I finally made a decision to buy a mountain bike! Mainly because the cheap bike options were cheap and also because I left my Kona bike in San Francisco, I chose to get another Kona bike.

After purchasing it, I took it out for a ride though the city.  Up until this point, I have only checked out two neighborhoods- Miraflores and Baranca.  Both nice ´hoods, if on the upscale side. This time I set out for the heart of Lima. 

Something I did not plan on is that there are bike lanes in some parts of the city!  They run in the center of the roads, dividing the two directions. Intersections get dicey because cars are always jutting through without checking if the lane is clear, but once aware of the situation, it´s easy to predict what drivers will do.

I found a cheap place to eat- and I mean cheap!  For just $3, I got a bowl of soup and a plate of beef stir-fry with french fries. I had had this for staff meal at Le Colonial, and finally had the real deal.  Good stuff!

I jumped back  on the bike and just took to the streets, aimlessly along the bike lane. At some point, the lane ended and I had to fight city traffic. Eventually I found El Rio and what a grungey sight it is.  Grey water.

I headed back home, but without paying attention to any street names, I quickly realized I had no idea where I was going. I just had a simple idea that I wanted to keep the mountains to my left side and hope the ocean was to my right.  Well after a few turns to keep with the flow of traffic, I knew I was nowhere near where I wanted to go.  Couldn´t find the bike lanes and didn´t want to bust out a map in my Lonely Planet book.

Instead I pulled out my new GPS finder, only to realize that I didn´t really set the starting point and also that I didn´t really know how to use it.  But it was accurate enough to tell me that I was on the north part of the city and all I had to do is go southwest. At some point I realized I was way off course when I saw signs for the airport - on the edge of town.

Eventually, I found my way back and was able to make it to the coastline just in time to see the sunset.

my view from the backseat of my cab

my first plate of food in Lima - ceviche, of course

park near where I am staying in Miraflores - Limans are constantly making out in any park

sunset in the Pacific

Still in Lima and still sweating up a river.

I spent the past two days walking around the Miraflores neighborhood, looking for bike shops and deciding what I should do in terms of biking around. Specialized Bikes has an actual store here.  A couple other shops have Treks and even a couple Kona mountain bikes. I want to get a basic bike, but apparently the cheap bikes have totally turned cheap and look like a step down from my cheap Trek that I bought in Thailand, though priced higher. The components have been downgraded and I have suspicions that this could cause problems for me somewhere down the road (literally). I am also thinking I should go a little higher-end because I will be packing more weight on it and the Peruvian terrain is a bit more challenging than Thailand´s landscape.

Aside from my biking quandry, I have been on the search for great food.  On my first night in Lima, I walked through Kennedy Park and locked onto my first streetcart of food.  A man had piles of roast pork (leche) and was making sandwiches on a hot grill for less than $3. The pork was piled high and topped with mustard, mayo, red sauce (not really spicy) and thinly sliced onions. A great find!  I went back a couple days later and saw that he was also grilling/caramelizing onions, too.  I already had a sandwich, but instead got what I thought was soup.  It was, but not really - it was hot apple soup with some apple chunks.  Not too sweet, though.

What sandwich did I have that didn´t make me want to get the leche again?  A sandwich stand served up chicharonnes for me -  deep fried pork skin with tender slices of fatty pork on a bun with same sauces as the street cart.  Very delicious and double the price, but worth it.

I did go big and went to a restaurant called Rafael (http://www.rafaelosterling.com/intro.html  the website could be better designed).  It is supposedly one of the best places in Lima and just happens to be a few blocks away from my hostel. Great place!  My first course was ´Chicharon de conchillo con crujiente de comote - crispy pork belly squares with cream atop a sweet potato puree and wonton chip.   The main course was milk-fed baby goat braised and topped with a madeira syrup and served with crisp fried rice with mashed butter beans to form a cake and topped with toasted bananas. Each bite was soooooooo tender and sweet. A glass of Malbec to wash everything down for a grand total of $35 after tax and 13% autogratuity. Equivalent price in America- $75 is my opinion.

An interesting thing about fancy restaurants here (that don´t cater tourists) is that they don´t open until 8pm.

At one of the restaurants in an alley was a simple rice and seafood dish with small pieces of shrimp, calamari, one mini-clam and some octopus!

Another dinner was a rice dish that I have made at home-  arroz con carne paruana-  rice simmered with pureed spinach and cilantro with a chicken leg. I looooove dark meat and I didn´t even know it was a Peruvian dish!

Today´s lunch was a delicious fish ceviche and a dish called taku taku - fish simmered in a red stew with beans topped over rice with a chili pepper.  The pepper was not too spicy, though I was warned by the waitress. I would rate it above a jalapeno, but below a serrano. The taku taku was GREAT!  It was like a thick bouillabaisse with beans over rice.

I need to find one more high'end restaurant (maybe tonite...)

After a delay in SFO due to heavy rains in the Los Angeles area, I finally departed at 7:45 pm and just in time to make my re-scheduled flight out of LAX with just minutes to spare.  The airline was able to hustle me past the security lines and I was one of the last people to board the plane. Surprisingly, the flight to Peru was not delayed, though we were told at SFO that everything was pushed back by a few hours.

I arrived, exhausted and yet energized despite only sleeping for just a couple hours on the plane. I was still sweating for a few minutes while waiting for my backpack to come up on the conveyer belt - I feared that due to the lateness of the SFO flight, they wouldn´t have enough time to transfer my bag to the proper plane. A quick line through immigration and customs got me even more energized for my first ever trip south of the equator. The hostel that  I pre-booked had sent out a driver to pick me up and I was on my way to the center of Lima!

Unfortunately, I have no pictures, yet. But my first impression was similar to when I first arrived in Dakar, Senegal.  Lotsa dirt, lotsa buildings that reminded me of documentaries of shantytowns of 1970s Jamaica. And losta chaotic traffic! Lane markers don´t really matter, and honking the horn means ¨I´m coming through! Make way¨  

Fortunately the heat wasn´t too bad.  There was cloud cover and some ocean breezes, but it was very humid. Once my driver got to the coast,  things started to clear up for a few minutes.  Then we got into the Miraflores neighborhood, where I am staying and noticed fog.  Not the thick SF fog, but rather quick moving fog clouds that drift along the streets and create a nice chill.

I checked in at the hostel, but my room wasn´t ready, so I went into town to get something to eat for an early lunch.  I wandered into Kennedy Park (need to get the history on the name) and found a quaint cafe along the outskirts. Of course, my first meal had to be ceviche, and I also ordered a dish of mashed potatoes that was formed into disks and layed with avacado, chicken, and tomatoes. It looked like a very colorful Napoleon and tasted great:  Of course, I had to wash it down with a Peruvian beer called Cristal. 

After finishing, I did a lap around the Park and returned back to the hostel for a long nap and quick shower. I rearranged my two backpacks, which were packed to TSA standards (I did bring a knife for cooking purposes and some pocket knives) and figured to use the internet to let you all know that I finally made it!

(And the Chilean earthquake did nothing to Lima as far as I can tell)

I get to the airport and try to check in at the international terminal.  Ooops,  since I am first going to LA,  I need to check in at the domestic side at American Airlines.  I get there and try to check-in at the kiosk but my flight info could not be found.  I go to the counter and they can't find it either.  They call LAN airlines and the only thing that they can tell me is that the flight got canceled - they didn't say why or when.  Then they tried to reroute me, but all flights to LAX are booked for today. I am now getting another flight leaving SFO on Sunday evening and arriving into Peru a day later, too.