Long journey to the beach

Once James and I had said our goodbyes, we ate some mysterious food from a kiosk (and hoped that it's mystery contents would not reveal themselves on the bus journey), and got on our 7 hour bus back to Lima. A few hours into the journey and we were entertained with a game of Bingo, which James won! It was hilarious to listen to his speech on the microphone, it went something like this: "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you, I am learning spanish, thank you."

A few hours later we found ourselves in a static bus in a heavy blizzard. James and I amused ourselves by listening to his film podcasts, playing the "who am I" game, talking rubbish, making bets on how long it would take to get out of the blizzard (I need to stop being so optimistic when gambling!) and sleeping. We were on the bus all night long, and rather than being a 7 hour journey it lasted 22 hours. It was a relief to finally disembark at Lima, late and tired, but in one piece. At Lima, James and I said goodbye before heading our separate ways; him to Columbia and me to the beach for a few days. Adios Amigo!

From Rags to Riches

After one night in Lima, I took a taxi out to Boca Leon; the beach where I would be staying with my friend Amber for a few days. Amber is an American who has been living with her boyfriend and his family for the last few years in Lima. This year, the family invested in a beach house for the summer, much to my benefit!

When we pulled up at the private beach resort, the taxi driver looked shocked, he had never seen so much wealth before! Amber met me at the door of their amazing beach house. In my move from Huancayo to Boca Leon, I had truly risen from rags to riches.

My new home at the beach

As soon as I arrived, Amber and I headed to the beach with a cool box of beers. The beach was only 5 minutes from the house and every household on the resort had it's own bit of beach. We soon made ourselves comfortable and started a routine that was to last us the whole long weekend; head to the beach and lie in the sun until it gets too hot, take a stroll in the water and cool off, lie in the sun and drink beer/wine, fall asleep, wake up and walk drowsily home, shower and then go for a walk to see the sunset, which was stunning every night.

Amber and I sharing a romantic sunset!

And another:)

Tsunami drill

The only thing that really disrupted the sedate routine we got had used to was a Tsunami drill that occurred after dinner one night. A car went around the estate with a mega phone announcing that there would be a Tsunami Drill in 30 minutes. In typical South American style we took note of this announcement and chose to ignore it, as we tucked into our dinner on the terrace. Thirty minutes later and all the lights went out.

Using the light of Gustavo's iphone to guide us, we walked through the streets of the complex, and then joined the crowds to ascend the huge staircase that took us to the top of the cliff. In theory we could watch the tsunami below us from this point. As it was, we had a great view of the thousands of stars above us. On the way home, Gustavo, Amber and I came up with some fantastic ideas for Tsunami iphone apps. I would share these with you, but the patents haven't been granted yet:)

Leaving Luxury

Our last day at the beach house was actually the last day of the entire rental period and we had to empty the house. We drove an hour back to Lima with Amber on my lap and a stepladder wedged against me. However, I was used to this kind of ride in Peru, in fact one of my taxi drivers in Huancayo fitted 8 other people into his taxi with me!

Leaving behind the peace and tranquility of the beach was a shame, but it was necessary, as any more time and I was at risk of becoming a total beach bum. It was back to Lima for a night, and a final delicious lunch of ceviche (see below), before getting an overnight plane to Rio de Janeiro, where carnival was just beginning. Lucky I got some sleep at the beach... as I was soon to be very deprived of it!

A typical Peruvian meal of ceviche and Inca Kola

A huge thank you to Amber, Gustavo and Gustavo's parents for making me feel like a friend not a foreigner in Lima. And also for introducing me to the real Peruvian cuisine:)