Lima- 5:52 PM

Today's wake up call was rough! 5:00 AM came sooner than I wanted it to. It took me an extra couple of minutes to get out of bed after our wake up call.

I surprisingly felt pretty awake after getting dressed and putting my luggage outside the door around 5:15. We double checked the room for anything left behind and headed downstairs.

I was elated to see that the restaurant was open and that we wouldn't be stuck eating a to-go breakfast. Edgard said we might have to take our breakfast on the road because we were leaving so early. But there was a glorious buffet set up and we had 30 minutes to enjoy it. After filling myself with fruit, eggs, French toast and pineapple juice, we got ready to board the bus.

Since it was about 30 degrees outside and our bus takes a while to warm up, we were each given blankets to keep warm with. We began our hour long drive to Juliaca where we would pick up our flight to Lima. It was really nice to watch the scenery of Puno and Lake Titicaca in the background.

The scenery was nice until we reached Juliaca which seemed to be kind of a run down town. When we got to the airport, we bid farewell to Eliseo, our local guide, and got into the airport. When I say that it was freezing in the airport, I mean it very literally. It was cold! I quickly got my llama wool sweater out of my bag and put it on. We proceeded to check in for our 8:45 AM flight. The airport was not yet equipped with scanners for our checked bags so we had to wait while each bag was checked individually.

After waiting a little over an hour, we boarded our flight. The flight only lasted about 90 minutes. I had the middle seat open in my row so it was very comfortable. After we landed and picked up our luggage, we went to pick up our bus to transfer back to our hotel that we started the tour.

We got to the hotel around 11:30. Edgard told us we probably couldn't check in yet but when we arrived, everyone got their room keys except for Mimi and I. We waited about 15 minutes and were finally let in our room. It seemed a bit nicer than the first room we had at the hotel. We put our stuff away and decided that instead of napping right away, we should head out and get a taxi to take us to the Hard Rock Cafe.

We went downstairs and hailed a taxi. Edgard had told us it shouldn't cost more than 15-20 soles to get there. The driver agreed on 13 soles so I figured I was getting a good deal. I told him where I wanted to go and that it was at Jockey Plaza (pronounced Yockey.) When we got on the freeway, I felt like we had been driving a long time but eventually we made it to the plaza aka mall. We thanked the driver and got out. We asked a woman where the Hard Rock was and she pointed us in the right direction.

After walking past multiple stores/restaurants found in the US (Calvin Klein, Zara, Chili's, Tony Roma's), we found the Hard Rock.
We went into the soho first so I could buy Dad a pin. We then went inside so I could have lunch (Mimi still wasn't hungry.) I ordered a $5 lunch special, which was a BBQ burger and fries. I was definitely craving a taste of home!

Though they forget to put onion strings on it, it wasn't bad but not the best meal I've ever had at a Hard Rock. I wasn't too disappointed; after all, it was only $5.

We then made our way back to the taxi line. A driver agreed on 15 soles and that was fine with me. We got back to the hotel in about 20 minutes and asked the front desk if there was some type of market close by that we could check out and pick up any more little gifts we may have forgotten. He gave us a map and directions on how to get to Indio Mercado. Mimi asked him if we turned right at the first corner outside our building and he said yes. So we headed out on our walk. We ran into Whitney, Alex, Ashley and their aunt Cindy. We chatted for a minute and headed on our way. We then ran into the Puerto Rican family who was heading into a bank. When we got to the end of the street, we realized we had no idea which way to go. We found a little tourist information stand and asked where the market is. The lady told us it was 14 blocks- in the opposite direction. Awesome. At least the exercise was welcome after my big meal. We headed back toward the right way and stopped in some shops along the way. We eventually found the market, which is actually a cluster of smaller markets. We went through each one, finding that each one was very similar. I was looking for a pair of pants I had seen in Cusco that had a cute snowflake print and that were fleece lined but I was unsuccessful. I settled on a pair of purple striped pants and a Peru shirt.

We decided to head back to the hotel because we wanted to shower and get packed before our farewell dinner. I decided to wear my one nice shirt that I brought and one of my last pairs of clean pants.

At 6:30, everyone met in the lobby. Almost everyone looked like they had dressed up a bit for the occasion. We drove 10 minutes to our restaurant for the evening: El Señoro del Sulco, which is supposed to be one of the top 5 restaurants in Peru. We had already placed our orders on the first night in Peru so the food came out quickly after we got there. I ordered the creamy vegetable soup which was delicious. I then had the Lomo Saltado again, for the last time. It was definitely one of my favorite dishes in Peru! And then I had the fruit for dessert. The fruit has been very good on this trip! Mimi ordered the fried sweet potatoes in honey and let me try it. It was also good and tasted like funnel cake. After dinner, we took a nice group picture together in front of a wall of masks.

After feeling stuffed, we got back on the bus and dropped the three ladies from Houston off at their hotel. I have all three of them a hug and said goodbye. Back at our hotel, we took pictures with Carol and Werner, Edgard, the Puerto Rican family, and Whitney, Alex and Ashley. We gave hugs all around and said we would keep in touch. Jordan decided to be in charge of taking down everyone's email addresses and sending them out to everyone else. After saying our final goodbyes and taking our last pictures, we headed back to our room. We immediately changed into our new striped pants that we both bought because the plan was to sleep in them and just wear them on the plane in the morning. After packing the last couple things and watching a few minutes of TV, lights were out at 10. That 3 AM wake up call would be here before we knew it!