Lima

On thursday July 12 we started our journey to make it out of Venezuela! It was to be a long day of traveling since we had to make it from puerto la Cruz to Caracas to make our flight! 5 am came early and we still had to pack our bags and make our way from Jakera lodge! So about 6 am we departed on our big adventure! First was a bus trip to puerto la Cruz about 30 mins and we were hoping to find a bus to Caracas. This is when things got interesting. Venezuela had canceled all bus routes for the day! So our next option was to take a pour peso. Basically we had to get in a taxi and drive the 6 hours into Caracas. A pour peso is a shared taxi, 5 people plus the driver cramped in the car for the duration of the ride. We accepted our fate and were off to Caracas.

It was a wild ride traffic jams, our driver passing other cars in the wrong lanes, typical venezuela antics. Jessica was in the middle between myself and another hefty individual. She was more than happy to see the end of that ride. I guess to see the brighter side we got dropped of at an airport shuttle service which got us a cheap ride to the airport. We made it to the airport four hours to spare. We checked in and went to an American type restaurant in the airport. We enjoyed a few beverage and some lunch and caught our flight to Lima!

We were quite pleased to get through customs and out of the airport in lima. Jumped in a cab and made it to our destination " the flying dog hostel". We were able to get a private room with hot showers a nice bed and a great view. We got our second wind had a couple beers and proceeded to pass out. Five different modes of transportation 15 hours of travel but safe and sound.

We started our next day in Lima and searching for a plan for the day. We decided to go to La Mar mall a mall with open views to the pacific ocean. We were very happy to find a place called Mangoes a posh restaurant with great views. We waited in the lounge to get our great table with ocean views. A delicious lunch followed and Jessica had vegetable risotto with trout . We were also spoiled to some sunshine and got some great pictures. An awesome first day followed with a nice dinner and some Pisco sours a local drink we really enjoyed! A friend we had made at the hostel gave us some free passes into a club and we partied pretty late! 3 am to bed!

Little were we to know but outside our window at 8 am the next day. A parade! Marching bands with drums and trumpets and singing children. A shocking way to start our day. We were forced to get up and go for breakfast. We also decided to book a flight to Cuzco for our next leg of the journey. After we thought It would be a good idea to pay for another couple nights in our room. Hung over and tired we asked to pay for another couple nights and of course they were now booked. All we wanted was to chill out next we were forced to find a new hostel. Lion backpackers is what we found and walked over and checked in!

Luckily we got another private room with a hot shower and were still really close to the main park where all the action happens. We spent the rest of the rainy day relaxing. The next day we set out for the Museo de Nacional upon recommendation from Lonely Planet and a few friends. Not sure what's happened there in the past few years, but it was a major bust! Tiny empty exhibits, zero English unlike what we were told, and the biggest exhibit was a very graphic and disturbing one about the rebellions during the 80s. No dioramas of Cusco ruins as told, so we were outta there pretty quick. That night we checked out the Circuit Magique del Agua. We hopped on a bus after dark (so nice to feel safe to do that) and went down to Parque Reserva to see the 12 different water fountains, all in different shapes and themes. The biggest one puts on a really cool light show through the water with hologram birds and dancers and music. Pretty cool, and the camera once again proved itself with some great photos.

Our last day in Lima we went to Huaca Pucallo, some ancient ruins right in the middle of the city. We had a great english speaking guide and got more out of that 45 min tour than the whole museum the day before! After that we finally found a grocery store, so stocked up dinner supplies and lunch for our flight to Cusco the next day. We knew before we left we had to try the famous ceviche, so by chance, we found a restaurant serving exactly what we wanted on special. Gourmet trout ceviche in a killer citrus/pepper sauce with their amazing sweet potato on the side, some of the most perfectly done and delicious calamari we've ever had, a corn/calamari raw salad that was also nommy, with 2 cervesas. All this was 30 soles (about $12Cdn) and we even got Pisco sours on the house. Best meal yet, sooo delicious!! We chilled out and made dinner at the hostel that night and met a few of the other travelers - including a baby. Who brings a baby to a hostel?!!!? We won't get started on that, but all in all Lima has treated us well, and were looking forward to the next big adventure on this journey - Cusco and Machu Picchu!!

Still didn´t leave the coast, except this time we´re on the Pacific!

Lunch at Mangoes

Lima!!

 Circuit Magique del Agua

Circuit Magique del Agua

 Circuit Magique del Agua