Until the late afternoon of the 30th I still had some hope that my tickets would show up or that I somehow could make it to Rio de Janeiro. When the time of the flight arrived and still no news from my tickets I got into a kind of panic - my friends Thomas and Bill waiting for me in Rio and me all on my own in Lima! I already imagined myself spending new year alone in my room watching tv or sleeping... In the morning I had gone for a run with my new friend from Plaza de Armas, Fito, but in the evening he didn't show up so I had no idea if he would be back for new year. But I shouldn't have worried - somehow my trip had developed its own dynamics during the last weeks and months and just like in a movie the right things always happened at the right time - and more important than that, the right people showed up at the right time! And so it happened also on the morning of the last day of 2008 - a year with many surprising encounters and experiences!
I got up on time to contact some local Couchsurfers or to find out about any expat or backpacker parties in town... at the breakfast table I met a guy I had seen the other day in the internet room - seemed to be as addicted to the www as me ;-) Anyhow we got talking and it turned out he also had no idea what to do for new year. So we decided to meet up for lunch and then check out what was going on.
In the morning I had my watch repaired and met a guy at Plaza de Armas - as usual, its impossible to sit down for a minute without meeting someone - who took me to the well of Santa Rosa. Here you can write a wish or prayer on a letter and throw it in the well. Lets see if it will come true ;-)
I got up on time to contact some local Couchsurfers or to find out about any expat or backpacker parties in town... at the breakfast table I met a guy I had seen the other day in the internet room - seemed to be as addicted to the www as me ;-) Anyhow we got talking and it turned out he also had no idea what to do for new year. So we decided to meet up for lunch and then check out what was going on.
In the morning I had my watch repaired and met a guy at Plaza de Armas - as usual, its impossible to sit down for a minute without meeting someone - who took me to the well of Santa Rosa. Here you can write a wish or prayer on a letter and throw it in the well. Lets see if it will come true ;-)
My hostel neighbour and me then met at 1pm at the Plaza San Martin - a plaza with a funny detail! Right under the statue of the liberator Don Jose de San Martin is a smaller one of Madre Patria which was supposed to have a crown of flames - llamas in Spanish - on her head. Instead the craftsmen adorned her with a little llama - the Andean animal! Anyhow, we met there and went from there to a very nice restaurant close to the Plaza de Armas where we tried the local speciality ceviche, a dish of nearly raw and marinated fish. And my 'compañero de noche vieja', Alberto, turns out to be exactly the kind of person you want to meet when traveling - open,easy going, intelligent and with a great sense of humour! He is from Napoli but speaks excellent Spanish - another plus point as I avoid speaking English as much as I can to improve my castellano skills ;-)
In the afternoon we went to Miraflores and to the beach. We walked along the beach and talked about most subjects under the sun - and I am quite happy to be stranded in Lima ;-) We ended up in a neighbourhood called Barranco, very bohemian and charming. There we met a group of guys from all over Peru, making crafts and selling them. They seemed ok and we decided to come back to Barranco for the last hours of 2008. Actually we had an extra 6 hours of 2008, as we had started the year in Europe and ended it here in South America, Alberto remarked!
From Barranco we took a taxi back to the hostel to get changed and I am not exaggerating when I say that this was the most hilarious taxi trip of all times ;-) We had bought some bananas at the beach and also offered one to the taxi driver - he refused with the explanation that these small bananas gave him "gas" and that he prefered the bigger ones. He then asked us to kiss each other and I told him that we're both catholic and that there will be no kissing before marriage. When he then asked why we're not married yet and Alberto replied that we don't know each other long enough I nearly choked from laughing. We then promised to invite the driver for our wedding and got out of the taxi laughing tears! The extra 6 hours of 2008 where definately well spent ;-)
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