Finally I got my room around 11:00am, after chatted with a friend online, I was planning to sleep for 2 hours before going out, but my room is right next a busy street, the traffic noise is unbelievable. And not only that, it's very very weird, you know, those car alarms come on every 20-30 mins. So, once in a while, I hear this "Rite Of Spring" kind of sound all day long. Well, I didn't stay here all day really, but whenever I am in my room. At night, it is slightly better. Anyway, since I couldn't filter out the street noise this morning, I decided to get up, took a shower and walked around the neighborhood, despite my body was really begging for rest. Maybe 4 blocks from my hostel is the clifftop already, people are doing para-gliding, is that what it's called? There is also, rather surprising, a lighthouse near my hostel. Guess the guidebook can't never tell you everything. Took some pictures, and do a lot of walking. The neighborhood of my hostel, Miraflores, is probably a middle class neighborhood, some of the houses look very beautiful.
I walked to the center area of this neighborhood, with the buses, taxis, streaming in and out. They stopped pretty much wherever they want, yelling their destinations, grabbing people in, throwing people out . I just carried my tired body, continued to walk, took pictures whenever my finger got the calling. I think around 2pm, I started to feel hungry so I found this small restaurant behind the alley, there were a few women, and an obviously traveller eating there, they had this menu board standing up front in which all I recognize was the first one with pollo, some kind of dishes with chicken. Everything else was unrecognizable, for me anyway. The Señorita (waitress) tried to explain to me what this and that are, with her best effort I am sure. Oh this one, beef, sopa = soup. Soup with beef, ok, sounds good, so I took that. And also the chicken with rice too. I didn't realize it was like a set menu, so it had a drink, 1st course was the soup and the 2nd course was chicken with rice. They tasted ok, very strong favors all of them, a little too strong in my opinion, but I am happy that I didn't end up eating McDonalds or Burger King. There were two prices on the board, Soles 6.5 and 13 (equivalent to USD 2 and 4), I thought maybe when you do two courses and drink, it's like 13. When I was done, the bill handed to me was 6.5, that wasn't bad. And the lunch was huge too. According to Lonely Planet, the lunch is the main meal of the day, people usually eat very light dinner. It will probably take me a while to get accustomed to.
After lunch, it was only 2:30pm, still early, I didn't think the street noise would quiet down, so I just kept walking, I was tempted to hop on a bus to Centro Lima to see things. I waited and waited, looking at the buses streaming by, I felt really lost, which one to take. Based on the guidebook, I am supposed to look for a specific sign in the front but I didn't see anything I could recognize. Even Lonely Planet said the buses in Lima are rather chaotic. There is something called Colectivo, the cheap fixed price taxi, but I didn't know what they look. My last option is just regular taxi, which I need to bargain with them (like in China, come on people, use a meter), I hate bargain, especially when I am tired. So, my first day's adventure ended there, tiny little dingy bit disappointed at myself not having the balls to just hop on one of the buses. I know the worst case scenario is that I would have to take a taxi back the hostel. But still, I decided to go back to the hostel. By the time I got back, it's about 3:30 or 4:00pm, after writing an email, my body finally collapsed, and slept a good 3 hours. Since I left Chicago, I only slept 4 hours in total. Not counting the night before I was not sleeping much either. I need to catch up with some rest tonight.
See photos here: Day 1
Footnote: I am feeling more nervous than ever, not speaking Spanish might be a bigger obstacle than I anticipated. It makes me feel more alone. Anyhow, hopefully I will get by these next few days in Lima, and when I get to Cuzco, the Spanish class will help me to adapt this culture.
