The Transition to Lima Begins

Today marks our second full day in Peru, and we have been working hard to make the transition to life here as smooth and as quick as possible. The first few days in a new place are always hectic. And when field research needs to begin and you only have about three months to work, the pressure is on to get up and running as quickly as possible. So here is a bit about our trip to Lima and what we've been up to since our flight landed around 1 am on Thursday morning.

Originally, our plan was to leave the U.S. on Monday morning, with a direct flight from Newark to Lima arriving at 9 PM that night. Unfortunately for travel logistics (but fortunately for my professional development), I was invited to a really great conference on economic inequality that day, and I really needed to go. So we changed our flights (which were purchased with miles) to Wednesday. But by the time we made the change there were no longer award tickets available on the direct flight. Our best option was Newark to Toronto to Lima, with the flight landing at about 1 AM Thursday (so quasi-redeye, I guess). We were definitely nervous to be flying with a two year old on that itinerary. But, basically, the Little Lady was great. She had about three minutes before she fell asleep when she was really fussy. But other than that was great. She even refused to wet her diaper (which we figured she would need in such an unfamiliar situation stuck for hours in her car seat). I think this is proof positive that she is pretty much potty trained at this point. Oh, and there were cashews (which she is deathly allergic to) served in business class, but fortunately none made their way back into coach. Perhaps the most stressful part of the flights was that the three of us were all seated in different location on our initial boarding passes. Of course it's not ok for a two year old to be seated apart from a parent, but Air Canada apparently had not gotten that memo when making initial seat assignments. It got worked out while we were boarding and we had a very comfortable flight from Toronto to Lima.

Ready for takeoff!

But it was a challenging arrival time. 1 AM. By the time we cleared customs and got our bags it was about 1:45. We met our driver and he got us loaded in and to our apartment in pretty short order since there was no traffic at that time of the morning. We got the keys to the apartment and everything just fine. The only real hiccup was that we were supposed to have a pack and play for the LL to sleep in. But it was not here. That meant the LL slept with us Thursday morning. It might have been for the best anyway given the very new situation and a very tired little girl and parents at that point in the trip. (The pack and play arrived later that day, just in time for her nap. But, go figure, she decided she was ready to sleep in the big girl bed, and she has been doing so since we arrived here. Might as well do a whole bunch of transitions at once, right?)

The apartment is great. One downside is that we are located at a very busy intersection. But the windows are pretty good and keep the noise down reasonably well. The building is modern and everything is new. We are on a high floor with a great view of the ocean in the not too far away distance. (This view will go away as we stay since the winter is coming, and in Lima that means essentially fog all the time.) The supermarket is two blocks away. So is the dry cleaner. The best pastry shop in Lima is across the street. A Gaston Acurio (Peru's most famous chef if you don't follow the culinary scene) restaurant is also across the street. We are 15 minutes from the ocean (though swimming here is not recommended). 15 minutes to large department stores. 15 minutes to a playground. 10 minutes to a daycare where the LL will be going to school while we are here. Probably 75 restaurants or more within a 15 minute radius. The location is very good. The only improvement would be to move about two blocks off of the big intersection we are on.

Our building from supermarket

View from our balcony

Thursday when we woke up the first order of business was finding food. There was nothing in the apartment. Fortunately, I had carefully scoped out the nearest supermarket, and went there right away for just some very basic things and enough food for breakfast. We went back again, together, later in the day to take stock of our options. The supermarket closest to us is not big. But it has a good selection and is very convenient. I bet we'll do 90 percent of our shopping there. We stocked up the fridge and moved on to buying things we need to fill out the kitchen for cooking. We needed a vegetable peeler, more dish towels, some storage containers for leftovers. That sort of thing. We're still working on a couple things, but we are close on this front.

Front of supermarket

Fresh breads

Fruits and vegetables

Today we took a long walk that took us to a park (where the playground was closed for renovation, which made the LL pretty sad). Then to a big department store to get chips for our cell phones so they will work here. By the way, we can be reached at our usual American cell numbers if you need to call. We will be able to answer when on wifi, as Google voice routes our calls here over the internet. Then we walked down to the mall called Larcomar. It is a sight to behold. A fancy mall built into the side of a cliff overlooking the Pacific. On a nice day like today, a beautiful place to be. We had some great seafood and successfully avoided any allergic reactions from the LL in our first dining experience in Peru. On that note, we have found the labeling to be pretty good for foods here. In the supermarket they seem to note if food contains or has been prepared on equipment that processes tree nuts. So that is somewhat reassuring.

From today's walk

Along the central park of Miraflores (our neighborhood)

View from Larcomar mall, near restaurant where we ate lunch

Larcomar mall

A nearby park - playground is out of commission, but nice flowers

One thing that has been surprising so far is the heat. Remember we are south of the equator here. The last time we came during the North American summer it was really cold and cloudy. That was July. It looks like May is much warmer. It was 80 and sunny today. The forecast looks similar for the next couple weeks. I actually am looking forward to it cooling down a bit. Tomorrow, we visit the nearby weekly organic farmer's market. Maybe hit a playground we found today but did not use due to the need for LL to have a nap. Maybe go to a big box type store where we can buy the last things we need to outfit the house for life over the next three months.