Che Lagarto Lima

... through Brazil, and fly back over to Ecuador. Then continue overland north through Columbia, take a boat over to Panama, and travel through Central America as far as Mexico (can't miss Cuba either). Then home. It should take 8 months or so, it's a pretty fudged out itinerary and there's always room for change...

So, stop one on the South American Adventure. Lima, Peru.

I had heard there wasn't much to see in Lima, just a big city really. And what did I find, just a big ...

... which proved useful), as more than once we found ourselves apparently going in the wrong direction, to be happily corrected by locals. After a few hours, we found ourselves at stop number 1, the foot of the mountains and the entrance to the national park (an entrance which consisted of a big sign saying as such, a small building that was locked, and two guys lying on the grass who sold tickets out of a backpack). I´d hustled ahead of the French ...

... 2 hours on his horse Poet and alleged bruising of the posterior, I'm not sure Bevan is appreciating the smoothness of the gait.
Before you feel too sorry for Bevan I will point out that we booked the hostel we are staying at solely because they have guitars which can be freely used by the guests (and free pisco sour cocktails, so that's me contented listening to guitar).

That morning we visited the Wari ruins at Pachacamac, 30km from Lima ...

... esquecemos disso e pensamos que apenas nossa maneira de viver, à qual estamos acostumados, é possível. Mas isso nao é verdade! Gosto quando me lembro disso...

A noite no ônibus foi tranquila, a nao ser quando começamos a subir a cordilheira e passar por uma estrada super estreita e sinuosa, que parecia que a qualquer momento o ônibus ia despencar...Ainda bem que estava escuro! Mas aí também começou meu enjoo...Só dormindo que passava...

... the whole time and took an extra half an hour to get us back to Cuzco. Quite the day! The next day we were up bright and early again! (to my dismay, but it had to be done) We caught the "Inka express" bus from Cuzco to Puno. It was eight hours with 5 tourist stops, including one at a buffet restaurant. I slept through all the tourist stuff, but managed to drag myself off the bus for a few hesitant bites of food. It was very worth the little bit extra we paid ...

... There really wasn't anything on the way back to the hotel that was open at that time, and we had seen a card at the hotel saying they would make pizza, so we figured we'd just go back and have pizza.  Unfortunately, we didn't notice that on the card it says the kitchen closed at 8:30.  Still, it was relatively easy to convince the person in charge to serve us breakfast that late at night.  I was very pleased as they didn't have to do anything ...

... Pretty nice, beach side community, perched up on a the cliffs. The road below reminds of Malibu and although the houses are not THAT nice, it def. feels upscale (they are really into tennis for instance).

alot of people have told me they didn´t like Lima, but when pressed I felt like no one really provided any good reasons. But now I kinda agree, it´s a big city (7 million people) that just feels very dull. Maybe it´s like Minneapolis or ...

Sixteen students and myself arrived safely last night in Lima.  One student and I got stuck going through an extra scan so the rest of the students went ahead of us.  But when the student and I walked out of customs, everyone was gone.  We looked around, didn't see the group, didn't see our tour guide, so we just started walking.  The student suggested we look outside and there they all were but they hadn't found the tour guide either.  I told ...

... chilled out and prepared for the journey home!!!! which should be comencing in just a few hours!!! So this is gonna be my last entry you´ll be pleased to hear, im sure!! I apologise for my spelling over the last few months it truly has been attroshious!!! and i cant wait to catch up with you all as soon as pos!!! although i have no money and no car! so you can all come take me out for a drink and i wont object!!! Lots of love for the last time me!!!

... was settled. Enroute to the hotel our guide, whose name I never did get properly, gave us a lot of good information about his country and about what to expect from our tours. He was very helpful. After letting us know when we would be picked up the next day for our city tour we were on our own. We walked around the area near the hotel and found a place to get some lunch.

We ate at a Chifa. Our guide had strongly recommended that we try a Chifa. He said they were Chinese ...