Day 3 - Tuesday - Lima, Peru

Today we arose early enough for breakfast at the hotel. If you are thinking, "huh, this vacation is very relaxing so far," you would be right! Because we have the most gracious hosts in the world, it has truly been like being at home except way better because someone cleans your room, makes you food, and there's a huge backyard.

Marco called this morning to let us know that we would be picking us up around 12:30 or 1:00 for an adobe clay oven lunch. Yum! River rafting had been postponed to Wednesday's activity instead (yep, that came out of nowhere, I've never even been in the States!). When we got to Marco's house, tables had been set up in the backyard. The housekeepers were buzzing around the oven where they showed us there were 4 chickens inside the clay oven. On the clay stove were cooking some Chicharron (pork). We then got to try the mortar & pestle type thing (except way better) to help make some salsa.

Lunch started with Papas Huaycano which is this sauce with creamy yellow sauce. It was soooooo good. Then the pork was brought out and it had so much flavor, I wanted to eat it forever. Marco then fixed us each a plate with white rice, beans (simmered with pork rib bones), and the chicken that had been cooking in the clay oven. Everything was bursting with flavor and tasted incredibly fresh. It was seriously like foodie heaven.

Marco Sr. expressed some worry that I would be going with the boys on the rafting trip. Marco Jr. reassure him (and me) that I would be fine as the "beginner" level in Peru is way, way, less intense than the beginning level in the States. We shall find out tomorrow!

After lunch, we took a taxi and braved the traffic of downtown Lima to find a few things for us. Marco was a good sport as I'm sure he would have been doing other things than sitting in smoggy traffic. He took us to Polvos Azules (which means Blue Powder). It is essentially the biggest flea market you can think of, indoors. Each stall is about 3 feet wide and maybe 4ft-5ft deep. Essentially, not very big. We walked the maze with Marco guiding us (thank goodness), trying to find some water shoes for GZ. The clothing section was particularly zoo-y with tons of pushy people and crowds, crowds, crowds. Everyone was shopping for Christmas so it was especially crazy. Heading over to the electronics was way less crazy; our first priority was to find a Rosetta Stone software. They run about $400 in the US, so we were hoping to score a deal. The first place we went had them and we were able to score the Latin Spanish for... 20/s! That's about $6.50USD. YEsssssssss. Marco also got a Portuguese one and because we were looking at DVDs, they also threw in 6 DVDs for an addition 10/s (a little over $3USD).

So, for 50 /s (~$16USD), we got:

1) Rosetta Stone Spanish

2) Rosetta Stone Portuguese

3) 6 DVDS including Despicable Me, The Town, Avatar 3D, The Switch (aptly translated as "loca ella," aka Crazy Girl), Dinner for Schmucks (Una Cena para Tontos), and The Social Network (la red social). We've watched 2 so far and my analysis is that the ones already out on DVD in the US are great copies whereas ones that aren't, the audio is a tiny bit off. Not bad for $3 though.

Next, we were on the hunt for a SD card reader (for all you wonderful peeps). We found one for 15/s (~$5 which is about the same price as US) and it reads multiple type of cards (including my Sony). Unfortunately when we got back, the SD portion doesn't work which is what all of our pics are on. Whack. The search continues.

We made one more attempt for water shoes. GZ has a Size 14 shoe (48 Euro) which doesn't really exist in Peru as most of them are of smaller stature. The biggest was usually a "12." We saw some 13s but they were of the more expensive kind, like $25 or $30 USD. We did see some Size 13 Crocs but they were like 90/s (~$30USD)!! That's even more expensive than in the US! Quote of the day from Marco (in regards to the Crocs): "We're in a third world country; give me a fucking break, man!"

Now GZ is not feeling too well so we'll probably turn in early unless Marco takes us out for some nightlife later. Hopefully the stomach will be back tomorrow as I plan to eat myself silly in this country.

Today's lesson: 1) Even if things seem/look sketchy, maybe they're not so bad (such as pirated software/DVDs. 2) It's invaluable to be taken around Peru with a local 3) Marco and his family are absolutely the best for hosting us. Seriously.

Day 2 - Monday - Lima, Peru

There had been some vague plans to accompany Marco and his friends to the beach this morning. They were also going to be scoping places out for their New Years celebration. Although the beach sounded lovely, we decided to hit up some tourist sites instead with our brief time here. Hopefully we'll see the beach before we leave though.

After a late start, we had a breakfast of cookies (such a backpackers meal) and decided to walk to Museo Larco which is in the San Isidro neighborhood not too far from where we were staying. There's always a sense of mystery and excitement when walking off in a country abroad; you don't know the neighborhood, you don't know the people, you really just don't know much. It's a bit like walking blind except you have a map (ours is printed out version from Google... hey it's worked so far).

We walked about 20 minutes with lots of Peruvians honking (not sure if it was towards us or towards each other). Strolled through many residential streets; many of the houses have fortress like fences and high walls.

The Museo Larco is housed in a big, beautiful, 18th century viceroy mansion. It costs 30 soles (~$10USD) each to enter and I can tell you that money is going towards the grounds. It has a huge garden full of flowers and green grass which won the prize for best garden in Lima in 2009. The museum was started by Rafael Larco Hoyle who started collecting the pieces with his father. As he combed through over 40,000 pieces, he realized that many of the pieces didn't "match." Doing further research (including going out to excavations himself), he "founded" 5 civilizations which hadn't been recognized earlier. /end history lesson.

After the exhibit hall, you can then go into this other "storage" room which has thousands and thousands of pieces of art, mostly of pots and drinking vessels. It's amazing to think how these pieces of survived thousands of years and many of them are in great shape. The storage room was seriously ceiling to wall of pots in about 7 different rooms. Downstairs, there was an "erotic gallery" which had pottery and other art pieces depicting.. well, I'm sure you can guess!

We left the Museo around 3PM and made a decision to hail a taxi. I don't know if I have ever told you guys this before, but I really try to walk everywhere when I am traveling somewhere abroad. This stemmed from my trip to Europe: I usually didn't speak the language of the home country and couldn't really figure out buses/subways. Thus, I usually just walked. I then discovered that it is the best way to really get to know a city and explore to ones content. So, hailing a taxi was a big deal for us as I have discovered my Spanish is quite poor. There are a few rules to getting a taxi ride in Peru. First off, there's no meter. You have to negotiate the price before you get into the taxi and if they won't give you a fair price, you can wave them off. This can be quite a challenge for tourists if you don't know how much it should cost to get somewhere. Also, (from our hotel), you should make sure not to take a small yellow taxi, you shouldn't get into a taxi alone, and you should choose a middle aged well kept driver.

The first one GZ hailed wanted 20 soles because of "el trafico." Whatever, dude. We waved him off and the next guy also wanted 12 soles but GZ offered 10. The taxi driver then upped it to 20 soles when he realized we were foreign, I think, so then I said no, no. Then he dropped it to 15 and GZ said 10 and the guy went back to 12. When we got in, he thought it was very clever that we could bargain. We then had a small chat in Spanish which was fun and he told us our Spanish was not too bad! (I think Peruvians are just nice and like to flatter). He had to stop at a gas station shortly after and I told GZ that if we were on The Amazing Race, I'd be so bummed. There's something about riding in a taxi in a foreign country that makes me feel like I'm on reality TV, except no one's watching.

After worrying we wouldn't get to our destination due to a car that kept dying, the Mr. dropped us right at the Plaza de Armas in Lima Centro. It's all very colonial looking with great looking architecture all around. We hit up the Catedral del Lima (Lima Cathedral) first which is your typical Catholic Church in Europe. About 12 altars around the church plus the main altar and some crypts as a bonus. A beautiful church, the Catholics sure know how to make things grandiose.

We walked around after that for a bit and met a local man named Peter. I'm pretty sure he was trying to just get money from us but here's the interesting thing about Peru. You don't have a lot of panhandlers/beggars around. Even the most downtrodden are usually peddling small candies, gum, or drinks. Peter wanted to offer us his company over beer (I bet) and practice his English (which was surprisingly good). As we waved him goodbye, he asked us for some American coins for his "collection." He was quite disappointed when GZ pulled out a dime and kept asking us for a dollar coin or quarter. Sorry, brother! He had given us an old sole in exchange so I'm sure he was bumming on us.

After escaping Peter, we walked around until we found the Catacombas and Museo de San Francisco which was a former monastery. I'll save you the history lesson but basically we got to go down into the catacombs and look at a lot of old bones (it was a public cemetery for awhile and they say about 20,000+ people were buried there). The remaining bones are mostly femurs and skulls because they hold up the best over time. It was super creepy but interesting as well. Now only friars and monks who live/serve at the monastery (the new one is next door) are allowed to be buried down there. I can't believe they just let a bunch of tourists hang out down there.

We were supposed to meet Marco for dinner around 6:00PM so we realized that we better start booking home starting around 5:15PM. For some reason we kept seeing these mini-mobs at 2 different banks. Maybe it was pay day? Anyway, thanks to our trusty map, we decided to walk back as it was rush hour and the taxi ride probably wouldn't be very fun. We took many wrong turns and right around the time I was super hungry (remember, we just had cookies). GZ saved our lives by stomping for a beef empanada and a churro. The churro was so delicious, I made him buy another one for himself.

It was starting to get dark and we all know that it's a bad idea to be out after dark alone, in a foreign country. The timing ended up being perfect as we walked up to Peru Star right when it got dark. Turned out we had missed Marco's call by at least an hour so we figured plans were off. Instead we went down to the cafe and had another delicious dinner in the hotel's restaurant. This time we ordered "Arroz con Mariscos" which is Rice with Seafood while GZ had the Crem of Vegetable soup which actually wasn't creamy in the dairy sense but more like smooth. They were both super delicious!!

Lessons learned today: 1) My Spanish is not as bad as I thought 2) Maps are your best friend 3) When you are hungry, eat

Day 1 - Sunday - Lima, Peru

*apologies for no photos, we are in the process of trying to find a SD card reader, please check back soon*

We slept in late as is the tradition for the first day of a vacation. We woke up the pleasant sounds of a British father yelling at his child, Dylan, in the backyard. There were also some other British children running around. Ah, we just can't escape them.

We hadn't heard from Marco yet and were still trying to figure out what was going on for the day. GZ stalked him on Facebook (still one of the greatest inventions, I contend) and then Marco's mom came into the lounge where we were. It was my first time meeting her and like her husband, she is so warm, welcoming, and sweet. She started chatting about Marco graduating college, going abroad, and more about the anniversary party of the entire Peru Star staff. In the midst of the conversation, Marco came over (their family home is about 3 blocks away) and it was a reunion for the 2 friends.

Shortly thereafter, we headed out in his new ride and he took us to his parents' house. It had this beautiful foyer and an awesome backyard. He took us on a brief tour, showing us the adobe clay oven (seriously), the clay stove and this giant mortar & pestle thing. They also have a pool and 2 cute dogs. We then sat down for lunch of "caldo de gallina" (hen soup) which was amazing. Super fresh chicken, noodles, full of green onions, and a clear broth. Yum!! While we were lunching, Marco's dad came in and chatted with us. He then took us on a more detailed tour and told us more stories behind a bunch of the laminated photos hanging in the backyard. The family is very well traveled and I'm so impressed they are a bilingual family.

We then headed out and our hosts showed us the coast/beach near Miraflores (another neighborhood in Lima) and we stopped near Parque Kennedy. As we walked around, Marco's dad told us a bit about the history of the park like how a former politician (either a mayor or governor) used to close the park every day except Sunday afternoons. We came upon 2 ladies carry labrador puppies and I about melted. At first we weren't sure if Marco knew these women as he just went up to the them and picked up one of the puppies. He then proceeded to hand one to me which I just huddled to my chest. It was sleeping and soooooooooo cute. Marco then explained to us that these women bred this dogs (purebred, supposedly) and walked around trying to sell them for about a third of the price of ones you would find in a pet store. He then told us how to make sure what to look for when buying a puppy such as a pink roof of mouth and big paws.

Reluctantly I gave the puppy up and we continued onto the market. This is just like any other kind of artist market you find in NYC. It was clean and each stall had a sign. We saw some live music, saw a guy carving out of marble, and had some refreshing "chicha" (purple corn drink) and what I think was jackfruit juice (so yum). We scoped out some souvenirs and will probably return later. Tons of baby alpaca wool stuff like blankets, rugs, and ponchos. Maybe I can just come home with a baby alpaca.

Our next stop was at a marketplace near the neighborhood of Magdalena which is not too far from the pier. Which means, lots of fresh seafood. Marco parked the car and we headed into this maze of stalls selling all kinds of prepared food, raw meat, toiletries, yarn, anything else you can think of. It definitely felt like an episode of No Reservations with Anthony Bordain. After a few turns, we ended up in front of a stall with white tiles and photos of seafood to the left. On the right was an alcove with a tiled counter and a half door. Marco spoke to one of the women working, pushed open the door, and ushered us in while saying, "Please, into the VIP room." We had a good laugh about that as I sat down, my legs up against a crate of empty Inca Cola (national beverage of Peru) bottles.

They brought out GZ's dish first which was the "White Ceviche" (in no relation to this race) which had white fish, tons of lime juice/onions, hominy, and "canchita" (otherwise known as Peruvian popcorn). The rest of us had "concha negra" which is ceviche of raw black clams. It was drowned in lime juice, tons of onions and again, hominy and canchita. It was freaking delicious! Marco and his dad weren't sure if we'd like it as the taste can be more of an acquired thing. What they didn't know is that GZ and I are seasoned eaters and we can't be grossed out. It was easily the highlight of our trip so far. Sitting around the white, tiled stall, I really felt like I was in a documentary. Marco's dad was so funny, he was saying how he doesn't normally take guests to these kinds of places (I'm assuming dirty and small) and he almost seemed a little embarrassed which was sweet. But it was muy autentico and I loved that.

They dropped us off at Peru Star shortly after and when we got there, GZ ordered the "cuy," also known as GUINEA PIG!!!!! Apparently it's getting harder and harder to get guinea pig so it's also getting a little bit more expensive. Only a few markets still carry them and Marco said they usually go to a farm type place about 20 minutes away to get them.

After a short nap (yep), we headed down for dinner. I wasn't too hungry so I didn't eat much but I did try some of the cuy (photos coming, I swear) which was... mostly like chicken. Much stringier though and very little actual meat. But it's GUINEA PIG! A rodent. Weird.

Plans fell through with Marco's friends so we turned into our room relatively early, ready to rest up for the next day's adventure.

Getting to Lima

*Apologies for no photos yet, we are trying to get a card reader. Please check back soon!*

Since it took an entire day to get to Lima, I will not be considering it "Day 1." Okay? Okay!

After some frenzied last minute packing (mostly of things GZ had bought at REI an hour before), we headed down to Cal Train to whisk us away to SFO for our 12:30AM flight to Lima via San Salvador (El Salvador). As we ran down the street in the rain, about 1 block away from the station, we saw the train in the station. If only we can ran fast enough...! Alas, we heard the dreaded horn and knew we had missed it. Looking back, perhaps that was an omen of things to come...

Luckily that first train had been our "safety" train that would have gotten us to the airport about 3 hours early. Instead we got there about 2 hours early and the line wasn't too horrendous. There's something a little bit interesting being at the airport late at night. The air twittering with anticipation.

We boarded the plane with no problems and slept most of the way to San Salvador. We woke up briefly to have a hot meal. A hot meal on an airplane, what a novelty! (In case you are wondering, the food still tastes about the same as you remember. Vaguely reminiscent of school lunch).

We arrived around 8:00AM El Salvadorean time. The airport mostly consists of one long corridor with various airline gates and shops on each side. It felt somewhat like a mall except the shop owners stand at the doorway and smile at you.

We walked to the opposite end of where our gate came in and found a sitting area with a bunch of "seats" (you know, the cheap leather type kind attached in a long row that you find at any airport lounge). Being that we barely slept on the plane, we camped out in a row of chairs. The main problem with these chairs is that there are arms on them. Luckily my legs are still skinny enough where I can slip them under; however, I still had to sleep sitting up for the most part :/ We napped for a couple hours and was just shaking the sleep out of our heads when a golf cart rolled up with some TACA (airline) employees in it (the airport is not very large but it seems all the employees travel throughout the building this way) shouting my name. One guy approached and asked a series of questions, "Are you traveling alone?" (no) "Are you traveling in business class?" (no). They seemed disappointed that I was not traveling alone then said, "OK, well we just have to check... something," then the guy jumped back into the cart and was off.

About an hour later, the same crew comes back and explains that TACA had changed our flight to a smaller airplane. That meant that my seat had been "eliminated." Personally, I think they "eliminated" my seat because they assumed I was traveling alone. Anyway, the guy set about trying to convince me to take a voucher and a night's stay in San Salvador (with the plane leaving at noon the next day) in exchange for my seat. I told them that I would have to talk to GZ (who was off wandering the hallway) so I committed to nothing. But the other "heavy handed" guy said, "So you are agreeing?" and I said, "NO, I do NOT agree," but geez, nice try.

After a brief discussion with GZ, we decided we just didn't have the days to spare since we were on such a short vacation as it was. The plane would be leaving almost a full 24 hours later than our original flight. The guys seemed mad when we told them as they had upped the voucher to $500 each. But when are we going to be using a TACA voucher?? They tried to tell us that we could give it to one of our friends but I'm pretty sure vouchers are non-transferable. Regardless, we said no, no, no. The guy looked extremely stressed.

We walked around the shops some more then went to face the music and figure out what was going on with our flight. When we arrived, there was some chaos happening. Apparently the plane change was now leaving at least 11 people without seats. As we arrived, they were making the "volunteer" speech to everyone else which told me that hadn't managed to bully anyone else into taking the vouchers. We checked in at the front desk and a different lady explained the me not having a seat situation. She then told us to check back in 10 minutes with her specifically. I felt really bad for all the workers as people were ANGRY.

They started calling the rows to board the plane and it was a major cluster mainly because only 1 person was taking the tickets and the same person was also trying to help people at the desk. At the same time, they also had to check each person's boarding pass to see if their seat had changed (I would say about 75% of the seats were different). Finally everyone loaded onto the plane as we were still stuck at the desk. The lady asked GZ what's up and he told her that she told us to check back in 10 minutes. Her face lit up and that's when we realized that we would actually be getting on this plane!

In the end, most of the people did get on, save for an older couple and a young lady (I think). Even this family of 4 we had been worried about got on the plane (their daughter had been crying earlier). Success! We were separated but at least we got on the plane; I was so relieved!!!

It took another while to get the plane off the ground. As I've gotten older, I've noticed that I feel more nervous on airplanes. Another 4 hour flight, another nap or 2, another hot meal. And like that, we were in Lima...

Went through customs, got our passports stamped (apparently all customs agents around the world are grumpy), picked up our luggage. Had a brief moment scared that our luggage wouldn't make it because I hadn't had a seat originally. We did see the family of 4 receive a notice that not all their bags had made it :/ That poor family.

In Peru, they say they don't have the resources to scan all the bags so you have to push this button before leaving the baggage area. If you get a green light, you go straight through. If you get a red light, you have to go aside and they go through your entire bag! Luckily GZ has the magic touch and we were green lit!

When you exit into the main pickup area, it's just a throng of people! Like paparazzi waiting for Lady Gaga. We had no idea of Marco was there or if someone from Peru Star was there. After some overwhelming and frustrating moments, we headed upstairs for some peace & quiet and get our bearings. We couldn't get a hold of Marco so we went to check GZ's email. Apparently Peru Star was having their anniversary party the same night so we would need to take a cab. Luckily Marco gave us exact directions so we could just give them to the taxi driver.

As we went downstairs, I made a comment to GZ that should pick someone who is not sketchy. He chose the first guy we came across who seemed young and friendly. As we walked outside, all the taxi drivers wearing badges yelled, "NO, NO, don't go with him!!!" GZ said, "But he has a badge..." and the guys said, "No, it's the wrong one!!!" They were very concerned for us so we went back inside and asked the tourist information guy who we should take a taxi with. Because those guys are like moths to a flame, the guy just looked up and said, "Oh, this guy is good." So we followed him out. The same drivers from before gave us a thumbs up this time and said, "You guys are good now." As we were leaving, we saw the sketchy taxi driver talking to the police. Dang, barely escaped that one! Thanks friendly Peruvians!

Our guy was driving like he was in the Indy 500. The driving is so insane, I couldn't really figure out any system or rhyme or reason. Regardless, our guy was awesome. It was challenging for him to find the street but after asking some peeps on the street, we finally pulled up on a quiet street in front of a bright red door. There were no signs so we weren't entirely sure we were in the right place. However, the door clicked open and we were welcomed in to a large courtyard that had a small restaurant as well as a carport.

There was some miscommunication as the guy at reception doesn't normally work the front desk (we later found out he does more like security) so he spoke only Spanish and ours was very rusty. We were able to communicate that we were friends with Marquito so he called Marco (Marquito's dad) and he confirmed that we were legit. We then got our room key and finally, finally, we were in our room at the Peru Star!

The room is awesome: queen bed, kitchenette, flat screen TV, and a sitting area. Our balcony looks over the backyard (which is also beautiful) and pool. It has great light and is incredibly relaxing.

We were starving so we figured we'd just go walk around and get something to eat. It was about 10:00PM by then which maybe isn't the best time to go wandering around a strange neighborhood in a foreign country. However, we did read that San Isidro is one of the safest neighborhoods in Lima as it's more upper middle class and all the embassies are located here. That said, that also means it's not the most happening place in the world. We ended up eating good old KFC as we weren't sure about the reputation of a place called "Bembo's" which later, Marco told us, we have to try. When we returned to Peru Star, Marco Sr. was there and he greeted us like old friends. He is so friendly and nice; very warm for the first time I met him. He told us that Marquito would see us the next day and we bid him goodnight.