Doug says he´s found the world´s best sport: bus surfing in Peru. We hopped on a mini-bus tonight on the way back from dinner (omigod, ceviche mixto — amazing marinated raw fish and seafood in lime and chillis) and I can´t count the number of times it almost crashed. I don´t actually know if sitting would have been any better.
Doug is finding it very odd being stared at. I don´t remember if I mentioned that a girl took a photo of him on her cell phone because the long blond hair stands out so much. We´re trying our best not to be the loud tourists; I blend in but he just can´t. We´re doing better than the gaggle of Americans in the room across the hall from us though. In this absolutely amazing city of cheap, fresh food, Doug spotted them eating Pizza Hut *in their room*. We know we´ve been told only to eat cooked foods to avoid bacteria, but that´s ridiculous.
There was a protest today in Central Lima. It seems that the government has decided to comandeer the retirement funds of the building workers, or at least, that´s what I was able to garner from the little Spanish I understand. Doug took photos while I was asking questions. Now if only we actually write that up, it´ll be like we´re real journalists or something.
We loved the little statue of the mother of the nation in the Plaza de San Martin. Apparently the artist was commissioned to create her with a crown of flames (llamas) but no one thought to check on the double meaning and so she has a cute little llama on her head. We´ll post photos later, I´m sure.
Other than that, we´ve done touristy things: found a decent place for espresso, walked by the beach and along the cliffs, gone to the National Museum and looked at ancient ceramics, posted postcards to daughters and parents. It´s all good, as Doug would say.