Cheap Cell Phones

 

I studied a bit upstairs and then wandered down and asked the doorman where I might buy a cell phone. Of course, this whole studying questions bit is only halfway useful, as although he understand what I said, I had no clue what he was telling me. More gesturing and questions ensued and I finally got it through my head that he was pointing me towards the Starbucks traffic circle and a store named "Wong".

From what I can gather "Wong" is the Fred Meyer of Peru, except not quite as big. They seemed to sell just about everything. I found a booth for Claro the big local wireless carrier and proceeded to torture the poor woman trying to ask for a prepaid sim card. She spoke some english though so it wasn't too bad. Sadly, my Sidekick is locked, so the sim card didn't work and I had to buy a phone.

The plans here are crazy. Most of the plans are prepaid, you just buy cards to refill. Additionally, when you buy a phone, you get the cost of the phone as prepaid credits. So if you spend 89 soles (~$30), as I did for a cheap phone, you get 89 soles of airtime. Sadly I didn't realize this or I might have sprung for the neato motorolla F3 which was only $10 more. The phone I did get is about as cheap as I've seen. At first I thought it was a color screen, but it's not. It's kind of like those old donkey kong games you had as a kid, with a stencil in the background and stenciled graphics in front which light up differently. Oh well, it works, I can't complain.

The fee structure is also a bit different here. Receiving calls on your cell is completely free, even internationally. You only pay when making outgoing calls. However, outgoing calls are really expensive, about 1.5 soles a minute. (ie, 40 cents) Tom claims this is part of the machismo culture in South American, he might have a point.

My previous stolen wifi doesn't seem to be working anymore, so I wandered around the apartment with my laptop trying to find another. I'm now sitting on the floor next to the door where I get a good signal to some other neighbor. Someone will be by Monday to fix/replace the WiMax modem though.

Today so far has been work work work, Eric is such a slave driver. But I think I'll go wander outside and find something to eat.

Interweb Theft

 

Thank god for open access points. I found a neighbor that happens to have his connection open and that has greatly eased my life. I should be meeting with someone tomorrow to figure out what is happening, but having a connection at home is a blessing until then.

I went to lunch at the hole in the wall place I mentioned yesterday. I could tell from the chalk board outside that they had a fixed price lunch menu, however I couldn't understand a word the waitress rattled off to me. It basically turned into me just saying "numero uno" and "numero dos" for the two options. Mind you, I had no idea which either were, I was just satisfying her request for me to pick something.

Turns out those were pretty good choices. She came out with a big plate of breaded and fried calamari which was quite yummy and nicely spiced. Next came a lightly breaded filet of some sort of white fish over rice with a plain salad. Again, pretty darn good. When the bill came it was for six soles, less than $2. I tried paying nine soles and getting up, but the owner ran over and tried to explain to me that I was overpaying. I then had to try to explain back to her in some way that I MEANT to overpay. In the end I chocked out that I thought the food was excellent, pointed to a two sole piece, and left that behind. So a little under $3 for a two course lunch.

That's a sick deal any way you cut it. (hopefully figuratively only!)

Central Miraflores

 

I had to walk a ways to find an internet cafe (in retrospect, there must be one closer) but had some great sight seeing along the way. The church above sure was pretty but isn't even mentioned in my Peru guide book. I guess I have to check out the ones that are! I pondered going in, but it looked very busy with Easter traffic so I thought better of it. They might not be so welcoming to an atheist gringo.

 

I eventually reached the shore again, this time quite a bit farther south. Larcomar is one of the big tourist centers and is a huge outdoor mall right on the cliffs. It included the Tony Romas... and another Starbucks.. oh, and a Hooters. Aww, I feel so at home!

 

The beaches down below looked rocky but were very busy with the surfers. Looked like a really good time, with very consistent waves. To me, they looked like about six foot swells or so. I'll definitely have to see if one can rent surf boards around here.

This is also the spot for parasailing, there was a whole string of them coming down the cliff band. Might be a fun thing to try out, though flying tandom for some reason doesn't sound as fun.

 

Further north I ran into the Parque del Amor, with this statue which is one of the most famous sights in Lima. I guess it kind of fits in with the ongoing theme of Latin lovin'.

My Interweb is broken..

Doh.

Woke up and the magical broadband wireless router seems sick. I found a little note somewhere in Spanish that has a bunch of info on what the three lights on the thing mean but it didn't really help.

I did see something about not putting the modem within 60 meters (60!!) of a computer with wifi, so maybe my wifi router snuggled next to it caused some issues.

I rebooted it a bunch and it didn't seem to help, but every time I'd leave it unplugged it would get slightly better, seemingly getting closer to working the longer I left it unplugged. I do not really understand the mechanism in electronics that would make that so.

So I wandered out to find an internet cafe. I'm in a quarter size cubicle right now, but at least I have connectivity.

Next I need to find someplace that will sell me a prepaid sim so I can call the interweb people and find out what's up. (if it hasn't magically fixored itself this afternoon)

Found the Ocean

 

Decided to go wander west to the ocean to find something to eat. This seemed like a fun idea when the sun was still out, but it ended up being quite a ways. Lima is atop a cliff band right on the ocean. They've built parks along the very edge of most of the cliffs that give an amazing view of the water beyond.

These also seem to be the go-to spot for a little Latin-lovin' making out, and who can blame them, it's pretty romantic any way you cut it.

 

Afterwards I started wandering back to my place and quickly realized I wasn't exactly sure how I came. See, I had this brilliant idea that I'd just bring my trusty Suunto along with it's compass, head SW to get to the ocean then head NE to get back. Who needs a map? (answer: of all people, me!) Of course, the roads don't really run SW and NE and I know a grand total of three streets, so for a bit there I was getting nervous. Thankfully my dead reckoning navigation got me to the grocery store I went to earlier today so it all turned out ok.

I hunted around a bit for a local joint to eat, but the little place I had scoped out earlier is apparently lunch only. I eventually passed a place called "Danica" which rung a bell as Ms Tony Romas from the plane had mentioned it as a good restaurant for 'Peruvian' food.

Turned out to be pretty ritzy but absolutely delicious. They were definitely more nuevo peruvian rather than the traditional fare I was originally seeking out, but were fantastic nonetheless. I had some risotto with grilled red peppers and onions and the most melt in your mouth beef tenderloin I've ever had. That along with the Peruvian drink of a Pisco Sour beforehand and a double espresso afterwards and I was one happy gringo. Grand total on the bill? With a very generous tip, 70 soles, so around $23. I would have gladly paid twice that for the risotto alone however, it was seriously top notch.

Ok, now I'm going to actually do some work before Eric starts Bileet Inc. ;)

I feel at home..

 

Look what I found not two blocks away! I actually knew there was one nearby, but wandering across it randomly was still mildly shocking. I wandered in (nicely air conditioned.. oooh) to check out the prices and they are exactly the same as the US. IE, 10.50 soles (about $3.50 US dollars) for a grande mocha. To put this in perspective, I spent 27 soles on groceries this morning, which included a box of cereal, two huge bottles of water, two big containers of gogurt and some TP.

No I did not partake in the *$s, though an iced drink sure was alluring.

 

Ali and I were checking out Google maps of Lima the other day. They don't actually have any road data for Peru, but they do still have the satellite view. As we were virtually wandering around the blocks around my apartment, we saw a really odd looking building from the top. Well, that's it from the side, I guess it's a big church.

Speaking of churches, everybody here is obviously Catholic, and it's Easter, so everybody has the rest of the week off. That's cool except that it kills me starting the language school until Monday. Bummer.

I did find the language school though and enrolled in a one month course of 5 2 hours classes a week. Trying to communicate in Spanish has been kind of entertaining really. I first ask whether they speak English, which hardly anybody does (even at the language school!) then try saying things in French with a spanish accent. Often the latter gets me kind of close, or at least on the right track. A few 'dondez' and 'commos' thrown in and eventually some form of communication occurs.

Grocery Store Found

 

I had to hang out at the apartment until noonish waiting for the mother of the owner to show up to pay for the month's rent. Everybody gives me these crazy looks when I tell them I don't know any Spanish and am just hanging out for a month. Hrmm..

Anyways, afterwards I found the local grocery store which was nicely stocked. Except I couldn't find anything that really looked like milk to go along with my rations of Captain Crunch. Instead I found lots and lots of bottles of varying flavors of yogurt. I love drinkgurt though, so I grabbed a bottle of the thick stuff in strawberry and one of the thinner varieties in plain. Captain Crunch never tasted so good.

Also found myself a bottle of Kola Real, one of the local Cola variants. Sadly I can't say it tastes very different than Coke or Pepsi, only really differing in that it seems mostly flat. I'm still on the hunt for the Inca Kola though which sounds more exciting.

Now to find that language school.