Lima

Unless you take a bus, everyone coming into Peru passes through Lima. Even when you do bus, there usually is a stop in Lima. Therefore, it made sense to start my two months here acclimating to Peruvian culture, or at least the city life.

Actually getting to Peru was a bit of a haul. The first leg was from London to Washington D.C. At that point in my travels, it felt totally normal to be flying back to the U.S., and everything in my body was screaming "okay, let's go home". Suppressing these feelings wasn't any easier throughout my layover from 6 pm to 2 am, as there really isn't much you can do during that time other than sit with your thoughts. 

Unannounced to me, the language barrier arrived faster than I thought. When you fly to a Latin American country from the U.S., typically the people working the check-in desk speak Spanish, as the majority of people flying also speak Spanish. This makes sense. However, me, at 2 am, running on England time and with no sleep, could not remember a lick of Spanish. It wasn't a problem because everyone also spoke English, but it was a bit of a wake-up call that I needed to at least get the important phrases down ASAP.

I spent most of the plane ride from D.C. to Panama City on Google Translate, trying to recall conjugations and verbs from high school Spanish. It was kind of fun flying into the Panama City airport because I had been there just 9 months before with my biogeochemistry class en route to a research station. The familiarity made it a bit easier to chill out for the next five hours.

The final leg was from Panama to Lima. After traveling for 24 hours, all I wanted was a shower. I had arranged for a taxi to pick me up from the airport and thus began my stay in Peru.

One thing I knew I wanted to do coming to Peru was take Spanish classes. So, for the first two weeks of October, I was back as a student from 9-1 Monday through Friday. Even though it was school, it was super relaxed compared to the life I just left, and I had a lot of fun with it. My classes only had four other people, which made it easier and more comfortable to ask questions. The one thing I thought was the most helpful was that all of the instruction was in Spanish, so I started internalizing words and phrases without realizing it. Also, I quickly discovered how beneficial it is to be learning a language in a place that speaks it because I walked out the door and could apply everything we discussed that day. 

Each week, my school offered activities to participate in around Lima after classes. This became a great way to meet other people at the school and see things I wouldn't have otherwise known about. The one event I attended both weeks was the group dinner. It was really fun to go to restaurants with a few of the teachers who could explain what different menu items were or how to ask for certain things. English was the default language for everyone, even though we came from many different countries, but any time something came up that we knew in Spanish, we would do our best to practice. 

Every Thursday during our break, the school had a table set up with different Peruvian snacks for us to try. I learned about so many foods this way, many of which I went and got at the grocery store later.

Trying Peruvian foods became a mission for me, so I went to as many new restaurants as I could during my two weeks. In addition to the classic dishes like ceviche, lomo saltado, and ají de gallina, I learned about various fusions popular in Peru like chifa, nikkei, and criolla. Below are some of the dishes I had.

The tourist center in Miraflores offers several free walking tours, so I took advantage of those when I had time. One of the tours I went on was to the district of Lima. Lima is the oldest district in the province of Lima and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I learned a lot about the history of the area and got to see a nice change of architecture from Miraflores.

One thing that surprised me the most was how much I enjoyed feeling like I was living in a place for a bit. Constantly packing and unpacking and readjusting to new surroundings gets tiring after a few weeks. Slowing down also allowed me to create more meaningful relationships with people instead of sharing my life story on repeat. I liked becoming familiar with the streets and places to go if I needed something.

As I mentioned before, traveling through Peru means passing through Lima, so this wasn't the last time I got to explore the city. In fact, I was back just one week later on my way north to Punta Sal.

I had a few days to kill before I started volunteering, so I took some time to get everything situated and to pick up some essentials before I had limited access to them. I was also able to meet up with some of my friends for dinner who were still taking classes. Since I had time to wander, one morning I decided to walk through the northern part of Miraflores. I found a really nice brunch spot called El Pan de La Chola on the way, and stopped to eat and read for a bit.

The most interesting thing I did during this quick trip was eat, so here's some more food pictures.

When I come back through Lima before I leave Peru, I'm sure I'll have more food pictures to add...