The First Night

5/23/09
2:27 am

Mira Flores, Peru

The airport personnel are overreacting about this whole swine flu thing. Every one from baggage handlers, store clerks, and the custodians at the airport were wearing masks and gloves. I snuck a picture on Robert's camera of the guy at the international check-in counter.

Tonight we grabbed drinks as a restaurant in Lima after our flight landed. The lady outside promised "free beer" but after getting our bill we realized that she lied. We did meet some freindly British kids: Lucy, George, Rupert, and Ben. They were vacationing for the "gap year" which apparently is customary in the U.K. "Gap year" is the year they take off between high school and college. They work for the first few months to save money and then travel for the remaining half of the year. This particular group of friends did not travel together but they met up and were enjoying a few beers ast the restaurant we were at. And as English-speaking individuals we naturally gravitated towards each other.

We had our first pisco sour which is the must-have drink in Peru. It is similar to a margarita but is served as a cold drink (not frozen or on ice) and is topped with some foamy mixture. Kari and I were so paranoid about not drinking the water that we specifically asked for ours without ice (not knowing it didn't come with ice) and apparently the translation mixture meant that we wanted the drinks warm rather than cold. These drinks are not good warm. I snuck all of my drink into Kari's glass. Well ... maybe not "snuck" so much as blatantly poured.

There are many beggars on the street. A lot of children running around selling chicklets while their parents visit in the streets which sadly reminded me of Slumdog Millionaire. There was also this one older lady sitting near a pole saying "I love your money" which became our mantra for the night.