lima

we arrived in lima late on the 27th and pretty much crashed right away. my bag didn't make it to lima from bogota on our flight but did arrive early the next morning. the part of lima we are staying in is called miraflores and is the most touristy. very close to where we are staying is the beach - kinda reminds me of pch with the way the roads are built. we went to a great restaurant for lunch on the water called cala and enjoyed our first pisco sour, the peruvian cocktail (picture below).

after lunch we went on a tour of lima. the city is huge! there are many churches and monasteries in the city. we visited a couple and went into the catacombs (so many bones)! we also went into some old libraries with books dating back to the 1500s. peruvians are very religious and over 90% are catholic. after the tour of the city we went to the magic water show which is essentially a bunch of fountains with lights and music - kinda cheesy but really pretty.

afterward we went to dinner at huaca pucllana which overlooks the historic ruins (adobe and clay pyramid). the dinner was awesome and I even ate cow heart - it is a good thing they told me what it was well after I had eaten it! I will not be trying the dish entitled cuy (pronounced cooey) which is guinea pig. they serve it in the highlands, near machu picchu, where we head to on the 29th.

bogota part two

for our last two days in colombia we trekked around bogota, the capital of colombia. bogota is the third highest capital in the world (elevation wise). it is a huge metropolis and reminded me of la by how spread out it is. eight million people live in bogota.

first we took a cable car up the mountain to a church that had a beautiful view of the city. i am not really sure of the significance of the church but it is old and must have been difficult to build as it would have been a pain to carry up all the materials.

next we walked around the colorful candelaria, a neighborhood in bogota that was traditionally very poor but the government has been providing money to owners to improve the neighborhood. in an effort to maintain the historical architecture residents are not allowed to modify the outside structure of the building other than with paint. since the neighborhood is making a comeback, real estate prices have gone up and the insides of all the buildings are being remodeled. every building was so colorful and there was street art aka graffiti everywhere.

after candelaria we went to the botero museum. botero is an artist known for his oversized figures. we saw one of his statues in cartagena - a fat lady.

we walked around downtown some more and saw the cathedral, government buildings, universities, presidents house and gold museum (as well as other sites I am probably forgetting). the highlight was definitely the purchase and subsequent consumption of arroz con leche and churros. so delicious!

for our last dinner we tried to go to the famous carne de res, but it was closed. instead we went to club colombia which was delicious and had great ambiance. one of taryn's old coworkers lives in bogota and met us for a drink. it was a great final evening in colombia. (yeah two jews posing with a christmas tree)

today diana and i took it easy (taryn's fight left earlier than ours). we enjoyed colombian coffee and got mani/pedis for dirt cheap!

we are now off to lima!

cartagena

the first day in cartagena, we walked around the old city, took a historical tour (led in spanish) and took a chivas party bus at night.

the old city is beautiful with brightly colored buildings and balconies. the old city is encircled by a wall that was used to protect the city in the olden days. the tour guide was great and actually spoke slow enough for us to understand his spanish. My main takeaways about cartagena history were the following:

1. cartagena was a major african slave trade port
2. precious metals were stored in cartagena before transport back to spain
3. peter claver was a jesuit priest who came to cartagena and helped the slaves and eventually became a saint

  
a chivas party bus is essentially an old style bus with wooden benches painted in bright colors. at night the bus travels around the city with a local band as well as a bunch of colombians and tourists. they provided the ingredients for a cuba libre and people danced and sang on the bus. we eventually stopped at a club where we did salsa dancing (taught by the locals). definitely a good time!

our second day in cartagena we went to playa blanca, a beach about 45 minutes away by boat. the beach was beautiful - white sand, water that was multiple shades of blue and wonderful sunshine! we got massages on the beach and enjoyed a locally prepared seafood lunch.

our last day in cartagena we walked around the city and ran into a local artist who made custom paintings with a mirror, paint and his hands - very cool to watch and now we have souvenirs! we also went to the castillo san felipe de barajas, the fort overlooking cartagena. the fort is massive and we learned that they used the fort to see attacks from land or sea and it was built in the 1500s.