First week: Lima

Another week has already passed and I can now say more about Lima. 

At the beginning of the week, I was still a bit overwhelmed by the big and different city, so I even briefly considered changing my plans and leaving the city earlier. 

Today I can say that I have gotten used to the city quite a bit. For example, I like that the supermarket is always busy. It's fun to buy things that I don't even know.

I also had to get used to and realize that I won't be able to see many different neighborhoods of Lima, as some are too dangerous to be alone or as a girl. 

Miraflores is very nice though. And I live about 500 meters away from the sea as well as 500 meters away from Kennedy Park. In the surroundings of Kennedy Park, there are many small restaurants, supermarkets, cafes, etc.. 

It takes me about 10 minutes by bus to get to my school in the morning. It's an adventure every time because I think that an accident will happen any second😄. 

On Thursday, I participated in an activity at school and took a salsa class😂. It was really funny because everything went so fast and it was typical South American. But I don't think I'll necessarily do it again😂.

On Friday evening, I met with the people from my school at a bar near the apartment. Then we took an (?) Uber to Barranco. At night, it looked like a big party street, but many people told me that I should check out the neighborhood during the day because it's supposed to be nice. In Barranco, we went to a second bar before we went to a club at around midnight. Our teacher put our names on the guest list because it's usually a club that is only booked for certain events. From the outside, the club looked like a very nice house, but when we went inside, we entered a big hall. 

However, we didn't know and it wasn't announced on the Facebook event that it was a "gay party".

Even though about 85% were men, it was a lot of fun, so we stayed until 3 am and took an (?) Uber home. By the way, Uber is the safest method to get from A to B, as you can't always trust taxis.

The next morning, I slept in. In the afternoon, I met Amy at Kennedy Park, we went to a Peruvian restaurant to eat for 3.50€ (including appetizers and drinks). 

About 15 minutes away from the apartment is the 6-hectare temple/pyramid "Huaca Pucllana" of the Huari. Originally, it had an area of 20 hectares. I was very impressed by what was left, as it is located right in the middle of a 10 million city. Besides, it's quite interesting to learn about the history, as there is so much to learn both from the "modern" times and from the time of the Incas. In the evening, we walked along the sea and drank "Chicha Morada". "Chicha Morada" is made with purple corn and tastes a bit like cold mulled wine without the shot.

However, today was the highlight of the week. At 9:00 a.m., five of us took an (?) Uber to Callao. There, 20 people got on a really small boat that is certainly not safe for open water. To my relief, we only traveled about 30 meters with this boat to reach a larger and more stable boat😂.  

This was followed by a four-hour boat tour to different islands. The best part, however, was that after two hours we made a stop very close to an island with tons of sea lions. We put on wetsuits and life jackets to swim with the sea lions. At first, I was a bit scared of the animals because they are about 2 meters long and also heavy, but mainly because they bite. Christoph, a friend from Germany, told me that sea lions are very dangerous, so he made me very crazy, which is why I researched on the Internet beforehand and read headlines like "Sea lion transmits tuberculosis" or "Girl is dead because of a sea lion" (Thanks Christoph😂).

However, after overcoming the shock of the cold water, it was incredible to be so close to the animals. We swam closely together with the sea lions and held our feet up in the air because the animals can't distinguish between feet and fish underwater, so they might bite you. Some jumped out of the water high to then dive deep. After we were back on board, we continued to another island where we could observe small penguins😊. 

When we returned from the boat tour with an Uber, I noticed that there were hardly any people on the street, but a lot of stray dogs and so many houses were about to be demolished. The driver explained to us that Callao is considered a pretty dangerous area. Somehow it was interesting to see this side once, but also a bit "creepy". Ronny, where I live, asked me right away what I think about Callao because the difference between Miraflores and Callao is so big.