Our Journey Comes to an End
Trip Start
Sep 05, 2008
1
8
Trip End
Sep 20, 2008
Lima, Peru
Sunday, October 19, 2008
We ate at this place called Norky's, which is pretty popular for it's roasted chicken. Nick and I didn't know what we wanted and also didn't know what a lot of stuff on the menu was so we just took the waiter's suggestion and got one of the combo platters to share. When he brought out the food, we were a bit overwhelmed by the huge platter of meat, not to mention the ridiculous portion of fries and salad. Although we weren't sure what all of the meats were, we decided to try everything and ask questions later. All in all we had 9 different styles/kinds of meats - a quarter of a roasted chicken, a boneless chicken breast, a pork chop, steak, intestine, cow heart, chorizo, gizzard, and tripe. It was way too much food. I wouldn't say that any of it tasted gross, but some of the textures were odd. And intestines are very difficult to chew.
After lunch, we headed to the airport early since we didn't have anything else to do. I changed clothes and washed my face in the airport bathroom. While we were waiting to check in, we saw the Argentinian couple again that we had met in our hostel in Arequipa. We passed the time in the airport by playing cards and browsing through duty free shops. Both of our flights to Ft. Lauderdale and La Guardia went smoothly and we actually arrived a little bit ahead of schedule.
Overall, it was an amazing trip, and I'm so glad I let Nick talk me into it. I would love to go back again someday to see more of the country. It'd be nice to see some of the northern regions and maybe day trip through the Amazon or one of the national parks.
Some random notes on Peru:
In general, I found that people were very nice, friendly, and helpful, but there were also many people that were eager to take advantage of tourists. It was sad how young some of the kids started working to make money off of the tourists - selling candy or postcards, dressing up in traditional clothing for photo opportunities, etc. Also, the words Inca and Machu Picchu are like buzzwords or icons that are used in all sorts of marketing and advertising. I even saw a billboard advertising feminine sanitary pads that had a picture of Machu Picchu in the background... not sure what the connection is there.
Overall, I really liked the food. The traditional food on the hike got a little dull after awhile, but I loved the seafood in Lima and trying all sorts of new stuff wherever we went.
A lot of places don't have hot water heaters so they use electric water heads. It looks like a fat shower head, and it works kind of like a hair dryer with water running through it. Most bathrooms had signs asking you to discard the toilet paper in the trash can because the plumbing can't handle it. I also used various holes in the ground along the hike because toilets were unavailable at most campsites.
Nick was a great travel buddy. We got along really well - he fended off all the sketchy guys since most people assumed we were dating, and I spoke Spanish for the two of us so it was a nice give and take. I got to use my Spanish a lot more than I expected. Peruvian Spanish was pretty easy to understand, aside from some local expressions, and I didn't have any problems with their accent.
