October 3, 2005
Day 5

I started out my day with a trip to the Museo de Antropologia in the center of Huaraz. Like the museum in Lima, there were lots of artifacts from the prehispanic civilizations here. I'm so fascinated with the various cultures. It's strange how the Incas basically enslaved the other cultures of this continent and forced them to change their cultures, only to have the same thing be done to them one hundred years later by the Spaniards. A taste of their own medicine I guess. This time, I had a guide who showed me the whole museum. We chatted a lot about life in Peru and the US, the similarities and the differences. We talked entirely in Spanish, and surprisingly, I was able to understand 75% of it. It's weird how fast you can pick up a language when you are actually travelling in a foreign country (of course, I knew a lot of Spanish before my trip, but I hadn't used it in seven years).

After the museum visit, I met with Morad and we went to get breakfast. It just so happened that the owner of the shop we went to was from France and everyone in the place spoke French except me. It was a very bizarre experience when I had to think about two foreign languages at the same time. I eventually just zoned out and watched the boob tube while everyone else was chatting away.

In the afternoon, we walked to a lookout point near the city. It was a long hike up, but I held my own. The only problem was that we went around 4:00 PM. This time of year, it always rains at 4:00. I didn't get very good pictures, but the view was still pretty good, despite being so wet.

On the way back down, we noticed an interesting restaurant. We decided to get lunch and discovered that one of their main menu items was "cuy," which means "guinea pig" in Spanish. Both of us wanted to try it, so we each got 1/2 of a fried cuy. There wasn't much meat on it, and it was a little dry, but believe it or not, it tasted like chicken. Luckily, I got a huge soup, or I would've left that place hungry.

After doing some shopping around, I decided to go with Morad on a 4 day, 3 night trek in an area called "Santa Cruz." We'll be going with 3 other people I haven't met yet. It should be an amazing experience, as the area I'm in is home to the world's highest tropical mountains. I won't be able to get on the Internet until at least Thursday, probably Friday, so I'm just getting caught up tonight. Check back in a few days. I'll probably have lots of great pictures and stories to tell.

October 1, 2005
Day 3

I started out my day by taking a walk through the streets of Miraflores. There are lots of old houses and interesting buildings to see, and it's one of the few places in Lima where I feel completely safe to walk around. I took a stroll through a touristy market where clothes and souvenirs were sold at highly marked up prices. Then I walked past the house of Ricardo Palma, a famous Peruvian author. There was a museum there, but it was closed. I did a little more walking around, then returned to the hostel.

After my leisurely morning, Morad informed me that the bus tickets we wanted to get for Huaraz were sold out, so we would have to go with a different company. We took a taxi to the ticket place and got an overnight ride that goes from 9 PM to 5 AM. The good news is that the ticket only cost about $7, which is less than half of what I was expecting to pay. On top of that, I don't have to pay for accommodation and I'll get to wake up ready to explore a new city, at least in theory.

After purchasing the ticket, I took a taxi to the Museo de la Nacion, which had several exhibits about the pre-Hispanic and pre-Inca cultures of Peru. There were Wari masks, punctured skulls, shrunken heads, and all sorts of interesting tidbits from the long-forgotten cultures of this land.

After I had gotten my museum fix taken care of, I bought some food from the supermarket, hung out in the hostel for awhile, got all of my stuff together, and got ready to go on a long bus trip.

Morad and I got to the bus station about 8:30 for our 9:00 departure, and from the first minute we set foot inside, it was a horrible experience. There were about forty people waiting to get onto various buses out of town (we were the only foreigners). There were also about thirty people trying to sell us shit. One by one, they would walk up to us, stick their complete garbage items that nobody would ever want to buy in our faces, and hold them there for about ten seconds before moving on. For me, it was an exercise in extreme restraint.

At one point, a guy stuck one of those noise makers that you roll between your palms from Karate Kid II about one inch from my nose and started making noise with it. BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM! Why would I ever want to buy that? It took every bit of focus I could muster to keep myself from grabbing it and beating him over the head with it. After awhile I perfected the stare-blindly-into-space-and-pretend-they-don't-exist look. Even worse, I thought it was just the gringos they were bugging, but then I looked to my left to see a guy relentlessly waving a noise-making stuffed animal in someone's face. It's very frustrating for me too, because while I get thoroughly annoyed by these things, I realize that this is the only way these people can survive. I just wish they would try to sell food, or something someone else might want, instead. I guess I should just accept it as part of the culture. Life is more than skittles and beer.

The bus left about thirty minutes late, which isn't too bad I'm told. Upon embarking, we drove around Lima for about two hours picking people up. At first, there were only three people besides us on the bus, but eventually it got completely full. The rest of the trip wasn't too bad, even though my knees were pressed against the seat in front of me the whole time, there wasn't a bathroom or any bathroom breaks, and we climbed from sea level to 10,000 feet, so we were constantly moving uphill around hairpin curves, all while attempting to sleep because it was the middle of the night.

We got to Huaraz shortly before sunrise. When it got light enough to see outside, the first thing I noticed was how beautiful the scenery was. Huaraz is a small city that is surrounded by mountains. It's far removed from the noisy, polluted city of Lima. I think I will like it a lot better here.

Written September 30, 2005
Day 2

I got up early today and ate a simple breakfast at my hostel. Afterwards, I went with Tom and Henry from Britain and Mored from France to the center of Lima. The Plaza de Armas was an interesting place surrounded by churches and government buildings. The four of us walked a few blocks down to a market that sold fresh meat and fish. I was fascinated by the constant hustle and bustle lifestyle that characterized the area, yet it was a little frightening at the same time. With so many people moving in every direction, I constantly had to stay vigilant to protect myself. I would have loved to have become invisible to take a few good street photos, but I guess I'll have to settle for the quick shots I got with my point and shoot camera.

After the market, we walked through Chinatown. It wasn't very big and I didn't see even one person who looked even remotely Chinese, but at least there were plenty of places to eat. After lunch, we walked to the bull fighting arena, but it was closed. We had to walk through some pretty dodgy areas to get there, too. After we had enough walking around, we caught a cab back home.

Downtown Lima didn't impress me. It was a big, loud, and smelly area without any major attractions. Don't get me wrong, it was still fun to walk around and observe the city lifestyle, but there weren't many great places to enjoy for an afternoon, and there are plenty of areas that I'm told are far too dangerous to walk through, even during the day. Miraflores (the district where I am staying, a few miles from the center of Lima) is a lot nicer, but there still doesn't seem to be much tourism here. I didn't go on this trip to be a tourist, but on the other hand, I like learning about other cultures, and I have yet to find a place here that can help me do that, other than observing life on the street.

I still have a lot of time before my Inca Trail tour, so I've decided to go north for a week or so. Morad and I are going to try to find a bus ticket to Huaraz, a city about eight hours north of here. There are lots of mountains and treks to take near there. From there, I'll make my way south until I get to Cuzco.

Tomorrow I'd like to find the Museo de la nacion, which has models of the ruins of Peru. Hopefully, that will fill my cultural fix for awhile.

Oh yeah, I may not be able to post anything for a few days because I'll be on the move, so don't get too worried if you don't see anything new here.

September 29, 2005
Day 1

I spent most of the day today getting used to my new environment and catching up on some much-needed sleep. First, I found an ATM and withdrew some money. The machine didn't charge me anything; I hope it's like that everywhere. I also bought some food from the supermarket right by my hostel and made myself a few sandwiches. Next, I had trouble transferring my pictures and blog entries to the Internet because every computer I have found here still uses Windows 98, which means that my USB camera connection needs to install software on the computer for it to recognize the camera. I was completely unprepared for that one. Luckily, I eventually found the software the computer needed online and got it working. After I updated my site, I found the office for my airline and canceled the expensive ticket I was forced to buy. No harm done. After that, I a took a series of naps. I think I'm finally caught up on sleep after a long night of travel.

After my relaxing afternoon, I met some British guys who had just arrived in Lima as well. We tried to find a nearby restaurant, but it was not easy. There were several American fast food joints like McDonald's and Burger King, but we couldn't find any Peruvian restaurants in the area. Finally, we stumbled into a nice little place where we were the only customers. There was no menu, so the manager went into extraordinary detail of everything they served: a chicken dinner and a beef dinner. I had the beef. It was actually a very delicious meal, and the manager was very proud of her fine cuisine (She said that Peru's cooking is second only to that of France). I was most surprised that the food wasn't at all like Mexican food. In fact, the meal I got could be best described as a glorified beef stroganoff, but the sauce had so much flavor to it, it was like nothing I've ever had.

After dinner, we walked back to the hostel and discussed going out for a drink. I thought a bunch of people were going to go out, but it never happened. Instead, I played cards with some people for awhile and retired early.

My first day in Peru may not have seemed very exciting, but when everything you see is different from what you're used to, everything becomes exciting. Many aspects of Lima are exactly how I pictured them. It's a big city without any major "must see" attractions, but it still has a lot to offer. I'm most surprised at how cold it is here (colder than Wisconsin this time of year, believe it or not), and by how loud everything is. People honk their horns constantly and every "bus" (really just a big van) that goes by has a guy shouting out the window about where it's going. Wouldn't it be easier just to put up a sign on the front of the bus? The noise is hard for me to deal with now, but I bet after a few days, I probably won't even notice it anymore, like the parents of a screaming baby in a restaurant.

Tomorrow I'm going to check out more of Lima, figure out how long I want to stay here, and try to figure out what to do next.

Written September 29, 2005
Day 1

Once again, my plane from Miami to Lima wasn't delayed; it just took off thirty minutes late. The flight was very smooth, and I actually got an hour or two of sleep. I went to the customs line with my expensive return ticket in hand. I seemed to remember reading that there is no charge for Americans if they only stay in Peru for thirty days or less, yet when I bought the ticket, I wasn't thinking straight. The girl who sold me the ticket made if for the end of December, a full three months from now. I was trying to think up a story to tell the customs guy to get out of paying anything, like I would only be in Peru for a month, then go somewhere else for two months, then return to Lima and fly back home. After all of the "required" preparation of buying a $1300 return ticket and thinking up lies to tell the authorities, the conversation went exactly like this:

Him - "Tourist?"
Me - "Yes."

That's it. No other questions about what I was up to. Stupid airline. After that, I just had to pick up my backpack and go through another line to see if my baggage would get searched. The fool-proof system consisted of pressing a button, after which, either a red or green light appeared. Luckily, the light turned green and I was free to go. No being stuck in a jail cell with Hector yet.

I made it to my nice looking place, an old colonial mansion called "Home Peru." If I feel like I'm awake enough, I'd like to check out central Lima today, but we'll see. I still have to get that ticket canceled, andthe office is supposedly just a few minutes from here. Oh yeah, for those of you wondering how bad the jet lag is, considering the time difference of 0 hours, I'd say it's not bad at all.