October 26, 2011
Well I met up with Jennifer at 4:30pm at my place on Tuesday and we caught a bus to another district of Lima since she had to pick up a baby shower card that she had especially made at a shop for (60 soles/$20US) which was a fancy card that had 8 pages to it. From there we got a taxi to another area of town since I needed a haircut and we found a place. A guy named "Abraham" who had blue hair was my barber. He wore a holster around his waist for carrying his scissors and combs etc... and it only cost me 15 soles ($5US) and that included washing my hair as well.
After my haircut we grabbed another taxi to Jennifer's favourite restaurant since she wanted me to try authenic Peruvian (Creole) food and we ordered some "Pisco sours" which is Peru's national alcoholic drink which was much better than the Pisco sours we had in Chachapoyas. Jennifer ordered our meal which had a variety of different things on the plate. We started with the meat and as I was half way done eating mine Jennifer informs me I am eating COWS HEART! I told her we don't eat hearts or any organs of the animals but I was surprised that the cows heart tasted very good like a nice steak. We also had tamales and we had white corn on the cob and it was a little better than what I had elsewhere but I still didn't like it. I was pretty tired at 8pm and she took me home in the taxi. When I come back to Lima on my last weekend here (November 18-20th) we plan to go north of Lima to an old ruin site called "Caral" since she only has weekends off from her work.
On Wednesday morning I went for my morning coffee at McDonalds and as I walked back I stopped into a few of the airline companies in Miraflores. The first one that I went into was LAN Airlines and asked about a flight from "Lima to Cuzco" and she asked if I was a national and I said "No" and then she quotes me $301US for that flight!! I couldn't believe it and like I said in another blog entry LAN has the audacity to charge non Peruvian residents an extra $175US on top of their ticket whether they are from Chile, Paraguay, or Canada. I then went next door to "Star Peru" and they quoted me $118US for the same flight and then I went next door to the other airline company that I used in Iquitos which is Peruvian Airlines and their quote was $92US. Later on I went to Taca airlines and I noticed there were a lot of Peruvians waiting in line to speak with a Taca airline person so I thought it might be cheaper and was shocked when she quoted me $181US. So it pays to shop around!! Actually Peruvian airlines seems to be the best and the one I used from Iquitos to Lima.
The airlines charge extra for luggage beyond 25kg and I do have one suitcase full of stuff that I really don't need so when I got back to my place I asked Pilar if I could leave one suitcase with her since I will be returning and she gave me lots of information about Cuzco and has many contacts there for Inca trail treks and accommodations that I will get off of her.
At 12 noon I took a mini-bus which is a van full of people paying 25 cents and then took another bus 30 km south of Lima to an ancient site called "Pachacamac" which was an important site even 1500 years before the Incas. It is nothing more than piles of dirt where you can see some mud brick structures and a pyramid of the son but it probably wouldn't interest most people due to it not being restored fully yet. Unless of course you get excited when you see big mounds of dirt then this place might be for you.
So I did buy my Lima-Cuzco airline ticket with Peruvian airlines which leaves at 9:30am on Thursday. I will spend a least a week there and hopefully go out and see Vilcabamba and Vitcos along with Machu Pichu and Wayne Pichu which together should just take one day but I will decide all this once I get there and do some due diligence on the best route since it does get awfully pricey when it comes to tours from Cuzco.
Well I met up with Jennifer at 4:30pm at my place on Tuesday and we caught a bus to another district of Lima since she had to pick up a baby shower card that she had especially made at a shop for (60 soles/$20US) which was a fancy card that had 8 pages to it. From there we got a taxi to another area of town since I needed a haircut and we found a place. A guy named "Abraham" who had blue hair was my barber. He wore a holster around his waist for carrying his scissors and combs etc... and it only cost me 15 soles ($5US) and that included washing my hair as well.
After my haircut we grabbed another taxi to Jennifer's favourite restaurant since she wanted me to try authenic Peruvian (Creole) food and we ordered some "Pisco sours" which is Peru's national alcoholic drink which was much better than the Pisco sours we had in Chachapoyas. Jennifer ordered our meal which had a variety of different things on the plate. We started with the meat and as I was half way done eating mine Jennifer informs me I am eating COWS HEART! I told her we don't eat hearts or any organs of the animals but I was surprised that the cows heart tasted very good like a nice steak. We also had tamales and we had white corn on the cob and it was a little better than what I had elsewhere but I still didn't like it. I was pretty tired at 8pm and she took me home in the taxi. When I come back to Lima on my last weekend here (November 18-20th) we plan to go north of Lima to an old ruin site called "Caral" since she only has weekends off from her work.
On Wednesday morning I went for my morning coffee at McDonalds and as I walked back I stopped into a few of the airline companies in Miraflores. The first one that I went into was LAN Airlines and asked about a flight from "Lima to Cuzco" and she asked if I was a national and I said "No" and then she quotes me $301US for that flight!! I couldn't believe it and like I said in another blog entry LAN has the audacity to charge non Peruvian residents an extra $175US on top of their ticket whether they are from Chile, Paraguay, or Canada. I then went next door to "Star Peru" and they quoted me $118US for the same flight and then I went next door to the other airline company that I used in Iquitos which is Peruvian Airlines and their quote was $92US. Later on I went to Taca airlines and I noticed there were a lot of Peruvians waiting in line to speak with a Taca airline person so I thought it might be cheaper and was shocked when she quoted me $181US. So it pays to shop around!! Actually Peruvian airlines seems to be the best and the one I used from Iquitos to Lima.
The airlines charge extra for luggage beyond 25kg and I do have one suitcase full of stuff that I really don't need so when I got back to my place I asked Pilar if I could leave one suitcase with her since I will be returning and she gave me lots of information about Cuzco and has many contacts there for Inca trail treks and accommodations that I will get off of her.
At 12 noon I took a mini-bus which is a van full of people paying 25 cents and then took another bus 30 km south of Lima to an ancient site called "Pachacamac" which was an important site even 1500 years before the Incas. It is nothing more than piles of dirt where you can see some mud brick structures and a pyramid of the son but it probably wouldn't interest most people due to it not being restored fully yet. Unless of course you get excited when you see big mounds of dirt then this place might be for you.
So I did buy my Lima-Cuzco airline ticket with Peruvian airlines which leaves at 9:30am on Thursday. I will spend a least a week there and hopefully go out and see Vilcabamba and Vitcos along with Machu Pichu and Wayne Pichu which together should just take one day but I will decide all this once I get there and do some due diligence on the best route since it does get awfully pricey when it comes to tours from Cuzco.
