Lima

Today I was basically on my own - the Germans and the Danes were on the same afternoon flight, and K was flying out in the evening (and spent the rest of the day sitting at the hotel, still sick). I ordered a cab and then went out to see some of the museums.

The first museum that I went to was Museo de la Nacion (the National Museum). There were several rooms displaying pottery and weavings, but there weren't many signs indicating what the artifacts were or what they were used for. After half an hour I had seen everything, so found a cab and left for museum number two, Museo Larco. This museum had a lot more signs (and most of them had English translations) and the overall quality of the displays was much better. I spent almost two hours wandering.

I caught a cab outside the museum and tried to get back to Parc del Amor, but ended up in Parc de Lamour (or something like that). It was still in Miraflores and I knew that I was close to the coast, so walked the rest of the way. I had watched the paragliders the first day I was in Lima, and today decided to try it - I figured that if I hurt myself today, it didn't matter as much. I had to wait a bit for the instructor to get down (I had a 10% off coupon, but only for two of the instructors), and then it was quickly sign the papers and get the harnesses on. It was probably for liability reasons, but there was a guy taking pictures of everything - how every buckle was connected, how my helmet was put on, how the parachute unfurled ... everything! We had to change the first parachute, because one of the lines was cut, but after the new one was found and connected, we were off and running. It took about three attempts for the parachute to fill properly and then we were off and running.

We were airborne well before we reached the edge of the cliff, so it wasn't anywhere near as scary as I thought it might be. There must be a set course for everyone to take - everyone goes the same way! We went south as far as Larcomar (the mall set into the cliffs) and then back north as far as the lighthouse. The first time we headed south and inland, we got pretty close to the buildings, but after that, gained some altitude. After about 15 minutes soaring, we landed softly back at the park - a much smoother landing than from skydiving!

I walked back towards the hotel and was getting pretty hungry by this time (it was about 3 pm). I ended up going down pizza street for pizza (what else?). After paying the bill, the waiter, who had earlier told me he had one month of English lessons (but he sounded like he had a lot more), asked what I was doing the next day. I told him that I was going to explore downtown Lima, and he asked if I wanted to get together with him so he could practise his English. Uh ... NO. I don't think so! I just said no, and got up and left quickly.

By this time I had seen everything that I wanted to see in Miraflores, so walked back to the hotel and found K on the free internet. After watching some TV, we walked down to Larcomar and had supper, then back to the hotel to watch more TV (luckily there was always at least one channel showing a non-dubbed American show).