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Trip Start Jun 20, 2009

Trip End Jul 31, 2009

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Flag of Peru Lima, Peru
Wednesday, July 29, 2009

I ate my last breakfast of bread and jam for a long time. I got on a minibus to go downtown, which is no small feat in itself. These are the second hand buses from Japan I mentioned earlier. Each one has a driver and a guy who stands at the door, announcing at each bus stop "Arequipqdaquipaquipa" or "Tacnatacnatacnatacna", depending on where the bus is going. They had these in other cities but I never dared board one. They're quite colorful, each one painted with stripes. A few look like old school buses or the bus my church had growing up. Anyway, I got on one and almost fell over as the bus lurched forward right when I got two feet on it. I sat next to an older woman who shared that she'd lived in Lima for mandy years. She said that the city center used to be more beautiful but then the rich moved out to the suburbs. I told her that the same thing has happened in many American cities.

In the center, I found a little street fair by the Rio Rimac, a canal of dirty water that makes even Santiago's Mapocho seem pretty

a farewell dinner with friends rediscovered

. I had my first suspiro limeno, a sweet mixture of condensed milk, merengue, and dulce de leche, whipped up unto what looks like soft serve ice cream. It was good, but I'm still scared of getting sick off of street food.

I toured the San Francisco Monastery in downtown. It wasn't as pretty as Santa Catalina in Arequipa, but still interesting. Too bad I hardly had time to take it in since our tour guide rushed us through at breakneck speed. I had to almost run to keep up with our guide, scurrying around in her heels. I did enjoy my brief glance at a painting of the last supper where the apostles ate cuy. I didn't mind being rushed through the catacombs, the old underground cemetery. They had crypts where they buried bodies on top of lime on top of bodies. There are wells 12 ft across and 10 meters deep full of bones left over from the bodies buried there. I felt claustrophobic walking through but imagine the poor monks who had to go down there while there were bodies still decaying. No need to flog yourself to feel repentent!

I headed over to Chinatown for lunch. The shop and restaurant only look slightly more Asian than the rest of the population, unlike in the US. I found a restaurant that had the "highest rating" awards and government health plaque on the wall but decided not to eat there

riverside park

. I'm sure the food would have been the best, but there was a wait. The longer I've been on the road, the more I opt to take the path of least resistance. I ate instead at a buffet restaurant with no wait, no confusing menu, and no time lost on food delivery. The food was decent but not great. It did, however, satisfy my craving for fried rice and pork.

Back in Miraflores I walked by Starbucks and heard someone call my name. It was Aga from La Serena! We were both amazed to run into each other in this city in a completely different country with 8 million inhabitants. Of course, if we were to spot each other in Lima, Starbucks in touristy Miraflores would be the likely place. I went out to dinner with them and some other travelling friends they had collected. So, a thousand miles or so and a border, and you're not alone. What a way to end the trip. Tomorrow I get up early one last time to catch my last set of flights, this time taking me back to the anglophonic world, back to the northern hemisphere, back to summer, back home.

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