Limeña for a Week

It's real! It's happening!

I landed in Peru at 5 AM on Tuesday, groggy and disoriented from the flight. The humidity hit me first, even from inside the airport. If you thought my hair was curly before....I have news for you.

I'm writing to you all from my second (!) Airbnb of the week, where I am staying with my fellow Fulbrighters Nohelya and Aiden. Aiden is actually the person I've been paired up with for the duration of the program, so we'll be traveling together to Oxapampa and (eventually) Chalhuanca together and teaching in the same COAR.

Lima is perfect; even better than I expected it to be (and I truthfully was not expecting much). It's green and lush and vibrant and full of life–kind of like a more verdant Quito. There are trees everywhere, stray cats and dogs that roam the streets, and no one follows the rules of traffic. It's the perfect city for me! Unfortunately, I'll only be in Lima for a week or two, but the three of us have already decided to soak up as much of it as possible.

Stray cats spotted in nearby Parque Kennedy

We're currently staying in Miraflores, which is considered a more tourist-y area of Lima, but it's so beautiful here. There's little wifi and less air-conditioning, but there's a constant breeze that follows you down the streets, smelling of saltwater, and keeping you sane and alive. The heat isn't horrible, but imagine North Carolina on a cloudy day in June. It's kind of like that. There's a pretty consistent cloud cover (lots of fog in the mornings), but this afternoon we got some direct sun, and it bathed the streets in this beautiful golden glow.

Nohelya, Aiden, and I all met for the first time in person today, and we immediately went to lunch: both of them were craving ceviche, so we went to a nearby restaurant called Oceáno Azul (Blue Ocean), where you walk in and are immediately accosted with the smell of seafood. I am trying my hand at being fully pescatarian, so I ordered arroz con langostinas, and it was very tasty, all in all.

Today was a day of business: the three of us went and got multiple vaccines from Suiza Lab, went shopping for groceries, and are getting our SIM cards next. All of us needed to get the yellow fever vaccine because of where we'll be sent to, but we decided to also get the typhoid and rabies vaccines too (better safe than sorry right? Crossing my fingers that I don't have any major reactions). At the shopping center, we procured the essentials–mangoes, water, and hot pink chanclas for me; actual food for everyone else. Imagine my dismay when, after walking the 20 minutes back to the apartment, I discovered that not only were my hot pink flip flops kids-sized, but I had forgotten to get the security tag removed! So either I walk like a penguin with my heels hanging over the edge, or I find a new pair. I'm chalking it up to jet lag. (There is no time difference).

Friday, the six of us in our program (me, Aiden, Nohelya, Britney, Isis, and Eliza) are taking a day trip to Ica, which lies about 190 miles south of Lima. It's on the border of the Atacama desert, and apparently we're going dune-buggying? I will update Saturday, if I make it back in one piece. I miss you all dearly and I can't wait to tell you more!

The view from our apartment in Miraflores. This is what I mean about the cloud cover!

How beautiful is this park? This is the Parque Kennedy, literally 2 minutes from our Airbnb. I'll definitely be taking some walks and reading here! The greenery makes me so happy.