I sit here typing this, sipping coca tea at 7:45am, listening to street vendors passing and backpackers slowly ruffling and rising (and even a few showering!). I arrived here yesterday afternoon after an ardous journey, not so much for what was going on around me but for what was going on inside of my mind. Travel such as this is a wonder drug in many ways; it can sweep away the most painful of memories and the most crsuhing of boredoms. For better or worse I am blessed with neither painful memories nor crushing boredoms. My journey so far has been more like a cold shower -- terrifying and shocking, immediate, stimulating. Perhaps as the days crawl forward my journey will take on that other characteristic of cold showers, namely, refreshment. Am I truly in need of refreshment? Answers will perhaps come later. Now for some light description of my first day.
My flight left San Francisco at the appropriate hour of 1:30am. I was in bad shape at the airport, psychosomatic sickness, beer, and so on. Having Nate and Linzy there got me through. Goodbyes sucked. The rest of the night and morning of travel were blurry. San Salvador airport with its rows of duty free shops, all with uniformed young women beconing shoppers and passer-by's to over-priced rum and T-shirts. The food on the TACA flight was surprisingly good, especially the cinnamon covered pancake-material and fried plantains on the second leg. Customs in Lima were fairly easy. The masked customs official was skeptical of how I could take a 40 day vacation from my job. I conveniently left out the part where I don´t have a job. I lugged my human-sized pack through the airport and took an overpriced taxi to the ¨rich¨ Miraflores district in the south of Lima. I checked into the hostel, a very friendly place populated mostly by Israelis just out of the army. Apparently South America is a big tourist destination for that segment of the Israeli population. I strolled around the area and managed to get kicked out of the patio of a fancy restaurant -- the patio was connected to some guided-tour-only Inca ruins. I had a meal of ¨salchipapas¨, which is basically french fries and pieces of sausage with several choices of dipping sauce. I dined on this delicacy at a street corner restaurant while watching ¨Rocky¨ on TV. French fries, ¨Rocky¨, douchebag restaurant security... it´s almost like I never left the US! Not to mention the Peruvian Walmart I stumbled upon.
I´ll end with that for today. Today I plan to head downtown, although I am still unsure of what exactly is there. The coca tea is helping my sniffles, and I am feeling... optimisticó.
Pictures to come later!
3 comments:
please confirm that coca tea is not ... o, forget it. thanks for posting that you arrived safe and sniffling. can you post info on the hostel? remember any of your hebrew? have a great time!
I was so glad to read your posting (almost as good as speaking on the phone). Hope you enjoyed your dinner of "salchipapas:" I guess you're not planning on becoming a vegetarian any time soon. I like your optimistico (without the accent)!
Yes, the coca tea is delicious -- it calms stomach problems and I heard it also helps with altitude sickness! They were selling T-shirts in tourist shop downtown which said ¨Coca is not a drug!¨. I will post more in the coming days before I leave Lima (tentatively planning a long-haul bus trip to Arequipa on Friday, 14 hours). And more pictures!
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