Seeing the sights of Lima

I woke up at around 9:00am when I heard Alyssa moving around. I was concerned about how she was feeling and didn't really care that I had only gotten about 4 hours of sleep. She was still in pain but feeling a bit better after getting some rest. We had missed the free breakfast at the hostel (it goes from 7:00-9:00am which I think is because they know no backpackers will be up that early) so we decided to head out to get some breakfast. As we were about to leave, the lady at the front desk asked us if we would be spending another night. We said yes, since when checking in we had asked for two nights (that was even written on our paperwork) but she said we had only asked for one night and she had already reserved our room for another guest. Great. Now we had to be packed up and out of the room within the hour and had to find another hostel. We had a hard enough time finding a private room the day before and with my lack of sleep and Alyssa being so sick, I was less than pleased to have to do this. But I kept on a good face so as not to upset Alyssa (normally I'd have flown off the handle) and we packed up and went off in search of another place to stay.
As we walked, a guy on a bike asked us if we were looking for a hostel. There were no other hostels around the area that we knew of, so when he said he owned a hostel and that they had private rooms available, we were more than happy to check it out. He was very nice and escorted us to his place to make sure that we didn't get lost; he even let Alyssa ride his bike, lol! Unfortunately, the room was twice as expensive as what we were willing to pay ($60 USD) but there was a place across the street that we had heard of called "Inka Wassi". We went over to check it out and luckily they did have a private room available. They were also expensive but when we asked them if they knew of any cheaper places in the area, he dropped the price $20 soles so that we could afford to stay. Unlike Condor's House which had been built like a shack with absolutely no insulation (I could literally see through the wall joints to the street outside ), Inka Wassi was a lovely three story place that felt just like someone's home. We had a nice room with double beds, real curtains and our own bathroom with hot water. After the previous night with Alyssa being so sick and us being so cold that I went around the dorm stealing blankets off of other peoples' beds (sorry other people, things were serious and I'm sure you were shacking up with another backpacker anyways and could use their body for warmth), I had woken up and researched rooms at the Four Points Sheraton- regardless of the cost! Luckily though, Inka Wassi was very nice and we felt much more relaxed.

We decided to venture out in search of coffee and food. After traipsing around a while, we came to a cafe called "Delicass". We ordered coffee but unfortunately so many countries still don't understand quite what Americans want in a coffee. They brought us large cups with shots of espresso in them and a pot of hot water to dilute it as we saw fit- oh well, close enough!

After coffee, we decided to walk around and see some of the sights of Lima. I had flown into Lima a few years ago on my way to Cusco and we hadn't left the airport after reading that it was such a dodgy town but actually the Miraflores area was really nice (Miraflores is about an hour drive away from the airport; where the airport is located IS extremely sketchy). I was surprised how clean the city was and how modern it seemed. We walked down to the beach which reminded us a lot of the PCH along the beach of Santa Monica. There we watched the surfers in the freezing cold water and the paragliders floating overhead.

We also went to check out the "Parque del Amor". It was a nice park complete with a giant statue of two lovers united in an intimate kiss.

After walking around for a while, we headed back to the center of Miraflores to get some essentials. I was completely out of facewash and hesitant to change the brand I was using for fear of retribution from my face. Sadly Cetaphil is considered a behind the counter pharmaceutical product in South America and costs $20 USD! I reluctantly agreed since I really had no other option. I also got a new pair of cheap headphones since we had stopped in the Apple store and they do not sell just the little ear piece I needed separately for my broken set.

We headed back to our hostel to rest for a while and then get ready for dinner. We had seen an Arab restaurant as we walked through town that looked good, so we decided to try it. Thankfully it was amazing!

After dinner, we headed to an Irish Pub to have a beer and play trivia. It was a packed house of English speakers which is some times a welcome change!

We headed back to the hostel to get some sleep but unfortunately I wasn't very tired even though I hadn't slept much the night before. I finally fell asleep around 1:00am but was awoken at 3:30am but terrible pain throughout my entire back and the urge to vomit. I couldn't figure out what could be wrong! I spent a while lying on the bathroom floor, trying not to throw up but finally had to resort to sitting in the hot shower with the water hitting my back in an attempt to alleviate the pain. Once I ran out of hot water, I got back in bed and tried to will myself back to sleep. It seemed like we were slowly falling apart and I couldn't figure out why.

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