Lima - the frustrations of travel

(I am writing this in Paracas on Saturday night)

Friday, our last day in Lima, we had a few things planned so we wanted to get an early start.  But we had to do three things first, drop off our laundry, take money out of the bank and get some tickets printed.

We had asked the night guy at our hostel if we could print the day before but he said we could but they were out of ink.  So, we asked the day lady on Friday morning.  No problem, just email it to her and she will print it.  Great. She said they were never out of ink, the night guy just doesn't know how to use the printer.

Next, to the laundromat which we had already stopped by the day before for times and prices.  We were there for opening at 9am.  We were first in line.  We get to the counter and the VERY unhelpful person tells us that the scale is broken so she can't take our clothes.  No, she can't guess that our small bags are clearly 1 & 2 Kilos.  No, she can't take them and then weigh them after they are washed.  No, she CANNOT take our clothes, come back later or tomorrow.  We are busy later and gone tomorrow.  That one was not a problem solver.  So, I asked for the jefe (boss).  Some guy wandered over, picked up the two bags, announced they were 1 & 2 kilos and told Ms. Unhelpful to ring us up and take our money.  She was not pleased but we were.   And just to prove she could guesstimate, she charged Val for 1.5 kilos which was probably more accurate than el jefe's 1 kilo guess.

It is now after 9:30.  We had planned to be on our way by this time.  Next stop, the bank.  We had gone to the bank machine the night before but the limit at the machine is s/400.  That is about $240.  Or we can take out $200 US, which is a bit more Canadian.  But Val had planned to take out $700 CAN each time to last one week on her $100 a day budget.  She, like me, gets charged for each international withdrawal so to have to take out money every two days adds up.

I assured her that the last time I ran into limits at the machines, the limit at the teller was much higher.  So, in we go to ScotiaBank (in Peru).  Nope, s/400 limit.   The only way to take out more is on a Visa card.  We should try a different bank.  So we went to BCP across the street.  s/400 limit.  Then to Interbank, s/400 limit.

Val was stuck, she took out American so she could get more, and then converted it to Soles at a money exchange.  I went back to our hotel and paid my visa to zero (which was a killer because the day before I left I got my car fixed and bought house insurance so I had a big bill to pay down) and then threw on $1000 credit to use for withdrawals.  I'm not sure if I am making money or losing it with the interest on my line of credit but I refuse to have to withdraw every couple of days.

So, between visiting four banks, the hotel, and the exchange place, it was now after 11.  We were just a few doors away from the hostel so we went back there to get the desk lady to get us an Uber.  She is a talker.  She talks and talks.  She couldn't print because blah blah blah, paper.  Paper arrived.  I kept saying 'is the taxi on the way' knowing she hadn't ordered it yet.  Unbelievably, the tickets still weren't printed when we left at 11:20.  We were trying to get to a museum on the other side of town that closed at 12:30.

Finally, we were on our way.  We rode through a very sketchy part of town.  And there were whole blocks ripped up for road repairs so we had a lot of detours (none marked, just our Uber driver hunting and pecking for a through road) until we finally arrived at the entrance to our first stop:  The Brain Museum! It is inside of a Neurological hospital compound.

But, of course, whoa your horses.  To the gate, where the guard gave us a ticket which we had to take to the clinic down the street and find the cashier, wait in line and then pay and show one of our passports.  Excellent, it is now noon.

Finally, we get in and then we see so many buildings and nary a sign.  But we found it.  And it was awful!  Val loved it, being a nurse and macabre.  I actually gagged in there.  Here are some photos (I'll choose the least horrible).

The hospital courtyard is quite lovely

you probably don't want to detail in to this one

Brains!

Break to sleep,(and do some stuff and more stuff and nap) it is now Sunday afternoon.

Since our ride to the Brain Museum was in such a bad neighbourhood, we took a cab to our next stop, just a km away, the Cemetario Presbetario Matias Maestro.  Our cab dropped us about half way up the block at the biggest gate.  Nope, we have to go back to the main entrance, said the guard with a wave of his hand to the left.  Ok, it is a big cemetery so we started walking with no idea of where the main entrance was.  We came upon another gate, open with no guard.  If this isn't the 'official' entrance, it is good enough for us (plus no entrance fee).  

We walked around for an hour or two.  It was blazing hot.  

We have heard a lot about Ramon Castilla, the president who
ended slavery and brought the first railroad to Peru.

Next stop, the Mercado de Brujas (the Witch's Market) in the Gamerra Station of the Metro Line.  And conveniently, there is a Metro station right beside the cemetery.  So, we went to the gate and we couldn't buy one ticket each.  We had to buy a loaded card.  We asked the guard who suggested we ask someone to use their card to get us in and we pay that person.  So, we ask a nice young man who was about to enter.  He didn't have enough money on his card.  He took the time to load his card for us (where we noticed that we only had to load s/5 and the tickets were s/1.5.  We could have just gotten a card).  Our nice young man wouldn't even take extra soles for his trouble.

Train to Gamerra where we searched and searched but no witches.  Oh well, it was that kind of day.  Into another cab and back to the hotel.  

A quick rest and out to dinner (you can see why I am so far behind on the blog).  We went down to LarcoMar park which has a mall below full of American stores but I wanted to watch the sunset.  We went into a restaurant with a patio but no tables on the water side.  We ordered a drink (another Pisco invention).  As we were waiting, the woman at the next table (on the water side) started talking to us.  She is Canadian and she was leaving.  So we ended up at her table.  We waved over our drinks.  But we had obviously pissed off our waiter because he NEVER came back.  We eventually left money on the table and went to another restaurant for dinner.  But not before we got to see a beautiful sunset. 

Then a quick dinner and back to our room to pack for our bus to Paracas on Saturday morning. 

Ok, we are leaving Paracas in the morning but I will save our two days here for the next post.

I'll leave you with this self portrait of me in the back of a cab in Lima

Socks & Soles

Well, we leave in two weeks from today.  I haven't started packing but I have thought about packing so that's 75% of the battle (now that I think about it, this is much like how I approach paper writing and I never leave time to edit so maybe I should start packing).

Val and I had our (probably) last trip planning meeting (actually, we met for lunch but that does not sound nearly official enough for such a grand endeavor as Machu Picchu).  We had a few tasks to do downtown (after lunch, priorities please). We spent so much time planning for sock needs that we almost forgot to pick up our Soles.

I used my Christmas/Birthday money from Chris and Mom & Bill.  Val used her OT from Christmas day.  We each bought $500.30 Canadian to buy $1140 Soles.

Some facts on Soles.  One is a Sol.  Sol means sun in Spanish.  The Sol replaced the Inti in 1991 (one million Inti to one Sol, yikes!).  Inti is a Sun God for the Incas.  Sorry, Incas, you devalued too much and the Spanish swooped in (too soon?).

Just so we are all on the same page, the currency code for Peruvian Soles is PEN and the currency sign is S/ so that is what I will try use from now on.  Let's do it together: We each bought $500.30 CAN to buy S/1140 PEN.  Nice work team!

Speaking of money.  I found some Mexican pesos in my passport wallet so I'll take those so we can eat in the Mexico City airport on our layover.  And of course CAN$ for the Vancouver Airport.  Plus some US$, the universal O negative donor of cash (everyone accepts it).  So, four kinds of money, probably in three wallets, that won't be confusing at all.

We bought our Soles at FX Connectors again.  Which was not as fun this time since they got a cash window so no being ushered into an office to pass money back and forth - not nearly so imagination-of-my-unlived-nefarious-life inducing.   Am I still talking about money!  Move on Joanne...

Yes, let's talk about much more important things:  Socks!

I actually bought new travel socks before Christmas.  Quick trip into MEC, four pairs, out.  I was still using the white Running Room socks I bought for my first trip to Africa so a) they are not white anymore and b) I think I got my money out of them.  Val needed new socks too.

Back to MEC.  Ok, MEC, you need to do something about your shoe/sock area.  It is too small for what you are asking of it.   It was so crazy in there, so we left.  But not before Val memorized some prices.  Then we went to Robinson's Outdoor store.  They have a lovely relaxed shoe area with two helpful assistants.  So helpful that Val bought merino wool socks (mucho S/PEN!) and I bought new travel sandals.  Val got the lower MEC price matched and my sandals were on sale so we can't blame those lovely helpful assistants too much for their obvious mind control tactics. (plus, nice local store)

Since I already had socks, my outdoor store goal was a new laundry line.  I have been using my travel laundry line forever (also from my first trip to Africa).  Good old Coghlan's, it lasted 13+ years.  It finally was so stretched out that I decided to give it a proper burial (garbage can in Oaxaca) and buy a new one. 

MEC has laundry lines but they were sold out. Plus, not Coghlan brand.  Why Coghlan's?  Their double strand elasticized line doesn't require clips. Robinson's didn't have them.  So, off to our favourite store (there's no store like it!), Capital Iron.  Yes, Success!  And only $6.  Why did I wait so many years.  Plus I bought a rain poncho (drab green) and a new lightweight dry bag to protect my camera (I am hoping for the best, but planning for the worst).  Plus a couple of Biners (this is my version of security for my day pack, you have to unclip and unzip to steal my stuff).

Oh, I am so sorry to make you read this long post about nothing.  I am avoiding cleaning the kitchen.

Val and I also looked over our hotel bookings.  We checked the Puno festival schedule, we get there one day after the first big day and leave one day before the other big day.  Discuss, discuss, we are going to stick with our original plan (partly because of our timelines and partly because we can't change our reservation, everything in town is booked).

We have some nights we are booked in two places while we figure out what we are doing about night buses etc.  The rooms are so cheap that, at worst, we might lose $10.  Val is in charge between Lima and Puna.  We are going to wing it, nothing booked except Lima.  I am in charge from Puno back to Lima, we are almost fully booked.  A nice balance, I think (I mean that).

Today's task (beside the kitchen), is to sew my security pocket into my pants. Which means I have to decide on which pants I'm taking.  No easy task.  Socks I am ready for, pants are next level decision making.

Ok, you are released.  Go free.

Here is a picture of Pigeon thinking about life on a rainy day, that I took while writing this post.

Are you there God, it's me Pigeon.