Peru

They were selling these at every street corner when I arrived in Ayacucho. Not being a Christian, I've actually never had a toffee apple before, although I know it's an Easter tradition in Australia as well. My verdict: very sweet, very hard on the outside, and very sticky; but real tasty, and quite fun to devour.

Cath, Gaz, and myself arrived in Ayacucho at 6:30am this morning. We stepped out of the bus station, and we found an entire city that had been partying all night long, and that was still going pretty strong. The streets were packed with people. There were temporary stalls set up everywhere for breakfast. There was a marching band, singing, and dancing in the central square. And there were priests standing outside every church, blessing the masses that thronged around them. Clearly, Semana Santa (Easter) in Ayacucho goes out with a bang!

Basic guest-house kind of place, in the historic centre of Ayacucho. Cath, Gaz, and myself rocked up here at 7am this morning, and we managed to get a room each (one for me, one for them). I think that this is about the closest Ayacucho has to proper youth hostels: it has shared bathrooms, but no dorms.

Also, from now on, I'm adding a new field to accommodation reviews: hot water. Up until now, this is something I've been able to take for granted, wherever I stay. But that's no longer the case. :P

This nice couple from Manchester — "Home of the Manchester City team, not Manchester United, I'll have ye know" (as Gaz says) — caught the bus with me from Lima to Ayacucho, and we hung out together in Ayacucho for a few days. Gaz is a mechanic for BMW, and Cath is a PE teacher. Like me, they're on a year-long round-the-world trip (except they're nearing the end of theirs); and, like me and every other gringo in Peru, they're on their way to Cusco to do the Machu Picchu hike.

The trip from Lima to Ayacucho — 9 hours overnight — was my first-ever luxury long-distance bus journey. Much nicer than the comfortable, but not lavish, 1^st class buses in Mexico. I went with Cruz Del Sur, one of Peru's top bus companies. Seats that reach back all the way. Large, padded footrests. Tea / coffee and sandwiches served in-trip. And a few movies along the way. Not quite up there with what I've heard about the super-luxurious coaches in Argentina, but impressive nonetheless.

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!