We landed in Lima in the late evening and our first peruvian experience was with the zealous taxi drivers (really drivers in general). We learned several things: 1) There will almost certainly be a missing piece to your seatbelt, either the buckle or belt. 2) Peruvians enjoy some strange music. 3) There is always one more lane than there are lines for. 4) Using your horn is mandatory in all situations (even when there are no other cars around).
After arriving at our hostel safe and sound we met some friendly Vancouverites and chatted for a bit before heading to bed. The next day we visited the Monasterio de San Francisco in downtown Lima. This is a church dating back to before 1687 and has survived several earthquakes. As with most churches the architecture was incredible. There was a domed ceiling made from wood that was held up using only the force from each piece put together, i.e. there are no nails or glue. Also underneath it there was an estimated 70,000 burials in the catacombs which were very well built but not very well preserved.
The next day we attempted to do some surfing at a beach in the upscale neighborhood of Miraflores. We got a reference from Pepe and found a man named Robert who we rented a few boards from. After Mike and I received some quick instructions we learned that we are experts at surfing benches on concrete. The water was actually quite nice if you had a wetsuit on. Surfing on the other hand was not so nice. It is extremely tiring trying to paddle over the waves that are coming in. I severely underestimated their size and paddled out much further than I should have. After trying to get up a few times I was pretty exhausted but stayed out. Eventually I made my way over close to a pier that jutted out from a rock wall (pictured below). That's when I got pummeled by a huge wave. I swam back to my board only to be destroyed again by an equally sized wave. Repeated two more times and I had no energy left to paddle away from the pier's legs which were about 40 feet away. I gave up and simply let the waves carry me, which they did all the way back to the shore. I laid on the rocks for about 20 minutes before even attempting to carry the board back down the beach to meet Mike. Needless to say I doubt I will be attempting to surf again for a while. The rest of the day we explored Miraflores and had a delicious lunch. You can actually parasail off the cliffs though we didn't see anyone actually jump we did see one gentleman playing with a chute.
Overall Lima was much nicer than I thought it would be for a city with 7 million people. A pleasant surprise.
