Day 5 - Aswan

I wake to find Mister already up and moving about the cabin.  He says he slept well, even with the pretty rough ride and loud stops.  I didn't hear a bit of it and slept like a rock.  It was great.  Breakfast pastries arrive along with some coffee for Mister.


We arrive in Aswan and as we leave the rail car, there is a gentleman holding a sign with our name on it.  He introduces himself as Mohammed and leads us to the van that takes us to the hotel.  It is a quick drive down the Corniche and stops in front of the Philae Hotel.  We enter the doors and instantly are refreshed. The place is amazing and we are introduced to Hanan, the manager, who speaks perfect English and is an amazing hostess.  We are served lemon drinks from her mom's lemon tree and taken to our wonderful room.

The room has a balcony and the view of the Nile is so beautiful.  I love Aswan already.  I aim for a rest and Mister heads downstairs to set up our plans for our stay here.  He returns having planned out 2 days with tentative ideas for the third.  I am thrilled --- we have a plan!   We leave within 1/2 an hour for Philae: The Temple of Isis.

The driver is a friendly Coptic who points out the new Coptic church and wants to talk, as usual, as we drive to the landing where we will take a boat to the temple itself as it is on an island.  He drops us off and goes to park and wait while we explore.

We head down to the boats and have been told ahead of time by both Hanan and the cab driver how much to pay for the ride out and back.  The boat people are trying to charge much more and I haggle with them (I HATE haggling) but cannot get them to back down.  I am committed to spending no more than 80LE including the tip and the guy won't budge. I tell him 60 plus tip -- he says 80 -- so I say 80 with no tip and we are given to another person who will be our boat driver (typical Egyptian ways) and off we go towards the temple.

It is majestic sitting out on this island that is surrounded by the clearest, bluest water I have seen in a very long time.  It is VERY HOT and we leave the boat and climb the stairs up to the temple.  We love it -- we walk the entire place and read about each section and study the details on the walls and columns.  It is a beautiful setting and we are shocked as usual at the ability to have created this.  It is from around 300BC -- and still standing.  We go back down to the docks and find that our driver has been out swimming and is refreshed -- I secretly wish we could do the same -- it is over 110 degrees in the shade.  When we arrive at the docks, the negotiator from before is nowhere to be found, so we give some other guy the agreed upon 80LE -- he then wants us to give "baksheesh" to the driver and Mister explains that that was not our agreement --he could find the other guy and work out getting his tip from him as we arranged.  Ugh -- I dislike this whole system.

We find our driver and he takes us back towards town and we stop at the Unfinished Obelisk.  Now this really helps the mind understand the work that went into these items and how very tall they really are.  This is an obelisk that they found that had been partially cut from the stone but it cracked and so was left in the ground.

This particular obelisk would have stood 137 feet tall if it had been raised, taller than any other known one.  By now, I am melting and so head inside to cool off while Mister explores further.  When he finishes, we find our driver and head back to the hotel.  Our clothes are soaked with sweat and we head for the shower and then to a wonderful lunch downstairs which Mister had set up ahead of time.

It is koshary with tahini and bread and water, water, water.  It is delicious and I want to learn to make it when we are back home.  We take a little nap and then decide to walk over to the Nubian Museum.
 
The Nubians were a people from Northern Sudan who also had a historical impact on Egypt.  We get directions and start down the street.  We manage to get lost and pass the Coptic Church, a mosque, and go entirely around the museum before cutting through and up some stairs to reach it.  We go to get tickets, but there is no one at the window.  A guard looks for the guy and tells us that he is at prayer and we will just have to wait for a few minutes.  It turns out to be about 10 minutes and we get our tickets and go into the museum.. It is very well done, but warm inside.  We learn a great deal about the Nubians.

It is dark as we leave and we walk down the street towards the new Coptic Church.  It is buzzing with activity so we go in and check it out.  When you enter the gates, it is like a small market with stalls and people hawking their goods, children running and playing, and people gathered in social groups visiting.  There is a service going on inside and so we peek in and find all the women on one side and the men on the other.  The speaker is sitting up front and there are tv screens throughout the large room so that all can see him.  We quietly leave and Mister gets offered 1,000 camels for me from an Egyptian man -- way too funny.  Finishing our walk, we arrive at the hotel and are definitely ready for bed.  The heat just saps everything out and we are beat again and have to rise at 3 a.m. for our trip to Abu Simbel.

Day 4 - Cairo

We sleep in a little and have a repeat of breakfast on the rooftop deck.  Franco isn't around so Mister gets a taxi on the street and arranges our trip to the Coptic (Christian) area of Cairo. We pack up our stuff and leave the bags for the day while we go off to explore our way -- without a chaperone.  We head into Cairo and our nice Coptic cabbie chats the whole way in.


We have discovered that people like to talk about the revolution and what they want to see happen in the upcoming elections. They are enjoying the ability to speak their minds without fear of being hauled off somewhere by the very corrupt police.  We have met several Coptic Christians and they are all really proud to let us know who they are and that they are oppressed by Muslims.  Many have a cross tattoo on their wrist to show us.  We are dropped off in Coptic Cairo and Mister settles up with Michael, the cabbie.  We start down the road that goes to several churches - the Convent of St. George, which was closed, and the Church of St. Sergius, which was under construction. So we wandered the cemetery and grounds.
 

We are able to go into a small alcove of  the church and discover that Saint George is depicted as a dragon-slayer in many images of this church.  Interesting.  From there we walk to the Coptic Museum, passing ancient Roman Tower ruins along the way.  The Museum is wonderful in that it is very clean, the artifacts well protected and labeled, and climate controlled (they take our camera again).

We spend about 1 1/2 hours wandering and reading all about the origination of the Coptic Church and the role that it played in Egyptian history.  Next door to the museum is The Hanging Church (it is built on top of old Roman fort, so it "hangs" above the ground. There are children running everywhere in the courtyard and the place is very active.  There is a little store off to the side of the main Chapel and so we stop in there and grab some sodas and sit outside and drink as it is already getting hot out.  We go in and explore the church.

There is a marble pulpit that is really beautiful and amazing carved screens with mother of pearl in them.  We are surprised at the noise level inside - unusual compared to the many churches we stop in during our travels.  Outside the church is the station for the Metro, so we decide to give it a try instead of hailing a cab. For 1.5 LE each (about 25 cents), we buy our tickets and head to the platform.


We find that there are "women-only" cars and we move down to a car that we can both travel in.  We zoom into downtown Cairo and come up onto a very busy street corner lined with vendors of all types selling everything imaginable. We also run into a herd of sheep...

We laugh and then are shocked at a stall selling bras as it is such a contradiction in our minds.  The women here all dress so conservatively and yet on the street corner they buy bras from a young man, odd.  We head off in what we think is the right direction of  the Windsor hotel, our destination.  As we cross the street, I spot a pastry shop called Etoile Pastry, and call for Mister to check it out -- we go in and are delighted with the offerings.

I select a yummy treat from the case, and the man carries it upstairs to their little cafe. We order a soda and bottle of water and take a nice little break from the heat. Even though I am grumpy (waited too long to eat again) we enjoy the atmosphere and our treat is very delicious.  Once we are rested, we venture out onto the street again in our quest for the Windsor Hotel.  It is easier said than done and we get turned around and confused many times.  We ask locals repeatedly for directions and even though they all know where it is, they send us in different directions. I want to give up, but Mister has determined that we are not going to let this beat us and plows ahead.  Another 1/2 an hour and voila -- it is finally located.  We enter and are immediately directed upstairs to the bar by Phillip, the man behind the check-in desk We take the stairs although there is this great open air elevator which remarkably still operates.  We settle in to comfortable seats at a table near the window and order baba ghanoush, bread, and a beer made in Egypt called Sakara.

As we are eating, a woman comes in and starts pointing out a crooked shelf  behind the bar with the bartender.  We put in our 2 cents and continue drinking. The woman returns a short while later with several other people and has a meal at the table next to us.  She introduces them and we discover her husband is Wasfi Doss, the owner of the hotel.  They are from Chicago and have returned to Egypt to run the hotel. We visit with her for quite awhile and then we realize that we have stayed a bit too long and need to get back to the hotel to get our bags and get to the train station.  We say our good-byes and go downstairs and ask Phillip to get us a cab.

We make a deal with him, but it takes forever for the hotel's van to arrive and I am concerned.  I have to give the driver credit -- he zooms to our hotel and Mister goes up to get the luggage and I snap a few local photos, causing a camel owner to yell and get upset with me because I did not give him baksheesh to take his picture.  Funny.  We get to the train station about an hour before our scheduled train and sit down to watch.  It is all fascinating and after awhile a family sits down beside us.  Mister starts talking with the children and soon we are visiting with the whole family for about an hour (a few trains come and go, but not our train yet).


We have a great conversation, take some pictures, and give the kids some American coins as souvenirs.  They are all smiles.  Our train arrives at 8:30 p.m.(an hour late) and we find our quarters and settle in.  It is actually quite nice for Egypt.

Dinner of chicken, tahini, rice, potatoes, and an orange is served shortly after we leave and we are so hungry that we eat quickly.  We are told drinks are extra (and an exorbitant amount) and we say no.  The porter leaves and we remember that we were told by the ticket agent that we were to spend "no money" on the train.  Mister goes out to find the porter and lets him know that.  It doesn't change anything, but the porter asks for us to write a note explaining what happened so that it doesn't happen again.

Mister calls the hotel in Aswan (cell coverage on the train is good) to make reservations and arranges for us to be picked up at the train station the next morning.  The porter sets up the bunks and Mister climbs into the top bunk and is snoring within seconds. I am still sitting on my bunk -- too funny -- oh well, I just lay down without undressing and am also asleep instantly.  We are beat.

Day 3 - Giza/Cairo

Mister is up for sunrise at 5:30 to photograph the pyramids.

I sleep in a little and meet him up on the roof deck for breakfast of falafel, tahini, bread, pepper salad, and mango juice serviced by an old, friendly guy who speaks no English.


After breakfast, Mister meets with Franco to setup the Giza tour for the day and decides on a horse carriage instead of camels.  He is introduced to Sahid who says he will take good care of us.  We gather up our things and go downstairs where Sahid then hands us off to Ahmed (here we go again with the pass off) the carriage driver.  We spend three hours on the plateau wandering and exploring the pyramids.

We are able to go into the Great Pyramid, which is 4,500 years old.  We have to leave our camera at the entrance and are not at all happy about that, but we remove the memory card and risk it.  The climb inside the pyramid is quite difficult and requires that you bend over the entire time. Yes, even I have to bend over.  By the time we reach the tomb, we are both amazed at the technology to build this and exhausted.  Mister jokes that it was done by aliens.  We are soaked from sweat and it is very humid with low oxygen inside.  Just as we are at the entrance to the tomb itself, we pass an English lady on her way back down and suddenly we are totally alone - no guards and no working security cameras.  We stay inside for a little while just trying to understand this need for something this huge simply as a place to be "buried".  Astonishing.  We make our way back down by walking backwards and the outside 105 degrees feels almost nice after being inside.  We get back into the carriage and enjoy the shade and slight breeze as we head to the sphinx.


We make a stop at another tomb and Mister is able to snap a few pictures inside (illegally but with some baksheesh) while I visit with the driver and one of the many peddlers that are constantly after us to buy something.  It is almost noon, and we are dropped off at the Sphinx and send the driver on his way as we can walk back to the hostel from here.  There are tons of souvenir stands  and more tourists as the buses drop people off here.  We walk around the Sphinx and are astounded at the size of it.  We enter into the Sun Temple and explore a little before wandering back out to try and figure out how other people are getting closer to the Sphinx.  We decide that we must have missed something in the Temple and go to enter it again.  There is a huge argument taking place at the entrance as someone apparently does not have the ticket to enter.  The guard makes room for us to pass and we find the passageway that we missed the first time.  The inside of the Sphinx is closed, but we are able to walk fairly close to the exterior.  It is now getting incredibly hot and so I head back to the hostel while Mister sticks around to take more pictures.


We cool off for a little while and then request a taxi to take us into Cairo to the Egyptian Antiquities Museum.  Franco is concerned and thinks it is better for us to have the driver wait at the museum and return with us - we are not thrilled, but go along with it to try it out.


The taxi arrives and Selman the driver stops at the train station in Giza first to get our tickets for the night train to Aswan the next night. 



The sleeper car tickets are sold outside the terminal in a little building.  The man in the ticket office takes US dollars, but inspects each one and is not happy with some of the old ones and wants different ones.  He finally takes the money and we are on our way into Cairo. Selman drops us off, points out the museum, and we set a time to meet him.  We pass what we assume to be a burned-out hotel but later discover it was Mubareks Headquarters and also new hotel construction for a future Ritz as we walk towards the museum.

Once there, we get our tickets and turn in the camera (yes, again) and start our time in Ancient Egypt.  It is an old building with even older exhibits and things are really just put in there haphazardly without care for protecting it from hands, breath, or dirt.  We spend a couple of hours and finish up in the King Tut section - the gold is amazing, but housed in a dirty glass-enclosed room.  At least this one exhibit is climate controlled.  We stop to use the restroom in the museum and Mister is given 4 squares of TP.  Wow.  We phone Selman to tell him we are ready and walk to where the car dropped us off -- only to find that he is at the museum looking for us to walk with us.  We wait and he arrives shortly and we make the trip back to the hostel much quicker than yesterday's run.  We go past the Corniche along the Nile and ask to stop and take pictures, but Selamn doesn't seem to understand.  When we arrive at the hostel, there is an argument over the price that was agreed upon and Franco takes over while Mister comes to the room and then pays Franco later.  Shower time and Mister goes out for Kebabs for dinner while I try and snap pictures of the laser show again.  We eat in the hostel and head for bed.  No problem sleeping tonight.

Day 2 - Arrive in Cairo

Breakfast is served and after everything is cleared away, I get my first glimpses of Germany as we descend into Frankfurt and it is very green and pretty.  The runways are surrounded by beautiful tall trees that have all their foliage at the very top.  We land, park out on the tarmac, and are loaded into buses that transport us to the terminal.  We head for our gate - don't have to go through customs as we are on a connecting flight. We are flying Lufthansa for the first time so things are a little different. 

We find the gate for the flight to Cairo -- we think.  It is not marked, but from the appearance of most of the people waiting for the flight, we think it is the right gate.  They all look Egyptian and the family from the previous flight (the girls with the cowboy hats) is among them.  Mister goes up to the counter and asks about our flight and is told that our boarding pass will be issued as we board --?? This confuses me and so after a brief wait, I go up and ask questions myself.  Apparently, we have already been issued seats and when we get to the gate, we will receive them as we are boarding.  Okay.  Mister heads off to get a few Euros and some soda and chips.



There are tables and chairs in the boarding area, so we sit and visit for awhile and Mister tries unsuccessfully to call the Pyramid View hostel.  He tries several times and finally asks some of the other people if the numbers are correct and if he is dialing correctly.  They assure him that he is, but he still gets either an Arabic recording, wrong number, or nothing.  The flight is delayed (we will come to realize that anything related to this trip will run on Egyptian time -- always late) for an hour before we board the plane.  As we go through the automatic gate (like a subway) a ticket spits out with our seat numbers on it.  It is a 4 1/2 hour flight and the plane has absolutely no entertainment of any kind.  Interesting.  It is VERY quiet.  Lunch is served and we are fascinated by the actual dishes and silverware that we are given.


We try and rest (Mister has no problems sleeping as usual -- I am so jealous).  I notice that we are now flying over land and so watch as we come close to Africa.  AFRICA!!!  Wow.  I cannot believe that we are here.  I try and take some pics as we close in on Cairo.  I can see the Nile river and Mister awakes just as the Pyramids come into view -- too cool.  As we get closer to Cairo, we watch out the windows and take pics -- it is remarkably all the same color.

The first thing we notice is that there are not really any differences in architecture -- the same buildings everywhere.  We land and arrive at the gate without any problems -- not sure why I expect there to be issues.  We take our time heading to customs and take pictures along the way and make a bathroom break.


Mister watches the bags and I go first and as I enter the restroom, an attendant hands me tissue and into the stall I go.  At the sink, the attendant puts soap in my hand and I wash and then she gives me another tissue to dry with -- not a paper towel, but bathroom tissue.  Then she holds out her hand.  It is my first experience with "baksheesh" which is a blatant request for a tip.  I didn't take any money in the room with me and so I shake my head no.  I go out to Mister and he takes his turn.  While he is in the restroom, I notice that a male attendant comes running out for tissue and soap from the cart out front.  He goes in to take care of Mister, apologizing the whole time.  Is there a shortage on paper and soap???  Very strange.

We head to customs and are directed to a banking window where we can exchange money and get Visas for entry into the country.  The Visa costs $30.00 and doesn't require any paperwork, just money, too funny.  Mister exchanges $200.00 and gets 1,204 Egyptian Pounds -- this could be fun!  After passing customs without any issues, we are inundated by cab drivers.  Mister asks one of them to call our hostel, but he gets the same issue that we did.  They are relentless and so we finally just sit down and talk to make plans.  We decide to give the one guy a chance and ask him to drive us to the hostel anyway.  He takes us up to a desk to pay and then the guy there tries to talk us into one of his hotels -- he gets really pushy and tells Mister that "she deserves 5 stars" which we both just laugh at.  We try and push things along and he just wants us to sit and have tea and work things out.  Mister finally gives them the address and agrees on a price.  We leave the desk and the terminal following who we think is our cab driver.

He asks several times to take my bags and I refuse the first few, then finally relent and let him carry.  We get to the cab and he turns us over to another guy who is the actual driver.  We load into the car and the guy who walks us out wants baksheesh -- Mister says no.  We know that the hostel is located right at the base of the Sphinx and give that information along with the address to the cab driver.  We head off to Giza.  We drive down what we find out is a new road, with shops and piles of bricks and sand on the highway.




The drivers are crazier than the ones in Peru and we didn't think that was possible.  There is a ton of "new" housing right next to the road which is part of the Mubarak push that was stopped with the revolution.  The driver leaves the highway onto a heavily congested road and soon stops in front of a hotel.  We tell him that it is not our hostel and he looks confused.  Turns out it was one of the agency's hotels -- ugh.  He calls to get directions and no one is able to help him.  He starts driving towards the pyramids as we keep talking about the Sphinx.  He stops at another hotel -- nope, another one of theirs.  It's getting ridiculous and taking forever to get to our hostel.  We stay strong and start directing him, what's wrong with this picture?! He stops and asks for directions to the Sphinx  We catch our first glimpses of the pyramids from the taxi window so we know we are close. After multiple calls to who-knows-who, we drive down a narrow road filled with horse carts, camels and people sitting on the sidewalk.


 I see the hostel sign and Mister gets out and is met by Franco who takes him up the stairs and shows him the room while I wait in the cab to make sure the place is okay.


Mister looks at the room - it is old and hot, but looks clean enough.  He comes back down and gets me and settles up with the cab driver and we head for the room.  Another hostel worker turns on the a/c and opens the curtains for the most incredible view of the Sphinx and the Pyramids.
 

  Franco has told us there is a roof deck and so we head up there to take in the view completely.

It is almost dusk already (it gets dark early here) and Franco tells us that we can see the laser light show each evening from the deck.  Cool.

We hear the evening call to prayer (at sunset every night) stream out from all the nearby mosques and there is a local one right in front of the hostel.  I can see into the windows from the deck and watch as the men enter.

We settle in and watch the light show -- it is so amazingly beautiful.  The story of the Pyramids is good and we both learned a ton.  It lasts about 45 minutes and keeps our attention the entire time.  We are so excited just to be here.

After the show we stop at the room to discover that the a/c is not blowing cold air. Mister fixes it, and Franco leads us next door for dinner at The Great Pyramid.  We are the only ones in the restaurant and as we sit down, the light show starts up again.


We discover that is is on twice a night, the first time in English and then a different language each night after that.  Tonight is French.  Mister orders a mixed grill dinner with 3-4 sides, bread, and tahini for dinner.  Everything is good and Franco comes by as we finish and helps with the bill -- tells us we are tipping too much.  The owner tells us that if we come back again, he will give a discount.  We head back to our room, shower in the shared bathroom (although no other guests in the hostel tonight), and crash.  It has been two days and we are beat.

Off to Egypt - Fly Day

After being home for two weeks and getting everything caught up, we decide to be impulsive once again and take another trip before June ended.  We head to the book store and return with books on Egypt and a book of Arabic phrases.  We are set -- ha ha.  We do a little research online and map out an itinerary of sorts listing where we want to go and search out the best ways to travel within the country and decide to go for it.  Once again, we are going without booking anything ahead of time and flying standby -- another adventure has begun!

An early 3 a.m. rising and off to the airport with Cassie to catch the 7:10am flight out to Washington Dulles.  We settle into some comfortable chairs in front of the Jet Blue gate where Cassie is working and relax for awhile just people watching.



We head down to our gate and are able to get seats on the plane.  I overhear the gate agents talking about how the flight crew is not scheduled to arrive at DFW until around 9:30 -- what???  Apparently the plane had arrived late last night and the crew was not able to work the flight this morning due to time restrictions and a new crew was on it's way.  The announcement followed shortly after, so Mister and I head off to some quiet area of the terminal to take naps.  After waking, we go back to the terminal to discover that it is still delayed -- ugh.  After a 3 hour delay, we finally depart for Washington Dulles and settle in to sleep for awhile.  Once again, Mister is way more successful than I am at sleeping on airplanes.  Fortunately, we have a long layover in Washington so the delay isn't a problem.  Upon arrival, we locate the gate for our flight to Frankfurt, Germany and are shocked that it is this tiny, cramped gate at the end of the terminal.  This is an international flight -- where on earth are all the people going to wait?  A group of teenagers heading to Europe sit around us and we are entertained by them while we wait.  We also notice a Middle Eastern family with young girls all decked out in new cowboy hats and smile about it.

I grab a pretzel and munch while the plane starts the boarding process.  The flight is way overbooked and has over 30 people on standby, so we are pretty sure we'll have to try a later flight, but stay and wait anyway.  Watching the screens to see the standby names, I am still pretty sure that we will not make the flight, but --- woohoo!, they call our names and off we go to Frankfurt.  It is 5:30 and we will be arriving at 7 in the morning.



We settle in our seats -- amazing, but they are together on a side of a 2-5-2 seating and in extra legroom space with footrests and individual pop-up televisions.  Within the first hour after we are airborne, dinner is served and then we spend the next couple of hours watching movies before trying to sleep -- Mister succeeds, I watch more movies.  Day one is behind us.

Day Seven in Peru - Miraflores and Back Home

We sleep in a little today before heading down to breakfast.  I have the same wonderful fruit bowl which I enjoy immensely and Mister has his eggs with ham, bread, and coffee.  We pack up and leave our bags with the hostel for the day and steer towards the nearest ATM so that we can get enough soles to pay the hostel, enjoy the day, and get us to the airport in late afternoon via a taxi.





The ATM is in a local grocery store and so we take a few minutes and explore the store looking to see the different items and what is missing that we are used to being able to purchase.  It is a great little neighborhood market - clean and well-stocked.  We take our soles and go back to the hostel to settle our bill and then we are free for the day to just go wherever.

We decide to go back to the ocean, only this time down to the water's edge so we take a slightly different route as the other day and enjoy some new neighborhoods and parks.  We pass a great little ice cream shop that has every fresh fruit flavor imaginable.

We descend down the stairs all the way to the beach and I am already dreading going back up.  There is a building out on a pier but it's not open until noon.  So we continue down the beach and Mister puts his hands in the water to say that he did it.

We find a little park and sit down for awhile right on the beach and talk about how to get back.  There are signs indicating where we can go back up and none of the entrances are near us so we opt to hail a taxi and sure enough -- that is so very easy to do.  We get dropped off at Parque Kennedy and as we roam through it, we laugh about the cats again.

I am hungry and ask Mister what he wants for lunch and he says "ceviche".  We decide to go to Punto Azul, the place we had tried the other night.

There is a church right by Parque Kennedy - the Inglesia de la Virgen Milagrosa - and so we dart in for a second to peek.  It has a slightly different architecture to it and I like it.  We are able to snap a few pictures without distrubing the parishoners.  We pay attention to the detail on the front of the church and Mister notices a cat sleeping on a ledge. They are certainly comfortable in their surroundings.



Going in the general direction of where we think the restaurant is, it quickly becomes obvious to us that we are missing it somehow and so we use what we know and head back to the hostel.  We grab the map and walk the few blocks to the restaurant and enter just before the lunch rush.  Mister knows what he wants, but they have many different ones so he chooses his ceviche carefully.  I ask for an English menu and order tiradito (a fish marinated in lemon juice) only to discover when it is delivered that it is also ceviche, raw.  Cannot do.  I enjoy sushi, but a whole plate of grey wiggly fish is just not what I am able to do.  I do not handle it well as I am very hungry now and grumpy.  The waiter gets a manager and explains that I thought it was a "caliente" dish and lets me trade for something else so I order a baked fish with an artichoke sauce that is quite good.  Mister loves his ceviche again and we finish our meal and wander up some different streets this time and run into an upscale grocery store and so we go in and look around. It reminds us of a Whole Foods or Central Market back home, only on a smaller scale.  Very clean and well-stocked once again.  This one has signs that you cannot take pictures though -- I guess they don't want their concept taken.

We walk up and down the streets and are marveling at the amount of silver they produce and sell there.  The inventories have to be worth small fortunes and the people just don't look that well off.  We stop in at the hostel again for a restroom break and I read about some ruins right in town that close at 5 and it is 3:15 now so we decide to give it a shot.  It is a good walk and takes us about 45 minutes and we arrive at slightly after 4 only to discover that they do not admit anyone after 4 .  I ask the guard if we can just go in a snap a few pictures and he lets us go in for just 5 minutes.

The ruins are called Huaca Pucllana and it is an adobe pyramid that dates back to AD400. We leave quickly and walk around the exterior of the wall hoping to see a little more, but it doesn't really happen.  I am kind of frustrated with myself that I didn't look things up in the morning, as we really haven't done anything special all day and could have seen these great ruins.  Oh well.  We walk back towards the square and arrive at dusk.

We decide to stop in a local juice shop called La Lucha and have a surtido.  It is like a combination smoothie and juice and is quite nice.  We sit for awhile just watching as the staff works at keeping the floors clean and safe as it is raining and people are tracking dirt in.  Finally, it is time to head back to the hostel to get our bags and depart for the airport in Lima.  The hostel calls a taxi, but it is rush hour and there is a big event going on across the street, so traffic is very bad - way worse than normal if one can believe that -- and it takes the taxi awhile to get there.  He arrives and we head back into Lima - making a gas stop along the way. The prices ($15.50 soles per gallon) surprise me.

Our flight is at 11:45 p.m. and it is 8 so we have to wait until 9:30 to get seats. So off we go to the food court.  Mister goes and exchanges some money that we have left so that I have one of each coin to take home with me and I settle in and read.  Once we have boarding passes, it is through security and off to the gate.  At the gate we have to go through additional security by United personnel as we are entering the United States.  All those water bottles that were okay -- even the ones bought in the airport are suddenly not okay anymore.  Amazing.  We board the plane and settle in.  They serve a very late dinner and we eat and then everyone tries to stretch our the best they can and settle in for the night.

We arrive in Houston early in the morning and are off to customs (very grumpy officials) and ANOTHER security even though we are in the secure part of the airport for connecting flights. With TSA barking orders in English and requiring all the additional security measures, you quickly notice how horrible it is for people visiting the US. Mister comments to a TSA officer that he doesn't hear them announcing anything in Spanish, the TSA guy says "You're in America now." What a great welcome to our visitors.

We dash for an early flight but it fills before we are called. We list for another flight in an hour and head to the gate.  As we get there, the gate next to it has a flight to  Dallas as well that is running late and so we ask if we can get on and yep -- we will land at Love Field instead of DFW, but that's okay.  We arrive in Dallas and grab a taxi (incredibly expensive after what we have experienced the last week) and head home.

It was an incredible trip -- one with memories that we will treasure forever.  I feel as though we walked more than 50 miles over the course of the week, but have loved each moment of it -- yes, even the stairs.  The people of Peru made the trip.  I will always remember watching the young moms take their mantras (square blankets) and lay a child in them (up to about 3-4 years old) and then pull the opposite corners up and tie them.  They then take the other two corners and pull them together, pick up the bundle, and flip it around on their backs.  The look of heads and feel sticking out the sides will be in my mind forever.  It always made me smile.  At no point did we feel unsafe or unwelcome in their country -- quite the opposite.  People were always willing to help in any way that they could.  The amount of history that we were able to absorb was intense and I found myself feeling a great deal of compassion for the Andean people.  We would definitely go back and highly suggest it to anyone else.  Magnificent!