aventura de peru. dia 1.

I´m here. I made it to Peru safely and although I´ve only been here for 24 hours, I already have three contacts in my new Peruvian cell phone.

Girl gets around.

It took me two days to arrive, but I´m here. I had a 24 hour layover in Georgia where I succeeded in consuming at least 12,000 calories worth of fried food. Let´s just say there were fried pickles and tater tots on my tacos one night and chicken tenders on my waffles the next morning. Also, during this 24 hour southern extravaganza, I managed to overwhelm Miz Ashley with explicit content (via the movie Neighbors) and play witness to an explicit account from Miz Ashley Sr. (Miz Ashley´s mom for those of you who missed that) when she said and I quote, “She´s a little bit heavier than me and she pole dances...I just wanna poke my eye out thinking about it,” (all of this in that sweet southern drawl, in reference to a mutual friend she shares with her daughter).

Good times in the ATL. #southernhospitality

Finally, it´s time to board my plane to Lima. Dude, Delta Airlines knows what´s up. Not only did they distribute eye masks, ear plugs, headphones, and hot towels, they fed me twice in 6 hours and poured me some complimentary wine. I mean, all the rest was nice, but free wine too? Dang Delta, you got it goin´ on.

So I land in Lima at 11:05 and it takes me roughly an hr to get through immigration and customs...not due to any complications...simply because apparently midnight is the busiest time of day at the Lima airport...so my cab driver (aka my new best friend) Liliana shared with me when she picked me up.

I come out of customs to hundreds of people standing at the exit to the airport with their little signs waving, all with various names, beckoning their tourists to swim their way over (me being one of those tourists, frantically searching for my name). When I find it, I am overwhelmed with relief (as I´m sure you can imagine). Not only have I found my name, my driver speaks English! And she´s funny! She goes on to tell me how crazy I am for all of my solo plans through Peru. The Americans and the Peruvians both think I´m crazy. Hmm.. I suppose it must be true.

We arrive at my hostel for the evening and again I am overwhelmed. We have found a little pocket of paradise in this very dangerous and rather ghetto part of Lima, just outside of the airport. The district of Callao is maybe not the safest place for a tall blonde white girl like myself to be wandering alone, but hey, I have Liliana to protect me now.

After sleeping soundly, I wake up to Yahir, cooking me breakfast and attempting to hold a conversation with me and my rough Spanish. She is so sweet, asking me what country I am from and whether I have brothers and sisters, you know, that awkward small talk when you´re sharing a conversation with someone who doesn´t understand you. It was awesome. I felt so accomplished for being able to moderately understand and in turn, communicate proper answers to her questions.

I am learning.

After breakfast, I catch my cab to Surco (one of the nicest districts in Lima), where I will be meeting my couch host (I am surfing her couch, or rather her air mattress). My cab driver is Rosenverg and he does not relent in making sure that I know that. Several times throughout our hr long journey he repeats “Rosenverg es el maximo,” in a rather sing songy voice. Not only is he dramatically entertaining, he teaches me la idioma de Inca after he learns that I will be hiking the Inca trail. He also throws on a CD and asks “cantar en Ingles?” And proceeds to sing a kid´s song in English..the words, “say good morning to your teacher” to the beat of The Addams Family song. It was absurdly awesome.

Here is a photo to commemorate the experience:

I meet my host Ana at Starbucks and we proceed to have the most adventurous day wandering around Lima. I´ve met her whole family in the course of a day, parents, sister and brother in law, godmother, and maternal grandparents, all overwhelmingly sweet. Mom bought us lunch at Punta Sal today where I tried the traditional Peruvian ceviche and delighted in a Pisco Sour as all tourists are supposed to.

Here are some pics of what I ate: 

Ceviche esta en la derecha

Este plato tipico se llama tacu tacu con lomo saltado sin las papas fritas

After lunch we bought my bus tickets for the remainder of my trip, got me´z a cell phone (so I can chat with all three of my new friends), and then wandered over to Miraflores and Barranco. We watched the sunset in Miraflores, and entertained the idea of going para–gliding like these folks:

Until we found out that it was almost $80 bucks...we´re gonna try and find a groupon. After watching those guys for awhile we went to Barranco where we sat and had a Chilcano de Maracuya (another popular alcoholic beverage) along with some Picarones (a delicious donutty dessert):

Can you tell the difference between my iPhone photos and my DSLR photos? Classic.

After Barranco, Ana and I head back to Miraflores to meet up with Liliana for a couple drinks at Huaringas (a super classy bar with various levels for your enjoyment). Once there, not only do we find Liliana, but we happen upon a couple that took the flight over from Atlanta with me. Now we´re a group of 5, laughin´ and stachin´, making plans for the next day together:

Tomorrow, the five of us, will be wandering around Centro de Lima checking out La Plaza de Armas, and once the day of historical encounters has commenced, we will make our own history at karaoke, Peruvian style, before I have to catch my bus to Paracas early Wednesday morning. 

Should be a hoot.