Peru - Lima
Looking back from a finished trip's perspective, I can safely say that Peru was the only country I visited that offered really tasty cuisine. Even though I don't eat raw meat/fish and so couldn't gorge on Peru's most famous national dish - ceviche - I couldn't complain. I fell in love with "causa a la limeña", aji de gallina and anything topped with huancaina sauce.
My Peru adventure started in Lima, where I spent my first two nights in what turned out to be part of a hostel chain called Pariwana. I actually really enjoyed my stay there and booked from the same hostel family in Cusco. It was a little more expensive than other hostels, but in return provided some welcome "luxuries", like tons of bathrooms and toilets than were constantly being cleaned, with bins large enough to not overfill after an hour of being in use! In most places in South America you bin toilet paper instead of flushing it, but in spite of that many toilets come with bins so tiny that they fill up after five people use it, which had the absolutely disgusting result of used toilet paper spilling out of the bins and covering the bathroom floor. You're very welcome for this lovely image in your head. Anyway, Pariwana is a very good chain of hostels that don't have that problem, and they also provide good common areas with daily activities and on-site restaurant and bar. As their slogan says - "champagne lifestyle on a beer budget" :-P Thanks to the events and a nice common area with good social vibe I met some nice people and had good fun on the few nights that I spent there. Took part in a pub quiz and we almost won except another team has the same result and it was settled by a speed drinking game that we lost by a tiny bit.
I did only two main activities while in Lima. Firstly, I went on a walking tour - standard. Secondly, I went.. swimming with the sea lions :-) The moment I read about this possibility a few months before I even got to Peru, I knew I had to get to Lima just so that I could do that :-P Getting to interact with the sea lions was every bit as amazing as I imagined:
- there were absolutely tons of them there, and it sounded like we were entering an insane asylum - sea lions make very fun loud noises :-P
- the animals seemed genuinely positively curious and excited about investigating who we were - the young ones were especially inquisitive. They had this cute way of poking their heads out of the water to get a good look at us and diving back in. It was super adorable.
- You were supposed to lie back and let your feet stick out to make them come closer to you. It was super cool and super funny when they carefully approached your feet and investigate your toe fingers. One of them even tried taking a gentle bite off someone's foot - just to see what it was dealing with :-P No harm was done.
Now I have to say there was one really strong drawback about the whole experience. To visit the sea lions, we went out on the sea around Palomino Islands, which are populated by SHITload of birds (pun intended). The islands are covered with tons of guano, which used to be and still is collected to be sold as soil fertilizer. Unfortunately this meant that we were basically jumping into a pool of bird excrement floating on water. I don't think it's always like this - based on what the guides said it was an especially bad guano day. I have to say I had to think a few minutes about my decision to jump into that water - I was almost sure I was going to get some kind of bird disease from it. In the end, the need to have my toes touched by sea lions' whiskers was stronger. After going back to the hostel I showered around three times and I didn't get any disease. I'm kind of proud of myself - it wasn't easy for a germophobe like me! I'm glad I took the plunge - the sea lions were worth it - but to be honest I really hope I never have to jump into a pool of floating bird excrement again :-P
My Peru adventure started in Lima, where I spent my first two nights in what turned out to be part of a hostel chain called Pariwana. I actually really enjoyed my stay there and booked from the same hostel family in Cusco. It was a little more expensive than other hostels, but in return provided some welcome "luxuries", like tons of bathrooms and toilets than were constantly being cleaned, with bins large enough to not overfill after an hour of being in use! In most places in South America you bin toilet paper instead of flushing it, but in spite of that many toilets come with bins so tiny that they fill up after five people use it, which had the absolutely disgusting result of used toilet paper spilling out of the bins and covering the bathroom floor. You're very welcome for this lovely image in your head. Anyway, Pariwana is a very good chain of hostels that don't have that problem, and they also provide good common areas with daily activities and on-site restaurant and bar. As their slogan says - "champagne lifestyle on a beer budget" :-P Thanks to the events and a nice common area with good social vibe I met some nice people and had good fun on the few nights that I spent there. Took part in a pub quiz and we almost won except another team has the same result and it was settled by a speed drinking game that we lost by a tiny bit.
There was this gay American guy that was quite weird but quite fun too but he got mad at me I went to a city tour without telling him, lol. On one of the evenings on the hostel's terrace I had a local surfing instructor explain to me his tactics for picking up tourist girls and he showed me a gallery of his recent girlfriends, all blonde and blue eyed. It was hilarious and a bit terrifying at the same time, it looked like a mad serial killer's gallery. I felt safe as my hair and eyes are of dark color.
I did only two main activities while in Lima. Firstly, I went on a walking tour - standard. Secondly, I went.. swimming with the sea lions :-) The moment I read about this possibility a few months before I even got to Peru, I knew I had to get to Lima just so that I could do that :-P Getting to interact with the sea lions was every bit as amazing as I imagined:
- there were absolutely tons of them there, and it sounded like we were entering an insane asylum - sea lions make very fun loud noises :-P
- the animals seemed genuinely positively curious and excited about investigating who we were - the young ones were especially inquisitive. They had this cute way of poking their heads out of the water to get a good look at us and diving back in. It was super adorable.
- You were supposed to lie back and let your feet stick out to make them come closer to you. It was super cool and super funny when they carefully approached your feet and investigate your toe fingers. One of them even tried taking a gentle bite off someone's foot - just to see what it was dealing with :-P No harm was done.
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