Lima

There was a big demonstration downtown so I couldn't get very close to the main plaza in central Lima. I spent most of the day finishing up gifts. I knew what I wanted to get people, but I had left some of them until Lima so I wouldn't have to cart them all over the country. Lima is an interesting city. It has some nice parts, and I really regret having hardly any time there, and seeing almost nothing of Lima. I spent most of the time in Mira Flores, the wealthy area. Near the end of the day I was tired and a double decker bus tour of Miraflores cost only 5 soles ($1.50), so I decided it was a cheaper excuse to sit for an hour than buying something at a restaurant. It was the wierdest tour ever. The guide kept saying over and over, "And now on your left, we have a beautiful park, with many beautiful flowers and plants... oh and this one has a fountain..." and showing us where the bank was, and a nice restaurant, and so on. So wierd. We just drove around and around the tiny little part of Lima that is Miraflores, looking at the nice parks and the basketball courts for the children of ambassadors and such... (I kept having to stifle my eye-rolling.) But it was a nice rest and interesting to see Miraflores, though I will never claim to have seen Lima yet.

On the way to the airport (around 8:30 pm) the taxi driver covered my backpack with a black blanket, and then locked all the doors before we left the hotel. I think that's more Lima-ish than my MF tour. Even with no traffic it took an hour to get to the airport. It's a huge city space-wise (& 7 million people, population-wise).

When I arrived at the ap 3 hours early for my midnight flight to Miami, they informed me that it would be delayed until 3 am (if we were lucky) so I was re-routed through Dallas. This resulted in my 11 am arrival in Toronto turning into 3 pm, but I didn't care, as I had this superstition about trying to make it home for Christmas Eve that I'd end up with delays and blizzards somewhere, stranded in some airport somewhere for all of Christmas. I arrived home to a temp of 4 degrees Celcius, which was a heat wave since the past weeks had apparently been minus 15. There was plenty of snow, which was nice, though it was raining when I arrived.

Flights were good, I had full row to myself for both flights, so got a bit of sleep. Tried to watch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in Spanish, but turns out I can't understand Spanish on an airplane. Good to know. Chewing, airplanes, no Spanish.

So, sadly I left the pan-flute Christmas carols (I even heard an Avril Lavine song in pan flute version... that'll give you the bends...) and people who call me senorita, but I'm lucky to be heading back to spend Christmas with family and friends in a beautiful place.

Thank you Peru.... you were so nice.