Lima and Going Home

I’m going to condense the last couple of days into one post because it’s less exciting and I’m tired of blogging!  This is a lot of work to write a blog every day while trying to be interesting and/or amusing.  My battery is pretty low, and I’m really looking forward to going home.  That said, Lima is a pretty cool city.  I’m staying in Miraflores, which is a very touristy district.  There are 42 districts in the city (kind of like our suburbs), and they all have their own vibe.  Some are touristy, some more artsy, and some dangerous and to be avoided.  Sounds like most big cities!  I got here on Tuesday afternoon and got a taxi to Miraflores from the airport.  My driver, Miguel, did not speak much English, but that didn’t stop him.  His car had a navigation screen, and he plugged his phone into it and started showing me what seemed to be a Peru tourism video with English subtitles featuring surfers, food, and different attractions in the country.  I could tell he is very proud of Peru and wanted to make sure I knew about things I could do while I’m here.  However, it was a little hard to concentrate because this is all going on while he’s driving in heavy traffic.  He seems completely unbothered, but the traffic here is batshit crazy.  I’ll never complain about Dallas or Atlanta or L.A. traffic again after seeing this place.  

After Miguel dropped me off, I took my clothes down the street to Lavanderia H2O because I have nothing clean other than what I’m wearing.  I checked into the hotel and walked around and took some photos of the area, and then I called it a night early.  

[Photos above:  John F. Kennedy Park in Miraflroes.  This park features about 100 wild cats that just live there and hang out.  They’ve even built houses for them to live in!  People just come to the park and pet cats.]

The next day, Wednesday, I connected with Dirk and Elliot (aka: The Machine) because it just so happens they are also in Lima for a couple of days at the end of the trip and staying at a hotel about 10 minutes away.  They booked a Lima City Highlights Tour that I was already booked on (totally coincidental), and we pretty much spent the day together with a tour guide taking us all over the city sharing history and checking out interesting sights.  We had some ceviche for lunch, and it was incredible!  If you aren’t familiar with ceviche, it’s raw fish that’s marinated in citrus juice (lime or lemon, typically) with seasonings.  The citrus juice “cooks” the fish by some chemical process without it being heated (such as in a pan or the oven).  Don’t ask me any more details; all I know is it’s delicious and you should try it the next time you find yourself near an ocean.  We also had a passion fruit sour made with Pisco, which is the national alcohol of Peru.  Also delicious.  Finally, we had Leche de Tigre (Tiger’s Milk).  They say it cures anything.  It consists of fish bits, citrus juice, garlic, cilantro, ginger, aji pepper, onion, salt and pepper.  Oh man!  All of this was so good we forgot to take any photos.  Sorry!

[Photos above: Various shots from around the city from our tour, including a very cool cathedral, “The Kiss” statue in Love Park, a mural in the Barranco district, and Elliot and Dirk with their churros.]

On Thursday, we went to the LARCO Museum.  It features artifacts from pre-Incan civilizations in Peru, and it’s billed as the best museum in South America.  Not so sure about that.  It was interesting but also kind of underwhelming because it was quite small.  After the museum, we decided to walk back to Miraflores because it didn’t look that far away.  It was a solid 2.5 hours through several districts, and I think this walk contributed to a little sinus infection I developed.  Lima is very polluted, and we breathed in a lot of car exhaust on that little journey.

Since Dirk doesn’t leave until Friday, but Elliott and I both had overnight flights, he and I split a taxi to the airport.  We said our goodbyes in the terminal, and then I started the very long, tedious trip home.  This started with an overnight flight to Atlanta, on which I didn’t really sleep at all.  Once in Atlanta, I had an approximate 13- hour layover because there were literally no other flight to Cedar Rapids.  It was a long, boring day in the airport.  

Finally home, and it was a shower and bed!  I love to travel, but I think I love to get back home even more.  Thanks for sticking with me and following along.  It was a fantastic trip, overall, and one I’d highly recommend.  Now, I’ll start putting together a proposal to take students!