First impressions...

Hola!!! I am writing this from a run-down youth hostel in Lima, called the Flying Dog Hostel. The name is misleading; the place is filled with cats. We arrived last night, after a very ordinary 8 hour flight, followed by an interesting taxi ride, with ABBA and George Harrison's version of "I've got my mind set on you" blasting on the radio, which made me feel quite at home. After a few attempts to chit-chat with the taxi driver -he was really not in the mood- we resolved ourselves to quietly observe the deadlike streets (it was 2AM after all).

At the hostel, while celebrating our arrival with a few beers in the garden, we were joined by two middle age frenchmen. One of them wouldn't stop bitching about the city yet he had just gotten here, and the other one was mumbling in the background about the fate of Greece and the Euro (we were then told he had had a little too much of Lima's cheap Cocaine). Probably not the best first conversation to have about the city that is to be our home for the next 2 months.

It took me awhile to figure out where I was when I woke up this morning, it had all felt like one of those absurd dreams that make sense but at the same time don't. At breakfast we got talking about the host families. From what I gathered from M, I'm going to be living in a family with 2 young adults, a dog named Cannelle, a "gym-weights machine" (a family of bodybuilders?) and "I love Jesus" is engraved on the headboard of my bed.

Lima seems like an ok city, I think it just needs getting use to. It's quite grim at this time of year, no wonder there seems to be practically no tourists around. The air is heavy and humid, and there's this constant fog around the city which confirmed my initial thoughts about not seeing the sun for the next ten weeks. The streets are full of cars and buses, its extremely noisy and you can smell the pollution, which isn't the best. We were also told at at meeting we had with Oxfam today that we had to be careful security wise - if someone decides to steal your bag you are supposed to just let him get on with his business... guess I have to save my Kung-Fu panda moves for another time.

I just re-read my post and it all sounds pretty negative - but I'm too lazy to erase it and start over again - so I'm just going to say that, regardless, I am very happy to be here; the Peruvians we've met so far were extremely nice, the youth hostel workers seem to love the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, there are these really friendly stray cats that live in the parks, and the food has been good. All is good in the hood!