Anaconda, and Airplanes, and Risky Adventures, Oh My!

6.29.2008

Sunday

We woke again to jungle sounds. We had breakfast with Donald and Wadee’s friend, but Wadee was nowhere in sight. Too much fun the night before, we supposed. We ate our banana pancakes and fried egg, along with fresh fruit from the fruit trees. Later we headed into town to find an ATM and happened upon a little ice cream shop, selling ice cream in various typical flavors of the area. I had a cone with one scoop Lucuma (a fruit found mostly in South America) and one scoop Brazil Nut. The flavors were bold and tasty. More muy delicioso!

We returned to Anaconda and loaded up the moto-cart with our backpacks and Jose drove us to the airport. Before we left, Donald cut down some yellow and red bananas from his banana trees for us to take for a snack on the plane.

At the airport, we boarded the plane for our 5^th and later 6^th flights of the trip. We were headed for Lima.

When we arrived in Lima, Santos was waiting for us with a sign with my name on it. A short drive later, Santos dropped us off at Hostal de Las Artes. The hostel seemed to be in a bit of a seedy area of town, but there was a security door and the staff was friendly.

We decided to walk the 15 blocks or so to the Plaza de Armas and el Catedral de San Francisco. As we got more information about where to go and what to see at the front desk, the desk attendant suggested that I take off my watch and hide it. He said it wouldn’t be uncommon for someone to just walk up to me and cut it off. Keep in mind this was my Velcro, $10 Target travel watch. Ok, got it. Guard up. He gave us the information, told us good luck, and we were on our way. Lima was dusty. The plants were dusty, the building dusty, the taxis and colectivos dusty. We locked and guarded the one backpack we had brought along with us, but the desk attendant’s suggestions and “Good Luck” had me on edge. We saw the Plaza and the Catedral, surrounded by brightly colored buildings. We got a tour of the monastery and the catacombs. There were layers upon layers of bones places in intricate designs, placed there to be closer to God in death.

It had been a long day. Anaconda, airplanes, and a risky adventure in Lima. I fell asleep quickly, only to be woken up by Jill a short while later, who told me I was breathing deep and heavy, like a maniac.