(Lima, Peru)

I never thought that I would be blogging from Peru, but here I am!

It’s my first time in South America as well as my first time south of the Equator.  My lengthy stopover in Miami was also my first time in Florida, although I only stepped outside the airport for a couple of minutes.

The stopover in Miami turned out to be fun.  I arrived in the main terminal just as the World Cup knockout match between Chile and Brazil entered the 85th minute.  Along with about a hundred other soccer fans, I watched the extra time and then the penalty kicks that were necessary to decide the match.  Then, before my flight to Lima departed, I watched most of the Colombia-Uruguay knockout match…with another hundred or so soccer fans.  I don’t know if there is an especially large Colombian community in Miami, but I saw Colombian soccer jerseys everywhere there.  They are passionate (and well-behaved) fans – I wonder if their team can eliminate Brazil in their next game?

Soccer is clearly a big deal in Peru too.  I had no problem finding the Netherlands-Mexico game on television (Hup Holland!), nor will I have a problem finding the Greece-Costa Rica game later today.  I might watch that one at a restaurant.

As it is winter in Peru, I don’t think I’ll have too many problems with the heat.  The daytime temperature shouldn’t exceed 20’C here or in the mountains.  In fact, the nighttime temperatures in the mountains will drop close to the 0’C mark.  There is a lot of humidity, however, even in this so-called “dry” season!

I arrived in Lima very late last night so I haven’t really seen much of the city yet.  The outskirts felt a little chaotic, with road markings being “guidelines” rather than something to be strictly observed.   This afternoon, I went for a walk near my hotel in the district of Miraflores.  It is a relatively affluent area along the ocean; the old centre of Lima is a few miles inland.

I walked mainly along the cliff-top park where Miraflores overlooks the coast.  There were a lot of surfers and even paragliders; it looks like a very popular place to take the family too.  I couldn’t help noticing that Miraflores has a very strong police/security presence.  In addition to a lot of police on the streets, there are a lot of private security employees at the various businesses and apartment complexes.

The group tour still hasn’t started but I’ll be meeting the other group tour participants this evening.  I don’t think it will be a long meeting:  we *leave* the hotel at 5:00 a.m. tomorrow morning for our trip to the Andes!