?Que...Te Gusto Lima?

4th-9th November.
Have sorted out my little computer problem on here, but have a lot of writing to do and photos to sort from the Amazon trip. But thought i would update the last entry. Won't be long now I promise till you can hear about our adventure!

The past 5 days have been very chilled out. We have looked a little around Lima, but this time was really to recharge the batteries. I don’t know how well that worked tho- we are waiting for a plane to Iquitos at the moment and we both feel pretty wrecked!
The biggest problem we have had so far has been the language barrier. They talk so fast, and what I thought I knew I have no idea about when they talk. We can say things, but when they talk back to us, they totally lose us! Some people can speak a little English, numbers and the like, and we have come across a couple who’s English has been great and we took full advantage of that. Otherwise, it’s us verses them in a game of charades. Money had also been a little issue. Hardly anyone excepts credit card, and the cash machine gives out 100 soles notes, which is equivalent to about $260 Australian dollars. So when you only have that, and you want to buy water worth 2 soles, you can understand that they can’t or don’t want to change it. We also have to remember to carry tissues or toilet paper around with us, as a lot of the toilets don’t have it or charge for it.

Coming in from the airport you get to see the outer suburbs and the houses are very run down or falling down, the poverty very much in your face. The city tho is very grand with beautiful big buildings and churches and there are a lot of squares with fountains and statues which make it easy for navigation. When you come across one of these you know where you are. We did somehow get very lost on our 2nd day there tho- I thought we were going one way but we were in the other direction! That’s why I’m in charge of the maps, and Pete’s supposed to point us in the right direction.

We spent the first 2 nights in a pre booked hotel, which was very old and grand. We had the biggest room and our own bathroom, and when we weren’t having a look around the streets we were just hanging out in the room. On Saturday we moved to a cool hostel that had statues all around the place and vines growing up throughout and on the roof there was a cafeteria and that’s were the birds, turtles dog and cat hung out. It was wicked!!!

As we were checking in, a couple of Spanish girls asked us if we would like to be part of a focus group. We had no idea what this was, but there were some american guys doing it, one of which had done this kind of thing before, and they assured us that even tho they knew fuck all about this one, what they did know was it involved us drinking alcohol and telling them what we think. How can you say no to that.

So a couple of hours later we were in a cab with the Spanish girls and the american boys who could speak Spanish going to the university where there was a whole bunch of people waiting for us. They were all students of international business who were trying a new product out for pisco Sour. This is a national drink of Peru which is made of lemon, egg whites, sugar and pisco, a clear alcohol a bit like tequila and very strong. Normally is made to order like a cocktail, but they have a pre made mix for easy making. So we were the guinea pigs, and as we tried it we had to give our feed back, all through a translator. At the end, all these girls that were watching the group through a mirrored window came out and gave us all a bottle of pisco, a packet of the mix, a beanie, and a cool little hand made card. All for drinking some drinks and telling them what we thought!! Afterwards we had dinner with the boys and went to a small casino where we put money on these little mechanical horses on a small race track and got free beer! What a day.

Sunday evening we went to park that had 13 water fountains of different shapes and sizes. Some would move in time to music and people were running in and out of it. There was one that made a arc and you could walk underneath it. There was a big show with lights and music and pictures and lasers that were projected on to the water. It was very spectacular.

We spent most of Monday at a travel agent organising our Amazon and Machu Picchu treks. We took so long there that we ended up having lunch with Jacky, our agent, and she took us to a restaurant where we got to try some real Peruvian food, some of which was raw fish with lemon and chilli. Not our cup of tea, but we had a great soup and Pete had the best meal he has had here so far, some beef thing in gravy with rice.
So we made a new friend and she gave us discounts!
So that was Lima, Off to the next leg now!! Hope your all well!! Love P & R xxxx

?Que...Te Gusto Lima?

Lima, Peru