Would the real Lima please stand up?

Day 2: Lima

Wanting to stay active on this trip, we went for a run first thing in the morning. Wanting to make it a "good" run, not like our run through the city and industrial sectors of Toronto, we took a cab down to the beach assuming it would be cleaner and less traffic-y. Not entirely the case.

We were dropped off next to a group of 200 or so high school students? all doing calisthenics en mass. Weird right? Commands blared out from a megaphone at the front, and everyone seemed to be following along enthusiastically. These would pretty much be the only people we saw.

Dogs ended up being the most common sight. Usually it was hard to tell if they were dead or alive. With a group of stinky food stalls on one side, and exhaust from the road on the other, we pressed on. Then, randomly, a beautiful new oceanside restaurant. Empty (it was 10am, but there were employees bustling inside). Then, a giant, run down, palm treed convention center. Closed indefinitely. All that remained? A lone security guard watching sleepily from his tiny booth.

Our attempt to find a well regarded vegetarian restaurant for lunch failed, and we ended up at Tropical. After waiting a few minutes, we asked for the menu and were directed to the 2 inch by 2 inch scrap of paper on the table. The menu of the day. Pick from 4 appetizers and 4 mains. Juice and dessert included. For $3. It came quick too!

In the afternoon, we practically became best friends with our cab driver en route to central Lima. He warned us of the upcoming "molestacion" (people would be skipping work countrywide to protest) and offered his cell number, so that he could show us around the countryside when we returned.

Plaza Mayor, the heart of central Lima, looks like this:



Two cute little kids bugged us to buy those little thread people from them. We refused and tried to get the little girl talking. Apparently she does this every day (sad). And her younger brother's English vocabulary seems to be centered on the word "monkey".

The nearby pedestrian mall:



Even though Miraflores didn't feel very touristy, central Lima felt even less so. We saw only a handful of travelers (read: white people), which is always strangely comforting to me when I travel. I don't enjoy feeling like a tourist being herded around to all the "hotspots".

Next up, the Spanish Inquisition Museum. The cool thing about this museum is that it actually was the site of the Inquisition headquarters for all of South America (for a period of time). I would tell you more about it, but I only absorbed some of the information. We weren't prepared to wait another hour for the next tour in english!



Although it didn't end up being a "must do", it was pretty interesting. I was amazed at how graphic the tour was. Here our guide explicitly describes the various methods of torture used:



The tour ended crawling down into the "catacombs" where prisoners were held captive.


The view up and down Abancay Street (thankfully for you all the air pollution didn't really translate on film):



We eventually gave up trying to find the National Art Museum (even the guy selling tourist maps was no help...and he was only 1/2 a mile away), and took a cab back. Two blocks later, we drove past the museum, which happened to be closed on Monday anyway.

Back in Miraflores, we again attempted to find the vegetarian restaurant, but not even our host Angelo could find it (nor could his Phone-a-Friend lifeline), so we wandered around looking for a similar restaurant that he recommended. After about 20 minutes (and several failures), we found it. Practically deserted. Apparently, they explained, spaghetti was the only available food that evening?!?

You know how it can be when you really want something (food, water, bathroom etc.) and are constantly teased with the prospect of relief, but never quite get there? Yeah. We were famished. The result: over ordering at overpriced Korean food. It would be one of our only "international" meals.

Day 1: Miraflores

Amazingly, we have little/no visual documentation of this day. I have no idea why. Perhaps we were too tired? Bewildered?

Underwhelmed is probably closer to the truth.

I didn't think I had any expectations for Miraflores, the tourist district of Lima, but I must have, because I just wasn't impressed. Still tainted from our 5 am drive through shanty towns, we weren't quite sure what to think of this place. The buildings were colorful. The streets were clean-er. But was this a place of endless excitement for visitors?

The walk from our sleep n' go stay at Lion Backpacker over to B&B Tradiciones was far shorter (and less sketchy) than we remember from our cab ride the previous night. Down a dingy street, over the freeway (you could almost feel the exhaust seeping through your skin), onto a nicer street, and across a small, green little park...things seemed to be improving.

However, despite our reservation, Tradiciones did not have space for us. Lesson #1: be wary of using Travelocity to reserve a room in someone's house. Apparently Angelo (the owner) has the system take the reservation regardless, but the information is not received immediately. He later figures out if there is space. If not, he sends you to a new hotel nearby for the same price.

But that probably gives you the wrong impression. He's the nicest guy ever. And it's true what the TripAdvisor reviews say, you do feel like a part of his family (especially when wrestling the computer away from his daughter's Facebooking). He spent the better part of the early afternoon telling us where to go, making sure we got a room at the other hotel, drawing out maps, and suggesting not only restaurants, but also specific dishes.

Our patient listening paid off though, when after waiting over an hour to get a table at Punto Azul (sunday lunch is their busiest meal of the week, but we did get to make some Peruvian friends...which is easy when you tell people you are on your "luna de miel") we ate the fantastic Peruvian specialty: ceviche.

(image courtesy of Luis Delboy by way of Don Lucho)

Think raw fish (usually King Fish or Sea Bass), marinated in lemon and lime juice, served with raw onions and small bits of tiny chili peppers. It nearly blew me away. Awesome. We also had some chicha morada (a sweet juice made from purple corn?!?), and a creamy fish dish that isn't worth mentioning.

We walked down towards the ocean, stopping on a park atop the cliffs overlooking the ocean to toss the frisbee around. Most people there hadn't seen one before...making us the subject of many a furtive glance. One old man approached, asking about it...but then ended up being a guy who sold these little tiny Peruvian dolls made out of thread. We felt bad enough to buy them from him, but would run into many more (spanning all age ranges) of his kind throughout the trip.

The very western mall carved into the cliffs seemed like it was a big attraction in the area. Meh.

Further north along the coast is Parque del Amor (ie. "Love Park"), which lived up to it's name in every sense of the word. Beneath a giant statue of lovers embracing passionately were...many real life couples...embracing. Passionately. Nothing beyond some good ol' making out, but we were amused nonetheless. The nearby clearing served as a staging ground for a para-gliding operation, new chutes launching into the air seemingly ever other minute.

We walked back through Kennedy Park, the social center for Miraflores. Surrounded by restaurants, shops, and the occasional important colonial building, it was jam packed with locals out for an early evening stroll, taking in the photography exibit, and/or waiting around for something which was bound to happen.

We're not sure what, because it never happened.

Heading back, we passed through the "Indian Market", which is a bunch of fancy stalls all trying to appear traditional and handmade, but all selling the same stuff (including many exact duplicates of the street artwork we had been so impressed with moments earlier). Throughout the trip we would run into well dressed men on the street with leather portfolios of artwork, often with a "We accept VISA" sticker slapped on the outside. In fact, the Indian Market itself seemed to be sponsored by VISA...

We cobbled together a dinner from random items at the supermarket (Wongs, a giant, uber-fancy, better-than-western-supermarkets supermarket), including tasty bread which would be swarmed by people as soon as it was released into the giant bin from the trap door in the other side. (If you need a diagram, I'd be happy to take a shot at it)

Settling into our room at B&B Tradiciones (they actually did find space for us: a room with a double bed and a set of bunkbeds), we sat on the bed eating our bread, fruit and jelly, unaware those items would become staples of our trip.

City on the edge: Lima, Peru

"It hasn't rained in over 2,000 years," he told us. That couldn't be true, could it?

It might. Based on our small anecdotal sample, it hadn't rained at all in our five weeks in Peru or Bolivia. Heading down to the deserted oceanfront (where pollution problems discourage all but the most enthusiastic of surfers), you can see that it must be true. The edge of the city stands precariously atop cliffs that appear ready to melt into the Pacific Ocean at the even the slightest hint of rain.



Yes, those are just tiny stones held together with dirt.

Seemingly every aspect of Lima is either an exercise in extremes, or one of barely stable equilibriums.

While the weather is moderate (average highs in the low 60's year round) and continually overcast, heavy sustained rains would guarantee mudslides and housing collapses. The population has increased approximately 15-fold in the last 65 years. Services and development cannot seem to keep up with the influx of new residents.

(image courtesy of teague03)

And in the 17th and 18th centuries, it was almost completely destroyed by earthquakes. Three times.

After just two cab rides, the extremes became painfully clear.

On one trip from the airport, we denounced Lima as a sprawling slum. Barren, dusty, and often seemingly abandoned, there would be no reason to ever visit it again. This wasn't just a poor area of a modern city, these were mud and brick shanty towns woven together with crude dirt roads.

Returning to the tourist district of Miraflores several weeks later, we took a different route through town. Wide, tree lined boulevards. Green grass everywhere. Casinos. McDonalds. Sharply dressed white collar workers. The glimmering skyscrapers of the financial district, San Isidro. Had we arrived in the wrong city?

(photo courtesy of PromPeru, by way of Wikipedia)

Despite being a giant metropolis, the people are exceedingly friendly and helpful. The hosts throughout all of our accommodations bent over backwards to provide us with local insights and made us feel like part of their family. More than once I had to speed up the conversation after my eyes glazed over from well intentioned "help overload".

At one point, our taxi driver pulled over to ask a police officer on a motorcycle about the location of a particular street. He didn't know offhand, but quickly called a friend on his cell phone, and was able to give us an approximate location.

I guess you can't really fault our driver for not knowing one particular street, given that it was 15 miles from where our ride started. (It turned out to be only 1 block long!)

Still from the shanty towns surrounding the city, to tourist district of Miraflores, to the swanky towers of San Isidro, and the few remaining historic structures (like the Cathedral in Plaza Mayor):

(photo courtesy of mannover)

...you never quite know what you are going to get with Lima.

Sadly, this makes it a hard sell for the casual traveler. It is easy to feel like you have run out of things do to within the first 24 hours, but you'll miss the complete picture. If you understand and appreciate the nuances of it's history, culture, and extremes, this 'city on the edge' might just surprise and delight you.

Just pray that it doesn't rain first.

Day 0: Boulder -> Lima, Peru

Truth be told, we had planned to be honeymooning in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), but an outbreak of Dengue Fever (Wikipedia link says: "2008 Health officials say an outbreak of dengue fever has infected more than 110,000 people in Rio de Janeiro state and claimed at least 95 lives since January 1.") left us certain that we would rather not risk death so early in our marriage. With South America on the brain we decided that Peru would make an excellent alternative (weighted heavily by the prospect of being able to visit Machu Picchu, which if you aren't sure what it is, check out the link...you probably already do).

The plan was: drive (be driven actually) from Boulder to Denver, hop on a plane to Dallas, hop on a plane to Miami, hop on a plane to Lima (actually, only a 5 1/2 hour flight), get in a cab and drive to B&B Tradiciones in Miraflores (the tourist district of Lima) unannounced, hoping they would have a room for us.

We urged our driver, the gracious Ms. Katy Plath to take the toll road to the Denver airport, which would guarantee no traffic. It also reminded us that for some inexplicable reason, the employees along 470/Northwest Parkway are the happiest toll booth operators you have ever seen. Each happier than the last. It's quite remarkable.

Nothing noteworthy about our flights except for a fantastic lightning storm while flying across Texas:



And before we knew it, we had arrived in Lima. First time for either of us in South America.

One of my favorite 'little things' about traveling abroad is the signage - which is always so much more...vivid than what you would find in the US. Exhibit A:

And in case you need a larger version:


Despite all my best intentions, I got a little jumpy and accepted the first offer from a non-official taxi driver (apparently the "official" ones that are waiting right outside the airport overcharge significantly, so the cool kids walk past them into the outer parking lots). Sadly, this would become emblematic of the trip...getting a decent deal, but not bothering to shave off a few extra soles here and there (1 sole is worth about $0.35 US). And since Janet spoke a total of about 3 words in Spanish, I was always the designated asker/negotiator. (My friend Kip probably has a stupid grin on his face right now, because the roles were reversed while we traveled in Thailand...I was always bitching about how he didn't try and save us 50 cents every time we took a taxi!)

Anyway the ride through Lima was shocking to say the least. The airport is outside of town 20km west of where we would end up. Things never quite look right at 5am on a Sunday. As it turns out, there are several ways to drive through town, and as though trying to instantly kill any enthusiasm we might come to have for Lima, our driver picked the sketchiest.

Hardly any lighting. Roads that went from dirt to paved and back again. Shanties built on top of shanties. All of it looking like an urban wasteland. The ruins of a once thriving brick and mud metropolis. No people or cars anywhere.

Mouths still agape (or aghast...or both?), we arrived at B&B Tradiciones, which was really more of a house than anything else. Dark and still, we decided rather than wake the proprietor, we would have our cabbie drive us elsewhere (not relishing the thought of wander around alone looking for another option). Enter the nearby Lion Backpacker, shown here:



Sorry about the quiet audio, I had to keep my voice down while mocking the place. For just under $25, this would be our refuge, at least till the sun came up. Despite the puddled water, moldy pillows, and thin walls (the room was adjacent to the lobby area), we were able to get a few hours sleep before tackling 5 weeks in Peru.

Welcome to our honeymoon!

We're back!

Got into town late-ish last night. Starting tomorrow, I will recount our trip day-by-day, interspersing descriptions of cities, the nuances of traveling in Peru and Bolivia, and other fun stories.

Be sure to check back to find out how the trip went (hint: well!).

I thought it would be a little weird being back, but amazingly, we seemed to find falling back into life in these United States fairly easily (Thai food last night that wasn't the 1 1/2 to 2 hour dinner ordeal we've been used to), and our cheapness carried over (buying two desks and a chair at the salvation army during a half price sale: total ~$25).

Here is a sneak peak, just to put you on the edge of your seat. Tension mounts in Cuzco during countrywide protests, on Day 5:

We´re still alive

Just killing some time in Uyuni, Bolivia right now waiting for a bus back to La Paz, where we were not too long ago. From La Paz, we went to Potosi, the highest (supposedly) city in the world, at over 13,000 feet. The city was formed because they found a ton of silver in the mountain there, and well, mined the crap out of it. Often using slaves. Many people died. More to come. Anyway, we got to tour a mine...it was pretty intense. Very taxing physically because of the altitude, and the horrible air quality inside. It´s completely amazing that people can make a living working there (though they often are forced to quit at a young age, for health reasons).

From there we went to Tupiza, which is sort of a wild west town, surrounded by red cliffs and mountains beyond. Did a nice little hike from downtown into the adjacent ¨canyon¨ and eventually up to a lookout of the city as the sun was setting.

From there we did a 4 day jeep tour of southwestern Bolivia including the Salaar de Uyuni...the Uyuni Salt Flats...the largest in the world I believe. The trip was rather...taxing...basically we weren´t prepared for the cold (well below freezing at night, and also some days with the windchill) and there was a lot of bouncing around while driving 8 or so hours a day. Pics to come!

We will be back in a few days, at which point I will blog day by day as though we are still here (you´ll just have to be patient about all the details of our trip). Stay tuned!