Lima part 2 - ´Nah nah nahnah naaah, everything´s great!´

Ok, the purpose of this post is a summary of everything I´ve done, for those too lazy to read lots (naming no names... Joe Sandys). And also to make you all jealous (except maybe James and Taylor, who are having adventures of their own).

Ahem, so....

The Summary of Cool Things Josephine has Done in Lima

Gone on a mini road trip to a beach with five Peruvian and three American surfer guys. A classic gap-year aesthetic, I´m sure you´ll agree, of tanned and muscular surfers piled into a rickety old VW van, stuffed in any ol´ how amongst the wetsuits and boards. Except also with a pale, redheaded English girl sat in the corner.
Ok, so it wasn´t sunny, but I still went swimming in the Pacific! It was really fun, and next weekend I hope to try surfing.

Gotten completely lost whilst trying to find an art gallery, and stubbornly refused to get a taxi even though I was by myself and wandering through a definitely dodgy area of the city, where EVERYONE was staring at me and it was really quite scary and the sun was setting and I didn´t want to be out when it was still dark. This was very foolish, but then I happened upon a beautiful park full of fountains, had a nice sit down and eventually got a taxi back to the hostel.

Eaten ceviche with chicha and salted maize. This is a traditional Peruvian dish of raw fish in lime juice, eaten with salted maize and also a sweet drink made from maize (chicha). It was very traditional and delicious, and I ate it with Sosina in Barranco, so it was in a beautiful setting too.

Gone on many long walks around Lima, looking for apartments with Neto or Beto. These walks invariably fail to find the apartment, but we end up doing something nice instead like meeting up with Beto´s friends or drinking exotic tea in a tea-bar (I´m very taken with the idea of a tea-bar, are there any in England? Someone should open one)

Drunk a lot of free beer, drunkenly told the man who owns the hostel that his spanish accent makes him sound sleazy (but he didn´t really understand the meaning of sleazy so I managed to insult him and get away with it, ahahaha), then gone out dancing ´til 4 in the morning. Apparently it was a lesbian bar, but I must have been quite drunk because I didnt notice.

Had a conversation all in spanish with a taxi driver! Ok, so maybe that´s not very exciting, but I was very proud. There was no English at all! Some miming, but no English.

Gone back to the pretty fountain park with some Australian girls, because at night it´s all lit up and playing classical music and even prettier. We got quite hyper, ran around in the fountains and then went to Bembos (Peruvian McDonalds type place) for lots of junk food and ice cream. Yum!

Chatted and had a beer with people in the hostel on the roof, looking out across the city and feeling very lucky to be in Lima. Then we went dancing ´til the early hours of the morning again.

I´ve had a meeting with my boss and organised my first teaching class, possibly hopefully found an apartment to rent and bought some shoes. That´s a summary of the boring necessary stuff.

And there have been a few times where I had to have a comforting cup of tea and some biscuits, curled up on the sofa and felt absolutely terrified, homesick and lonely. I really really miss you all. But I´m also having an exciting and fun adventure in Peru, and I think occassional lonely moments are inevitable. At least that´s what I tell myself. And then I give myself a little peptalk, congratulate myself for being so brave and actually coming out here, remind myself that it´s going well, and feel a little better. And of course the tea and biscuits help too.

###