::::: EL MUNDO REAL :::::
(a video travel blog)
Tony Gavilanes / Lacy Sarco

"Lima"
(episode 8)

Can't see the movie? Click here to download Quicktime

Dear God! The bus ride was almost unbearable...

The bus itself was not the class we were expecting.. But it was otherwise comfortable sans the fifteen Colombians who were all seated behind us. Stereotypes have nothing to do with it, but they were so loud and obnoxious, it was like a group of high schoolers. The lady behind Lacy had her bag where her feet should have been and so had her knees in the back of the seat the whole time, and acted as if we were all rude in bothering her to please not kick the seat. By the end of it, they were passing a bottle of rum and making crow noises at the tops of their lungs..

But then we got to Lima!! With the stops, we were about 12 hours late, arriving at 6 in the morning.. Good timing because we didn't have to pay for the night in the hostel and we were up bright and early.. We had some breakfast and coffee and made our way to another bus station where we bought our tickets to Cusco. After talking with many travelers here at the hostel, we're realizing that traveling with a schedule is a bummer. But nonetheless it's still great.

We made our way to a really large park in central Lima with a goose habitat, and then to the walking tour of Plaza de Armas and the San Francisco monestary where we did the tour through the catacombs.. There are an expected 25,000 bodies buried there since the 17th century, it being the very first cemetary in Lima. Unfortunately they do not allow photography or video and the postcards were horribly overpriced.. So no evidence.

And then I did something really sweet.
I got the beginning of a tattoo of South America that I'll to fill in with each country as we go to them... All in all there will be eight. I think when I return I'll find an artist I really trust to add the favorites of all the stories within and around the outline of the continent, and have it eclipse... We'll see.

Got some rad footage of the day and the sunset we watched from the lookout at the end of our Hostel's street, and spent some good time drinking and talking to the folks here at the hostel at night.. All in all, a great day..

The next day we hit up the artisan market on Petit Thouards, just a couple blocks from Loki (where we were staying). Literally saw less than half of the shops, and spent all morning and a good part of the afternoon there. Humongous. And although we didn't splurge on it, Lima is famous for it's silver works. Some of the things you can see in the video. Generally though, things were pretty inexpensive comparitively.

Another thing Peru is famous for is surf. Only bummer was that I had this fresh tattoo, and couldn't go in the water. Hilarious because I actually cut up one of Lacy's socks to make an armband to protect it from the sun as well. That tanline is priceless. Every beach had an impressive lot of surfers sharing the waves. We watched them from the shore with our fresh fruit.. On a side note, buy the fruit. It's delicious, and we got a watermelon and a canteloupe for about a buck!

POSTED: February 8, 2009
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