Rediscovering Peru

Today is a near-perfect day in Lima, Peru. I arrived late last night with an immediate shock to my confidence in that Pablo was nowhere to be found at the arrival gate at the airport. If you are not familiar with my travel habits, I tend to leave certain things to chance while preparing immensely for other situations. For instance, I have my own canned pumpkin and cranberries for my Lima Thanksgiving I plan to cook, two cell phones, and of course my waiter´s corkscrew (I won´t expose any other details, because, well that would be stupid). On the other hand, Pablo (my driver prone to 80s and 90s rock) was an integral piece off the puzzle in that I had no contact information for my gracious host family (other than him) and potentially no ride from this airport where swarms of people congregate - even at close to midnight - to offer me a ride (some legitimately, some otherwise). But, really, what is travel if not a tightrope walk? Luckily, I had stored his cell number, and we were listening to Aerosmith in no time.

The Salazars were up to greet me, and I informed them that my first full meal should include ceviche... and it certainly did. This afternoon, we went to El Villano. Driving in Lima is always an adventure - little overcrowded buses called combis whiz by looking like passengers are going to fly out at any time, the underabundance of traffic lights and signs, and today in a small street close to the restaurant, we drove by kids performing a public stoning. The victim seemed to be getting away on foot, but what upset me even more was the one boy with the machete. Luckily they had no problem with us driving through their makeshift public execution site. Ceviche sure was good!