Lovely Lima

I'm at the Lima airport right now, found a free wifi connection so I figured an update was in order. This will be short because (a) I'm using my iPhone and it doesn't play well with blogspot apparently and (b) we board a plane for Cuzco in 20 minutes.

The flight down was, well I've had better. Houston to Lima was nondescript, but Calgary to Houston wasn't great. Small plane with strategically placed overhead bins to ensure any passenger over 5'6" hits their head, and apparently Air Canada assumes if you've booked your flight and checked in with someone, you probably don't want to sit together. We didn't notice our seats were different until we were boarding, so I got stuck right in front of the exit row, unable to recline (but still able to wack my head). I still managed to get a couple hours of sleep, inspire of the Chinese torture chamber they called a chair and the cackling hens across the aisle. I know women talk a lot, but I didn't know it was anatomically possible to not stop for air for over 3 hours. The icing on the cake was the toxic fumes someone was releasing near me every few minutes. I hope it wasn't the petite mom beside me although I'd understand why her husband sat 5 rows away if it was. Or maybe they just got the same air Canada seating plan we did.

Anywho. On to better things. Lima was fantastic! Far exceeded my expectations. We stayed in a very nice little hotel (La Castellena) in the Mria Flores district, which is well known for being the nice area of town. Katherine and I went for a long walk to the, um, beach and walked along the huge cliffs above the ocean for a few hours taking in the sites and beautiful weather. Even managed to see the Easter bunny! :)

We spent the afternoon on a city tour and was again impressed with the other districts I saw. Much more modern and clean than I was expecting, although signs of poverty can be seen behind the facades. There's another tour that goes to the shanty towns which I may do on the way back to see the other side of Lima. In the old city center we toured colonial age buildings and houses that felt just like Europe, except the crowds are decidedly more ethnic. We also toured inside the first church built by the Franciscans, dating back almost 500 years, albeit rebuilt several times since due to earthquakes and what not. The sheer size was impressive and reminded me more of touring the Vatican than a typical cathedral. Highlights were the catacombs with 10 meter deep wells filled to the top with delicately arranged human bones and skulls, and a library straight out of a Harry potter movie.

The evening was completed with a quick meeting with some of our group (we meet the rest in Cuzco I guess) and a dinner of yellow mashed potatoes filled with olives, hard boiled egg and tuna. It was deliciously salty and went great with the Peruvian beer. Oh I also had tuna gellato yesterday, I kid you not. It was fantastic and refreshing! We found a night market on the way back and ate what we think was rich pudding, topped with fig sauce, cinnamon and coconut. Whatever it was it was to die for, which since it was served by a street vendor may actually be the case. I was very apprehensive about the food here and the potential for getting sick but I've already thrown caution to the wind. You aren't supposed to drink anything not bottled or brewed but the fresh squeezed papaya and pineapple juice is irresistible. Oh I also had my first chorros yesterday, stuffed with what I can only describe as liquid peanut brittle. I'm in foodie heaven.

Flight is about to board so off to cuzco now. More later. Pics when I can get a real computer.