Alive in Lima!

We arrived safe and sound last night in Lima around 11:30 pm.  The plane we flew on had three sets of seats; I'd only ever seen ones like that in the movies!  When we got into the airport, I got my passport stamped for the first time!!!  Then we had to get our luggage and go through customs.

Papers to fill out for customs.

Airplane food!

We took a bus to the Hotel Melodia, where we stayed last night.  The city of Lima is dark at night, and spotted with brightly lit stores, including many American chain restaurants: Pizza Hut, Friday's and Chili's. There are 9 million people living in this city, which is actually a desert.  The reason it is so cool here (in the 80's) is because it is on the coast.  We walked to a 7-11ish type shop to buy agua sin gas (water without bubbles) since we can't drink the water from the tap here.

After breakfast this morning, we walked the streets near the hotel.  Houses come in so many colors here, spiral staircases outside and flowers along the fences.  We went to a store much like a super-Walmart and it was just like being home - except everything was in Spanish!  Except corn flakes. 

We saw a some of the fruits which are atypical in our grocery stores.  We had a little intro lecture and today we fly to Iquitos!!