish, and el mar (see above) - unless there is a whole lot of money involved, I'm never setting foot here again."  Kristina more diplomatically says, "The city is not my favorite, however, if we had local friends to show us around or were visiting during the peak of summer (Feb.) we MAY have a different outlook."  Basically, if we did not have plans to volunteer in Pisco, we would be swiftly moving on to our next destination. 

Here is what we recommend for any potential Peru travelers:
1.  Don't visit Lima unless it's necessary (i.e. a night in a hotel after a long flight before traveling somewhere else).
2.  If you find that you have to stay in Lima, don't waste any time trying to find good food in restaurants... there isn't any.  Just go to a supermarket and cook for yourself.
3.  Did we mention don't spend anytime in Lima if you can avoid it?
4.  Make sure your hotel has hot water ALL THE TIME!  Apparently, in Lima, "roadwork will randomly occur and cut off all hot water lines to the hotel for a day without warning"... so our hotel manager says.

Tomorrow we hope to board a bus to Pisco where we will be volunteering to help rebuild the city after it was devastated by an earthquake in 2007.  After hours of research, we have nearly no information regarding exactly where to catch the bus, exactly where it will go, exactly how long it will take and exactly how much it will cost us.  Anyone who thinks he/she might be better or is up to the challenge, feel free to attempt to obtain information about a bus from Lima to Pisco.  So, we will be getting in a taxi in hopes that the only bus station address we've been able to find is correct.  Wish us luck!

Miraflores - Our Cup of Tea?

When you visit any new city (especially a new country or continent), you really never know which town/area best suits you until you get there.  For our first night in Peru, we booked a room at the Hostal Las Camelias in Lima.  Very quickly into our exploration of the area, we realized that this part of the city is not exactly the happening spot.  It seems that the Miraflores part of Lima (15 minutes south) may be more of what we are looking for - beaches, markets, and restaurants that stay open for dinner (ya know... that kind of stuff).  So, today we are off to Miraflores to test our theory.

Bienvenidos a Lima

After almost an entire day of traveling, we were happy to see a driver waiting for us with a sign especially with all of the chaos outside of the airport.  By chaos, we mean the usual third world solicitation and bad driving.  Carlos escorted us through the gauntlet and managed to negotiate the 30 minute drive to our hotel with no crashes.

We checked into our hotel and enjoyed a complimentary "American breakfast" before passing out for seven wonderful hours.  The nap got us back on track and motivated us to explore the city and search for some necessities.  We found some batteries for the translator (thanks Dana, Todd, Mick, and Randy), bought some bottled water, withdrew some Peruvian sol (1 dollar: 3 sol), and sought out some ceviche.  We landed in a cevicheria about a kilometer from our hotel and had: cerveza cristal, ceviche mixto (including sea anemone), and chicharron de pescado (fried fish).  The meal was not the best food we've ever had, but dinner for two including beer and a tip for nine dollars isn't too bad. Plus, the beer was good.

Before arriving in Lima, we researched the city online and found many sites stating that it is not safe to walk around the city at night.  We are finding that to be a bit inaccurate.  It seems that there are probably areas that should not be traveled at night if alone or carrying valuables.  But, for the most part, we felt very safe walking around in the dark.  Another inaccuracy, or rather general omission, is the fact that lunch is the primary meal of the day, and therefore, many MANY restaurants close before dinner.  Being that we are huge dinner people (and slept through lunch) that information would have been pretty helpful.