Lo siento. No hablo Espanol.

Durn Spanish keyboards! It took me 3 minutes (before asking) how to type @. It's simple--alt/6/4. Who doesn't know that?!?

My flights went smoothly, and I landed in Lima just before 11 last night. There is a mob, I mean a mob, of people waiting outside. It was a little overwhelming, especially when I didn't see my hotel driver holding a sign with my name. I waited 20 minutes. No one. I braved the bombardment of taxi drivers just picked one. My driver told me that Peruvian elections were held earlier that day and a new president had been elected--Ollanta Humala. Many Peruvians are worried about his leftist, radical views. His ideas have been compared to Venezuela's Hugo Chavez. He also told me that Limeños are loco drivers...I've heard that before...and experienced it today. These drivers live and die by their car horns. I fell asleep to the sound last night and was awakened by it this morning (Only because I didn't know my hotel window was open all night. I won't mention that it was on the first floor. It finally made sense why everything seemed so loud!). I don't think I'm worried about dying from malaria anymore. I'm worried I won't make it back because of this insane traffic! Driver guffaw at pedestrians. An intersection must be pretty special to have a pedestrian crossing signal--I walked all over Miraflores today and only found two.

I rested well last night and before I left for the day, the hotel manager spoke to me about her mistake in failing to have a driver waiting for me at the airport. She was very kind and apologetic. She's going to arrange to have a driver take me to the airport Friday to make up for it. That's nice because they only offer complimentary airport pickup.

I walked all over town town today. I went into a few shops that carry souviners and Peruvian handicrafts. Maybe it's the beautiful colors and patterns they weave that has drawn me here, but it's making me excited to go to Cusco. I walked to the Indian Market down to El Parque del Amor. There's this great sculpture of two lovers embraced in a kiss on top of the bluff overlooking the ocean. It would have been prettier if the weather wasn't overcast. I sat on a park bench and rested while I read some of my travel book: Lima is NOT known for it's beautiful weather. It's described as making London seem sunny. Most travelers blow in and out of Lima. It's not really known as a destination because of its poverty, pollution, and overcast skies. I'm figuring that out. I worked up an appetite, so I decided to find some ceviche. I found a little restaurant, pretended to read the menu, and settled on the fritoviche (lightly fried ceviche). Delicioso.

I stopped at Kennedy Park (There was a bust of JFK. I couldn't read the plaque, but I assume it's named after him for some reason.). As I was walking through the park, I realized there were cats everywhere. I don't know the story, but they were only in the park. It reminded me of the rabbits on the university campus in Victoria, BC. I sat down for a few minutes and turned into the cat lady. The first cat that came up and sat beside me? A black cat. It made me miss Poe a little bit.

Tomorrow, I leave for an overnight trip to Nazca. Buenos noches.