Where do you get change for the bus?

We arrived in Buenos Aries on November 6th at about 5:30 pm and had a smooth trip through customs and immigration. The international airport is about 40 minutes outside the city centre so we hired a cab to take us to the hostel for about $30. After the poverty of Peru, the relative opulence of Argentina is quite a shock. The city looks like a European capital and is closer to North America in its standard of living than it is to the rest of the continent. After dropping our gear off, we had a quick bite to eat at a wonderful pasta place and went to sleep.

Our first full day in Buenos Aires was spent getting familiar with the city and exploring the San Telmo area where we are staying. San Telmo is an artsy community just a few blocks away from the city centre and is known for its Tango shows. However, most tourists stay in Palermo, which is more upscale and has the majority of the parks in the city. We had a fantastic time looking in all the antique shop windows and enjoyed a fine lunch with good wine. The afternoon was spent in the city-centre marveling at the architecture and just enjoying the 29C weather. Dinner cost us just $7 as we sampled the local empanadas and quiches. Yum!

By our second full day in Buenos Aires we were comfortably settled into Tanguera Hostel ($55 night), so we decided to let Aidan determine what we would do. He complains regularly about having to do everything we ask, so we decided to institute a regular 'Aidan in Charge' day during our trip. His first decision was to spend the morning lounging around the hostel playing games like Uno and soccer with the blow-up beach ball we carry around. After that he wanted to visit the cemetery in Ricoletta, which was fine with us as the mausoleums are spectacular and we got to visit Evita's grave. Aidan, of course, had different motives for his visit.

The funniest part of our day-trip occurred when we tried to catch the bus. First we couldn't find the bus stop, probably because it has been moved for construction. We figured it out by watching where the locals were standing. Then when we got on the bus we went to pay the 2.70 peso fare ($1) with some 2 peso notes, but the driver wouldn't take them. He kept pointing in an annoyed way at a fare machine behind him which we soon realized only took coins. Luckily a nice lady made change for us and survived our first bus trip in Buenos Aires. It turns out that getting coins for the bus is no small feat in Buenos Aires.

The cemetery in Ricoletta is really impressive and we spent quite a bit of time wandering around looking at the artistry of the mausoleums of Argentina's rich and famous. The highlight was Evita Peron's grave, which had a steady stream of tourists and well-wishers. We paid our respects and spent a bit of time looking around the surrounding nieghbourhood. Ricoletta is one of Buenos Aires ritziest areas and it truly is a beautiful place, however the prices for food and goods goes up considerably compared to San Telmo. We spent the rest of the day at Aidan's request back at the hostel playing games again. He's starting to miss playing with kids and clearly Mom and Dad are not as fun. Aidan's choice for dinner was the same pasta place we went to the first night we were in Buenos Aires. By the end of the day, Susan and I agreed that Aidan would only be in charge once a month, or we would both go crazy.

We spent Sunday in San Telmo again because there is a big market here every weekend, and I mean big. Over 8,000 people drop by, and Defensa street is closed off for about 12 blocks. The air is filled with the smell of good food and great music. By the end of our meanderings, Susan and I were convinced we live in a cultural wasteland. There is nothing to compare the market to back in Canada, except perhaps Canada Day. There were Tango dancers, puppet shows, drums, singers, guitarists, mimes, magicians and hundreds of people selling crafts, antiques, clothing, food and a hundred other things.

I should mention at this point how late people stay out in Buenos Aires. Dinner doesn't seem to start until about 10 pm and many places don't open until 11. Lunch is late as well, with 2 pm seeming to be the busiest time. Luckily we have had no trouble adapting because Peru is 3 hours behind B.A. so we just continued on like normal. In Peru we were always up by 7:30 am, whereas here we generally roll out of bed around 10:30 for breakfast; and Aidan doesn't get put to bed until 11 pm.

During our trip we are always trying to plan ahead. Right now we are trying to get our act together regarding China. We're hoping that we can get visas while we are here in Buenos Aires. This will allow us to do some sightseeing in Hong Kong rather than stand in line at the Embassy. We'll see how it goes.

More pictures of beautiful Buenos Aires here.

Farewell to the land of the Incas

Our last few days in Cusco have been relaxed and entertaining. The day after we returned from Machu Picchu, we decided to slow the pace down and enjoy the city. The day began with our usual breakfast of coca tea (which we all love) and warm buns, an egg and some preserves. We then strolled down to the Plaza de Armas (central plaza) where Aidan amused himself feeding the pigeons and we bought our Bolleto Turisticos (tour pass) for the ruins around the city (130 Soles each or about $50). After lunch we decided to tour the Cusco Cathedral which is as impressive as any cathedral we have seen in Europe, perhaps more so. Aidan listened intently to the entire tour, which we found amusing. The afternoon was spent on Aidan's schoolwork, play-time and a movie. By the evening it was raining and we decided to forgo dinner, but changed our minds at the last minute. Aidan ended up falling asleep in the restaurant across two chairs we put together. Great food though, so it was worth it. We have learned that $30 - $40 in Peru buys you the equivalent of a $150 dinner in Canada.

The next day we decided to visit the town of Pisac, which has a large market every Tuesday and Thursday. We weren't sure if we would be going because a strike was being planned that would have stopped all buses and trains. As we understand it, the strike was to support local farmers, who are very angry that a large company is planning on taking over the water supply in the valley. Unfortunately, the only way to get the government's attention seems to be stopping the tourists from moving.

Lucky for us, the strike didn't materialize and we had an interesting 1 hour long bus ride to Pisac for about 5 soles ($1.50). After a wonderful lunch in town, we strolled around the market and purchased a few souvenirs before returning back to Cusco. The ride back went much, much faster due to the fact that the bus was going up and down the mountain roads at a breakneck speed. This was confirmed by the the women next to Susan started making the sign of the cross at every turn! We decided to get off the bus early and tour the ruins of Saqsaywaman (which everyone remembers as sexy-woman). This turned out to be a good choice. Not only did we save our hides from the crazy bus driver, but we got a personal tour from Hector, a local college student studying English and tourism. For 10 Soles ($3.50) Hector spent an hour with us pointing out many interesting features. Saqsaywaman was the fortress protecting Cusco, but it was overrun by the Spanish in a battle that killed thousands. We ended up walking down into Cusco with Hector after the tour, and quickly returned to the hostel to watch the American Presidential election on CNN. We were relieved to see Obama win, as was every American we talked to in Peru.

Our last day in Cusco was spent touring the Sacred Valley. The trip started at Pisac, which is as impressive in its own way as Machu Picchu. The fortress / city sits high above the surrounding countryside and commands an impressive view. The path up to the ruins is carved out of the side of the mountain, which drops off steeply to the valley below. Looking down gives you a strong sense of vertigo. When the tour guide was done informing us about the site, we were given a few minutes for pictures before heading back. I decided to head up to the top of the mountain to see the sentry posts with Aidan in tow. Our little mountain goat is quite comfortable scrabbling up and down the paths, but half-way up, Aidan decided to turn back. The view from the top was spectacular, but I got caught in tour groups while descending and ended up being late coming down. Aidan in the mean time had descended most of the way back to the ruins but got upset when he couldn't find Susan and so climbed back up again. Reunited with a crying kid we both came down again and met with Susan and the tour guide. No harm done, but some sheepish apologies on my part.

Our next stop was Ollayantaytambo, another impressive Inca site in the Sacred Valley. The stairs to the top of the ruins tired all of us out, but the view and the history were again fantastic. All of us are impressed with the skill and patience of the Incas. The fortress took over 50 years to construct the city and required the labour of tens of thousands of workers. The craftsmanship involved in the stone walls is such that no mortar is required and earthquakes have almost no impact. In contrast, the brickwork of the Spanish churches over top of many of the Inca sites looks crude, and most of the complexes have been rebuilt more than once over the centuries.

Lunch was interesting. We stopped in one of the many small towns at a restaurant only to be told by the tour operator that this was the wrong place!?! We re-boarded the bus and headed down the road another 40 minutes before stopping again. By this time we were famished. The second restaurant we stopped at was a buffet, so we had the opportunity to sample many dishes. Yum! We also ended up paying a total of 50 soles for lunch (about $16), whereas those people who had purchased lunch with the tour package paid 35 soles per person. Weird. Aidan really enjoyed the Peruvian band that payed for tips while we ate.

After lunch we visited Chinchero for what turned out to be a fascinating demonstration of local techniques for wool-making, dieing and weaving. Susan and I were impressed enough to purchase a blanket which we plan to use as a table runner. This one piece of weaving took over 35 days to make. The design is typical for the area and has some beautiful patterns. We plan on mailing it home from Buenos Aires along with our Peruvian handicrafts, which include sweaters, belts, jewelery and some other small items. Susan would have bought an extra suitcase of goods there if I let her.

Our ride back to Cusco after the Sacred Valley tour was interrupted by some light hail, which apparently was much harder around the city because the whole valley was covered in white. It looked just like snow. After a quick pizza at our favourite restaurant we headed back to the hostel to pack up and get a good nights sleep for our impending flights.

The trip to the airport and departure from Peru the next morning was relatively uneventful. The security check-point in Cusco was the fastest we have ever seen (5 minutes!). We were surprised to discover that you cannot pack coca tea in your luggage, but you can take it carry-on!?! Less of a surprise was the fact that you had to exit the passenger area in Lima and re-enter for the sole purpose of paying their airport improvement fee. Annoying, but understandable as well.

Peru has been a wonderful place to visit and we appreciated every moment we had in the country. We will definitely be coming back. But for now, we look forward to Buenos Aries and Argentina.

Pictures of the Sacred Valley are here.

To Machu Picchu and Back Again

We've been very busy the last few days having fun in the Sacred Valley of Peru. I can't begin to tell you how spectacular it is. Machu Picchu was the icing on the cake.

Friday was spent exploring Cusco and making arrangements for train tickets with PeruRail. We enjoyed visiting the Inka site Qorikancha and Iglesia de Santo Domingo, the Spanish church that was built on top of it. When the Spaniards took over Cusco, Qorikancha was the richest site in empire, with buildings full of solid gold artifacts. We also visited Iglesia San Blas, which has the one of the finest examples of Colonial wood carving in the Americas. We almost didn't tour San Blas because the price was 15 soles per person (about $5 each), but the person at the front let us in at the student rate of 7 soles (God, we're cheap). Surprisingly, Aidan has shown a real interest in the Inca and the Spanish and is also very curious about the religious paintings in the churches. We finished the day with an amazing dinner at Chez Maggy. For $15 we got the best pizza either of us have ever had, with corn relish and a white garlic sauce on top!

Saturday we were up bright and early to catch our train to Aguas Calientes, the village at the base of Machu Picchu. The 4 hour train ride was scenic, however we didn't get to enjoy the panorama of the mountains as much as we would have if we have splurged on the vista car tickets. Actually we count ourselves lucky that we got tickets at all. Note to others: book your tickets early!

When we arrived in Aguas, we spent about 30 minutes searching for the El Presidente hotel, which was recommended to us by another traveler. It turned out that the hotel was only 2 minutes from the train station, but we went in the wrong direction. Aguas Calientes is like a wild west town with train tracks 3 feet from the doors to the restaurants and hotels. It didn't take long to get our bearings. We stumbled into another great restaurant called Indio Feliz, where Michael discovered Pisco Sours. Mike's new favourite drink is made from some sort of liquor, sugar, water and whipped egg whites. Note: We are eating entirely too many large good meals and really need to cut down on our caloric intake. We marched up a long street (yes, two steps and a stair, two steps and a stair for about 7 blocks) to get to the hot springs. For $3 dollars we were able to experience one of the strangest hot springs we have visited. We were not expecting Banff, but these were definitely unique. There were 5 small pools, the water did not appear filtered as it was fairly brown, and the bottom of the pools were gravelly sand. We were also able to purchase our entrance tickets into Machu Picchu and the bus ticket to the site for the next day.

We boarded a bus for Machu Picchu on Sunday morning at 7:30. Many tourists take the first bus at 5:30, but start lining up at 4:00 because they want to see the sunrise. We just wanted to get there before the train from Cusco arrived with larger tour groups around 11:00. The bus zigzagged its way up a very steep road for about 2 km. It was cloudy and drizzling when we got to the top and followed a small group into the site.

I will not be able to adequately describe what we saw but I will try. We followed a path that led us up through a series of terraces to a point that looked out over the entire site. The sky was clearing and the mist that had been hiding things started to clear. Despite having seen many pictures of the site, nothing can do it justice and watching the mist clear and the sun come out and reveal the full site was breathtaking. A very "wow I cannot believe I am here and I cannot believe what I am seeing moment". We spent the next few hours exploring and wandering around the entire site.

We met a lovely lady from Vancouver that is traveling with her husband and four children for over a year. Good to chat and exchange stories (we just got an email from them!). Aidan got to help one of the archaeologists clear out grass from between some of stones. The original surviving stones are fitted together with perfection and nothing in between them to hold them together. We were also fascinated by the drainage system carved into the stones at the site. Just before noon it started to rain and we headed back to the village. We spent the rest of the afternoon window and street shopping. We boarded the 5:00 train for Cusco. We actually ended up getting off the train at 8:30 and hopped a bus to get back to town faster. It takes the train an hour to navigate down into valley that Cusco is nestled in (the train actually does some strange zigzagging and lots of backing up and moving forward to maneuver down). A small min-bus had us down in 15 minutes and cost us an extra $6 dollars. We were tired and Aidan needed to get to bed. A great two days.

Observations from Cusco:

• We are impressed by the friendliness and proud quietness of the people, by the beauty of the city and are astonished by the history and culture here
• The historical Inca sites (Machu Picchu and many others) show what masterful architects the Inca were and how they were able to build communities and fortresses high in the mountains (it is actually indescribable and I get chills thinking about it)
• Watching porters carrying items, such as seeing a man carry a dining room table on his back
• seeing many bright colours and the traditional clothing worn by many of the women here - bright shawls that are used for carrying things on their backs (e.g., bread) or for carrying babies and young children, knee length skirts with petticoats underneath, sweaters made of llama or alpaca, and bowler style hats
• Peruvian people are generally quite short - have not noticed many men or women over about 5'2. A local women was surprised to learn that Aidan was 6 as her son was 10 and about the same height.
• Most of the buildings are made of clay bricks (adobe) and have terracotta tile roofs or tin roofs.
• In Cusco the homes are built up the sides of the hills that surround the town and the roads are very steep.
• Many of the homes are pieced together and many of the areas are very poor with a lot of garbage strewn about.
• We noticed that on the top of every home was a cross and one or two pottery bulls.
• There are many smells including burning wood fires, and food like grilled meats and corn being sold by street vendors
• There are many many people selling goods on the streets - and many of these people are older women. The goods range from food items such as buns, soups, juices, and skewers of meat, to handicrafts such as blankets, paintings, jewelry, and massages. There are also many young children out with their mothers selling things to make extra money
• Aidan liked seeing all the old buildings, huge stone walls built by the Inca that survived a large earthquake in the 1600's, and churches filled with beautiful carvings and works of art
• Aidan did not like seeing poor people on the streets, especially an old women who was not wearing any shoes or socks and was sleeping on the street on a very cold night - we had fleece sweaters and jackets on - he is getting a good idea of some of the differences from Canada - especially in terms of how people live and how much they have, and what they do to try and make money
• You can buy food from the window of the trains and buses and we enjoyed trying Cusco corn that we bought on our way to Machu Picchu
• The food is very good and lunch is often a bigger meal. Restaurants have set menus and patrons can choose a salad, soup, main course and desert for between 15 to 20 soles (5- 7 dollars). We have enjoyed grilled meats, including alpaca and both pumpkin and quinoa soups. The other special meat that is served here is guinea pig.
• Cocoa tea is very popular and is good for helping keep away any negative effects from being at such as high altitude (it tastes nice like a nice mild herbal tea).
• There are many large markets where the people set up small stalls and sell items targeted to the tourists such as silver jewelery, sweaters, hats, and woven linens and wall hangings.
• There is a tremendous amount of history here, especially with respect to the Peruvians and the Spanish. The Spanish brought the Roman Catholic religion to the country and today more than 80 percent of the population is Catholic. There are many old churches and Franciscan monasteries illustrate how the beliefs and customs of the Inca were incorporated into the teachings of the church here (for example, biblical paintings show potatoes and Inca symbols).

Our pictures from Machu Picchu are here; and Aguas Calientes is here.

Cusco High

Yesterday we had to get up at 3am for our 5:40 flight to Cusco. The trip to the airport was uneventful and check in went well, but the plane had technical problems and was delayed by an hour. We were on a bus on the tarmac waiting to go out to the plane when they told about the problem and had us head back to the departure lounge. It was a little disconcerting because they kept making announcements telling people to come to the counter, but never told us why. It sounded like they were putting people on other flights, but we later found out that that they were calling all the people on standby.

We arrived in Cusco and got a taxi to our hostel. They don't waste any time trying to sell you tours because we were joined on our taxi ride by a travel agent. He was nice enough and we listened as he outlined options and prices. In the end, we decided to organize things ourselves. The rest of the day was spent acclimatizing to Cusco's elevation (over 10,000 ft above sea level). We ran into several people who were suffering from altitude sickness, but luckily none of us have had a problem.

The Hostal Llipimpac where we are staying ($40 per night), is a wonderfully cozy and rustic place. The rooms are spotless, the beds are very comfortable with big blankets, and there is hot water for showers. The blankets come in handy because it gets quite cold at night and there are no heaters. The hostel is behind a courtyard so it is dead quiet at night. We really like it and would recommend it for any travellers staying in the city.

They say Peru has the best food in South America and we are beginning to see why. We had an excellent 3 course lunch for less than $10, and dinner at Chez Maggy on 'Gringo Alley' was the best pizza either of us have ever had. We had another extraordinary lunch today. It remains to be seen whether we will try typical foods like Alpaca steaks or roast Guinea Pig.

This morning we went down to the PeruRail office and purchased rail tickets to Aguas Calientes, which is the town just below Machu Picchu. After listening to everyone tell us that we might have problems because we hadn't booked in advance, we were relieved to get tickets for tomorrow ('backpacker' fare - $96 per person round trip). Our plan is to stay overnight in Aguas Calientes and see the ruins the following day. We are leaving most of our gear at the hotel in Cusco and just packing overnight bags.

I should mention something about the wonderful people of Peru. Cusco is about 350,000 people, and many of them are quite poor, but they are warm and wonderful and almost everyone has a smile on their face and a polite word for you. Everyone tries hard to make your stay enjoyable. I can honestly say that we are quickly falling in love with the country.

More pictures of Cusco here.

Of Bones and Potatoes....

I cannot believe that I am in South America. The first thing that we noticed was the change in weather. It is much more temperate and somewhat cool and we actually put on our fleece sweaters to walk around. We also found out that Lima gets very little rain - only 5 mm each year. The resident of Lima who was telling us this had never used an umbrella in his entire life! (I should note that Aidan and I will be making some comments on life in Peru for my good friend Sherri Humphry's grade three class).

Lima is situated right on the Pacific Ocean and has a population of approximately 10 million. It is known as the Cty of Kings and was founded by the Spanish. At one time, Lima was the continent's richest, most important town, though all this changed when an earthquake devastated most of the city in 1746. The European influence is very noticeable in the architecture of the buildings in the historic centre of the city. We took a taxi to the city centre and visited the Monasterio de San Francisco, which is a Franciscan Monastery famous for its catacombs and thousands of antique texts dating back to the Spanish conquest. The underground catacombs are home to about 70,000 burials so you can imagine that this was Aidan's favourite part of the tour.

I should make a couple of comments about our trials and tribulations because we do not speak Spanish. This was less of a problem in Costa Rica because most everyone spoke some English - not really the case in Lima. First example, we got confused by the money given back to us by our cab driver who was trying desperately to use our Spanish/English book to show that he gave us the correct change. The real problem was that he gave us much of it back in coins and we didn't realize that many were 5 soles coins. Second funny adventure occurred when we went for lunch. Since it is typically the main meal of the day, most of the restaurants have a set lunch menus and you choose from options under each. A typical lunch might include soup or salad (e.g, ceviche - raw marinated fish, mixed salad, meat and cheese and vegetables), a big bowl of soup, a drink and a main course such as chicken with rice and potatoes and might cost about $2.50 Canadian. Anyway, back to my story. So the menu was in Spanish and we thought we ordered correctly, but we ended up not ordering salads and so didn't get these and then found out the hard way that the word coffee and hot in Spanish (when pronounced with a horrible accent) are actually similar. So we ended up receiving hot milk instead of coffee with milk. I really do not like hot milk.

One more interesting fact about the food. Peru is home to the largest variety of potatoes and there are about 3,000 different kinds. Peruvians have been eating potatoes since before Inca times. Most are cultivated high up in the andean mountains over 10,000 feet. A popular dish is made from both dried and fresh potatoes and llama meat. I had great fun looking at potatoes in the grocery store I visited.

After lunch we walked between the two main plazas in downtown - the Plaza de Armas is linked to the Plaza San Martin by a pedestrian street mall called Jiron de la Union. The plazas were beautiful and we took in the many sites, such as the presidential palace and the cathedral church of Lima. The street between is lined with shops and restaurants and there are many many street vendors as well. Almost half the population of Peru lives below the poverty line, and employment is very high. This means that many people work as street vendors selling everything from chocolates to clothespins in the streets to try and make extra money. To be honest we really have not seen the poverty that we know is part of the city. We are staying in Miraflores, which is a middle to relatively wealthy part of the city. We have heard from other travelers coming in on buses from other areas that the areas farther out are very poor and can lack electricity, water and adequate sanitation. There is definitely a large gap between the rich and the poor.

We ended up heading back to the hostel earlier than expected because Aidan was not feeling well. By early evening he was running a temperature and then this degenerated to vomiting. Most of the night was spent tending to him. The good news is that by morning he was as right as rain.

We met a very nice young couple from Oklahoma and discussed U.S. politics and Naomi Klein's book Shock Doctorine - very fun conversations. They are are traveling extensively through Central and South America and John is doing a six month stint in a medical clinic in Bolivia in a few weeks. We were in awe as they had just come in from Equador on a 36 hour bus ride. Honestly yikes. We also enjoyed talking with a different John from Michigan who just arrived in Lima and had not done much traveling. He spent five years in the navy as a submarine mechanic and was off on a big adventure through South America. We hope that they all have a wonderful time and keep on traveling and experiencing the world. Everyone really made us feel like we made the right choice doing what we are doing.

We started Wednesday with some school work and then walked 10 minutes from our hotel to Huaca Pucllana, an adobe pyramid of the Lima culture dating from AD 400. We went on a guided tour of the site, which is being excavated, and thoroughly enjoyed the ruins. From here we took a taxi to a mall that is built into the side of the cliffs along the Pacific Ocean. We picked up some lunch and Aidan had fun in the playground. We ended our day at the Artisans market (near our hotel) and had fun bartering for souvenirs (or at least Mike had fun). There were a lot of items to admire like the silver, knitted sweaters and scarves and woven items. I am looking forward to shopping in Cuzco!

Well our flight leaves at 5:40 a.m. so we will be off to bed early tonight as the taxi picks us up at 3:30 a.m. Off to Cuzco we go!

Why won't this ATM work?

Sunday was our last full day in Costa Rica. We started with our usual breakfast of toast and eggs at Mi Casa Hostel. After eating we did some school work and took a taxi to the Children's Museum, which is part of the National Gallery, and housed in a restored penitentiary.

The Children's Museum turned out to be a real treat. Aidan's favourite part was the Egypt exhibit where he got to dress up as a pharaoh and lie in a sarcophagus. Susan and I were impressed by the quality of the exhibits and the number of staff that were available. After the museum, we went downtown to the central square. We had an outstanding lunch at the Gran Hotel Costa Rica, where many heads of state have stayed, and sauntered down the main pedestrian mall.

Monday morning dawned bright and beautiful. We were off to the airport at 7:15 for our flight to Peru. Check-in was straightforward, but we forgot that our Swiss Army knife was still in Susan's purse. Needless to say it was confiscated. We boarded our jet on time and were pleasantly surprised to find that the plane was brand-new and had more legroom than anything we've ever flown on before. The service was also fantastic and we have no trouble recommending Taca Airways to anyone.

We arrived in Lima, Peru in good shape. Our first order of business was to get some local currency (Nuevos Soles or New Sun in English) for the taxi ride to the hotel. The first ATM we tried stymied us with an unusual screen asking us to re-enter the amount we wanted in multiples of 50 or 100 soles. No matter what we entered, it didn't work. The second ATM did the same thing. We were starting to think we might have to exchange some of our American money, but we walked over to a third ATM in the Departures area and it worked perfectly. We quickly realized that the other ATMs were simply out of money, because the same thing happened in the Arrivals area in Costa Rica. One other interesting point about the ATMs - they would only let you take out 400 nuevos soles at once (about $150). Thus you were forced to do multiple transactions and incur more fees to take out a reasonable amount of money. Tricky!

Getting a taxi in Lima is an adventure unto itself. The 'official' airport taxis charge about double what the other taxis do to go downtown. If you are brave, you can walk out to the main street to flag down an 'unofficial' taxi and haggle about the price (you have to bargain for all taxis here), but there is also a small element of danger when doing this. Not speaking the language, we decided to use the official taxis, which cost 45 soles ($17). The ride to Miraflores in the chaotic traffic took about 40 minutes. You start in the poor outskirts with kids running between the cars trying to sell stuff end end up in a nice, modern suburb that looks like a chunk of Europe.

We are staying at the Inka Lodge ($36 night), which is a very nice hostel just off the main avenue in Miraflores, so its nice and quiet. More on our Lima adventures tomorrow.

Subway - Eat Fresh

Not much to report today. We're back in San Jose after a 4 hour bus ride back through the mountains. We've gone from sweltering heat to pleasantly warm. After dropping off our gear at the hostel we sauntered through La Sabana park to Soda Tapia, a local favourite. We had a huge lunch there (sandwiches with black beans on top are good!) and waddled back. Aidan enjoyed the children's play area until he fell in the mud. We've spent the rest of the afternoon on school work and loafing around. Dinner was half a sub from Subway - we're still full from lunch. Tomorrow is our last day in Costa Rica. We're probably going to hang around the city and might look for a book store with English books. We've read everything we brought from Canada. After that, we confirm flight arrangements and start planning for South America.