Peruvian It Up...

Well after our day of luxury we did infact get on a plane the next day and fly to Lima...and can I just say that we loved it! We stayed in Miraflores (thanks for the recommendation Timbo), which is this hip, trendy, full of energy, part of the city...it was great! We ate at European style cafes, strolled around the neat and cute streets and oogled at all the great architecture. I could not believe how many cool looking buildings we saw with crown molding, hip accents and vibrant colors. It definitely was not the Lima we were expecting. We did manage to do a ruin tour, courtesy of South American Explorers. These ruins were crazy though, as they were right in the middle of the city...you climbed this pyramid and all you see in is high rises all around. Apparently 50 years ago when the development began, no one noticed that they were tearing down ancient bricks to put up their trendy walls...oops!
We also saw a movie while we were in town, the new Jude Law flick, not bad...it was just divine to see something mainstream, and feel like a part of the current world again for a few hours. We saw the movie at this mall called Larcomar, which is built right into the side of a cliff overlooking the ocean, for a mall, it is a pretty sweet location. We also broke down and did some shopping while we were there, and we both got a few new things to add to our meagar repetoire of clothes...thank goodness! lol :D
We also took some time to visit the Museo de la Nacion while we were there. We wanted to get a grasp of the range of different cultures, and time periods that existed before the Incas, since we will be seeing a lot of these ruins as we travel up the coast. It was a very good thing to do because when we left, we atleast had some sense of time frames for all these different "mini cultures" we will be learning about.
Also, I have to admit I made Andrew go to GREAT extremes to buy a new iPod while we were in town...taking cabs all across the city to find a store that carried the one I wanted. He was a very good sport though, secretely I think he is glad he will not have to share anymore! haha Just kidding...