Lima

Remember how in my last e-mail I was kinda sad about being alone? Sratch that. Right after I sent that these three girls from Michigan asked me if I wanted to go out on the town with them. I thought it sounded better than going to bed. It started off well we danced and drank some Pisco Sour which is like the national drink down here, then the fighting started. They couldnt agree on where to go next, we finally decide on this karaoke bar but one of them is pouting. Then We want to go dancing but a different girl starts pouting and walks off on her own. Then we have to go find her...and on and on. It was fun for the most part, but all the drama made me remember why I was doing this alone.

So now that Ive been in Lima for three days I think Ive actually done every tourist thing that Lonely Planet has suggested, and then some. Yesturday I went to downtown central Lima and saw the two main plazas, the cathedral, an inquisition museum, the presidents residence. There were so many police around the area and tanks as well, which was a little disturbing. Sometimes there would be a row of them standing in fron of a street I would want to go down. And I asked if I could go there and they were like, of course you can, like why would you think you couldnt pass a large barricade of police with riot shields? I walked pass a strike demonstration which was a little intense. Took a bus to the highest point in Lima. Then I went to these catacombs, but there was a tour of the upsatirs fist and of course it was in spanish. Now this was my 3rd tour in spanish that day so I decided just to go off on my own. But, of course, I couldn{t actually find the catacombs so I was a little lost. Then I ran into this cool couple from New York who were having the same problem. So we stuck together and finally found them. The good part about being down there on our own was that we could take pictures (which were not allowed) but the bad thing is that it was so creepy being down there with the bones and the silence. Oh well. Then we headed to an Indian market closer to our hostels and decided to go for dinner in this party area known as Barranco. But it was dead. I couldnt read the menu so I just ordered the most interesting sounding thing. Which ended up being meat with onions on a pile of fries, with rice and salad on the side. It was really salty, but pretty good. It seems the most popular meal down here is 1/4 chicken with fries and salad and this gross pap called Inca Kola, which tastes just like Iron Bru, from Scotland which I didnt care for either.

Then we went to a cuban club and watched all the salsa dancing. If I had more energy I would have tried to find a dance partner, but I was so tired. Rohan and Erika were leaving Lima this morning so I said good bye.

Today I went to Pachacamac, which are ruins of an ancient city about 30 kms outside of Lima. I was adventerous, I took a local bus, which is more like a big van. Their local busses are crazy! And theres about a million of them so if you get on the wrong one it could be trouble! Anyways, the ruins were neat but again, if I wanted to pay for a tour it would have been in spanish, so off on my own again. Im leaving Lima tommorow morning to go to Pisco.