Friday, August 15, 2008

ok, so today was VERY interesting. We woke up early this morning, we drove to Puno at about 6:45. It was a 40 minute drive, and we went straight to the airport. This is where the, quote on quote ¨fun¨began. When we arrived, we all got shunted in a separate line because we were a big group, but it actually took LONGER than the other line!! then we still had to pay an airport fee of about 4 dollars or so in order to get on the plane, like we have the security tax. Anyway, so we made it through to the gate. When we boarded though, it turned out they had overbooked, and Will Love had to stay in Juliaca ( like the worst place in peru) until the 400 flight in the afternoon!!! but he had to wait, so we went on to lima. we checked into our hotel, then went to see the city.

We took taxis all over town it was hilarious, yet slightly sickening. The People here are insane!!! Nobody stays in their own lane, nobody blinkers, it is such a rush!!! On a 3 lane highway, we had 5 lanes going, it was nuts. we went to the main plaza, and we waited while everyone else drove up in their taxis. Everyone was coming at different times, (different drivers have different styles of driving: fast, really fast, and fast combined with recklessness.) so we were first there. We went to lunch together and got into some really stupid argument with a kid named Nate. He left the church about a year ago, and he really seems to have twisted views about what the church believes. Anyway, every time we have a debate with him, he ends up totally contradicting himself.

Well, after we went to the Catacombs in Lima and saw chamber full of the bones of dead priests and saints. There was one room where you could look down a well and there were skulls and bones aranged into patterns!! It was cool. Then we walked a few blocks until we got to the museum of the Peruvian version of the spanish inquisition. IT was really cool to hear a lot of the things i learned about in AP European history about the original Spanish inquisiton and the 3 Popes at the same time and stuff. And about Martin Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin. Anyway, they had one reoom that depicted the tortures they inflicted to try and make them confess. There was one where they tied your arms behind your back then lift you 15 feet in the air by your wrists, it destroys all the muscle and tissue in the arms. Then there was the stratching rack.... and some other stuff, way wierd.

wellthen we split up. Dad and Grandpa and a few others went back to the hotel, and two groups went to the Mall. It is supposed to be way beautiful and amazing. Well they got there and went to dinner then did some shopping. In my group ( me, Elena, Valerie, and Caitlin) got into a taxi, but halfway to the mall, stuck in bumper to bumper traffic, decided to take a 15 minute detour to see the Lima temple. It took 30 minutes, but that was ok. WE took some picutures, then got a book of mormon in spanish for our taxi driver. he was not LDS, but he said he loves to see the temple, and he really wanted a book of mormon. So we each wrote our name and favorite scripture on the inside of it. It was really cool, he was really excited. So then we went to the mall, but it was taking forever, and we werent hungry, so we ended up just going back to the hotel. But everywhere we went, the trafiic was buts, and we werent really moving. But there were buses that were all over the road, trying to squeeze into tiny gaps, etcetera, so we honestly hardly even were crawling. Instead of the 30 minutes to the mall and 40 minutes to the hotel for 15 soles, it turned out to be a 3 hour taxi ride for 100 soles. RIP OFF!!! we were feeling so sick from the fumes frim all the cars, it was not good. well, we got back, eventually, and we went and got ice cream (the most amazing banana split ever made) then i started to type it all up. Well, that is today. This is also the last time i will be writing about my escapades, for we leave peru early tomorrow morning. So long!!!
Jake Lythgoe
Peruvian Explorer
Signing Off