Lima, Ica and desert oases

Continuing in Lima...

After going out we were all feeling a little sick, especially Stephan who threw up a few times. That didnt stop us though, and we went to the centro Historical de Lima to look a cathedrals and the museum of the Inquisition. Soon after arriving frenchie (one of the girls) was hungry so we stopped and got some civiche. What a bad restuarant. First we ordered, I got some drink called chicha along with Stephan, and she got some civiche. It took only moments for us to get our chicha, me to drink it, and then realize that this was the drink made from purple corn which began the drink making process with indians chewing the corn, and then spitting it into the drink. I didnt feel so well. After 30 minutes the civiche arrived. It was tough, fishy, and didnt really look that good, but we all ate it and by the end all were about to throw up.

The girls then went home while stephan and I went to the catacombs. The catacombs were interesting as there were more than 70,000 peoples skeletons there. Apparently everybody in early Lima wanted to be buried there, and would only be buried somewhere else after they exhumed the body of some priest and put it in the alternate cemetary. Anyway, I gues the crypt was closed for some years then opened in 1937 when some anthropologists decided to take all the bones out and cont them, also ordering them by bone type, and making interesting designs. It was a little creepy to see all these femurs of long dead Limenos arranged in concentric circles around rows of skulls. This one stupid american (we mistakenly went on the english tour) asked over and over why they had taken the bones out and arranged them, while the tour guide dutifully answered the each time.

That night we took it easy, and the next day went on a nice tour of Miraflores which included the beach and the rest of the town. The next day Stephan left, we made dinner, a chicken salad made with a 3 dollar whole rotisserie chicken (the cheapest Ive seen) and a bunch of Pisco sours (made with lime juice, sugar, Pisco, and egg whites). After that I had had enough of Lima, I headed to Ica, a small town to the south. I got there on Friday, always the most traffic and craziness in South America, and had some Chifa (chinese food) which made me feel terrible (the first time Ive gotten sick). The bed was the worst I think I have ever slept on, it was pretty funny bc it once was a normal mattress but at this point it is just a top and bottom of a mattress and no springs in between so you end up sleeping on a board. I then went to the, Poor mans Galapagos, a short boat tour which takes you to these islands that have a lot of birds, and bird guano, on them. Apparently these islands are so endowed with the good white stuff that a war precipitated over them in the 1800s over their large nitrogen based crop of crap.

After puking off the boat, (never eating chinese food again) I went to a small oases town of Huachina. The hostal was really cool as it included a pool and lots of fun folk to hang out with. I spent the day working on my tan, (my first day swimming except for hot springs on my whole trip) and took a dune buggy ride where we got to go Sandboarding. Sort of like snowboarding but on steep ass dunes. That night while everyone else went to Ica to party I went to another hostal that was even more laid back than mine. As soon as I walked in the bartender offered me a joint and explained that I could light up at the bar no problem. I wont say anything self incriminating so lets just say I had a fun night which included running up the dunes and getting sand into every (I mean every) orifice on my body.

The next day was spent around the pool, and then I made it back to Lima for my flight to Cartagena the next day, where the tropical phase of my journey has commenced.