The end of our first week

It is now the end of our first week. We thought instead of doing a blog daily we would do it weekly as we would then fit more into our posts. So here were last week’s events:


Day 2 Wednesday - Today we visited Hauca Pucllana which are the sacred temples of the Lima people (much like pyramids). We learnt that at these temples the Lima’s liked to sacrifice women and children to honor the gods of the sea and moon.... bit scary to be a women then! Shark meat was also there dish of choice at celebrations as religion was dominated by the sea. In the evening we went on a ‘Mirabus’ tour which was very cold as it was an open top bus. There we visited the water park and saw these amazing water shows:

 

Day 3 Thursday - We visited a Peruvian market today with John's Nanny and I managed to haggle a couple of gifts for home. John finally got his ‘anticuchos’ (cow heart meat on a stick) for lunch which he had been longing for since we had arrived!! In the evening John's Tia Anita came over and helped us with booking our trip to Cusco and our trek up the Andean Mountain range to see Machu Pichu next week!

Day 4 Friday - John and I travelled to the center of Lima today to visit a museum called the ‘Museo de Inquisition’. It was a free tour but unfortunately for us, it was in complete Spanish and therefore we had no idea what was going on. What we managed to understand was that if you were not the correct religion (i.e. Inkan religion) and was unwilling to convert you were tortured in nasty ways. We then returned to the market and got myself a nice poncho made from alpaca hair! 30 soles = £7.50! In the evening we met Gabi, an old amigo de John, and her father who took us out for nibbles and a drink in a nice place called Barranco. Barranco is a lovely barrio full of bars and restaurants right on the coast of Lima. An excellent place to go for the evening and beautiful views across the sea.

Day 5 Saturday -Today we finalized planning for Machu Pichu and paid all our money. We have managed to get a free hotel stay either side of the trip courtesy of Tia Anita's connections! We then met up with Jose, a family friend and went out for some drinks with him and his friends. It is now established that pisco sour is very strong and with knowing it you can be very merry with just two glasses.

Today we are going somewhere up in the mountains to see John's mums cousin which should be muy calor, la cantuta, very warm and so we have packed our swimming stuff!

Hope you are all missing us!!

Adios
Chao

Vicky y John

First day in Lima

Today we arrived very early in the morning! We are exhausted and exasperated from one hell of a long haul flight, where I did not receive my vegetarian meal, meaning I did not get much to eat on the journey, but no need to worry as I have now been fed and am full up from the yummy Peruvian food that Nanny Lucha provided us with, including papa la huancaina y arroz con pollo. :)

We both have already learnt that our Spanish will need to drastically improve to survive in South America, however it has already improved within the course of one day!

The one thing I have to tell everyone here is do not try to drive here if you are not used to it as the traffic is terrifying, everyone beeps and nobody is concerned with pedestrian safety.

Tomorrow evening we plan to take a bus ride around Lima at night!

Adios

Vicky y John