After being home for the holidays it took us a few days to get back into the swing of traveling.  Being back on the road is starting to feel normal again as we get back in our groove of being on a budget and planning as we go!  Strange to think that our contract with EF would be ending today if we would have fulfilled it.  Not once have we regretted our decision to start our travels early and happy to say we have hit 6 months of traveling.

Leaving behind the land of temples and Buddha we have exchanged for the land of Catholic churches and crosses.  Our flight from the states to Lima, Peru was much different then most of our international flights since we flew with Spirit Airlines.  It is correctly labeled as an ultra budget airline because the plane was old, dirty, they charge for carry on bags, food and even water!  But we survived, landing on time and safely.  Our time in Lima was enjoyed but was just too short.  The city has a lot of energy, as the parks are full of families, the sidewalks covered with skateboarders and couples sneaking kisses under the shade of trees.

Surrounded by strange cliffs that separate the city and the rock beaches is a district called Miraflores.  This is where our hostel called the Flying Dog was located.   It was a perfect location for us to enjoy an amazing sunset run on top of these cliffs, then down and up many stairs to the beach and back.   The beaches had great surf with board rentals everywhere.  Instead of surfing on our last day we were responsible and took a 6-hour Spanish survival course.  As luck would have it we ended up with our instructor, Ronald, to ourselves and got private tutoring.

Another endeavor was getting our Yellow Fever vaccinations at a local clinic.  This vaccination is only recommended in Peru if you visit the jungle areas but it is required for our Bolivia visa.  Putting our healthcare systems to comparison, after some language barriers, it took only 10 minutes to administer the shots and cost 25 USD each.  This would have cost over 300 USD each in the US and taken hours and lots of paperwork.

Now, let’s talk food and drink.   Peruvian coffee and chocolate is amazing.  We went to the free Chocolate Museum and were surprisingly educated on the details of making chocolate.   Samples of chocolates and cacao tea were so delicious!  The national drink is Pisco Sour, which is a locally made liquor shaken with egg whites and lime. Ceviche served with a unique local corn and sweet potato is on every menu and is our favorite.  Our anniversary dinner was ceviche, jamon wrapped around melon, Chilean wine and Pisco Sours!

Our pictures of Lima will come soon with the next post about Huacachina.  We have added a page at the top of the blog called ‘CURRENTLY’.  This tab will always have our current location since our blog posts are usually 2 weeks behind where we are.