Cruising the Bai Tu Long Bay (Northeast of Halong Bay) with IndochinaJunk, Inc.

Halong Bay. Ha Long means "descending dragon".  Local legend says that a family of dragons descended onto the bay to protect Vietnam from invaders by spitting large jade and jewels into the water, forming thousands of island barriers against the invaders.  Afterwards, the dragons decided to stay and make these waters their home.  We think you will quickly see that the islands are reminiscent of dragons resting in the water.  

Apparently, we saved the best experience for last! We think this UNESCO World Heritage site and 7 New Wonders of Nature is one of the most stunning natural landscapes we've seen so far on our trip. Right up there with Plitvice Lakes in Croatia.  Yes, Machu Picchu (Peru), Angkor Wat (Cambodia), and the rice terraces of Sapa (Vietnam) were also awe-inspiring, but they are largely man-made wonders.  The two thousand limestone formations that pepper the northernmost bay of Vietnam was formed naturally over millions of years through erosion.  Even more amazing are all the hidden caves and lakes inside these hollow islands, where many have yet to be discovered.  

Mike relaxing on the top deck
of Dragon's Pearl I junk cruise.

As a result, Halong Bay was definitely on our "must-see" list, but we didn't know how to best experience this place.  Do we just find transportation to Halong Bay on our own, then find a day boat to take us around?  Do we sign-up for a one or two night cruise?  Should we just go to Cat Ba island, the backpacker capital, and admire the limestone formations from the shore?

Although we prefer DIY travels, this is one place that is best experienced by joining a tour.  Unfortunately, it seems every hotel and business in Hanoi has a cousin or brother-in-law that supposedly runs a tour.  There are soooooo many tour operators to Halong Bay that it is hard to know what's legitimate and what's not.  After much research, we decided on a 3-day/2-night cruise through the less touristed Bai Tu Long Bay just northeast of Halong Bay for a full and unhurried experience.  

We wrote an unsolicited infomercial on how we researched and selected Indochina Junk as well as other options at the end of this blog.*

Sapa: A Mountain Town Covered in Thick Fog

In front of Tien Sa waterfall
near Cat Cat Village.

We finally made it into the northwestern mountains of Vietnam near the China border to an area called Sapa, famous for the patterned rice terraces carved out of the side of the mountains.  Once you've seen the view, it's easily recognizable as belonging to Sapa.  

As if the rice terrace landscape wasn't good enough, they are surrounded by sheer granite walls rising from crystal clear river canyons, bamboo forests soaring into the heavens, peppered with villages of Hmong tribes dressed in their colorful attire.  Sapa couldn't be more picture perfect.

Picture perfect, unless surrounded by dense fog with a visibility of about 20 feet...which was our Sapa experience on our first day here.

Here's what we should've been able to see in Sapa: 

Postcards of scenic Sapa area. 

Here's what we actually saw:

The fog gave the landscape a unique, mysterious shroud that was equally beautiful, but we wished we'd seen the dramatic views today.

Gloria Angkor Hotel Earns Our Customer Service Award

We're giving up precious (not really) blog space to give some free advertising to our new favorite hotel, Gloria Angkor Hotel in Siem Reap, Cambodia!

Service excellence is difficult to describe, but you know it when you experience it.  What we do know is that service is an attitude and not about a series of activities to be performed.  It involves anticipating needs and exceeding expectations.

We've also observed that spending more money doesn't necessarily improve service quality.  Crappy service exists in high-end resorts.  Excellent service exists in budget accommodations.  

Ko Samui, Our Week in Thai Beach Paradise

Postcard perfect Lamai Beach, Ko Samui, Thailand.

The word "Samui" means cold in Japanese, but I doubt that is what this island's namesake means in Thai!  While "Ko" means island in Thai, "Samui" may actually be named after a native tree called mui or after a Malay word, saboey, meaning "safe haven".  This island in the Gulf of Thailand is very tropical and definitely not "Samui" or cold.

There are so many nice islands in Thailand, it was difficult to choose where to plant ourselves for a week.  Ultimately, we chose the ever popular Ko Samui for its ease of access (if you consider a 12-hr train ride, 1.5-hr bus ride, 1.5-hr ferry ride, and hanging off the back of a songthaew truck, easy...), beautiful unspoiled beaches, and a variety of activities. 

Safe Arrival in Jerusalem, Israel

With all the current extremist tensions going on in the Middle East, embassy attacks around the world, and Israel ramping up to protect themselves from Iran's nuclear "program", we knew security would be tight at Ben Gurion Tel Aviv Airport. So, we are happy to announce that we safely arrived in Jerusalem without any problems.  In fact it was one of the fastest and smoothest customs, security, and immigration processes.  Of course we landed at midnight and there weren't too many people arriving at that time so that probably helped.  We were pleasantly surprised that there were no lengthy security checkpoints and "interrogations" by the immigration officers.

We were quickly out of the international arrival lobby and on our way to Jerusalem.  We easily found the Nasher Taxi Shuttle service, right outside baggage claims.  These 10-seater vans drop passengers off in front of their home or hotel, 24/7 for 62 shekels/pp.  We got on the one going towards the Bak'a neighborhood of Jerusalem, gave them our address of the apartment rented through Airbnb, and we were on our way!  It's a much better option than taking a taxi for 200-300 shekels.  Although, we've been told that the shuttles sometimes deny taking passengers to the Muslim-based, East Jerusalem addresses.  Knowing this, we made sure to find an apartment in West Jerusalem.  

Jeff, our Airbnb host who is American living in Jerusalem, offered to let us in the apartment when we arrived in the middle of the night.  Isn't that the best service, ever?  Otherwise, we would've had to find a hotel at 2 am, then move to our apartment the next day.  

The studio apartment is very cute, cozy, comfortable, and quiet. It has air-conditioning, a huge plus in this Middle Eastern heat.  We've heard more American English being spoken by residents in this Bak'a neighborhood than we have anywhere else in our entire trip thus far.  It almost feels like home, except that everything is written in Hebrew without a single English translation, so thank goodness people can communicate in English, because we sure can't read anything around here!

Door to our studio apartment on Shimshon Street in Bak'a neighborhood in West Jerusalem.

Lovely private patio outside of our room.  Also a great place for hanging our laundry in this Middle Eastern heat! 

A really nice bike and walking path near the apartment. 

Digging into a falafel sandwich! 

We anticipate an enjoyable stay in Jerusalem! 

1st Day in Istanbul: Mostly About the Food

We are so excited to finally be in Instanbul!  As soon as we arrived, we recognized the city immediately with the iconic images of massive domed mosques, sky-high minarets, palaces, bridges, and waterways. 

Despite our excitement, we didn't make it to hardly any famous sights today! No Hagia Sofia, no Blue Mosque, no Topkapi Palace, no museums, no Grand Bazaar.  We did manage to see the Galata Tower, Yeni Mosque, cross the Galata Bridge, and walk through the Egyptian Spice Market, get a view of the Golden Horn islet and the Bosphorus Strait; but the last 24 hours has mostly been about the food.  After 3 weeks of rather uninspiring Balkans cuisine, we are certain the remaining 7 days in Istanbul will continue to be mostly about gorging ourselves with Turkish cuisine! 

5-Days of R&R at Lake Ohrid, Macedonia

People around here call Lake Ohrid, the Macedonian Riviera, as it's the closest Macedonia will ever get to having a coastline.  The lake is one of the oldest and deepest in Europe, sharing it with Albania on the southwestern side.  It appears many Europeans have discovered this beautiful lake getaway so the small town is quite built-up with hotels and restaurants to accommodate the tourists.  Fortunately for us, we got here just in time to see the August holiday crowd pack-up and go home, leaving us to enjoy the serenity of the crystal clear waters surrounded by the Dinaric Alps mountain range undisturbed, except for a few lingering retirees. 

Sarajevo - A Religious and Cultural Melting Pot, Or Is It?

Tasli Han ("stone inn") ruins against
backdrop of minaret from Gazi
Husrev-Beg mosque and Clock Tower.

We are so excited to experience the diverse and complex city of Sarajevo in Bosnia and Hercegovina (BiH) where religions have coexisted for centuries; where the 1984 Winter Olympics was hosted; where major historical events occurred such as the assassination that ignited WWI; and survived a major civil war atrocity in the 1990s called the Siege of Sarajevo, for which the city shows permanent scars.  But, the people have proven resilient and all outward appearances seem optimistic about the future with their fledgling independence and ethno-religious peace agreement.  They have definitely made Sarajevo into a must-visit destination.  

Train Ride From Zagreb to Sarajevo

We found out that taking the train is a pretty simple way of getting from Zagreb, Croatia to Sarajevo, Bosnia and Hercegovina (BiH).  At the main train terminal in Zagreb, we checked the published departure schedule, looking for the train that goes to Sarajevo.  It was difficult to find within the fine print, but saw there are 2 departures daily.  The first one leaves daily at 8:53 am with a final destination to Ploce, stopping at Sarajevo along the way.  The other is an overnight train.  We read that the Croatian and BiH scenery is not to be missed, and the numerous interruptions by ticket verifiers, passport controls, customs personnel, etc. would prevent anyone from getting much sleep anyway; so we chose to travel during the daytime.  

Zagreb, Croatia: A Tourist-Friendly Destination

We just left Zagreb, the capital city of Croatia, and are heading to Sarajevo, Bosnia and Hercegovina on a 10 hour train ride through the country.  

Here are some reflections on Zagreb and Croatia as a whole.  First, gotta love a language that makes full use of the letter "Z"!  Never seen so many words with "Z" in it.  

Not having done much research on Croatia in advance, it has been a fun week discovering new things as it unfolds.  For example, who knew that the necktie originated in Croatia?  Yup.  The Croatian army sported red ties called cravats, as part of their uniform.  When the French saw this, they immediately loved it and took the tie as a fashion statement (go figure).  The rest is history.  Apparently, the ballpoint pen was also invented by a Croat.   Akiko, being sort of a pen connoisseur, appreciates this little fact.  Truffles are also abundant in Croatia.  We got to sample some in our dishes, but this would've been a moment where we wished we could actually buy souvenirs to take home.  They sold many truffle related food products such as truffle oil, truffle paste, truffle essence, truffle salt, etc. 

Our 30-Hour Travel Day to Madrid

Sunset in Quito, Ecuador

We've been dreading our flight itinerary from Buenos Aires to Madrid.  There's nothing fun about 3 back-to-back flights and layovers that equals about 30 straight hours of traveling.  At the airport in Buenos Aires, we wished we could've been on one of the few direct flights to Madrid, but of course, our round-the-world ticket searches for the, uh, more "economical" routes to get us to our desired destination.  Why?  Because it's cheap and we have nothing but time! 

On the bright side, there were no major delays or cancellations.  Who else gets to experience 5 different airports in one day?  Yes, 5.  We left Buenos Aires, transferred planes in Lima, Quito, and had to disembark to get back on the same plane at Guayaquil (we didn't know about this one), then finally arrived in Madrid.  At each airport, we had to go through a separate security check point, but at least they were not as strict with the shoes and liquids as the US airports are. The security process of transferring to a different flight at Quito was interesting.  We had to wait for a LAN Airlines representative to escort us through a bunch of locked doors to get to our departure gate.  No such thing as just walking off the plane and finding your own gate!  Oh, and we got a cozy pat-down before boarding our final plane in Guayaquil. 

Considering the marathon, we didn't feel too terrible after 30-hours.  We loved LAN Airlines - the biggest South American operation from Chile.  No matter how short or long the trip, every seat had its own screen and a full menu of movies, games, music, etc.  Full meals were served with real plates and silverware.  And, the flight attendants were very attractive!  Iberia Airlines from Spain was nothing special.  It was our long-haul leg and we didn't have the nice amenities we got used to with LAN Airlines.  We thought we were stuck on a school bus with so many children on board.  The only major snafu was not with the airlines at all.  We already griped about the problem with trying to exchange our excess Argentine pesos into Euros in another post titled, Warning About Trying to Exchange Argentine Pesos.  We're still fuming about it.  

The Madrid airport is humongous.  We walked and walked forever to get to the tram that took us to the main terminal.  The architecture was very beautiful!  We were pleasantly surprised at how easy the immigration process was - no fingerprints, no pictures.  The guy barely looked at us before stamping our passports.  During the flight, we wondered why we never received the usual customs forms.  Our question was answered when we got to baggage claim and there was no mandatory customs declaration.  Since we didn't have any checked bags, we breezed through and got on the Express Bus.

It's nice to be back in a first-class, modern city!  The Express Bus was so easy and cheap.  It comes every 20-40 minutes and runs 24-hours a day, costing only €5/pp, which is a big savings from taking a taxi.  We got off at Plaza Cibeles and walked about 15 minutes to arrive at our budget hostel.  

Our hostel is nothing special.  It was the most reasonable accommodations in a decent area that we could find in an expensive city during the summer peak season.  At $60/double/night, we have a room that has a funky smell, no A/C (but a good fan), construction going on outside, shared bathrooms, and we're hand-washing our clothes (because the laundromat is on their summer vacation until August 20th!  Welcome to Europe...); however, the hostel is clean and the owner is very nice and helpful.  There's a full kitchen to share, use of refrigerator space, and great wifi!  The location is only 5 minutes from the main square, Plaza Mayor, and a minute from Puerta del Sol.  

For our first meal in Spain, we shared a paella and washed it down with several Spanish beers, Mahou.  We started feeling the exhaustion from all the traveling, so we decided to buy some boxed wine and take it back to our room for a nightcap.  We didn't know the cup situation at the hostel, so we decided to pour the wine into a couple water bottles.  Unfortunately, the box wine spout is not conducive for pouring elegantly into a water bottle!  Lol.  We were getting wine all over the place, until Akiko McGyver created a funnel for pouring the wine and the world was saved, one sip at a time.  

Buenos Aires - Our First Week, Getting Settled In

Buenos Aires (BA), Argentina marks the end of our 3-month trek through South America.  It's bittersweet because although we saw and did a lot, there's so much more we didn't do.  Such is the case with Argentina.  Departing from most tourist agendas, our goal in BA was to find an apartment for 3 weeks, unwind from the constant travel and sightseeing, and begin planning for our second phase of our trip through Spain-Morocco-Eastern European states along the Adriatic-Turkey. 

We are still getting in the main sights and culture of BA such as the steak, Malbec wine, tango, art, parks, etc.; however, at least for this trip, we are foregoing the expense of traveling to Mendoza wine country, the Pampas, Iguazu Falls, and Patagonia.  We definitely plan on traveling through these parts of Argentina in the future. BA was a super bargain destination for many of you who came here about 4-7 years ago, but with the recent inflation, it is no longer very friendly to the pocket book for the budget backpacker!  We have been able to manage our expenses by staying in an apartment, buying wine and groceries at the supermarket, and selectively eating out.  However, we have not felt deprived of any of the food, sightseeing, or culture.  Again, shopping and dining in the outskirts with the locals is always less expensive and more authentic.  Also, we've been able to avoid some of the high season prices by traveling to BA in the dead of winter; although the weather has been perfectly wonderful for us and no sign of the city hibernating because it's the winter.

We arrived via plane to BA last Thursday, July 12th through the international airport.  This flight was only our second leg of our round-the-world tickets we purchased.  After 2.5 months of cheap living, our first sticker shock came in the form of a US$160/pp "reciprocal fee" charged to the citizens of the US, Canada, and Australia before we even went through immigration.  Apparently, this is the visa fee for Argentines to visit our country, so in turn, we get charged the same.  How nice.  Fortunately, Akiko holds a Japanese passport so she didn't have to pay, but we were already over-budget before we even got through immigration.  

A few things to note after customs and immigration.  There is one currency exchange place after leaving customs that charged us an astonishing 10% fee for exchanging our Peruvian Nuevo Soles to Argentine Pesos.  We can't remember if we used Global or Banco de Nacional, but apparently, Banco de Nacional offers better rates.  Also, the banks do not (nor the ATMs) give bills less than 100 pesos, and small businesses may not necessarily have change to break a 100 peso bill, so ask for smaller bills if possible.  Counterfeits of larger bills is apparently common.  The bank gave us a handout on the problem, how to detect counterfeit bills, and to always note the last 2 digits of the serial numbers of larger bills before handing it to the merchant, because they may take the bill, claim they don't have change for it, then return a counterfeit bill in its place.  We've learned so many "ways" to scam tourists during our 3-months in South America!  There's also 6 taxi booths vying for your business, but we were told to avoid all of these and actually go out the double doors to the blue and white official "Taxi Ezeiza" stand, where they have a set rate to the center of BA.  For 200 (US$45) pesos, a worker escorted us out the airport to a waiting taxi, and 45 minutes later, we were dropped off in front of our hotel in Palermo Soho.  

Kala Petit Hotel was located in an old colonial building off Thames in Palermo Soho, about a 5-minute walk from Plaza Serrano.  The interior had a nicely decorated common living room, kitchen, and a dining room where the guests ate breakfast in the morning.  Upstairs, there were 6 comfortable guest rooms where 3 of them shared a bathroom.  We got one of the private rooms that shared a bathroom, which was no big deal because the hotel was not full.  

After exploring the bohemian Palermo Soho neighborhood for a couple of days, we were looking forward to being in our apartment on the Palermo Hollywood side.  We agreed to meet the owner on Saturday and had our keys and moved in by 11am! The apartment is in a secure, older stone building with about 40 units.  The interior is modern with all the amenities (except laundry), and just like the photos we saw in www.airbnb.com.  After having been through South America for the past couple of months, we had to ask if we could flush toilet paper down the toilet and drink the tap water.  The answer?  Yes and yes.  Oh, the joys of modern plumbing and infrastructure.  

Palermo is a huge neighborhood northeast of downtown Buenos Aires.  Our apartment is in an older part called Palermo Viejo, which is subdivided into Soho on the south side and Hollywood on the north side of Juan B. Justo Avenue.  Many urban, middle-class dwellers live in condos in this trendy area to enjoy the myriad of restaurants, cafes, bars, boutique shops, and music venues.  It's no wonder the grocery stores are lacking!  There's way too many great restaurants around the corner for anyone to be cooking.  Our apartment is located on El Salvador, and is only 3 blocks away from the Soho side, a laundry place on the next block, a small market on another block, and at least 6 or 7 ranked restaurants within a minute.  The Palermo subte (subway) station on the green/D line is a little bit of a walk.  It takes about 15 minutes to get to.  In Japan, there would be bicycles everywhere, but we haven't seen much of that around here, for some reason.  We haven't attempted the buses yet, but know that bus 166 goes down Juan B. Justo with a stop at Honduras.  We also saw bus number 111 stop right at the corner of El Salvador and Fitz Roy, so we will probably test it out!  

After we got settled in, our first order of business was to find a grocery store!  Akiko's anticipation and excitement was quickly diffused when we discovered that there are only small markets peppered around the neighborhood, which carries random things but not items we were hoping for.  In fact, we visited 5 grocery stores and none of them carried any fresh meat or seafood, a small sad selection of produce, and bare minimum of dried and packaged goods.  Suddenly, the fantasy of making a meal we were craving came to a screeching halt.  We scrounged up some instant soup mix (they have a lot of these), tomato purée, potato, onion, green pepper, pasta, dried lentils, and made a pot of hearty soup.  It was good, only because it was homemade and not from a restaurant for the first time in 2.5-months!  It went well with a nice bottle of Malbec that our host gave us.  

Since then, we discovered the big supermarket, Jumbo, off Bullrich and Santa Fe, about a 25-minute walk from our apartment.  It is truly jumbo!  Although it lacks international foods, it carries a large selection of all the essentials and some gourmet foods.  We will probably go there once a week to stock up, and supplement with the little stores around us more regularly.  

[Below: Supermercado Jumbo. Biggest selection of fresh pastas ever!]

[Below: Supermercado Jumbo. A whole frozen aisle of empanadas.]

[Below: Supermercado Jumbo. A whole aisle of dulce de leche of various brands.]

[Below: Supermercado Jumbo. ...and, a whole section of Yerba maté.]

We also discovered an organic farmers market nearby on Bonpland and Honduras where they sell organic produce, cured meats and cheeses, grains like quinoa, pasta, artisanal jarred foods, condiments, and sauces.  We are enjoying spending about $7 on 2 bottles of good wine at the market, and cooking like the show "Chopped", where we try to come up with a creative meal with the limited ingredients we have.  [Below: we had some dried lentils, potatoes, onions, garlic, lemons, squash/pumpkin-like vegetable we've never seen before, corn, and spinach. Ended up making mini lentil burgers and a sauté of corn and spinach. Not bad.]

Overall, we think we hit the jackpot on this place and we are enjoying everything our neighborhood has to offer for the next 3 weeks. We promise to actually go explore the touristed sights of BA. Maybe next week...

Ranting About Margarita's House in Machu Picchu Pueblo, Peru

Staying with families is common, and usually a great deal, if that is what we were looking for; except that Margarita's House in Machu Picchu Pueblo was a hostel charging hostel prices for the "free experience" of crashing at a single mom's house with 3 kids running around.

Though we expect to be disappointed on occasion, we have had such great deals and experiences with the hostels in South America thus far, that we became somewhat spoiled, and that probably added to our further discontent.

We have stayed at hostels ranging from $16/double to $60/double, and there is no way that Margarita's House should be charging $35/double for the (lack of) service and amenities it came with. We would've accepted everything about the place had we paid about $15/double...maybe even $20/double MAX for being such a touristy town in a remote place. In fact, the most professionally and efficiently run hostel we've stayed at only charged $25/double for a large room, clean and modern private bath, down comforter, free breakfast, bar/restaurant service, lockers with electrical outlets, high security, free wifi, unlimited tea service, etc.

Margarita is the actual woman's name who owns this place, and she is certainly very nice, but way over her head in trying to run this place by herself and her 2 young daughters, with a toddler son running around. It was also difficult to communicate because none of them spoke a word of English in this very touristy town, but recognize that we are the delinquents not knowing Spanish very well.

Her daughters were sitting at the front desk when we came in, and after about 10 minutes trying to search for our reservation (where we became a little nervous), they finally got Margarita to come and she got us situated.

The room was basic and clean, except for the curtain that was too short for the large window that opens into the main hallway, resulting in a "free show" for anyone walking by who had a full view into our bathroom!

Occasionally, we would return from town and the front door would be locked with no one to let us in except for her son playing in the lobby area. He opened the door for us, which is rather scary as we could've been anyone.

On another occasion, we returned and they couldn't find our key. Turns out, it was left in the door after one of her daughters cleaned the room! OMG.

Every morning at 5 am, this place came alive with noises from the kitchen, her kids screaming, TV in the lobby turned on, washing machine started, etc. One morning, a call went directly to the answering machine at 5:30 am and the answering machine beeped every 10 seconds for 2 hours! Arrggh.

We felt bad returning super late on a Saturday night from a huge town celebration, as Margarita was up waiting for us to let us in the door and give us our key to our room.

They did have wifi in the common area, but one day, the modem needed to be reset and we couldn't find Margarita to notify her. When we did, she kept insisting on giving us the password. We finally got her to understand the it was not a password issue, that it was a technical issue.

There was a sign that breakfast (which was just bread and instant coffee) was served from 5 am to 8 am, presumably because most people get up early to go to Machu Picchu, but Margarita insisted in knowing exactly what time we wanted breakfast in the morning. We felt pressured to get up and meet the time that we promised, even though they could've easily just left the bread, hot water, and instant coffee out.

On the day of checkout (check out was 9 am), we ate breakfast and when we were going back to our room to pack-up around 8 am, the power went out in the entire town. So, we had to pack and get ready in the dark. At 9 am on-the-dot, we got a knock on the door. The daughter tells us we need to leave because it's 9 am, when it was obvious we were almost done packing. She was not happy that we asked for 5 more minutes. Give us a break! It's not like people are lining up trying to get checked-in to this room...

Since our train didn't leave until 3:20 pm, we just hung out in the lobby area for a while, journaling, reading, writing postcards, etc. This is when the daughter put me to work by asking me to alert her when a guest walked in because she was doing other things. Wha?! Sure enough, 3 backpackers walked in, so I fulfilled my assigned duty. And the whole nightmare appeared to repeat itself again...as the 3 stood around while they couldn't find their reservations for about 10 minutes, etc., etc.

All this was very strange to us because when we made the reservations a while back, a guy actually emailed us in English promptly, offering to pick us up at the train station, and how they had a second property in Cuzco. After our experience, it is unbelievable that they have a second property. They need professional help running this one place, let alone another. Clearly, this guy no longer works at Margarita's House, which is too bad.

We're not sure how this place received great reviews and ratings, but if this is the best rated place we could find in this price range, then god forbid what the other hostels are like in town.

Day 60: Our Favorites in the "Garden City" of Lima, Peru

Perhaps we didn't know what to expect. Perhaps our expectations were low. Perhaps the guidebooks scared us into assuming Lima was similar to our experience in Quito, Ecuador (you know...crime, pollution, urban chaos).

Regardless, we are pleasantly surprised about this wonderful "Garden City" of Lima. We've been having difficulty trying to come up with a comparable city that captures the essence of Lima. After much discussion over a 'few' Cristal cervezas, we think we figured it out (yea, right!). Of course, we are talking primarily of the nice Miraflores, San Isidro, and Barranco neighborhoods. The miles and miles of paved walkway and parks along the coastline remind us of Southern California with all the joggers, cyclists, and roller bladers. Everybody here, young and old, are out exercising. The shores are covered with surfers as well, but Lima doesn't give off a surfer vibe at all. The ocean seems to only be a backdrop to this massive, cosmopolitan city. However, the city is nothing like the SoCal city of Los Angeles. It is more reminiscent of a large capital city like Washington DC. In combination of the ocean and city, we thought Barcelona, Spain was the best comparison. We can feel the high-end influence of diplomats, international business people, and expats amongst the upper class Peruvians residing in the high-rise condos overlooking the ocean. Yet, even the nicest areas possess that South American edginess with graffiti on walls, massive security gates/walls, armed guards, etc. that makes any traveler a little worried about wandering off at night. We don't dare to imagine the conditions in the really rough side of town, closer to the city center and up into the shantytowns on the hillside.

[Below: coastline of Miraflores. See our YouTube video of Miraflores Coastline.]

Sometimes, when we are having difficulty finding words to describe something, someone else has already eloquently put them on paper. Such is the case with Lima. Lucien Chauvin in "Lima: 10 Things to Do" for TIME Travel summarizes this city best:

"Peru's sprawling megacapital is actually a mosaic of many smaller cities. Comprising 43 districts with nearly 9 million inhabitants, Lima is a study in contrasts, with ultramodern seaside neighborhoods butting up against gritty shantytowns that cling to barren hillsides. It is one of the world's few megacapitals that can claim a golf course in the middle of the financial district, and where executives can go surfing before high-powered breakfast meetings. Although it's built in a desert — Cairo is the only other metropolis drier than Lima — it's known as the "Garden City" and is home to one of world's largest fountain parks."

We've only been here for a couple of days, but here's a few of our favorite parts about Lima.

[Below: our hostel, Hostal Porta, at $45/night for a double, is tucked away in a residential street in the exclusive Miraflores District where hotels go for $300-500/night. This hostel is 2 blocks from the ocean front, 4 blocks from the upscale seaside entertainment complex - Larcomar, about 6 blocks from nice restaurants in Miraflores, 7-minute walk to Parque Kennedy and its surrounding bars and restaurants catering to backpackers/tourists, and plenty of small tiendas, lavanderias, banks, etc. to get errands done.]

[Below: Supermercado Vivanda, an upscale grocery store, reminiscent of a Whole Foods with lots of international and Peruvian groceries. We could live here with this kind of grocery store. Located in Miraflores on the corner of Avenida Benavides and Alcanfores.]

[Below: Charming brick and cobblestone streets full of restaurants. Boulevard Suche (between Alcanfores and La Paz) in Miraflores. Also, Calle Tarata between Avenida Larco and Alcanfores.]

[Below: Larcomar, upscale shopping and entertainment complex on the cliffs of Miraflores. It houses plenty of restaurants with a view, including American establishments such as Tony Roma's, Chili's, Burger King, Starbucks, etc. Be prepared to pay for the view, but well worth it! We realized we hadn't heard so much North American English until we were at Larcomar with all the tourists.]

[Below: Copa de Vino Blanco and the obligatory Pisco Sour - the national grape brandy drink of Peru, at one of the nice bars with a view at Larcomar.]

[Below: A long walk along the coast to the Barranco District for another charming scenery. This is called The Bridge of Sighs (Puente de los Suspiros), a lovely wooden structure spanning the Bajada de Baños, a stone walkway that runs down to the Pacific Ocean.]

[Below: A GREAT local restaurant find, Puerta Cerrada, in Barranco. They're not kidding when an appetizer, entree, and drink - all traditional Peruvian dishes - can be had for only 8 to 12 soles (US$3-5). This was our appetizer, rocoto relleno (stuffed peppers). Rocoto is a Peruvian chili that packs some heat.]

[Below: Paragliders all along the seashore. Best place to take-off and land is in Miraflores. Tourists can get a 10-minute tandem ride for $50. We enjoyed just watching them zoom by! View our YouTube video of paragliders taking-off and landing.]

[Below: BEAUTIFUL parks of Lima!]

[Below: A stroll along Avenida Pardo, a tree-lined pedestrian walkway in the middle of the avenue.]

[Below: Parqué de Amor. Park of Love!]

[Below: Selling Andean scenery artwork at Parqué Kennedy. This area has a lot of regular (not touristy) shopping malls and supermarkets. Just regular Limans hanging out on a Saturday afternoon.]

[Below: Yup, an actual Peruvian hairless dog! Feels like leather.]

[Below: Peruvian empanadas. Came with a lime! Never thought to squirt lime juice on empanadas, but it was a nice complement. Yummy.]

So, we've been "a little" busy exploring Lima! You can probably see why the name "Garden City" is appropriate for this megacity.

See the entire Peru Photo Album.