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.