A night out + Pachacamac

What is today, Saturday? haha. I haven't even been here a week, but it seems like it's been so long already! We've moved hostels. The one we were in before was a little too far away from all the action downtown and too quiet, but was really nice! So, we are now downtown on Lacomar (Basically Miraflores' downtown). Last night we went out to a local pizza place (nothing like you can get at home, perro bien (but good)), had some pisco sours and beer. Went to the mercado (grocery store) and grabbed a bottle of wine-- which they happily opened for us and gave us plastic cups to drink from. We heard some good music from a local hostel that has a bar with some pool tables, so we went up and I got to meet a bunch of people that Andrew has befriended since his stay here... some locals, some touristas.Andrew's friends from Australia were given this car, and they have anyone they meet sign it! It's a pretty sweet piece of junk! haha. It was a good night.

Today, we saw the ruins of Pachacamac. To get there we had to take these little vans, they call buses.They are jam packed with as many seats that will fit. Instead of marquees with the destination, there are people that swing open the door and yell out where they are going, then anyone and everyone squeezes onto the 'bus'. Andrew takes these to and from work. Next to walking, it is probably the cheapest way to get around- 1 sole, about 33 cents. The area seemed as though it was completely deserted. Though there were towns on either side of the ruins, when you're walking around, all you can see it desert and it almost seems erie. At the top of the Temple del Sol, there was a great view of de Oceano Pacifico. You could see Punta Hermosa, which is a surf spot Andrew visits on the weekends with friends. It wasn't very clear out, but you could still see most of the coast. So, we've decided that we are going to make our way up to Northern Peru! We're leaving on Thursday and we have no idea when we'll be back to Lima. It will most likely be a couple of months. We'll take a real bus, similar to a tour bus, up to Trujillo initially, then make our way to Mancora for vispera de ano nuevo (New Year's Eve).Andrew's friend's family lives up there, and we know a lot of people that are going for 2010! From there, most likely we'll make our way to Ecuador and back down to Mancora. I have a possibility of a job opportunity there for about a month, and we're looking into taking that! After Mancora will be Iquitos, which is in the Amazon, then on to Huaraz, the snowy mountains :) There are so many types of climates that are in close proximity, it really is amazing! Now this is a rough idea of our itinerary, but we want to make sure we hit all these points. We will see...


Andrew says hello :)