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The Plane Needed a Jump Start
But We
Made it to Lima Our Hotel
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Antigua Miraflores Hotel
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The People are Friendly
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Peru: Country Folk
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November 6
Lima, Peru I had my toothpaste confiscated at
Boston Logan Airport because it was 4 oz, which is over the 3 oz limit. I
asked the guy to just squeeze some out of the tube, but he wouldn't do
it. As we waited on the Delta Airlines plane, an announcement over the PA
system informed us that we needed to have something help us start the
plane - which I didn't totally follow, but it sounded like the plane
couldn't start itself. The "thing" finally arrived, and they got the
engines started. Our flight ended up being an hour late into Atlanta,
but we still made our connection with plenty of time to spare. In
Atlanta, we had to wait while they made some "weight balancing
adjustments." They said they might have to get some passengers off the
plane. A guy walked by me and laughed, and said, "I shouldn't have eaten
that steak last night," right after my mother and I were wondering if the
heavier passengers would have to go first!
The flight from Atlanta to Lima was uneventful. Just long and slightly
boring. I was glad to sleep and take a shower this morning at the hotel.
November 7 Lima, Peru
Our hotel is called "Antigua
Miraflores" in the Miraflores district of Lima.
It's nice. A lot of
rooms, including ours, overlook a courtyard with a fountain. There is
free internet access. They have 2 computers set up in the lobby. The
people in the hotel are very helpful. The only issue we've really had is
that we can't get our power converters to work in our room so I haven't
been able to charge my Ipod and camera batteries. I haven't used my Ipod
since I got to the hotel though, so that's not a problem. And my camera
still has over an hour of charge left.
There were 12 of us yesterday in the tour group, and 5 more joined us
today. (They came from a pre-trip to the Amazon). Everyone is really
nice, including our trip leader, whose name is Walter. He doesn't know
how he got the name Walter, his father is of Spanish origin. His mother
is Peruvian. His mother speaks Quechua (sp?) which is one of the official
languages of Peru. He taught us to say "no, thank you" in Quechua, so
when we get into the hills, where people speak Quechua, we'll be able to
say that to the kids who will try to sell us stuff. The other official
language of Peru is Spanish, but they call it Castellano. (Castillian).
So if you want to ask someone if they speak Spanish, you say, "Hablas
castellano?"
Yesterday we had a morning meeting where we all met each other. They
brought us a "Pisco sour" which is made from Pisco (a white grape brandy),
egg whites, lime and sugar. It tasted like a margarita. I only had a few
sips of it, after all, it was only 11 am!
We went out for lunch - had fish over mashed potatoes - which sounds a
little weird, but it was really good. We also had white asparagus with
some hollandaise-like sauce over it. And Walter gave us all a sip of his
"Chicha Morada", a non-alcoholic, purple-corn drink. It was good, not
really sweet like a soft drink.
We went to a few museums. Yvette joined us for this trip; she was the tour
guide for it. We entered the Museo Larco, and she began to explain a lot
of things in detail. My mother and I hung with the group for a while and
then ventured out on our own, since we both prefer to go more
quickly through it. We came upon the Erotica exhibit, which was quite
interesting! We took pictures and laughed and giggled a lot. I can send
you pictures when I get back - but I'm not sure what your website rating
is... of course, they're all just made out of pottery.
What else... oh, if you are a citizen of Peru and you don't vote in a
presidential election, you get fined 170 soles (approximately $60). There
are fines for all other elections, too, though the presidential one is the
most costly.
Oh, also - there are a lot of VW bugs down here. The people on the street
seem friendly - and Lima seems as safe as any big city - 9 million
inhabitants. Lots of kids, dogs and pigeons in the Plaza Major. The kids
are cute - they look Hispanic, like they're from Tibet, or like a
combination of the two. By the way - the Quecha language has more of an
oriental sound to it - and Walter says it's easier for speakers of Quecha
to learn Japanese or Chinese than other languages.
For dinner, my mother and I went to "Las Brujas de ?? something that
starts with a "C" - it was supposed to be native Peruvian food. It was
great, we had a good time, the wait staff was very accommodating.
Especially when I told them we didn't know what we were supposed to do
with the olives, celery, mustard, hot peppers that they brought to the
table. They told us the olives and celery (in olive oil) went on the
bread, and the mustard (very hot but tasty) and the peppers went on the
dinner. We all laughed about that. We both had salads and tamales. My
salad had Quinoa encrusted chicken on it - that was good - and avocados.
Gotta run. More later,
Nancy (continue to Peru 2)
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Airport Security
You Got Any Toothpaste?
Well That's Too Much!
A Refreshing Drink
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Chicha Morada
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(Editor's Prerogative)
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Peru: City Folk
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