Learning to Fly

Kiley and I woke up this morning to a phone call that was not our wake up call as expected but to some local Lima residents on the line. It was Kiley´s dad´s coworker´s sister (did you follow that..) who lives in Lima! Not only does she offer to show us around Lima, but she also offers to pick us up in her own car. Oh my goodness, what could be better on our first day in South America! We head downstairs to explore what breakfast consists of and are pleasantly surprised by the spread of eggs, bread, fruit, yogurt and a few other things. We sat down to enjoy our breakfast and to try some mate de coca (coca leaf tea) of which we have been hearing so much about.

After a great first morning breakfast, we send some emails back home so our parents know we are alive and finish just in time to meet Inez and Rosario. These friendly sisters show us to their car and we head out down the highway. We didn´t get too far before we were in bumper to bumper traffic. While sitting there, we saw men walking down the lanes of traffic selling candy or newspapers. It was just the first of many things that we don´t see back home. As we drove, Kiley and I summoned up our best Spanish skills that have become a little (or rather a lot) rusty and enjoyed speaking with Inez and Rosario.

Just as I began feeling really overwhelmed with the traffic, people, smog/fog, dirt and the though of ``Oh my goodness, what have I gotten myself into,´´ we entered Central Lima and saw many of the old buildings I was expecting to see. I felt more at ease once we parked the car and began to walk around.

We ventured into the San Fransisco monastery and walked through the creepy catacombs. We are talking lots of human bones including femurs and skulls in a dark cavern...some were even arranged artistically. We even saw the library there and it was like a set out of Harry Potter complete with dusty old books and two spiral staircases. Next, we walked over to the Peruvian White House (actually called the Palacio del Gobierno). On the way we saw a bus full of men in band uniforms running out of it as if they were late. We continued on our way and stopped only to take a picture with a guard holding a huge machine gun. We arrived just in time to see the changing of the guard (enter men in band uniforms that we had just seen). We also saw one of the first of many random dogs walking around the streets.

Before lunch we stopped to look around the Cathedral and Inez informed us that not only is she a long time Lima resident, but she used to be a tour guide. What luck! We headed to a restaurant by the sea called La Rosa Nautica and enjoyed some ceviche.

After lunch Inez helped us call a Peruvian airline called LAN to secure a flight from Cusco to Lima at the end of our flight. Next, we went to a really nice mall called LarcoMar to walk around and look at the views of the ocean. I was surprised by how nice the mall was and felt like I could be walking around a mall in Dallas (minus the ocean view of course). Last, we went to a country club type place where Inez and Rosario are members. It was a huge complex where you could play every sport you could imagine, sit by the beach, get your hair done, work out and have dinner. I could tell Lima´s elite probably spend a lot of time here.

Finally, Inez and Rosario dropped us back off at the hotel and we did not have the Spanish words to express our gratitude to them. We just kept saying gracias over and over again. Day 1 of South American Adventure--success!

Learning to Fly, Tom Petty