Safe arrival in PERU!!

I arrived safely in Lima pretty much right on time. The flight was pretty non-eventful even though I had to get off of the airplane in Houston. I took advantage of the largeness of all things Texan to walk around the airport and stretch my legs. Back on the plane I had my same seat next to a woman travelling from Japan on her own to South America. It was nice to have someone to talk to and I hope to see her when she passes through Lima.
Passing through immigration was easier and stranger than I thought it would be. I had heard that you have to tell the immigration guy how many days you want your visa for, so accordingly I asked for 6 months. He said, ‘why?’ and I said because that is how long my flight was. And he said ‘no…for tourism that is too long. Three or four months is enough’. So I asked him to just give me the longest possible visa dates and walked away wondering what had just happened. When I checked my passport, he had given me 183 days. Thanks.
Carlos and his father picked me up, and I experienced my first drive through Lima. I kinda felt like I was in Indonesia again. The buses look like little bugs and they don’t really have fixed stops. They go pretty packed and if you miss your stop you can just get off wherever you want. There was tons of uncalled for honking and lots of swerving. I hope I never have to drive in Lima. But we arrived all in one piece and I received a warm welcome into Carlos’ home.
My first day in Lima went really well except for a sun burn. The Lonely Planet does not tell you that you really should wear sunscreen EVERYWHERE when you go outside. We borrowed bikes from Carlos’ cousin and went biking around an area blocked off from cars. They block off the area every Sunday morning and have dance classes and aerobic classes and a small weight area and a general health area and electrolyte drinks and flowers and trees and SUN. The cars don’t stop for pedestrians or bikes so crossing the street takes patience and speed. Carlos took me across some big avenues and over to see one of his mother’s old house and we rode through gardens and some pretty nice neighborhoods. A lot of the old houses have been made into apartment buildings or simply taken down and they are continually building more and more of them. Lima is an excellent place for engineers.
Lunch was a whole family affair complete with three courses finishing with the elusive lucuma which they call the fruit of Lima. It is green on the outside and orange on the inside and doesn’t taste like anything I have ever had. It goes great with chocolate.
I had misgivings on arriving and staying in Carlos’ mother’s house, but I feel very at home here and being able to talk to everyone and eating home cooked food and just feeling comfortable means so much. Apart from the immediate awkwardness of meeting his family, I feel so welcomed and it doesn’t seem like I have just arrived.
I so far have mixed feelings about Lima. Driving through it on the way back from the airport it seemed a little ugly and run down. Walking around the neighborhood that Carlos lives in and driving around the mall, you see a different part of Lima that is more upscale and mostly residential. The houses and the apartments are nicely designed and there are green spaces and plants in the medians. People here don’t stare as much as in Spain and in the area that I am in now there are very few outsiders. I can’t always tell if the taxis are honking because they want a fare or because I’m wearing shorts, but walking with Carlos makes me feel pretty safe. It’s fun to be in a place that Carlos knows like the back of his hand and I can just follow him around. I have yet to get a city map, but hopefully this week will be the week of city maps and cellphones.
That’s all for my rather rambling first impressions of Lima. Hope you didn’t get too bored:)