Tim_Day 77 - 80 (Ica & Lima)
Day 77 (Continued)
Alter lunch downtown we headed back to the hotel to do some final sand boarding. We rented a board and headed up to climb the large sand mountain behind the hotel. It was pretty windy and the sand was sort of burning our face and filling our eyes with sand all the way up.
By the time we got to the top of the mountain it took us an hour and we were dead tired when we finally got there. We didn´t take any water so we were pretty thirsty as well. At the top it was very windy and we were getting sand blasted. The dune was pretty much the largest dune from the valley floor and that´s probably why it was so windy. Anyway I strapped on my board as quickly as possible. Even though it only took me about 20 seconds I´m sure I must have ate about a pound of sand.
I waxed up the board and headed down. Unfortunately the hill wasn´t all I hoped it was going to be. In fact it actually kind of sucked because the sand was really loose and not compact at all. So rather than fly down I ended up going pretty slow and having the board covered in sand pretty much the whole way down. It was ok but not the extremely cool ride I had envisioned in my head. Oh well. I was a little mad but also partially glad just to be off the sand blasting top of that mountain and down below was the town and a bottle of ice cold water.
Ana ran down the mountain behind me. She was a little scared because of the steepness of the mountain but after a few hundred feet she was running and laughing like a kid. We got down in about 3 minutes and went to go buy some water. Man that water was good. Ice cold.
After water we headed out to some of the smaller dunes to play around till the sun went down. Ana tried sand boarding and sliding but was so tired and mad she didn´t end up doing too much. It was funny though to watch her getting mad and not really doing much slidding. Got some pretty funny video as well.
I tried some sand boarding and found out that we had rented a board that was for people who ski the other way down the mountain. I was kind of pissed. I bet that´s why my other ride down the huge mountain sucked. Oh well. We played around and watched the sun go down. Good times.
We returned the rental and headed back to the hotel. I knew this was pretty much the end of the adventure in our trip for a while and I was a little bumbed. Oh well there will be more to come in Africa. I must say I´m a little scared to travel over there. I know my fear is media based and I need to get my butt on the ground over there and see how it really is. From the books it looks ok as long as you stay on the gringo trails.
We sleep good that night.
Day 78
Woke up and headed out after breakfast for Lima. I had the feeling that we were just headed for the plane and it was going to take 3 days of travel to get to it. I guess I wasn´t very open to having fun and just wanted to get the next 3 days over and get to Panama where there was good food and good family waiting.
The bus ride went pretty smooth. We travelled through some interesting beach towns on the coast of Peru. Pretty cool and covered in fog. Made me feel like we were headed down Hwy 1 in California just the buildings and people were different. Pretty nice country. Too bad it was in the middle of nowhere and poor.
Arriving in Lima was interesting. The city was pretty poor, pretty huge, and pretty crazy. Pretty much what I was thinking it would be. Pretty cool how many times I just used pretty.
Right after getting out of the bus were surrounded by taxi guys offering us a ride. We needed a ride but I was hesitant to say yes. Not sure what the catch was. We told one of the drivers where we wanted to go which was downtown and he said he couldn´t take us there that there were protest going on and it was too dangerous. He knew another hotel that was much safer in another part of town. I was pretty sure he was full of shit and said let´s find someone else. We talked with another guy and he said sure I´ll take you there.
Cool. We jumped in the car and this guy says that there are protest and he knows another place. Great. I was so tired of getting jerked over by those stupid ass Peruvians I could scream. You can never tell if there lying or not. The country is full of lying cheating vendors willing to do anything to get your money.
We decided to check out the hotel in the ¨safe¨ part of town. He said we could get a deal of 8 US dollars on the room which was a pretty good rate if he wasn´t lying. Sure enough he brought us to the nice part of town and after a little arguing and bargaining we got our 8 dollar a night dorm room. Oh well. Dorm room for two night’s can´t be too bad?
We were a little upset about the whole situation but decided to make the best of it. They probably were lying to us and we never really found out the truth but the room was pretty nice and the price was decent. Just not what we wanted to do.
Later that night we headed out too check out the town. Man it was a rich part of town. It was really weird to see so much money. It reminded me of orange county. Basically a bunch of nice shops, restaurants and homes all within walking distance of the beach. Really cool.
For dinner we headed straight for the local KFC. I had a dead beam on that place since we hit town. I saw a few of them and dinner was my first chance to mow some of that fine fast food.
We hit the entrance to the KFC and it was like walking into a movie. Air-conditioning, set price menus with food I knew, clean tables, chairs that were all the same colour. I could have sworn I was on the gates of heaven. I carefully scanned the menu and choose combo number 11. Which included 4 breast and 2 fine drumsticks of the Kernel’s famous recipe chicken. With it came 2 mighty fine sides for both me and Ana. My heart said take the macaroni but my stomach wanted the cole slaw and potatoes. My stomach won over my mind and I ordered one small side of cole slaw and one side of creamy mash potatoes with warm heavenly gravy.
As me and Ana ate we didn´t talk. Just the sound of pleasure, slurping, and small giggling were all you could hear. My relationship with my stomach changed that day. Since then things between me and him have been A OK.
We started talking again after all the food was gone from our tray and we wiped our hands with the large thick towel like napkins. Our conversation was around which ice-cream we should get. After a strawberry Sunday life somehow felt better. It was like all the road pains and hardships were washed away and all that was left was bliss. Somehow Mr. Sanders special herbs had brought my Chi back to centre. I was balanced again and once again one with everything.
After that experience we glided around town peering into the expensive looking shops and feeling somehow more poor and dirty than we did a day before. It was really weird to feel so rich and clean only that morning. But now that we were in the middle of a wealthier area with people dressed all nice and cute I suddenly felt like a road warrior. My shirt wasn´t that nice and my hair needed a trim. I was all the sudden very aware of how I looked and I felt like I stood out in a bad way. Crazy. Nice to be back in civilization but funny to feel that way.
Sleeping that night went ok. The neighbour in the next dorm room had his radio on too loud and it took a little bit to fall asleep. I didn´t have too much trouble falling asleep. Ana though tried to go over and wake up the guy to turn down his music in the middle of the night. I guess the guy was pretty drunk (or high) and he didn´t wake up. She said she was hitting him pretty hard and he was dead to the world. Finally the radio ran out of batteries and she sleep the rest of the night. Good times in the dorm rooms. Don´t miss that.
Day 79
Woke up the loud street sound outside. Oh how nice. Dorm rooms rule. No fan so you have to leave the window open all night. Nice. Sleep pretty good though despite the conditions. We ate some breakfast at the hotel (free bread and strawberry jam - YEAH) and headed out. We pretty much had nothing to do all day so we were just trying to find ways to burn time during the day.
We headed to the beach and walked around the mall right on the beach front. It was really nice and looked like something out of Orange County. Really funny to see and at the same time really nice. The had allot of American chain restaurants which surprised me.
At one point I spotted the infamous Starbucks logo. Man it was nice to see again. I headed up the stairs to the top to grab myself of hell of a drink. But all I found at the top of the stairs was heart ache. The Starbucks was in the process of being built and wasn´t even up yet. Those punks. They should have started construction a few months ago. Man I was so close yet so far away.
We spent most of the rest of the day walking around and checking out the city. We went to Dunkin Doughnut’s for Breakfast. Lunch was some Top Ramon which is always a favourite. Dinner was Mc D´s and man I was ¨Lovin It¨. Too much fatting food but at the same time it was sooooo good. We spent time walking around and then sitting and talking. Was nice to have so much time but also a bit boring at times. Better than being stressed out back home that´s for sure.
That night we sat around the table and started writing out highlights of South America. So many great experiences were being remembered. Wow what a great 2.5 months it´s been. Experiences that I will be talking about for the rest of my life. I´m sure everyone will be getting tired of the same old stories. I´ll be that old man who keeps talking about the same old glory days. Oh well for now there still good stories and not many people have heard them.
We went to sleep pretty early that night since we had to get up at 3:30 am to catch our flight to Panama. I was a little worried the alarm wouldn’t go off so I didn´t sleep too well. Neither did Ana. It was also pretty light in our room as well as loud.
Day 80
We woke up in the middle of the night and grabbed all our gear. We headed to the airport in a taxi. The ride was interesting and it was nice to see the late night life in the rougher parts of Lima. Very surreal experience. I was just hoping the car didn´t decide to break down at this point. Kind of like breaking down in the middle of Compton at 4 in the morning.
We hit the airport and grabbed our plane. As the plane took off I fell asleep. There was a happy feeling wrapped in a very sad feeling. This was the last time I would be on South American soil for probably some time. Not sure when I´ll have the opportunity to see it again. There was also a sense of satisfaction and relief it was all over and we made it through with no major problems. We hit South America pretty hard and I will never look at that part of the world and it´s people the same.
Peace out from the SA.
t*
Note: The rest of the blog will be short till I hit Africa. Panama and Nicaragua is more family and fun and not so much adventure. Might be a little boring to read so I will switch to large re-caps till then.
posted by Tim & Ana's Travels at 7:40 AM
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