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.