Back in Lima, Peru

March 5, 2006-Re-grouping
(Photos:Tai Chi,
Bikeathon,
Buying street art)

We’re still taking malarone for malaria prevention and have to take it for a week after leaving the Amazon. We added diamox today for altitude in Cusco (11,000 feet). All of us have mosquito bites from the cruise. Some are really covered. Judi, David, and I don’t have many (I have three) but David has an interesting cluster on his elbow and ankle.

We took off from Iquitos this morning with Irish music playing on the PA system of the plane. Go figure.

When we got to the hotel in Lima we found twin beds in our hotel room. We had a mini-apartment but that didn’t matter. We wanted one bed after six days in singles. Judi Cope offered to switch and we went to the front desk to work it out. As it turned out hers was just a hotel room with a king bed. Only apartment suites had an Ethernet connection. We needed the Ethernet so it was back to the drawing board. They found us a king bed in a suite with Internet access. Yeah!
Exploration

We set out for lunch and to find an art show in a nearby park. The show wasn’t set up yet but there were people doing Tai Chi in the park. I tried to join in but they were doing forms from a different school of Tai Chi. I stood behind them and did my own thing. It has been three weeks since I’ve practiced and I was rustier than I thought I’d be.

We then stumbled upon a bikeathon. We didn’t know if it was a marathon or for charity. When the pack of hundreds of bikers slowed down someone explained that they were demonstrating in favor of bicycle riding in Lima instead of motorized vehicles. I agree that there’s a pollution problem. We kept waiting for it to rain all day and then realized it was smog that made the sky so angry looking.

We happened upon the Haiti Café and enjoyed the food as well as the find. David ordered a cheeseburger and what came was a delicious surprise. There was a burger and fried egg between two thick slices of bread. It was all wrapped in melted mozzarella cheese. Yum!

After lunch the art show was open. It was quite small but Judi and I found some watercolors we liked. We were bargaining for them in soles (the Peruvian dollar) when a local came up and tried to help. He switched the bargaining to U.S. dollars and I was ready to clobber him. He thought he was helping but I told the artist I wanted to talk only soles. We got as good a deal as we could. The frames will be thirty times what we paid for the pictures, but that’s the way it always is.

Judi went back to the hotel and David and I went to Vivanda, a large upscale grocery store. David wanted to buy Ahi, a salsa he loves, and we needed an ATM. The one in the store rejected our card four times even with the help of one of the bank staff. The sign on the ATM clearly said it accepted our kind of card. That happened in Costa Rica so we weren’t upset yet. We went to another bank and, voila, we got cash. I don’t know why those things happen.

Tomorrow is another 4 AM wake-up. We’re taking the earlier flight to Cusco in case of bad weather and delays. This is the rainy season. Most tourists take the later flight. Our guide and fearless leader ironically named, Jesus, told us that tomorrow we cease being tourists and become explorers.

Toby