I've been traveling so often since I've come to Peru that I haven't had time to write about the city that's my home for the second part of this trip. Lima is a sprawling, chaotic city on the Pacific coast that has taken some time to grow on me. It's certainly not the European city that Buenos Aires is - instead, it provides a more authentic South American feel. Lima has all the things that BsAs has: nightlife, museums, great restaurants and movie theaters, you just have to work a little harder to find them.
Lima is divided into many barrios. San Isidro and Miraflores are considered the nice residential areas, Barranco is a bohemian neighborhood where you can go surfing and hang out on the beach, and el Centro is the colonial center of the city and has beautiful architecture but is unsafe to walk around at night. The outskirts of the city are plagued by shanty towns and poverty that is heartbreaking to see.
I live in a small two story house in San Isidro that's a part of a collection of adjoining houses that were built by the government in the 1950s. The house is painted dark green and has tons of plants in the front, but there's no yard. My room is on the first floor and I have my own bathroom. There's a living room and a small kitchen that everyone shares, and the rest of the family lives on the second floor. San Isidro is a very residential neighborhood, there are tons of parks and trees that line the streets, and there's a
Vivanda grocery store 2 blocks away. I'm currently taking Art of Peru, International Trade and Negotiation, and Advanced Spanish Conversation at the Universidad del Pacifico, which is about a 10 minute walk from the house.
My homestay family...
Prior to my arrival, I was handed a sheet of paper with a description of my family. Before I could absorb any important information, my eyes fixated on the section labels "PETS." It read: "Dogs: 3, Other:4." Three dogs was a bit much for my taste, but I thought "Hey, I can handle that." Then I saw the second part. Other:4. The first thought that popped into my head was "You've got to freakin' kidding me." If you're going to list a total of 7 animals that occupy the house that I'm going to live in for 2 months, why the heck would you classify them into dogs and others? For 3 weeks I hyperventilated about what "other" meant. Snakes? Rodents? Spiders? And does this family really need 4 of them? When I arrived at the house I only saw 2 dogs, a cocker spaniel named Ichi and a schnauzer named Chiara (her mom, the 3rd dog, passed away a year ago). I didn't find the "others" until I'd spent 4 excruciating days imagining that things were crawling up my legs. On day 5 I found Matilda the turtle and 2 birds hanging out in cages on the roof of the house. I'm not really sure I translated this correctly from my housemom, but I'm pretty sure one of the dogs recently ate a turtle, knocking the "others" down to a mere 3.
Vicky, my housemom, is about 60 years old, a school teacher, and never been married or had kids. Now for those of you who have seen Billy Madison, do you remember the part where the gardener reads a paragraph in Spanish really fast, Adam Sandler tells him to slow down, and then he reads it at the same incomprehensible speed again? Well, welcome to my life. Seriously, I've stopped asking her to repeat because my brain just hurts afterward. Since Vicky is a verbal speed-demon I usually have to guess at about half of the things she tells me. For that reason, I'm not exactly sure if the missing turtle was eaten by one of the dogs or it ran away, but Chiara barks at me all day so I just picked what seemed like the most logical answer.
Vicky also thinks I am obsessed with bananas. My first week here she bought 4 bananas and 3 strange orange fruits filled with slimy seeds that you are supposed to eat. Obviously, I ate all 4 bananas before I even touched the slimy seed fruit. The next time Vicky went to the store she bought 15 bananas. I'm pretty sure the expression on my face when I saw her with that many bananas was something along the lines of "I am not a monkey!" At least I'll be getting lots of potassium!
Patricia, Vicky's younger sister, and Renzo, Patricia's 28 year old son, live in the house with us. Renzo works from the house as a graphic designer and is quite hysterical. I am frequently awoken to him singing American hiphop songs, Celine Dion, and Britney Spears from the kitchen. He calls me "zanahorita" which means "little carrot" because he thinks all I eat is salad because I don't eat red meat.
Some lovely characteristics of the city...
Playa, playa, playa!!!!
The beaches of Lima may not be the beaches of Cancun, but there's ocean and sand and incredible sunsets almost every night! The most famous mall in South America - Larcomar - is actually built into the seaside cliffs in Miraflores.
Pisco sours!!! Peru's national alcoholic beverage. Pisco is a liquor made from grapes. It's usually consumed in a cocktail called pisco sour which is made from lemon or lime juice, pisco, sugar, and an egg white foam topping. They are delicious, but REALLY strong. (Sort of like a Carmentini, when Carmen's making them after she's already had 3).
Some not so lovely characteristics of the city...
The transportation is a dangerous madness of unauthorized taxis and buses breaking every possible traffic regulation (if they even exist in Lima) as they rush around the city trying to find passengers. The taxis - old, poorly maintained cars that sometimes don't even say Taxi - are usually driven by people who have lost their jobs and are trying to make a living. It seems like every other car is a "taxi" which makes it very intimidating and unsafe to take one alone. There are no meters inside the cars so you have to negotiate a price before you get into the cab. Also, the drivers honk at every single person walking on the sidewalks to ask if you need a ride, which just adds to the unpleasantness of the e
ntire taxi experience. The buses (actually just old vans) are just as bad as the taxis. They are all privately owned, which means there is no official bus system or route. The bus-vans cram as many people as they can inside them, and often change their routes so you have to ask where they are going before you get on. It's stressful, and probably my one complaint about Lima, which is unfortunate because a poor transportation system affects almost every other aspect of your life in a city.
This weekend will be my first spent in Lima since I've been in Peru so hopefully I'll have the chance to explore a little more without being overwhelmed by all the crazy drivers!
Photo guide:
Last weekend my group took a trip down the Pan-American Highway to the cities of Ica, Paracas and Nasca.
attractions in the area, but definitely a must hit spot for adventurers.
meant, floor it up the sand mountains, spin us around the edges, and then plunge down the 100-200 foot straight drops (yes, the dunes get that high) - all ending with sand in uncomfortable places, a very raspy voice, and praising the man who invented the seatbelt harness contraption in the buggie seats. We watched the sunset from the middle of the desert and then Carlos handed us sandboards (way harder than it looks). Five days later, I was still finding sand in my ears and nose.
and only able to be viewed by boat. There are said to be over 200 types of marine species living on the island, including sea lions and Humboldt penguins. The sea lions were adorable (especially the baby ones! see the photo)! Hundreds of them covered the beaches, making tons of noise and running around in a way that reminded me of humans on the beach. It sort of made me wonder what we would look like to animals if they could take touristy boat rides around the outskirts of our beach destinations. There were also tons of birds, hence why my friend and I have our life jackets over our heads for protection...
atives between 200 BC and 700 AD. There are hundreds of symbols - some as intricate as monkeys, whales, spiders, fish, llamas, and lizards - while others are just lines. Some believe that these figures are directly related to astrological observations, and some believe that aliens created them. Honestly, (and I know this may come off unappreciative) I didn't think they were that impressive. It looked like a little kid drew up designs and then all the grown ups went outside and drew them in the dirt. We took a tiny 6 person plane over the lines, where the pilot circled the plane around the drawings until everyone was nauseous and praying for the ride to be over. Ugh, just thinking about that now makes me dizzy.
I've been traveling so often since I've come to Peru that I haven't had time to write about the city that's my home for the second part of this trip. Lima is a sprawling, chaotic city on the Pacific coast that has taken some time to grow on me. It's certainly not the European city that Buenos Aires is - instead, it provides a more authentic South American feel. Lima has all the things that BsAs has: nightlife, museums, great restaurants and movie theaters, you just have to work a little harder to find them.
Vivanda grocery store 2 blocks away. I'm currently taking Art of Peru, International Trade and Negotiation, and Advanced Spanish Conversation at the Universidad del Pacifico, which is about a 10 minute walk from the house.
The beaches of Lima may not be the beaches of Cancun, but there's ocean and sand and incredible sunsets almost every night! The most famous mall in South America - Larcomar - is actually built into the seaside cliffs in Miraflores.
ntire taxi experience. The buses (actually just old vans) are just as bad as the taxis. They are all privately owned, which means there is no official bus system or route. The bus-vans cram as many people as they can inside them, and often change their routes so you have to ask where they are going before you get on. It's stressful, and probably my one complaint about Lima, which is unfortunate because a poor transportation system affects almost every other aspect of your life in a city.
hung out on the beach and ate the entire trip. Well at least I ate. Seriously, I think I out-ate Jim almost every meal (which NEVER happens). One night I ate my entire meal and about 3/4 of his. I couldn't help it. The food was SO good. Fresh seafood and shellfish at every meal (usually cooked in coconut milk). Fried plantains, which are a Colombian specialty. And at every street corner there was a vendor selling sliced mangoes (with lime and salt) and watermelon.
urants and bars. The two coolest bars we went to were set up on the colonial wall so that you have a view of the historic city on one side and of the ocean on the other. It was amazing because you could order drinks, watch the sunset over the water, and listen to local music all at once!
a trend...) drinking coconuts and Aguila (Colombia's national beer). Then, we were told we could go on a boat ride to see sharks and dolphin
s - so, of course, we went. No where in this conversation did they ever explain that we would be going to a cheesy aquarium with a bunch of sweaty little kids running around and pushing us over to get better views of the caged animals that clearly were not going anywhere. After a 12 year old girl almost pushed me into the dolphin tank we vacated that plan, played with some birds until our boat came to retreive us, and headed back to our beach, accepting the fact that our attempt to do something productive was a failure and we should just continue sitting on the beach for the rest of the weekend :).
Machu Picchu is the most recognizable site in South America, one of the Wonder's of the World, and one of the most amazing things I've experienced on this trip. It's incredible. Not just the ruins themselves, but the entire mountain range that surrounds it. None of the pictures even capture the essence of the overlapping, green mountains that seem to extend to the heavens in every direction from the site. My first thought was "Man, the Incas knew what was up."
Quechua (native Peruvian language). The large mountain you see in all the pictures of the site is not Machu Picchu, it's Huayna Picchu ("Young Peak"). Machu Picchu is what the site is built on, and it stands very high behind the site, which is about 8,000 feet above sea level in the Urubamba Valley of Peru. Part of what makes the site seem so majestic is the direct astronomical ties everything seems to have. For example, using the stone compasses left by the Incas (which are completely accurate), Machu Picchu appears to be situated due South and Huayna Picchu directly North. The positions of the mountains are tied to key astronomical events that the Incas celebrated. The site seems to hold a perfect center of gravity in the valley, and standing there, you can certainly understand why so many people claim that the Incas possessed a certain power that we will never comprehend.
it, and consequently the site was not plundered or destroyed by them. Hiram Bingham discovered the site in 1911 and brought it to worldwide attention. There is some evidence that others had stumbled across it in the 1800s, but that is still debatable. However, Bingham did find farmers living on the site in 1911. However, they were living there in secrecy, and had no intention of telling anyone about this lost Inca city. There are no written records to determine the actual name or purpose of the site. Some hypotheses are that the site was a religious meca, a fortress, a prison, or simply just a place for the Incas to party! Much o
f the information we do know was determined from the artifacts and mummies left behind.
l, and some of the stones weigh more than 10 cars, so clearly they were much more advanced than we could ever imagine.
looked down at Machu Picchu (which looked really really tiny) and the rest of the valley. I had chills going up my spine as I looked out into the deep valley, but it was one of the most relaxing experiences of my life.
k the risk anway, and I'm so glad I did! Choclo is delicious!
ally yummy!
y.
