Lima

We woke up at 5, ate our continental breakfast, and were picked up for the airport by Carlos and Humberto. At the airport there were porters standing in front of each parking spot. As a car pulled in, the designated porter would run and grab your bags. Humberto showed us where to go after we had checked in. We paid our airport tax and then had a lot of time to kill in the airport. Our flight departed at 8. For a one hour flight, they gave us a chicken salad sandwich, a pastry, a drink and a newspaper. Better than a three hour domestic flight in the U.S.! When we arrived in Lima, we collected our baggage. Boris was there waiting for us. He was on the cell phone wth Milagros, who had been tryng to contact us the day before, but we had been out all day. Craig spoke to her and she asked if we'd mind having lunch instead of dinner with her. It was fine with us. Boris drove us to the hotel, and we showered and watched some TV. Milagros arrived at 1 and drove us to the Cafe de la Paz in Milaflores. In Miraflores we got to see a little more security in action. In her car, Milagros locked her purse in the trunk while driving, and at the outdoor restaurant she asked for a chair that had a leather strap to secure her purse. We talked for several hours with Milagros about the trip and Peru in general. We didn't have one complaint about the trip. It was so much more than we ever had expected, and we feel changed because of it. Craig and I both had lasagna and garlic bread, with one last lucma ice cream for dessert.

Milagros dropped us off at the Indian Market in Miraflores, where we spent a couple hours just roaming through the booths looking at all of the amazing stuff: carved boxes, tapestries, alpaca rugs, furniture, pottery. We ended up buying a chess board (Incas vs. Spaniards) for 30 soles At 5 we walked back to the hotel. We got a little lost because of the way the streets are laid out surrounding Arequipa Avenue, but we asked a security guard and eventually saw some landmarks that directed us to Teruel St., where the Villa Molina was located. The clerk at the desk of showed us a map of the nearby restaurants. The only really close things were American franchises. We had avoided them until now, but we just needed a functional meal. We got to a roundabout that contained Friday's, Chili's and a splace called the "Backcow Steakhouse", which had the same logo and font as the Outback. We settled on Friday's. The Celtics playoff game was on, and we ended up watching it. The Celtics came back for a very improbable win. I got a chicken finger dinner and a huge margarita. Craig got a grilled chicken sandwich and a Pilsen beer. We had seen signs for Pilsen everywhere, but were never able to try one until now, on our last night. We got back to the hotel at 8 to watch some TV.