Alright so we’re here for a few more days. Hopefully tomorrow is our last day here and our VISAs clear. I’m thinking we can get our visas around midday and then hopefully bus out of here at night onto our next destination (Ica I believe)?

Our journey is south to Ica and then east towards Machu Picchu.

I’ve heard/read that it’s about a 20 hour journey to Cuzco, which is the city where we’re going to go into MP. I think we’re going to break it up a bit though and just do 5 hours here/6 hours there/etc, stay in some smaller towns.

Anyways, we’ve stayed in Lima for about a week now. It’s a cool city and it’s grown on me…I’ve read alot about how Lima kindve sucks (and maybe it does, relative to other cities)…but I enjoyed my stay here. The people are all nice, the food is good…I wish there were a few more tourist spots but I guess it’s also very very possible that I haven’t investigated them enough.

Anyways, 2 days ago we ate at Mcdonalds…we’d both been craving a (relatively) good burger. I don’t really trust these people down here to make a good burger…from what I’ve seen, they’ve butchered alot of relatively simple staples in American food (some pastas, pizza, sandwiches)…so yeah.

Sometimes you just crave some American food…rice/chicken/potatoes are all great (interchange that with beef/fish/veggies) but they get old after a bit. I miss some of the richness (read: fattiness) of American food. Whenever we go on a family trip my dad always wants to hunt down good Chinese restaurants…I never understood why he’d do such a thing. Maybe because Omaha has such a shitty selection of ‘good’ Chinese (I say ‘good’ because ‘good’ to me is some general tsos…I’m such a bad asian). But now I know…it’s because he misses some of that stuff, kindve like how I’m missing a huge juicy burger.

On the same topic of discussion- the topic of what “American food” came up a few nights ago. What is “American food” ? I basically said our food is an amalgamation of other cultures where we change it to our own. Maybe burgers and fries, that’s fucking American. Or a thick slab of ribs, so tender that the meat is dripping from the bone…American pit BBQ nom nom nom.

I went to a climbing wall in town today. It was alright overall, meh…there wasn’t any top rope, just all bouldering. There weren’t any other routes set on it either so it was just kindve a free for all…there were some cool walls (large inverting) but they weren’t very high.

I also realized my finger hurts again…might just take another 5 days off to let it fully heal. Can’t risk hurting my finger permanently.

Anyways, yeah…tonight I gorged myself on sushi. Our hostel had their friends come in and make a ton of sushi/cater from their restaurant on the hostel roof (which I thought was weird but w/e). The only experiences I’ve had with a non jap making my sushi haven’t been good, and I was quite hesitant here. So we ordered one roll and it was solid. Obviously I tell them to give me one of every roll on the menu and they do-

All in all I probably ate about 55 pieces.

So…yeah. Sorry didn’t really add a ton new content…there will be much more in the next post (I hope). Pretty glad to get this trip moving along…I enjoyed Lima and all but ready to move to the next city.

Cheers

Sorry no updates in a while, been busy and lazy.

This will probably be somewhat long…

First day, don’t really do a whole lot. I got into Lima around midday after traveling all night from LA (went from LAX to Costa Rica to Lima). I didn’t do much that night, just kindve wanted to go back to the hostel and sleep. I ate a combination plate of Cow (kidneys, intestines, heart)-

It’s weird…the heart tasted pretty good, it was like a tougher version of steak. Wasn’t a huge fan of the intestine or the kidneys though, mainly due to the texture. I’ve also found that potatoes and corn are served with many of the meals here.

Day 2 (Friday the 9th)- We went to go to get our Brazil VISAs from the embassy, which was about a 10 minute cab ride away. Cab rides here are usually a few dollars, hostel stay around $10 a night. Meals range from a buck or two to $10 (if you want to get fancier).

All in all, it’s fairly cheap here…and I think it’s even cheaper when you go elsewhere in S. America.

Anyways, we failed at our VISA, we were told to print off a form (and complete a questionnaire online) as well as get a money order/cashiers check from the nearby bank. Since the embassy closed at 12:30 noon, we decided to just come back the next day (later we found out that it was closed on the weekends, meaning we’d have to wait even longer for our processed visas).

Later that day we went to some ruins. These were the remains of a pyramid :

Pretty cool overall. We went to the beach after and chilled then went out later that night with some of our crazy ass hostel mates (2 Englishmen and 2 Aussies).

The beaches here aren’t as nice as they were in Thailand but still alright. I wish there was more sand available in general and the weather itself (during this time of year) isn’t the greatest either. That said, it’s still the beach and it is still a fun time (just sitting out there, reading, sleeping, whatever).

The day after we went into Central Lima and walked around the plaza + shops there. Central Lima reminded me alot of many other European cities I’ve been to in that it was just very centralized/urban.

Also, we’ve been eating alot of different stuff. Alot of the base seems to be rice/potatoes/meat, and we’ve had a ton of that here.

cuy- aka guinea pig, really interesting. kindve tasted like chicken, though, it was difficult to eat at times (just because of the bones). Still interesting though… —>

Seviche (or ceviche)- pretty much just like sushi…small pieces of fish with lemon and onions…pretty good for those who might like raw fish-

Really good fried fish, pretty much like a fish n chips but seasoned differently-

Chinese food…dirt cheap, pretty decent. Surprisingly alot of Chinese restaurants down here.

Anyways, that’s it (as far as food goes).

Today we turned in our Visa applications, they said it’d take like 4 days. We still aren’t sure when exactly when we’re going to Brazil. Today we ate good Mcdonalds for lunch…kindve needed that little taste of home. I tried some pizza the other night and it wasn’t good at all…they put ham on everything (instead of pepperoni) and the base (crust/dough) was just dry and gross. Was not a fan.

In my short experience down here I’ve been surprised at how little english everyone really knows. It’s pretty much just straight spanish all around, and if you don’t know some of the basic verbs or vocab, it’d be hard to get around. I wonder how it’ll be in other countries…

Anyways, still not positive where we want to go next (or when). I think the general plan is to head east towards Cuzco and do Machu Picchu (and then head into Bolivia). I think we’re going to end up flying into Cuzco (as opposed to taking a bus). I’m sure that a long bus ride is inevitable though.

Cheers

Fun day today. Yesterday night I went to Manhattan beach and read/ate near the pier and on the beach…came back to the hotel and watched LOST and then passed out. Quick pic-

Today I went to the Getty Museum with a friend (resident in L.A.). The Getty is a bunch of art (in various forms, be it photos or paintings or whatever) along with fantastic architecture (both in structure and park). Pretty cool-

Was a fun day. closed out with sushi at sushi roku, had the tasting sampler. the link for my quick tr (and pictures) is here

and clash of the titans…which wasn’t very good. sitting in LAX now and hoping that my plane doesn’t go down in a ball of flames.

Currently in LA right now. Yesterday was a real shit show, and my slacking got the best of me. Despite having more than a few months to pack and adequately prepare myself, I didn’t start until 11:30 last night, leaving for some idiotic mistakes (only one change of monthly contacts for one, fml). I’m not sure what else I’m missing and I’ll have to do an invetory check later tonight.

Staying one night in L.A. before I go to Lima…originally planned on staying with some family (but that didn’t work out), so now staying in a hotel nearby LAX.

I’m hopefully going to meet my traveling buddy tonight in L.A. (he gets into Lima a day before) and maybe another friend tomorrow night. I’m still hoping to climb at that gym tomorrow, but my hand has been hurting quite a bit lately (specifically my finger)….right now I’m probably not planning on going (unless my finger gets better in a day), just don’t want to push it. I also want to eat sushi one last time while I’m in the states, thus completing my food tour before I leave (about a week ago I decided I want to eat all the nasty, greasy American food that I’m going to miss in the next few months)…I’ve eaten some pizza, IHOP, burgers, and other fattening foods, probably good for a few pounds on my belly.

Currently reading ‘The Lost City of Z’, a story about the search for a mythical Indian city located in the Amazon, a place that took the lives of hundreds in their quest for gold …pretty good so far.

Next blog update: Lima!