A nice lazy hungover morning was spent with Sarah, which was lovely. We went to Chili's for lunch - it had to be done, despite how completely disgusting the food was!
I met with Mateo in the afternoon, who offered to take me around and show me some of the tourist spots in Lima
. We took a very crowded bus into the main part of Lima, watched a bit of a street riot break out and some people getting arrested. It was definitely a different side of Lima than I had seen so far, and Mateo is quite a character! He is apparently a poet by profession (I have not been able to get out of him what he actually does to support himself!) and has recently published his first book of poetry. He seems to get frustrated that I don't speak Spanish (despite that being obvious when we met and me being Australian seemingly being part of the attraction) because I don't understand his poetry. He has this really deep voice and seems to enjoy reciting his poetry in this sultry, "sexy" voice, but it's all I can do to try to contain my laughter as it sounds so ridiculous to me. I think part of the poet in him is also trying so make his regular speech sound poetic and romantic, and even though his English is exceptional, it's clearly not his first language and the poetic phrases he uses don't come across quite right. Everything we saw that was beautiful and romantic was 'nostalgic' (ie. "don't you think this place is nostalgic?"), which didn't seem to be quite the right adjective to use with a tourist that clearly can have no possible nostalgia for this place at all.
Anyway, Lima was far more beautiful and grandiose than what I expected after what I've seen so far. After visiting the main square, he took me to the Monastery of San Francisco, a beautiful old church
. But it was rather a strange place to visit on a 'date'. It felt particularly weird wandering around with a bunch of other tourists while mass was going on, but he seemed quite proud and fond of this church so we even stood and watched the mass for a while.
We also went for a drink at this really old bar (it really fit with the writer theme) and wandered some old streets. At one point I was approached by these girl guides who wanted to interview me for some kind of scavenger hunt. Then more drinks and so on.
There's a thing in Lima (or probably much of South America) where you negotiate the price of a taxi with the driver before you get in. So when it was time to go home, Mateo was trying to find a taxi that would get back to Miraflores at the correct rate. It was rather strange, because he must have stopped half a dozen taxis and was arguing over the price of one Sole. It was driving me crazy because I just wanted to get back home and one Sole is worth all of about 40c, but he was determined not to be ripped off. Also COULD NOT BELIEVE that I wanted to put my seat belt on. In fact, he was absolutely horrified by the notion and tried very hard to talk me out of it - oh, the embarrassment!! There's something that feels very free about not wearing a seat belt, but also quite scary for someone that isn't used to it.
Anyway, it was mostly a fun night, fun to get the perspective of a local, however weird this local may be!
Date night with a weirdo
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Lima, Peru
Other Entries
-
1Jul 28, 2014
Jul 2826 days priorSydney, Australiaphoto_camera1videocam 1comment 0 -
2Sneezes and yawns
Jul 2826 days priorSantiago, Chilephoto_camera14videocam 0comment 0 -
3Fun day out in Santiago
Jul 2925 days priorSantiago, Chilephoto_camera58videocam 0comment 0 -
4Valparaiso fog
Jul 3024 days priorValparaíso, Chilephoto_camera44videocam 0comment 0 -
5Geocaching day!
Jul 3123 days priorSantiago, Chilephoto_camera48videocam 0comment 0 -
6Not a lot of excitement here so far
Aug 0122 days priorLima, Peruphoto_camera7videocam 0comment 0 -
7Connected again!
Aug 0221 days priorLima, Peruphoto_camera20videocam 0comment 0 -
8Pelicans and ceviche
Aug 0320 days priorParacas, Peruphoto_camera14videocam 0comment 0 -
9"Eight o'clock at the oasis..."
Aug 0419 days priorHuacachina, Peruphoto_camera85videocam 0comment 0 -
10Headaches and lines
Aug 0518 days priorNazca, Peruphoto_camera37videocam 0comment 0 -
11Aug 06, 2014
Aug 0617 days priorArequipa, Peruphoto_camera15videocam 0comment 0 -
12Dancing in the park
Aug 221 day priorMiraflores, Peruphoto_camera11videocam 0comment 0 -
13Date night with a weirdo
Aug 23Lima, Peruphoto_camera12videocam 0comment 0 -
14"No chico? Muy bien!!"
Aug 252 days laterLa Paz, Boliviaphoto_camera3videocam 0comment 0 -
15A little quiet
Sep 1725 days laterMontevideo, Uruguayphoto_camera13videocam 1comment 0 -
16Where are all the fat people in Montevideo?
Sep 1826 days laterMontevideo, Uruguayphoto_camera0videocam 0comment 0
2025-02-11