Chapter
2 - Lima
Lima is
constantly in the clouds, always grey, never sunny! We've been
explained that because of the mountains, the clouds can't get further
in the country, that's why it's so humid and dusty all the time.
8.12.12 In
order to meet Christian, our couch-surfer, we had to take the bus. It
hardly stops, you have to jump on it with the help of a man who makes
sure everyone gets safe in the bus. He then wander in the alley,
shaking money in his hand, shouting words I'm not sure we would
understand even if we could speak Spanish. He's not begging, he's
actually selling tickets! And the bus carries on: tut tuuuuut biiip
shouts tuut loud biip biiiiip noises tuuut! Lima's colors and noises
swirl trough the dirty windows while we are crushed in our seats
under our bags! An amazing experience that made us feel that our
adventure finally started, for real!
We met
with Christian at the cathedral. He's a really nice guy. He took us
to his place, where he lives with his 2 cousins. The house is
luxurious! 3 floors, 2 living rooms with giant sofas, a huge bathtub
in the bathroom... and our room! 2 beds, each 1 and a half people
sized!
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| Christian and his daughter Miha |
In the
evening Pepe – one of the cousin – arrived. Christian and Pepe
are ridiculously cool! At some point, Pepe took of his pocket a bag
of weed, to our delight (we hadn't smoke since we had left CD). We
shared a joint and drunk some Pisco, the local liquor.
PEPE -
“How much would you pay for that bag of weed in the UK?”
Tom and
I, totally stoned, struggled for a good 10min to estimate the price
and convert it in soles, the local currency.
ME
(after 10min, desperate) - “I don't know, I have no clue!”
TOM -
“Dunno, maybe $30, $40, which is 140 Soles if I'm right... How much
did you pay?”
PEPE -
“$4” he answer in the general hilarity!
These
guys are legends. We are so blessed to be hosted by them. I feel that
a couple of hours with them balanced the luck missing for 3 days of
travelling!
 |
| Pépé playing the flute Tom offered to the house |
9.12.12 Omar
– Pepe's cousin – took us to the city centre for a tour. We saw
San Martin's Plaza: San Martin was one of the leaders in the fight
for Peru's independence. The funny thing is that the statue of the
woman holding the writing has a lama on the head. Why? They say that
the student who did the sculpture misunderstood the fire of liberty
(Yama) for the lama of liberty (Ilama)!
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| Omar and Mitzi (centre) on the tour they gave to us and Edgar (left) |
Then we
saw some official monuments and went for some shopping in the centre.
At some point we asked Omar were to buy tobacco, and there started
the real tour! 5 hours around the whole centre, through the central
market and Chinatown, Omar's girlfriend, Mitzi, leading us through
the crowds, dodging between traditional dancers and sellers of all
kind! We ended up finding a pouch of Domingo in Chinatown... The joke
is, they had no rizzlas to go with! So we still couldn't smoke at the
end of the day.
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| Tom in his element |
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