So while in Lima we got some visas (Bolivia and Brazil) and cooked for ourselves for once. We slept in the same beautiful apartment for more than 3 nights in a row and even showed a couple of friends from from our Huaraz trek around for a day. Mostly though, we did our best to meet up with difference couchsurfers in different parts of town. (If you´re new to this blog and don´t know what Couchsurfing is, click here)
So we wrote a personal ad.
Well, not quite. Since we didn´t need a place to stay we posted on the Lima message boards looking for anyone who might want to meet us or practice their English. We got a bunch of responses. With couchsurfers we toured Lima´s center and had our first (and maybe our second) Pisco Sour. We enjoyed coffee in Miraflores and toured the huacas in Lima that pre-date the Incas. We received great travel advice saving us a couple of hundred dollars when we went to Nazca, Ica, and Paracas, and even were special guests at a wine and cheese party. (Interestingly enough, this was actually called a “wine and cheese” party rather than a “vino y queso” party.)
We also did some touring of our own when we went to the site of the Spanish Inquisition in Lima where we had an awful tour guide…it happens. The museum itself was interesting though, we got to see the torture chambers and some original prisoner wall art. The Museo de la Nacion was pretty good (and free) with archaeological works from all over Peru (which is an awful lot for one museum) but wasn´t quite as good as the (but not free) gold museum´s exposition in Miraflores.
But now our comfort of “normal” living is at an end and it´s time for us to travel again. Leaving Lima we were quickly reminded of how many Peruanas live below the poverty line as we passed slums in the desert heading south. While we are privileged to experience many great things while traveling, we are constantly reminded of just how lucky we are to be able to do something like this…let alone be able to eat three (or five) square meals a day. Though we might have some bad days, its good to remember just how fortunate we are!
Recent Comments