South America is not that far away. From Washington DC, it takes about 2 hours to fly to Miami, and then another 5 hours to fly to Lima. I was expecting the airline to serve a lot of liquor on the plane but they didn't. When I flew to France they couldn't booze you up enough, but that is a different story. I decided to fly overnight. I have found that long trips work better that way because you can sleep, plus I felt that it would give me several more waking hours of vacation.
On the flight to Lima I was seated next to an old woman who spoke no English. She was returning from a visit to Boston to see her family. I was very impressed with myself. I was able to talk to her for a while in Spanish. We exchanged fairly complex ideas. That made me feel a lot better about my trip, as I was very worried about the language problem. Youn was seated a few rows back and I didn't see her until I got off the plane.
One unexpected problem that I had was that it seems I look a bit Peruvian. I have black hair and olive skin (I'm actually of Italian origin). Throughout my trip people thought that I was a local. The stewardesses on the plane kept addressing me in Spanish. Since they were asking me simple questions (do you want more coffee), I replied in Spanish. When the handed our the Peruvian customs declarations forms, they naturally gave me a Spanish language form. I didn't even know that there were English language versions available until Youn told me in the airport at Lima. The form pushed my knowledge of Spanish to the limit, but I guess at a few things and it was all OK.
Once we got to the airport we had to go through customs. It was surprisingly fast. They checked my passport. You don't need a visa if you are coming from the US. They stamped me with a 90 day entry visa right in the airport. Then we picked up our bags. They looked through Youn's stuff, but they didn't check mine. She was packing a bunch of tortillas. Peruvian food is not Mexican food, and Fernando was having trouble finding tortillas, so Youn brought some.
All in all, it took us less than 10 minutes to clear everything. That is less time that it takes to get back into the US. We beat our way through a large number of aggressive taxicab drivers and found Fernando waiting at the exit. We got in his jeep and sped off. By the way, our arrival time was 4am, so everyone was pretty tired.
We drove about 20 minutes to Fernando's house. He lives in the suburb of Miraflores, which is right on the beach. It is considered to be pretty swanky for Lima. His apartment overlooks the Pacific Ocean, as well as a small park. People live pretty well in Peru. Fernando is a very low level man at the embassy, but he had an incredible apartment. He had his own three bedroom, four bathroom apartment. It had parking and a private elevator. He also had a maid! He is thinking of coming back to the US soon and I warned him against it. There is no way that he could afford a pad like that in Washington.
Click here to see the view from Fernando's Miraflores Apartment
Fernando's apartment had one strange problem though. No heat. It is very difficult to rent an apartment in Lima that has heat or air conditioning. Apparently it does not get that cold in Lima, so they don't build heaters.
When we got to the apartment (at about 6am) Youn took a nap while Fernando and I went for a walk. I figured that I would sleep once I got back to Washington. We walked down to the park (which was already filled with couples making out), and down the street a few blocks. I had never been in the '3rd world' before, but it was nice. It seemed as clean and modern as any American city. The coast of Miraflores is one large park, then a steep cliff, then a public beach. It was very pretty.
After a while we walked back and picked up Youn. We went to an area south of Miraflores called Barranca. It is also an upscale suburb, but it is known for its nightlife. We ate some lunch and changed some money with a street changer.
Click here to see Youn getting cash in Barranca
The rest of that afternoon was spent looking around and going to the embassy. We went there because they have a travel agency there that is used by embassy staff. I went to figure out how to get to Machu Picchu. I'll talk more about my trip there in the next section, but suffice it to say that I was able to get tickets, tours, etc all through the travel agency, 'Lima Tours'.
The US embassy in Peru is huge! I was very surprised. It was much bigger than the one in Paris. It was also horribly ugly. Fernando said that it was designed to withstand terrorist attacks. If I lived near it, I would consider bombing it too. I didn't take any pictures there though, the marines didn't look very friendly. I did buy a 'US Embassy, Lima Peru' mug though. We went to a McDonalds right across the street from the embassy. They served 'Inca Kola', which apparently is the national soda of Peru. Despite the name it is not cola. It is yellow and tastes like bubblegum. When I asked why it was called cola, I was told that 'Inca' not only describes the native population, but it is also a euphemism for an injection. 'Kola' is a euphemism for your butt, so drinking an Inca Kola is like getting a shot in the behind!
We also went and picked up Fernando's girlfriend, Jessica. She is a native Peruvian and has never been outside of the country. She was very nice, but her English was limited. Thank goodness that Fernando was such a good translator. We went to Miraflores where we walked around a park and saw some street artists.
Click here to see a park in Miraflores
That night the four of us went out to one of the fanciest restaurants in Peru, 'Cafe 21'. I was a bit worried because I had brought nothing to wear, but I was told by Jessica that you don't have to dress up in Peru. I just wore my sweater, boots and a pair of khakis. Women are expected to dress up though. A lot of Peru is about status. Being rich is much better then being poor. Being light skinned is much better than being dark skinned, and foreigners (especially Americans) are much better than locals. Basically, if you have enough money to go to a fancy restaurant in Peru, then you don't need to show it off by wearing a suit. Spending freely is more important than looking rich.
Anyway, Café 21 was really good. The food was prepared very well, but it was not too fancy. I forgot my camera, or I would show you some pictures. Jessica got a mixed fruit drink that was very good. It was like a daiquiri, but no alcohol. It was called a 'jugo'. They are in almost all restaurants. One thing that was a bit strange was that all of the chairs had little buckles on them. It was explained to me that you should tie your purse to one to stop it from being snatched. I thought that security measures like that seems a bit inappropriate for a very fancy restaurant, but Youn thought that it was great.
The total bill was about S250, or $80 for the four of us. Compare that to a good restaurant in Washington, where $80 a person is the norm. I decided to pick up the entire bill, which really impressed Jessica (see above paragraph). My tour book stated that in Peru, a 10% tip is appropriate. I put down S27, which is about 12%. I felt more comfortable with that. Jessica freaked out. Apparently, 10% is the norm, but there is a cap at S5. I said that I didn't really care (it was only $9), but Jessica pointed out that the waiter only makes about S15 a day. He was very happy.
Later that night, we were invited to a party at Jessica's house. Her brother was getting married in a few days, and they were having a 'bachelor party'. Unlike an American-style bachelor party, the bride was there and so were all of her friends. I felt a little uncomfortable intruding, but Fernando told me that the Peruvians are all very friendly people and that it was not a problem. They would be offended if I turned down their offer. Jessica's brother also liked the idea that he had people come all the way from America just to see him get married. Anyway, the party was fun (although I didn't get very much of it). It consisted of a bunch of gag gifts and sexual innuendoes. At one point, Jessica's mother (yes) blew up a bunch of condoms into balloons and tied them to the bride. Then the groom was given a belt with a pin attached, and he had to pop all of the balloons while chasing his bride around. Stuff like that.
I thought that the party was great. I hate being a tourist. I want to see foreign countries for what they really are. This gave me a chance to spy on real middle-class Peruvians doing what they do. I only wish that I had brought my camera.
The next day we went sightseeing in Lima. There is not much to see. Lima was built in colonial times by the Spanish in order to load all of their stolen gold into boats. The only thing to really see are churches. There are a lot of churches. We went to a famous church called The Monastery of St. Francis (San Francisco). It was nice.
Click here to see The Monastery of St. Francis
It was basically a church. We took a tour. They had catacombs underneath where they used to bury people. They had one hole that was filled 10 meters deep with human bones. Spooky. They also claimed to have the worlds biggest book, but it was not a book, t was just a 20 foot tall painting that folded in half. They didn't let me take pictures inside the building though.
One interesting thing about Lima is that they have parking extortionists. You can park anywhere (and people do) for free, but a lot of times when you do, a man will come up and offer to 'watch your car' for a Sol. Pay him, otherwise he won't protect your car from the shadowy assailants that damage cars in Lima.
We had lunch at 'Haiti' restaurant (another high class place), and looked around the center of Lima where the presidential palace is. They had just had anti-presidential riots in Lima a week before we got there. Protesters stormed the palace and threw rocks at it. Lima, (and Peru in general) have one unique architectural feature. A wooden balcony. They are very proud of their innovated concept.
Click here to see the Haiti Restaurant, the Presidential Palace, and some wooden balconies
After a tour, we walked over to the shopping district for some stuff. I was interested in getting some native Peruvian and Inca artifacts/arts, but Youn was more pedestrian in her tastes. She had heard that shoes were very cheap. A good pair of leather dress shoes in Peru can cost as little as $25. Of course a pair of Nike sneakers coast over a hundred. Anyway, we did a lot of shoe shopping, and bought a lot of shoes for Youn. I didn't buy anything that day.
There was a bit of excitement though, a man was blowing up helium balloons and dropped his tank, which went off. No one was hurt, but people thought that a terrorist bomb had gone off (we were right near the palace). Everybody freaked out and ran. There was a lot of confusion. That was the closest I ever came to an act of terrorism. It reminds you that Peru only became democratic in 1980.
Click here to the shopping district, and a bunch of shoes
We had intended to do a little partying that night, but it turns out that we picked the wrong weekend to go to Peru. There were municipal elections on Sunday, and so, to stop trouble, there were no liquor sales all weekend. I had heard that Lima has a great nightlife, but it was all closed down. We were tired anyway.
The next day we went to the 'Francesco Restaurant', which is a seafood place on the beach. It is supposed to be very fancy. The president of Peru eats there a lot, but he wasn't there when we showed up. It was pretty good. After lunch we had to take Jessica to go vote. Voting in compulsory in Peru. It is a S1000 fine for not voting. So, we had to go to the poll. It turned out that Jessica's poll was in one of the worst parts of the worst neighborhood in Lima. It was pretty bad, but I have seen places almost as bad in the US. When we got to the poll, there were about 10 army guys in uniforms and carrying machine guns. They were not pleased to see a car with diplomatic plates pull up in front of their station. We moved down the street to park.
After that, more shopping. This time we went to a flea market type place that had native stuff. I didn't buy too much there, as I was saving my cash for Machu Picchu. I felt that they would have better stuff there. I bought a few things though.
Click here see more shopping adventures, plus a seafood restaurant
The next morning I was to leave for Cusco. Youn was not going to come with me. She had used up all of her vacation time and was going to go home. I would have to take on the mountain by myself. I was going to fly to Cusco, and my plane left at 5am. I got up at 3am to make the plane. Fernando had called a taxi company the night before and they had someone pick me up. I can't remember the name of the company, but they are supposed to be very reliable. It costs S30 to go to the airport. That is high for a taxi, but it was 3am.
OK, now for the real fun,
Part 3: Cusco and the Inca Valley
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If you are thinking of going to France instead of Peru, see my France Page
If for some reason you think that I'm a great writer, and you like scary, conspiracy-laden, psychological thrillers, you can read my novel, City of Pillars, published by The Invisible College Press. It has nothing to do with Peru though. PS: I use my middle name as my nom de plume, but it's still me.