The Modrich Blog

After the first good sleep we have had in the last week or so – I think the jet lag has finally left us – we got out and explored the local area a bit.

first off we caught one of the local buses into a neighbouring area called Mirafloures. This is almost like a small city in itself, with markets and shopping centers and parks.

Initially we were a little nervous about catching one of the local buses – 1 Soles – into town. We have seen many of these old, and often shabby looking mini buses ripping around the streets packed with locals. When your standing on the edge of the street seeing one of these tearing down the road towards you tooting its horn and a guy hanging out the window yelling the destinations, didn’t really evoke that ‘warm fuzzy feeling’.

Once on the bus however it was actually quite good – all considered. We got there reasonably quickly and with no problem – just goes to show, that sometimes you shouldn’t judge the book by its cover.

The weather over here is reasonably pleasant. Its cool in the morning, but by mid-afternoon it has been reasonably warm. The unfortunate thing about this time of the year is that the sea fog is setting in. Its thick and hangs about for most of the day. Apparently last week the skies were clear, and the fog has only just started to creep in over the last few days. In talking to people and reading about Lima, it appears that the fog is a normal part of life around here for about 8 months of the year – from about now through to December. Its unfortunate as the it really blocks what could be a beautiful view of the coast.

Tonight the skies had cleared a little. We sat at a bar and enjoyed a few of the local ales while watching the sun set over the Pacific – it was rather nice.

Back at the Hostel now, and sitting down with other backpackers. This hostel is great. There is a lot of other young people our age, and all with great stories. Its a great mix, we have some other Aussies, a Pom, an American, some Israel’s, and some Canadians – all great people.

Tonight were staying in and having a Pisco Sour night. Pisco, named after the city where the drink originated, is a distilled wine drink that that mix with lemon and ice to make Pisco sour – its also the national drink!

We sampled this in Chile, where it is also their national drink, however having read the customs forms on arrival to Peru, it appears that there may be some rivalry there – any beverages labeled ‘Pisco’ and not originating from Peru will be confiscated – something the duty free shops in Chile probably wouldn’t tell their customers.

So hopefully there wont be sore heads in the morning, but it looks like we should be in for a great night.

We have put more pictures up. We finally have access to a computer that allows us to easily resize pictures so hopefully they wont take as long to download!! Check out the Lima Peru album.