Saturday, January 01, 2000

Peru

November 18 - December 6

We arrived in Lima on a flight from LA late on the 17th of November with Lehra in tow. We spent a few days in the capital before heading north to Chicalyo for 2 days. Back to Lima and we dropped of Lehra at the airport, then continued our way south.

Day by day...
  • Fri Nov 18 - arrive into lima from LA around 23:30, book hotel and taxi at airport, head into town, check-in, sleep
  • Sat Nov 19 - up around noon, switch to different room in same hotel, hit the streets for guidebooks, SIM cards, and a very nice seafood lunch, walk up to seaside and enjoy the view, back to hotel to get a jacket for jason and relax, head out to clifftop posada to catch the dying rays of the light and drink and eat fried food, head down to park in barranco to catch some nightlife, do a bit of bar hopping and cap things off with a chicken/beef/french-fry/hotdog sandwich, taxi back to hotel and collapse
  • Sun Nov 20 - lehra and jason up around noon and head in for lunch while mike recovers from most recent hangover, meet back at hotel around 15:30, head out to plaza de san martin, pisco sours on the terrace at the hotel gran bolivar, walk up pedestrain shopping street to electronics store, stop in at eglesia le merced, up to plaza de armas, poke head into catedral de lima, walk up to italian restaurant with balcony and watch folks over supper and beers, stroll around market and look at souvenirs, mike buys a small bottle of milk and liquor, taxi back to hotel, watch sin city and chill
  • Mon Nov 21 - mike up around 09:00, others a bit later, shower and pack, lunch at local cevicheria, head to museo nacional but it is closed, try to take a pee at biblioteca nacional but it is under construction, find relief at burger king, grab a taxi to plaza de armas and walk over to iglesia san francisco for tour of franciscan monastary and catacombs, coffee and cake on plaza de armas, walk down to central mercado in search of books - don't find 'em, grab a cab back to the hotel, throw stuff into cab and head to cial bus departure point, wait for about an hour, lehra starts on d20 character, board bus, dinner and a movie then sleep (sort of)
  • Tue Nov 22 - arrive in chiclayo around 08:00, jump in cab to a hotel after a bit of spazzing, breakfast and shower and relax for a bit, sizable late lunch then return to hotel, jason goes to bus station to retrieve lost items whilst others chill, mike and lehra out to plaza de armas to check out church and people watch, regroup at hotel, relax, head out to pizza joint, then on to casino for a bit, end up at karaoke bar, return to hotel around 03:00 after quick stop at a lame disco
  • Wed Nov 23 - up around noon, lehra and mike with hangovers, store bags at hotel and go for another big lunch, purchase bus tickets back to lima, walk down to large central market for a shop, jason illin' so returns to hotel, mike and lehra carry on, buy some mangos for local kids, jump in cab, quick stop at hotel to drop new goods then on to beach, walk along rickety pier and meet some stoned local kids, head back down to beach for a beer and a sunset, taxi back to meet jason, quick dinner (no jason), then taxi to bus station, short wait there then get on bus, dinner and starsky and hutch en route, sleep
  • Thu Nov 24 - arrive in Lima around 08:00, direct to hostal de patio and put sick jason to bed, lehra and mike out to net cafe to find place for thanksgiving, make reservations at the marriott, back to hostel to relax, mike sleeps for a bit while jason and lehra shop and such, all out to disappointing porn cafe, mike and lehra carry on to arcade and water-front bar to watch sunset while jason heads back to hotel to relax, rejoin at hotel to prep for dinner, taxi to marriott with lehra's bags, have thanksgiving dinner (not bad), all in cab to airport, say goodbye to lehra, return to hotel, cnn and sleep
  • Fri Nov 25 - up late and check into a different (suite-sized) room, light lunch then spend afternoon burning DVDs and researching the rest of the SA part of the trip, out to waterfront for dinner and video games, back to the pad for more tape shuffling and some reading and TV and then bed
  • Sat Nov 26 - up around 11:00 and make calls regarding Inca Trail, looks like we will not be able to start until dec 2 at the earliest, decide to forget the hike, taxi to bus office for tickets, lunch nearby, taxi to bus terminal, wait for a bit, board bus around 16:30 for cusco, watch some movies and eat some crap food and sleep
  • Sun Nov 27 - wake up around 09:00 on bus that is busily being cleaned, breakfast at arequipa terminal, back on bus for long haul to cuzco, lunch and dinner served and the same damn movies watched again, arrive in cuzco about 20:30, taxi to hotel, check in, grab water and other supplies then to bed
  • Mon Nov 28 - up late, jason heads out to find internet, mike joins a bit later, do some serious searching for hotels in rio, adjourn for late lunch just off of plaza de armas, back to hotel to burn DVDs and such, arrange bus tickets to puno, relax at hotel, vegetarian dinner, happy hour drinks at popular local bar and take in a local band that is a fusion of all kind of hippie crap, back to hotel around 00:00, sleep
  • Tue Nov 29 - up at 09:30, jason manages to get breakfast, mike not so energetic, pack up and leave bags at hotel, pick up bus tickets, spend a bit of time in internet cafe, go to train station to get yet more tickets, mike leaves jason in plaza de armas to arrange post of sailing book to atkin and pisco to jonny - the latter is not a success, rejoin in city center, light lunch of soup and salad overlooking the plaza, inca museum, hang out in plaza some more, big up bags and walk down to another plaza to catch ride to start of train ride, 2 hours by car through the mountains, then wait out the rain in a cafe, board all-gringo car on train around 20:00 and head out, arrive in aguas calientes about 22:00, check into hotel and sleep
  • Wed Nov 30 - up at 05:00, simple breakfast at hotel, buy tickets for machu pichu, board bus about 06:30, arrive at 07:00, enjoy the central ruins in relative silence, steep hike up to overlook - get rained on, back down for lunch at cafe, hike up to inca bridge, chat with some soldiers, back down and board bus to town, hit the natural springs, hotel to shower, out for very good peruvian dinner cooked by the french, some video and photo work then early to bed (22:30)
  • Thu Dec 1 - up at 06:30, mike breaks fast while jason dozes, check out of hotel and hit train station around 08:00, jump on little tourist train back to ollantaytambo, take a taxi the rest of the way to cuzco then connect to stinky puno bus, arrive puno 20:00, settle down in hostel promoted heavily on the bus, out for alpaca dinner, back to hostel to drink beer and cut video, sleep
  • Fri Dec 2 - up early, mike goes for a very short run - altitude sucks, out to internet cafe for a few hours, lunch, jason retires for a bit and mike heads down to travel agent to work on anapia arangements, meet back at hotel then back to agent to finalize, cuy dinner, back to hotel and sleep
  • Sat Dec 3 - up at 06:00 to meet 07:30 bus, leave for yungiyo (sp?) about 08:00 and get dropped off about 10:00, take bike taxi to city center to meet our captain, collectivo to port and jump on little boat, about 1 and a half hours to anapia, meet nancy at the dock and head to the house, settle in and have lunch outside, walk around the island with felix, relax at the house, dinner in our room, mike's birthday party - cake, milk, and flowers in hair, sleep
  • Sun Dec 4 - up at 06:00 and head over to other island in felix's sailboat, feed and milk the cows, back to the house for a quick breakfast then over the other side of the island to do some fishing, back to house to clean the fish then eat 'em for breakfast in the garden, relaxing afternoon of readying and studying and walking and taking pictures, dinner downstairs then early to bed
  • Mon Dec 5 - up at 07:00 for quick breakfast, settle the bill and say goodbye, then catch the boat back to the mainland, collectivo to town then another bus to puno, check in with agent, head out for lunch and internet, then back to agent to collect bus tickets, off to bus station, leave for tacna at 21:00, watch The Mask in spanish and try to sleep
  • Tue Dec 6 - arrive in Tacna at 07:00, get a taxi with a swiss couple across the border to Chile
Photo Albums
Peru Overview
Machu Picchu

Video Clips
Happy Birthday
Machu Picchu
Little Girl in a Big Jacket

posted by jason at 8:00 AM gmt