Where do I begin?

Well, it has certainly been an eventful trip so far. Allow me to pick up where I left off. When I last posted, we were about to begin our wait in the Quito airport for our third connection flight. We caught a few minutes of naptime in the marginally comfortable chairs by the gate, when all of a sudden, I was approached by an officer from the Ecuador Policia Nacional and asked for my passport. When I asked him why, I was answered, "Control." Come to find out, this was about the extent of his English. I was led to a rather official looking room where I was prompted to complete some sort of consent form, and don´t worry...there was English translation. (Anyone seen Locked Up Abroad on National Geographic? Yeah, kinda like that.) I was then led to an exam room where the officer x-rayed my abdomen. That´s right, ladies and gentlemen...they took a picture of my insides to make sure that I wasn´t smuggling narcotics in my digestive track. Boy, it sure is a good thing that they didn´t check anywhere obvious like my shoes or, say, my pockets. And, yes, I am serious. I probably could have had a big crack rock in my hand and they wouldn´t have found it.

On a note more relating to the actual holiday itself, we arrived surprisingly smoothly at our hostel last night after our pre-arranged cab (driver waiting with a little sign and everything) picked us up at the terminal. They guys that run the place, Pedro and Christian, are super friendly and have provided us with a map and some insider recommendations. To make a long story less long, we took a cab into central Lima today and did a bit of wandering. We have made friends with Sebastian, a roommate of ours at the hostel, from Vienna, Austria. (Parenthetical Story: As we are enjoying our Pisco Sours at Hotel Bolivar, the supposed birthplace of this popular Peruvian cocktail, Sebastian asks me of my impression of his countryman, the Governator. While we both are fans of Arnold, it turns out that it is not just his English that is poor. Apparently, when his movies are released in Austria, both his English and German is dubbed because he speaks his native tongue so poorly.) We visited a couple of museums, including the Spanish Inquisition Museum (nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!!!), and just did a bit of wandering. The return cab ride alone was worth the trip. We hailed a cab, haggled our fair. and before we knew it, we were the proud passengers of a Daewoo Tika with 266,000 Km on the odometer. ¿What the hell is a Daewoo Tika, you ask? (I added the upsidedown one because this keyboard makes it too easy.) Well, picture a 4-door, hatchback Matchbox car that four grown adults could just barely fit into...then make it 10% smaller. Seriously. Drivers here...nah, I am not even gonna go there. It´s horrific. And I don´t think the whole low emissions thing hasn´t caught on here, because most cars are spewing an unbroken trail of smoke rivaled only by skywriting biplanes. Coming up next time...something about Peruvian food. I promise.