Lima

Greetings from Lima, the capital of Peru! I flew here from Arequipa. There were some beautiful views out the right side of the airplane of the awesome Andes. They rise up to 20,000 feet and are truly impressive. I even saw a smoking volcano!

At the airport, I had previously decided I would take the bus to my hostal. I had to fight my way through a phalanx of taxi drivers trying to get me into their cabs. The charge for a ride from the airport is usually around $20 for foreigners. I befriended one lady who told me she knew approximately where the bus stop was, and she was walking in the same direction. So the two of us walked toward the main drag in front of the airport.

She stopped to ask an airport cop for directions to the bus stop. He began to berate her for helping me, saying things like "Foreign tourists should pay for a cab," etc. She was embarassed by him. We walked around the corner and there was the bus stop. I thanked her profusely. She apologized for the cop and wished me well. I rode the bus for about 25 minutes. The bus driver and his helper warned me blocks in advance that my stop was coming up. The ride cost 45 cents. Peru really seems to be a place of extremes. The people are either super nice or the opposite.

I had been forewarned by numerous people, even Peruvians, how terrible Lima is. It´s a big city, as in BIG. The vehicles burn diesel and a low 84 octane gas. The traffic and congestion is terrible. The result is that there is a brown smog over thge entire city. That makes the city look pretty ugly. However, the part of town that I´m in, Miraflores, is the high rent district with lots of interesting restaurants, shopping malls, etc.

Today I went to the "National Museum". The bus drivers, etc., were all very helpful. The museum contains a great deal of stuff on Incan and pre-Incan cultures.

Last night I saw a documentary movie at the South America Explorers Club called Soy Andina. The director was there as well. Very interesting! I already plan to leave Lima tomorrow night heading north in the direction of Ecuador. Tomorrow during the day I´ll explore central downtown Lima.

Hasta luego!