Lima to Arequipa

Dinner our first night in Lima was at Astrid y Gaston, and we all agreed it was one of our favorite meals ever. It was just two blocks from our ridiculously cute hotel, so we got all dolled up and walked over for a 9PM reservation. We drank our first Pisco Sours, which tasted a lot like margaritas to me but are apparently the local drink of choice right now. When in Rome! We had ceviche (raw fish and shellfish in citrus juice with spices of choice) and a potato appetizer, then Beth and Talia ordered tuna and I ordered the duet of duck. We shared a bottle of wine and were so full we skipped dessert.

Not ones to ever call it an evening early, we went exploring and somehow found what is probably the only metal bar in our neighborhood. Not a bar made of metal, but a bar dedicated to heavy metal music, complete with an assortment of men with long frizzy hair and women dressed all in black. Evidence (notice 1: the huge beer - and how happy I look to have it, and 2: the dude on the left. Mullet, frizz - totally metal!):























Of course the night ended way too late (I am sensing a theme), but thankfully our flight to Arequipa wasn´t until 1PM, and our favorite cab driver Eduardo picked us up right at 11 to get us to the airport.

Lima International Airport is busy and we were certainly not the only touristas there. Once we pushed past the Chinese tour group and checked in, Talia and I had a little meltdown (we had not yet eaten and were grumpy. And Mom, Beth told me about your "keep feeding Megan crumbs" comment! Too true.) and we ate gross airport food. Strangely enough, there were food pimps in the airport as well.

Once fed, we realized the departure time on our ticket was actually 7PM, not 1PM like the ticket I booked online. Back to the ticket agent, who told us that flight that I booked on the airlines website did not actually exist. She showed us her list of all the flights of the day, and lo and behold, there was no flight! Once we calmed down, we decided to stash our backpacks in the airport lockers and head back into Lima in a taxi.

Then we met our taxi driver, Jesus, who made it his personal mission to show us Central Lima. He spoke only in Spanish, but slowly so the gringas could understand, and dropped us near the Plaza de Armas in central Lima at a parking garage. We toured a Monastery and were guided through the catacombs, where they had thousands and thousands of bones on display, including a recessed area with circular rows of femurs and skulls. Beth of course loved that part. She kept whispering "oooh skulls." Jesus was waiting outside, partially because he told us not to pay him until later as he wanted to take us back to the airport as well and I´m sure he didn´t want us skipping out on the check!

The Plaza de Armas, or Plaza Mayor, was gorgeous. A large square teeming with people and pigeons, a huge fountain, flowers, grassy areas, and surrounded by these beautiful yellow and white colonial buildings... And apparently the police do not mess around in Lima - check out that tank!


































We found a little restaurant and tested the ceviche, which was excellent, and of course tested the beer. It was excellent as well. Talia found a great museum in and old bank building that had pre Inca (the puncutation on this computer is weird, maybe its the Spanish keyboard settings, so forgive punctuation errors here) artifacts and examples of money from the region. We felt like we´d gotten in our culture for the day, so we treated ourselves to helado, or ice cream.



We ate the helado on the steps of a cathedral in the Plaza Mayor, then tracked down Jesus, who took us back to the airport.

Last night we got to Arequipa and are staying in another ridiculously cute hotel. FYI, for domestic flights beer and wine are free... I´ll keep this part short since it´s 11AM and Beth and Talia are still sleeping and I´m itching to get outside... We got to the hotel and walked to a little French restaurant around the corner. Arequipa is a LOT quieter than Lima (yay!), and we felt very safe even after dark. The restaurant was quiet, a few patrons and the bartender, who personally cooked our food in a tiny little kitchen. Food was great, and we ended up spending the rest of the evening talking to him and his friend. Javier, the bartender, is French and speaks French and Spanish, and his friend Lorenzo, is also French but lived in Miami for years and now runs another restaurant here in Lima, and speaks English, Spanish, and French. There was a lot of translating going on, but tonight we are the special guests at Lorenzo´s resaurant at half past 7...

Photos of us at Javier's place, and the "before and afters" of the food:





Okay, time to go wake the girls! Hope everyone is well!