Settling In

So I have arrived in Peru and I miss you all already! The plane ride was awesome, 8 hours and actually good food. Our apartment is fantastic, I love it and now that we're getting all set up it's getting better each day. It is literally, and I'm not kidding, five minute walk to the waterfront, 10 minute walk to the center of the district called Parque Kennedy, and 10 minutes in another direction to every single restaurant you can imagine and 2 grocery stores, one of which is 24hours. Oh, its even 10 minutes walk from the Canadian Embassy!

Thursday I ran a ton of errands with Pedro, who took the day off to get me settled. Somehow I managed to get pounds of sheesha and my hookah across airport security without them even batting an eyelash, but unfortunately one of the tubs spilled in my toiletries bag, so I washed those off as we got our internet and phone installed. We went to two different banks who downright refused to give me the money for my bank draft, so I am literally without money. I have 50 soles in cash, so like a twenty. I've been using my visa everywhere but it kind of sucks because the exchange rate from CAN to SOL is so much more than US to SOL and I have all of my money in a US bank account in Canada. Oh well. My mom is going to wire me my money over these next couple of weeks so I'll live. We did a big grocery trip but still managed to forget to buy salt and pepper (we bought shakers, but not S&P). I think we took two an a half hours there because I made Pedro read every nutritional label for me. My house is a haven of healthy goods :) After that we went to this gigantic Bed, Bath and Beyond sort of place in one of the main malls and bought things for the house we were missing i.e. dish rack, garbage cans, pots and pans, shower curtain and a pen shaped as an eggplant with a magnet for the fridge which I deemed absolutely essential. We need curtains for both the balcony and the bedroom window which I am regretting not purchasing as I have the side of the bed close to the window and that shit is bright at 7am. It's not sunny but its not overcast like it gets in Toronto; its kind of like what the city looks like sometimes when it's covered in mist that is really high up, so like a light grey brightness. It's not depressing at all, which is what I was actually afraid of. After that we headed over to his parents' house to steal, ahem, pick up a few more items and say hello. His parents have been incredibly inviting to me: when I got here Wednesday night there was a little gift wrapped up on my bed from his mom with some cute stuff for the house, and his dad bought me some flowers to say hello. It's nice to know that they already feel a connection with me like I feel with them; they treat me like I'm a part of the family. After that, it was about 10pm and I was feeling the hunger as they had some delicious Chinese dumplings and wine on the table that I somehow withheld from eating, so we went home and I cooked some tilapia we picked up that day. Without salt and pepper. Somehow still delicious! Then passed out. We are an hour behind Toronto here and I was exhausted.

Friday morning we headed to the Peruvian Immigration office (damn early) to get my visa stuff settled. It didn't take very long at all, despite getting a little lost on the way. Pedro having a car is fantastic, and each part of the city is just that much different than the other that I get excited every time we drive through a new roundabout and see some palm trees and statues in the middle of the street, or a massive colonial Spanish building or chapel with a olive tree park in front of it. For my visa, I got a stamp on my passport that gives me until August 30th to get a job. Once I get a contract for the job, I can legally sign it without consequence, bring it to the office, and they give me a Peruvian identification card that says I am a legal worker in Peru. Then I can open my own bank accounts and finally be completely settled.

After our Visa adventure, Pedro dropped me off at home and went to work while I got ready and went for a jog. I ran about 30 seconds to reach the waterfront parks, which are actually a line of parks all connected on the edge of cliffs that overlook the ocean. You can see the beach down at the bottom and all of the Limean coastline as you are running along paths they have made for bikers and runners. It is absolutely breathtaking. They also have a huge running community in Lima; Pedro and I are about to walk down to the Adidas store (about three blocks away) and sign up for the Lima Half-Marathon in a couple of minutes. Having completed my jog, I walked to two different grocery stores and picked up a few things. I wanted to go to the Canadian Embassy and check out any programs or classes they offer for Canadians but for some reason every governmental office in Peru has ridiculous hours and it was closed by one o'clock. Came home, fixed up the house a bit, walked around a bit more and attempted to make dinner. I say attempted because I had put all the ingredients together for a great sheppard's pie when we realized the oven was broken. We called the landlord to come down and fix it but didn't expect him to arrive in half an hour, otherwise we would have waited instead of eating everything. Of course, my not-so-superior cooking skills and Pedro's not-so-superior knowledge of the kitchen meant that we just didn't know how to turn it on. Ha!

I went a little crazy at the duty free in Canada.. two litres of vodka and a litre of coconut rum for 50$. I actually pumped my fist in exhaltation in the grocery store when I saw that 750mL of vodka here is 62soles (20 bucks) and I saved some cash. So last night we definitely had to celebrate this money-saving discovery and took advantage of my purchases.. which I am slightly regretting this morning. We walked to Pedro's favourite bar called Huaringas that specializes in pisco sours, the traditional drink of Peru. It's made with pisco, an incredibly strong liquer distilled from grapes, egg white, a simple syrup, limes and a little cinnamon they sprinkle on top. This place made them in all different flavours - mango, berries, grape, coconut - delicious. Instead of peanuts at the bar they have these huge corn kernels covered in salt and I am absolutely addicted. Bars are open and serve drinks until the last person leaves at night, and grocery stores sell liquer. Fair to say it was a pretty late night.

After a nice hungover breakfast I am now getting ready to walk to a number of gyms in our area and possibly sign up for a membership as I am itching to get back on the fitness routine. I may go to a 4th of July BBQ being thrown by the American and Canadian Association of Peru this afternoon to meet up with some English-speaking expats. Tonight we are going to dinner with Pedro's cousin Miguel and his girlfriend Pia who I met when I was in Peru earlier this year. Hopefully I can get some good Peruvian food as I haven't had the chance yet to go to a restaurant. Sunday we are heading to Pedro's aunt and uncle's house (Tia Lucia and Tio Raul) for some deliciously unhealthy food and good company. People throw huge get-togethers here every weekend it seems, with alot of food and alot of booze. Next week I already have an interview lined up for a school to pick up some hours and today on my walk I will be writing down school names close to me so I can apply to them. Pretty busy!

I'll try and update this weekly. Keep in touch and tell me how you're doing at home!