Lima

In Lima went to the shopping center right on the shore line. It was so beautiful. Well, I guess it was normal, I just haven't been to a big city since Guayaquil which was 2 months ago :) It's very modern, very clean, and very expensive. Here and in all of touristic Lima English is more often heard that Spanish. I think it's the most touristic city I've ever been to.
Went to the center of Lima. There was so much traffic. I'm really not used to that anymore. In there saw the main square and went to San Fransisco monastery. This is the coolest monastery I've ever seen! Everything is so thought out to the smallest details. So many designs of mosaic. The people who designed it, didn't want to repeat designs. In this monastery there are 60,000 people buried, and some archeologists decided to make designs of the bones, so they're all neatly arranged :) It has the most wicked library ever. When I got in, the first thing I thought was Harry Potter. There are so many books, looks like a lot of them are covered in dust, 1000s of years old. Some are huge with huge writing on them. Too bad pictures are not allowed, but I still took one, and downloaded a few from the internet, although they're not as impressive as the real thing ... as actually all the pictures are.

Lima also tried hard to change its look. When we walked in some park, there were a lot of before and after pictures, the changes are very impressive. Next day went to national museum which was extremely boring. Good thing that it was for free, otherwise I would be very upset. The "Shining Path" waged a terrorist campaign against the government from 80 - 90. The museum had an exposition on that. Some 60,000 Peruvians were killed. The history of Peru is very sad. Every time somebody conquered it, the Incas and Spaniards, the presidents who came to power also abused it, stole a lot of money from the country and then fled. 1 president cut taxes and froze prices, but the economy couldn't support it, and the currency was massively devalued. When the new sol came out, it was equivalent to 1 new sol = 1 billion old soles !!
In the evening met up with Eva, had desert and went to parque de aguas with many beautiful fountains all in different shapes and colors and music. They change to the music too, and it's unbelievably amazing. Some are playful fountains where you can jump into them, and you have no idea when and where and how they will shoot out water. There are change rooms, but it was evening and cold :( The entrance fee was a bit over a $1.

Mellisa left at night to Cuba.

Next day went out with Eva to lunch. The food is really really good there. The preset menues unlike Colombia and Ecuador have like 10 choices. Nice change to "do you want chicken or beef?". Also got manicure, a haircut, and ate a super delicious desert :)
2 nights in a row went to clubs till 5 am! It was surprising too that I wasn't that tired. I wonder why? Is it because of night buses, or just tiring trips all the time?
Had another tasty lunch. It had excellent raw fish (ceviche, from what Eva got sick :) ), a tasty juicy steak and a dessert for <$3. And it was in a nice restaurant with good service, quality, and nice arrangement! I love Peruvian food !! :))

pix at http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/Lima#