Hello From Lindsey

Just wanted to send an update, Selina and I made it to Peru safe and

sound last night. It was a long day of flying with a six hour layover

in Costa Rica. We had an airport pick-up pre scheduled which worked

out great. Our driver was very friendly, a women born in Lima, who

gave us some good tips for visiting the city. Last night we didn´t

venture out much since it was late and not safe to be walking. But we

did enjoyed some Mexican style food "pollo" chicken tacos that we

found right next to our hotel. And obviously we had to try our first

(and second) Pisco Sours. A peruvian drink that even had me taking a

few Excedrins this morning.

Today we slept in and decided to have a relaxing day bumming around an

area of Lima called Miraflores. It is probably the most affluent area

in Peru. We had a 20 minute walk to the beach this morning, stopped in

a grocery store (to our surprise very similar to Whole Foods) and then

had lunch at a steak restaraunt. The main attraction in the beach area

isn´t necessarily the beach itself. Miraflores sits along a cliff edge

and at the bottome of it is a rocky beach, some surfers, and a few

families and beachgoers. Along the ocean front cliffs is a beautiful

park which Selina and I called the "Lincoln Park" of Lima. We were

hoping to have an ocean view for lunch but the only thing that we

could find was very similar to a shopping mall with a Tony Romas and

Starbucks. Unfortunatley we headed in the wrong direction and

eventually ended up eating at an expensive steak house due to our

hungary bellies. Lets just say it´s a good thing I´m no longer a

vegetarian. The meat platter that the table next to us ordered was

very impressive. Although the beach front wan´t necessarily what we

expected it was still beautiful and we saw an awesome display of

paragliders flying off of the cliffs.

Right now Selina and I are at an internet cafe in one of the main park

areas of Miraflores. Since our hotel is a little pricey ($60 a night)

we found ourselves a hostel  for our return visit over New Years Eve.

Other than that we´ve enjoyed the outdoor parks, shops, neighborhoods

and cafes that the area has to offer. Its about time to head back to

our hotel to wash up and relax a bit before finding dinner this

evening. We´ll be calling it an early night since we  have an hour

flight out to Arequipa tomorrow morning.

There hasn´t been anything too shocking on our trip. Other than the

language barrier things are relatively easy to figure out. I´ve

learned how to say, "no, hablas espanol" "I do not speak Spanish¨"

Selina has been keeping us afloat from having some phrases down after

her 5 weeks in Panama this summer.