Adios Peru

Our last day in Peru, a rather random one. E and I returned from Cusco to Lima in the early afternoon. Sa and Ed caught an earlier flight out. By the time we arrived at the airport, Ed was ready to negotiate with the taxi drivers. The standard rate to Miraflores is S/40. But Ed, with his refined negotiation skills tried to start at S/30 and offered the driver huevos (or eggs) in exchange. We were fortunate to find a nice, gentleman named Ricardo as our driver. He is by far the most patient, polite, and knowledgeable taxi driver I have ever encountered (if you are traveling to Lima and need a driver or a guide, I would highly recommend him).

The coastline bluffs by the Marriott Hotel in Miraflores

By the time we checked in and settled into the Marriott Hotel in Miraflores, it was nearly 4pm. As per the previous recommendations of our Peruvian friends at Radisson Hotel, we went to Alfresco, a seafood restaurant for our last meal together. E and I both had seafood soup/chowder and they were delicious. E also tried the ceviche while the rest of us watched with fear of potential stomach troubles.

Dessert platter at Alfresco

Our last meal together

After dinner, Sa and I decided that it was time for laundry.  But first we made a quick stop at Radisson Hotel to visit the 2 concierges that we met during our last stay.  Both Christian and Javier were on duty, and surprised to see us again. They have been extremely pleasant and helpful, despite of Javier's occasional stereotypical  comments about Sa and I - referring to us as "chinitas" with our small Asian eyes. Then he would proceed to call himself a "chinito" - Peruvian style, because he too has small eyes. Nevertheless, when we asked Javier for recommendations on laundromats, he immediately called a place for us and begged the worker to stay open later for our laundry as we were flying out the next morning.

We said our goodbyes and rushed back to our hotel and loaded all of our dirty laundry in a big bag. It must have been an odd sight - Sa and I carrying a 5 kg bag of dirty laundry over our shoulders and running down the hallway of a 5 star hotel. When we arrived at the laundromat, the workers indicated that they were closing in 30 minutes. With our broken Spanish, we tried to explain that we needed clean laundry tonight. I even made gestures of airplane takeoff to indicate the urgency. Then we pleaded with puppy eyes. Finally the workers acquiesced and called us "locos" (or crazy people), which we laughed and agreed. It was indeed a crazy situation. And note that all these took place while the guys were watching soccer back at the hotel!

For the rest of the night, Sa and I shopped in Miraflores. I bought plantillas (or insoles) for my work boots, which I accidently referred to as plantanas (or bananas).  We also had a random run-in with the participants of the 10k Nike race. By the time we picked up our clean laundry it was already 8pm, 1 hour past the laundromat closing time. I guess this is an example of working overtime in laundromats - when there are loco foreign customers like us.

Nike 10k run in Lima