Peru Day 2 - Lima

First of all, I have to say, getting around Lima is really hard.  Few people speak English.  I wanted to write about this yesterday but was too exhausted to.  It took us about an hour and a half to purchase a SIM card and get it to work.  It is hard to communicate in restaurants, with taxi drivers, shopkeepers, etc.  I suppose that's the run of it.  I Spanish-ize French and English words, and the Dawg says I speak (my very poor) Spanish with a French accent, which I suppose I'm not surprised about.

Anyhow, we started the day with breakfast in our hotel.  Pretty standard, eggs, bacon, sausage, yoghurt, fruit, cereal, etc.  It was not bad, but nothing to celebrate.  I'd prefer a slightly cheaper hotel room to breakfast, and go out and find some authentic Peruvian breakfast or eat at some yummy bakery, personally.

We spend our pre-lunch time doing the Lonely Planet walking tour of the historical old town, which started at Plaza San Martin, with the Gran Hotel Bolivar facing it.  The hotel was faded and a letdown, but I am glad we saw it.

Walked down the street Jiron de la Union, noted we were early and almost no shop except for breakfast places were open, and went into Iglesia de la Merced where we are told the first mass in Lima was held.  They had amazing mahogany alters, so tall, so big, and magnificent.  No pictures though.

Onto Plaza de Armas, the main square of Lima, surrounded by La Catedral de Lima which had the remains of Francisco Pizzaro, a Spainish conqueror of Peru, Palacio Arzobispal with beautiful Moorish-style balconies and Palacio del Gobierno where the president resides.  Really pretty square, and almost all the buildings around it were quite magnificent and looked decently well maintained.  We took a few pictures around the square and also visited La Catedral de Lima (S/. 10).  Here are pictures of the square (pardon the super overexposure) and of a beautiful mosaic wall inside the cathedral.

We visited Mercado Central, which was a wet and dry market, food court-type place, clothing store, basically sold everything, to try to find coca leaves for Dawg.  Honestly was not very impressed.  Then we walked around Chinatown, which did not appear very Chinese (only found one Chinese vendor), which sucked.  I found some pictures of mooncake which made me very homesick, but they looked quite sad.

I did eat a corn which was not bad, decently sweet, from a cart, which cost S/. 2.

We returned to Plaza de Armas to watch the changing of the guard at the Palacio del Gobierno.  There was a band playing, which was fun and I really enjoyed, but the actual procession was just OK.  However, these guys can kick their legs up 90 degrees.  I guess I'm always so impressed because my hamstrings are so tight.  Can you see those 2 guards almost right in front of the main palace gates?

Last stop before lunch was the Monasterio de San Francisco.  What I mainly wanted to see was the Catacombs.  The entrance with tour cost S/. 7.  The tour was seriously horrible.  We got to see part of the grounds which had some pretty tile work and cloisters, but everything was so poorly maintained and little was original and mostly restored.  The guide had very bad English, and I understood about 5% of what she said.  We got "please follow me", "look here at chapel, look nice", "look nice alterpiece", "17th century rococo style", I mean I'm doing a horrible job describing it here but it was really bad/hilarious.  Unfortunately no pictures were allowed inside, but the catacombs which housed the bones was cool and spooky, especially the circular bone grave.  I'd say this would be super cool, and I would have done it in hindsight despite the terrible tour.  Here is a picture of the exterior.

Off we went to lunch at Chez Wong, which I will write about in a separate post here since it is really late and I am tired.  Basically I enjoyed the meal, but the only dish worth going there for was the cerviche.  The more exciting thing about this was that we got into a taxi accident on the way there.  The sad thing about that is our taxi ran into a kerb in the middle of the road.  This yielded a serious mortifying and seriously painful bruise on my shin from the impact against the center console.  I'm very grateful I did not fly out of the taxi though, and after all the anger I felt sorry for the taxi which seemed to be badly damaged according to Dawg and Zito.

We went back to El Pan de la Chola for dessert, and got toast with a seriously delicious rich butter and decent orange marmalade, a very rich brownie and apple cake.  Solid baked goods.

Zito and I walked around Miraflores.  Here are some photos that I think were cool.  The first photo was of some random people doing some tightrope tricks.  This one guy did some flips, and unfortunately on the one where I took a photo did not make the landing.  Still an amazing effort and very cool.

Took a photo from the rooftop of our hotel which was cool.

Last activity for the day was dinner at Astrid y Gaston.  Amazing culinary experience and will be written about in a separate blog and linked here.

Here's a funny sign we saw today.  Total rip off.

Goodnight!

Peru Day 1 - Lima

Epic day of travel to Peru.  We wanted to have half a day more so the Dawg and I decided to take an overnight flight, SFO-LAS-PTY-LIM.

A few beautiful photos from the plane.

It was a long grueling journey but we finally arrived at the Lima airport, and guess what, the immigration systems were down!  We stood in line for about 20 minutes with nothing happening, and finally the systems went back up.  Yipee fricking doo.  Since we had such a long wait, the bags were already waiting for us when we got to the belt, so hooray for that!

We pre-ordered a car from Taxi Datum (S/. 55 or  US$20 - FX rate is US$1 = S/. 2.7-2.9) but they did not show up.  So we took this time to find an ATM.  I read that the Globalnet ATMs charged a fee, and that Scotiabank and BCP ATMs did not.  However, the BCP ATM tried to charge me S/. 13.50, but thankfully Scotiabank did not, so we used that.  The BCP and Scotiabank ATMs (and a few other banks too) were on the second floor.

Then we went to the tourist information counter, and found out that Taxi Green was the official taxi of the Lima airport and supposedly the cheapest.  The counter was inside the terminal, directly to the right once one exited customs and immigration, and it cost S/. 50.  Our taxi driver was nice, but spoke little English.  He would pick up the newspaper and flip through it at stops, which was a tad terrifying.  He told us that it would take a little while to get to the hotel in Miraflores, since the coastal road was closed off.  I told him I needed el bano to get him to hurry, and his response was I could go to la playa.  Haha!  Anyway, overall very nice guy, but impossible to understand.

Arrived at Dazzler Hotel, which at $180/night for 3 people in a room with free breakfast buffet and wifi was a really good deal IMO.  So far so good, only complaints are that internet is a bit slow and the shower does not drain very quickly.  The room is spacious and the beds are comfortable.

We had great plans to go to El Mercado, supposedly very good cerviche,  which closed at 5pm, but due to the various delays - broken immigration system, road works/traffic jam, slow check in, so we gave up on that and decided to settle in and take a short read before finding food.  Once we were ready, we went to our first stop, El Pan de la Chola.  We ordered a caprese sandwich which had the most amazing bread, mozzerella, tomatoes and a lighter pesto.  Holy crap, I wanted to order another sandwich after that but had to think about the other things I wanted to eat in the evening.  Very very good sandwich.  The Dawg got a cuppuccino which he said was delicious.  I took a taste but coffee is not my thing.  According to our receipt, we got a galleta pecanas y chocola (cookie with pecans and milk chocolate) and a barra valentina (short bread cookie bottom with caramel covered nuts).  Both were amazing, especially the latter.  We would totally go back.

Then we went to Pardo's, which is a polloria, that served yummy grilled chicken.  We tried to go healthy so we shared a half chicken with grilled veges.  It came with these yummy mayonnaise sauces, which negated part of the healthy, and the Dawg ordered a chorizo thing which I was not all that fond of (let it be reflected in the record that I love sausage, so I think this was just not a very good one), though the garlicy dip that came with it was unbelievable.  We requested chicken legs.  The chicken was very moist, the skin was very crispy, and it was very delicious.  Definitely a good stop to make if you like Peruvian grilled chicken!

OK, well it's late, so I am going to bed, and excited for tomorrow.  :-)

Panama City Airport (PTY) Copa (Star Alliance) Lounge

Free wifi with good signal.  Needs a password.
Food is pretty basic - cereal, muffins, bagels, apples, yoghurt Nature Valley bars (take more if you need to stock up on bars!), etc.  Not much by way of healthy food.
Drinks are also pretty basic - coffee, tea, water, juices.  There is a bar with alcoholic drinks but I think you have to pay.

Hope this helps you travelers out there!

Benihana, SF

I went to Benihana for the first time, as we got a $30 birthday discount coupon!  The meal started with some shrimp appetizer, soup, salad, rice (white and chicken fried for additional $4) and grilled zucchini and onions.  I was amazed at the amount of butter they used.  No wonder even their zucchini tasted so good!  Notable was the fried rice and grilled zucchini and onions.  Everything else was just OK.

We ordered the filet mignon and Ocean Treasure (lobster, scallops and colossal shrimp).  They were all decent, except the scallops which did not taste very fresh and were tough.

The chef from the cooking area behind us missed his toss-the-shrimp-tail-in-his-hat and it landed up on our grill plate.  See the picture in the top right.  I thought that was funny.

There is a Benihana rip off place in Berkeley called Hana.  Their portions were bigger, it might have been around the same price or slightly less expensive, and the fried rice was free.  Also they did more tricks like set the onion tower on fire.  Maybe next time we will go to Hana, though that remains to be seen because it is further away.

Visiting Iceland

Here are some useful things that I think might be helpful to those visiting Iceland.

Arriving at the airport - Keflavik airport has free wifi, with a fairly easy process to log in.  You have to provide a name and email address to get it.  So far I have not received any spam, in case anyone is concerned about it.  There is a fairly long walk to get to immigration, depending on what gate you are at.  Immigration does not require you to fill in any forms, which is nice.  They only asked me how many days I planned to be there, stamped my passport, and then let me through.

SIM card - We purchased one at the airport.  There is an Elko store on the top floor, but you have to go to the bottom one.  Make sure you get the correct size SIM card, because I got the wrong one and it was a hassle to get that fixed.  The brand they sell there is Alterna, or at least that is the brand that I purchased.

Transportation - I purchased Skybus Plus, which takes you to the central bus station and then you will either sit the same big bus or transfer to a smaller bus that will take you to your hotel.  Quite hassle free.  There is free wifi on the bus.  Buying a roundtrip ahead of time will yield a small discount (4,500ISK for RT vs 2,500ISK each way).  Not sure how much a taxi is, but I was quoted 11,500ISK (about USD$100) to return to the airport.

General things
-The weather changes very fast and fairly drastically - we went in the summer.
-Tips are not expected at restaurants.
-English is very widely and well spoken, so Anglophones will not have trouble getting around.
-Most hotels we stayed at were fairly standard and small.  Bed, desk, closet.  The only liquid they offer doubles up as shampoo and soap, so bring your own if you are fussy.  The only hotel we stayed at that gave us different liquids for soap, shampoo and conditioner was the Hilton in Reykjavik, probably because it was a big chain hotel.  If you are lucky, you get a kettle and it is clean-looking.
-Many restaurants and cafes have free wifi, but for some reason Akureyri cafes seemed to not offer wifi.

Groceries - I found this very useful link for grocery store locations.  My grocery store of choices was Bonus, because it was supposed to be cheaper and the store sign had a cute little pig.

Bank - I tried 3 different ATMs and all assessed a small fee, <200ISK.  I chose the cheapest at 125ISK.  The maximum I could draw was 20,000ISK.  Honestly, there was not a moment we needed cash.  Even the hotdog stand took credit card.  OK, I take that back, there was one time we almost forgot we had debit and credit cards with PINs and I tried to offer some random guy at the gas station cash in return for him using his credit card for our gas.

Driving - Driving is pretty easy.  There is one main road, the 1 highway, also called the ring road, which circles around Iceland.  There are supposedly a lot of cops in the summertime waiting to ticket you, and tickets are expensive, according to the brochure at our rental car office.  There are also speeding cameras, which apparently work, since someone I knew got a ticket.  I'm nervously awaiting the rental car company to send me an email telling me they have charged me...  Headlights have to be on all the time when driving - I poopood it at first, but found it was useful especially to see cars on the other side when trying to overtake.  You need a credit or debit card with a PIN to get gas, otherwise during gas station hours you can purchase a prepaid card.  Prices are fairly uniform.  The message in the gas machine sometimes will ask you how much you want to put in, and it is just an authorization amount - if you put in less gas, they don't charge you the full amount you authorized.  Depending on gas station, you could pump first and then pay, or the above mentioned situation could arise.

Parking - In the bigger cities on the main streets, there are signs in Icelandic that have numbers and then some times (I know it sounds vague, but I'm not good at describing, but if you see it you will know what I mean).  They are generally 15 and 10-16, and mean 15 minute parking between 10am-4pm, otherwise you got towed.  The tow sign has a picture, so you will not miss that.  In Reykjavik I checked out some parking meters, and the rate was 225kr for 60 minutes, between certain hours.

Ferry - There are a couple of ferries around.  If you want to take your ferry on the boat, be sure to book in advance, the earlier the better.

Hiking information - This was a fairly useful site for information, otherwise information is generally sparse.  I tried to write in my blog how long my hikes were, distance and time, but this one has a good summary.

Leaving Iceland - Security let me take peanut butter through, but not yoghurt.  Boo to them.  The good news is you can keep your shoes on, though you still have to take out your iPad and laptop.

Feel free to ping me if you have other questions!  I hope this was useful!

Iceland - Forgotten but Remembered

Here are some ramblings I thought I would share that I forgot to include in previous Iceland posts.

While I was driving I saw a guy wearing a skin coloured skin-tight suit wading into some water.  I got Hog to confirm, and the dude was naked.  How cold was he?!

We did not find a sea monster, but there is always next time.

Reindeer sighting - tried to look out for wild reindeer throughout the trip but failed.  Here were 2 enclosed in a fence.  Better captive than none, right?

Here is a lucky fly eating some lobster that we dropped on our table.  Gross.

I took this photo for Lingon.  I wanted to let him know I was thinking of him even though I was here.

Lastly I found this really pretty mushroom in the wild.  I thought of myself.  One of my favourite photos of the trip.

Day 17 Iceland

I know the last post was to be the final "daily post" of my Iceland trip.  It was supposed to be uneventful.  But guess what - either the alarm did not go off, or I overslept.  I had a Flybus Plus pick up from the hotel scheduled at 8am through the hotel, so I (thought I) had set my alarm for 6.45am.  Pleasantly surprised when I woke up before the alarm.  I lay in bed for a few minutes, trying not to bother Hog since we had a very late night/early morning (went to bed around 2am?), and after a while decided I had to use the bathroom.  Used the bathroom, came out, checked my phone, 8.25am, WTF?!?!  I tried to stay as calm as possible, and got dressed and packed whatever little left there was to pack.  I called the reception desk, wanting to yell at them to ask why they did not call the room, but decided it was futile and anyway I never asked them to call me.  I enquired politely about my options, and decided that I had to take a cab/private car, and was quoted 115,000ISK which was about USD$100.  Feeling sad, I decided it was what I had to do.

Hog left the room with me, which I am thankful for because moral support was much needed at this time.  We got to the lobby, and I noticed this guy standing outside the hotel with luggage.  I made an executive decision and asked him if he was going to the airport (affirmative, he had a friend who was to pick him up), and asked him if I could get a ride with him (affirmative).  I had not felt so thankful that whole trip.  I was really lucky, since his Icelandic friend was actually supposed to pick him up at 8am, but it was already 8.40am and his friend was late.

His friend came, we did self-introductions, and were on our way to the airport.  They were business partners, so there was some work talk that I was not involved in, but I got some good conversation in.  I asked Mr. Iceland about elves, and he was of the opinion that people believed in the folklore but not the actual elves themselves (hmm OK), but pointed out there were weird things like how when elf stones were removed from certain places for construction or what not, inexplicable things, which were not explained to me, happened.  He also agreed with the Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur (hot dog shop) website that most, if not all, Icelandic people had eaten at this place, and it was indeed famous in Iceland.  He told me his family mostly cooked at home, as did most Icelandic families.  Puffin, whale, and all that other (not) good stuff was a delicacy, and most Icelandic people did not particularly fancy it really.  So overall, aside from saving a ton of money, I made a new friend and learned a ton about Icelandic people.

Aside from this free ride, I was really lucky that day.  When I checked in at the Delta desk, they had reassigned me from third to last row aisle seat to last row middle seat.  I was very annoyed and tried to change that but to no avail as the flight was full.  I had no choice but to head to the gate.  My yoghurt got confiscated, which I was sad about, but at least my peanut butter got to stay.  I tried to tell security I would eat my yoghurt at that time, but they said I had to go back before security and at that point it was not logistically feasible.  Moving on, I headed to the gate, and informed the agents of my situation.  I knew there were 2 seats up front that were empty, but was told I had to pay for them, but I think they took pity on me and gave me the aisle seat 20 rows in front!!  I was so happy!

Other lucky things that happened - the flight from Reykjavik arrived early to JFK, Lingon remembered to change my flight AND got me an upgrade (lie flat seats!!), I got pseudo free Internet at JFK outside the BA lounge which allowed me to text Lingon that I was OK (I lost my US SIM card and had no means of communication otherwise) and I had Toblerone on the flight.  I also had the strength to refuse ice cream twice, one on each flight, which was good for trying to detox.

This is a really boring wordy post, but I thought I should write about it so one day when I'm feeling down I can re-read it and realize how lucky I am.

Thank you, Thomas and Baldor, for the ride to the airport, and for the good graces of the world to offer me all that you already have (and hopefully more!).