On our Lake Titikaka trip we met a 9-year-old from Montreal who insisted we go for a romantic dinner at the Rosa Nautica. After months on the road together, Paul and I agreed that it felt like a date. The restaurant had great seafood, Peruvian wine and a beautiful location. It was on a pier overlooking the water and we had a table right by the crashing waves. Wonderful!
We found a great coffee shop near the Plaza de Armas and indulged in our first real coffee in over a week. The Plaza de Armas is the main square in central Lima and had huge piles of clothes and other supplies gathered for victims of the earthquake. Near the Plaza is the Monastery of San Francisco. Paul says it was the best tour of a church he's ever been on. It was really interesting - over 25,000 limeños (people from Lima) were entombed under the church and we got to see them! Gory, but cool! The tour was in Spanish/German, so it was also fun for us to practice our languages. Our guides had lots of interesting trivia that really made it interesting.
Finally, we tried ceviche, which Peru is famous for. Ceviche is seafood that is "cooked" in the acid of lime juice. We tried two famous ones and both were delicious!
Then, we were off to the boarder of Ecuador. We crossed by land and it was quite an experience. It was nothing more than passing some banners hung over the street that said something like "Thank you for visiting Peru" followed by "Welcome to Ecuador". Then we grabbed a cab since the border crossing area was SKETCHY! Yikes! Further down the road we did have to show our passports, but it was a really strange process. One more shady cab driver and an hour and a half on dark, bumpy roads and we were safely in Machala, where we spent the night before getting our next bus to Cuenca, our destination for the next couple of days. To illustrate the odd mix of old and new in South America, let me describe our bus ride and some of our fellow passengers.
- The bus was new and comfortable, with A/C and a Magnavox flat screen TV playing Spanish-dubbed Kung Fu movies.
- The roads were windy and poorly paved.
- One well-dressed old man had his pet (?) rooster with him who cock-a-doodle-doo-ed at all big bumps.
- A little girl brought two chickens and two chicks with her.
Always interesting!
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2 comments:
we are so glad that you guys are okay....your adventures are never uneventful..did you bring the 9 year old with you? what a charmer..he'll be a heartbreaker one day. glad that you guys are having a good time admist all the altitude changes and clashing of ages. love, mr and mrs kim!
I always love the stories of the food you eat and the places in which you eat it. Also, the posh chicken bus was fun, and the spanish/german tour. I can picture it all and love the experience of even reading about it. How is the weather in these places now? probably warm again? That little nine year old from Montreal was a real find. Love you! Bye for now.
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