So we all made it to Lima. This was my impression of the city. In a sense it reminds me a lot of Los Angeles. No offense to those of you who live in/like L.A., but when I say a place reminds of the there it’s never a compliment. Peru’s capital is huge, it’s horribly polluted, it’s smoggy all the time (I have not stopped coughing since I got here), it’s expensive, and there is really nothing to do here. This is easily the worst large city I’ve been to in South America, quite possibly the worst large city I’ve ever been to in my entire life. I had talked to people who were from Lima before arriving here and none of them ever had anything nice to say about it.
The people in this burg alternated between being really friendly and money grubbing attention mongers. My first day I was given a free soda and bus ride by two seperate individuals and I helped a couple of high school girls with their English grammar homework (I’m seriously hoping I didn’t screw them over; grammar was never anywhere close to my favorite subject). All this was cool had me in a positive mood. But then we took a cab ride to the ruins of Pachacamac nearby and the guy wanted $50. Not soles; greenbacks. At one point I was walking down the street and this guy came up to me randomly and started chatting, very friendly like. The next minute, without even asking me, he proceeded to shine my shoes and want 20 soles for it. I really want out of here.
So we’ve done basically nothing but sit around and go to the movies. Together and seperate we saw X-Men 3, The Omen, and Scary Movie 4. And this is all we have to talk about really. Paragliding was considered a possibility, but I was told it cost $40 for a fifteen minute flight. Oi!
The only significant thing that happened is that we said goodbye to Fabrice, our traveling partner who we met many months ago in Ushuaia. He’s finally going back to France (with a brief layover in Mexico). We thank him much for his company and really good cooking skills, and wish him good luck with his travels in the future. And Happy Birthday as well!
Now Jordan and I have decided that if we want to visit any part of the Amazon jungle now is the time. So we are boarding a bus to Yurimaguas for an estimated 26 hours (ugh..) and hope to catch a boat up river to see some jungle canopy. Be sure and check out the photos gallery. We have pics of Lima (the few good ones) and additions have been made to the Arequipa and Nazca galleries from Jordan and Fabrice’s trip through there as well. Also be sure and check out the people page. Later dudes!
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