Lima

Since I got back to Lima yesterday, I've been on a ridiculously hectic roller-coaster ride of bumping into old friends from previous stops on my trip. In particular, it seems that right now, it's Cusco in Lima. Everyone's just hanging around the big city this weekend — and because the gringo haunt of Miraflores is only so big, everyone's bumping into everyone. It really is a very, very small world, when you're a backpacker in South America.

I've done Cusco. I've done La Paz. Now, I've got the complete set of three: I've done Loki Lima! As with its two brethren, Loki Lima is the place to be: smack bang in the middle of Miraflores (across the road from the massive McDonald's), with a kicking Irish bar on the premises, and with super-friendly guests and staff. Very different to Flying Dog, which is nice, but a lot more tranquil. When you come to Loki, you come to enjoy, not to sleep.

After more than three months, I've now completed a massive circuit of Andean South America, covering southern Peru, western Bolivia, and northern Chile. As of today, the loop is complete, and I'm back to square one: Lima. This was my first stop in South America, back on Apr 1^st; and Chris and I have finally managed to drag ourselves away from the paradise resort of Huacachina, and to get on up here. So far, Lima's looking OK. I think I'm going to have more fun here this time, than I did on my last visit.

I just realised that in the past week, I've seen more movies (most in English) than in any other week so far on my trip! The reason: the Flying Dog has a big TV, 50 cable channels, and a stash of DVDs; and we've been watching at least one movie a night, and sometimes more in the daytime, the whole time we've been here.

I've been here at the Flying Dog for a full week, and despite originally being peeved about being stuck here, I actually met some really great people here, and I'm going to miss them all. However, as of tonight, everyone here is either leaving Lima, or moving to another hostel; because the whole place has been booked out by a travelling circus.

Three days ago, on Wednesday, I tried to go paragliding on the seashore in Miraflores, but was thwarted by a lack of wind. Today, I decided to return and to try my luck again. This time I came really close — the wind picked up, they strapped me in, I was running for the cliff edge — and then the bloody wind died again!

Alexis is a friend of my buddy Antonio, as well as the only Drupal developer in Peru. He's a really interesting guy: he's run his own web hosting company; he's built his own house; he's written a book about how to work from home; and he's developed web sites for a bunch of different clients. Today, I visited him at his home in Chaclacayo, and had great fun eating, drinking, chatting, and recording with him.

Today, I got taken on a big excursion, by Antonio and his friend Clevér (yep, that's his name!). The three of us went to Chaclacayo, which is virtually a town by itself, right on the Eastern edge of Lima, almost in the mountains. There, we visited Alexis Bellido — another of Antonio's Linux friends — who has a house out there, and who is also the only (known) Drupal developer in Peru!

Got myself a local Peruvian SIM card, to use for SMSing the folks back home, and for any local calls I might need to make. The brand is Claro (means "sure" or "OK" in Spanish), which seems to be the biggest one in Peru. Unlike with my Telcel card in Mexico, this one sends and receives international SMSes, no problem.

Chris became a good mate of mine, during my week at the Flying Dog in Lima. Chris is a Canadian, a very well-travelled guy (although he's new to the Latin world), and a producer of home-made wine. He's also a vegetarian. He's a great guy to have philosophical chats with as well.