Pictures!!

I finally got a chance to start exploring Miraflores today.  So here are a few pictures of my day in the city! I had a great time walking around (I walked for almost 6 hours!), seeing the sites, and enjoying my surroundings.  Hope you enjoy the pics!

This is a picture my home in Miraflores.  Home Peru is actually a very nice hostel.  They make me breakfast every morning, tidy my room for me every afternoon, and they have a cute dog!  The showers are hot and internet is free and good!! I can't complain!

 

My bedroom- I asked for a single bedroom and they gave me my own room with 3 bunk-beds! It works.  The beds are like sleeping on rock and there is only a sheet so it's freezing at night (good thing I brought my sleeping bag), and every morning I am woken up by the Combis (a bus/taxi), yelling, "Arequipas, Arequipas!!" But other than that, I have privacy and I am safe.  Can't complain too much!

This is Larcomar Mall in Miraflores.  It's literally built into the cliffs! It's a really upscale mall with nothing I can afford but it has beautiful (and free) views of the ocean! I spent a lot of my day by the ocean today, enjoying the sounds and people watching. 

The view from the mall.  Amazing!  It reminds me a lot of PCH in Dana Point.  There were even some people surfing!  It's overcast all winter, but the view is still enjoyable. 

Again, the view of the coast of Lima.  It's so peaceful.  I loved spending my day here!

Parque del Amor (The Park of Love).  This is a statue in the middle of the park and it's surrounded by mosaics of different expressions of love.  It was beautiful.  The park was filled with couples, young and old.  I even saw two couples who looked like they were just married (the brides were in their wedding gowns!).  Behind the statue is a guy parachuting.  For just $55 you too can jump off a cliff with a complete stranger and fly over the ocean!! I watched people jump with these parachutes for at least an hour.  It looks terrifying!!

And then there was lunch! I went to this amazing vegetarian restaurant and had a local dish called Lomo Saltado.  It is usually made with beef, but because this was a vegetarian restaurant this was made of veggie beef, bell peppers, tomato, onion, and spices over french fries and brown rice.  I got fresh pineapple juice to go with it.  It was so good!  I am drooling just thinking about it...not really, but it really was delicious.  The restaurant overlooked Kennedy Park in the middle of Miraflores.  I decided that I am going to splurge on lunch on the weekends since Lima is known for it's great food!

And then I found an older version of my car!!  They were having a car show in the middle of Miraflores and sure enough, they had a mini cooper!! I was so excited!  Nate suggested that I add four more headlights to my car so it can look like it's 1970's version!

 

And just in case I start missing home too much, I found the local Pinkberry and Starbucks!! Starbucks really is everywhere! 

So there you have it, an abbreviated picture version of my day exploring Miraflores!  I can't wait to explore more tomorrow! I think I will hit up the local museums and try cerviche!! More to come....