leaving lima

we loved lima. lima is for lovers. really. there's a giant church in the plaza by our hotel, and every evening couples take over the steps in front of it and make out. lima was great, we met rosi (michael's stepbrother's fiancee) and hung out all over lima, attended a concert which began with some very scandalous performance art and ended with rosi's friend's fusion band, with a bit of surf rock and latin drumming and rapping in the middle.

we loved lima, but the amount of time it took us to find a car was frustrating.  once we did get our car sorted out, our little royal blue 1968 VW beetle, we hit the road the very second we had the paperwork back from the lawyer's office.  which was about 9pm.  jhonny, the mechanic who found this car for us, bent over backwards to grant my wish of leaving lima that night.  when the lawyer forgot to sign the paperwork she'd notarized, and then closed up shop and went home, jhonny drove to her home to get the signatures.  we were on a mission.  it was tuesday, we had to hit the road.  so when the paperwork came back around 9pm we left, and broke down promptly about 45 minutes out of town.  sane people would have gone back, had jhonny look at the car the next morning, but the thought of another day's delay broke my heart.  then when the engine turned over an hour later, i yelled GO-GO-GO! and we floored it and headed out into the mountains.  ill-conceived indeed.

this little perro invited himself right into our little abode in lima (the hostel doubles as a zoo i think - dogs, parrots, lovebirds, turtles, peacocks hang out on our doorstep all day) and i told him he could nap on the bed for a bit.  that's michael under the covers at the top of the bed.  

our amazing zoo hostel in lima

 

 

 

 

 

 

dating a programmer - this is a sight you get used to :)

mexico city to lima

our attempt at blogging typically goes like this: i take pictures - too many pictures -  i download pictures, edit pictures, cull them down into a manageable batch - then when pictures are done, i ask michael every morning if we can have a night in, with wine and blog - and then we end up staying out too late/walking around until we're exhausted/driving until too late in the night/drinking too many pisco sours - and then we fall asleep.  mexico city was only 10 days ago, but i'm already starting to forget the day's finer details, because we were dead tired when we landed there and we only had several hours.

yeah - after 4th of july fireworks in san francisco and a race to the airport to catch a red-eye flight to mexico city, sleeping little or none and then having our first latin american cervesas - this is how we looked. 

our welcoming committee in lima, peru

a little too welcoming!!

"merr!!"

when you're staying in an old spanish colonial labyrinth, always explore all nooks and crannies, you might find a hidden and forbidden roof with an awesome view!

more friends in lima

he says hola and what's up

Still in good old regular America

We're not in South America yet so we might as well fill up on patriotism before we leave the country. It is July 4th after all.

 This little boy had to be disciplined for anti-American activity so we wrapped him up with patriotic tape. I think Johnny learned his lesson.

These stars are supposed to last until November so they'll know which country they're in.

Bolinas is on the coast and it has at least one sea monster.

Wall on the sea

There were some sexy dancers with awesome drummers.

More patriotism

On the road

Almost a lighthouse

Reconciliation

A new park!

More flags!

Back at Dad's house for photos.

Now we are making our way to the airport via San Francisco. This is the wrong side of the Golden Gate Bridge, as we learned. It's the bike side, not the pedestrian side. We were technically put under arrest for two minutes for a federal offence. Then the cop decided it would be easier to golf-cart us to our bus stop. Thank you SF.

Michael Tobias' roof is an ideal place to watch fireworks. We counted 8 different spots that were launching fireworks.

Our next step is a long layover in Mexico City and then Lima. Our plan is to buy a car once we get to Lima. Then we'll spend the next 2 1/2 months driving around South America. Hopefully we'll get to all 6 South American independence days that occur in the interval in which we are there.