500 alarm, accompanied by the nightmarish sound of around 15 roosters all crowing at once from one of the buildings nearby. Apparently it's ok to keep roosters in the nice hotel/hostel area? 615 pickup by a real nice guy who didn't speak a word of English. We had halting conversation about my trip as I finally got to admire the two volcanos that dominate the northern skyline in Arequipa. One was smoking a bit! 825 flight to Lima, which was pretty uneventful. I did think it wassmart that Peruvian domestic planes have *two* doors. One in the back, so boarding takes half the time. Genius! Collected my bags and found Juan waiting for me again. We took the same route as my arrival in the country to the same hotel in Miraflores. I got situated there and tracked down info at the front desk and internet on how to aquire concert tickets and civeche. Directions in hand, I walked a few blocks to La Red restaurant and ordered up an appetizer of raw seafood "cooked" in the acid of a spicy, lime-based sauce. Served piles with red onions and a sweet potato on the side. Delicious! The main disk was the special; fried fish slathered in an almost Asian sauce, thick with scallops, octopus and shrimp. Very tasty! After I payed the bill (only 26 USD for this opulence!), I headed down one of the major boulevards to find a grocery store and secure my ticket for the Andrew Bird show that night. Ticket and Inca Kola in hand, I strolled down to the shoreline, where a burning bright day became thick pea soup fog in the span of a couple blocks. I made my way back to the hotel to find the guide for a city tour already waiting for me. Off in a bus to pick up others and onto another bus....good thing I'll trust anyone who had my name on a clipboard! We started off at a large pre-Inca pyramid, smack in the middle of the upscale shopping district and made our way downtown. Past a park that holds the Guiness record for most fountains in a park, an immense sporting arena, Moorish impired art museum, many foreign embassies and to a plaza honoring San Martin, savior of Peru. We wandered the square for photos and I snuck off for a scoop of lucuma ice cream. Tasted a bit like pumpkin. How odd! On to the Plaza de Armas where the presidential palace and the obligatory Spanish cathedral sit around a bronze fountain that managed to survive all the earthquakes by nature of being a giant chuck of metal. After photos of the buildings, the palace guards and some very strange conversation with a Brazilian man who spoke no English and only a little Spanish, our group made our way to the Convent of San Francisco where we saw ornate murals, woodworking and, more thrilling, the catacombs where 70,000 people are said to be buried, their bones arranged in artful patterns of femurs and skulls. Yay, more dead people! The bus returned me to Miraflores and the hotel, where I had a quick nap and cool shower to stave off the mild sunburn I had acquired while out walking around. Refreshed, I grabbed what I needed for the evening and set out on foot to find the Larcomar area where the show was happening. After a couple stops for directions, I found that Larcomar was a huge, ultramodern shopping center dug into the side of a cliff facing the ocean. I wandered past upscale shops, looking for a bar/venue, anything that would be hosting a show. Nothing! I finally spied a bearded guy wearing an Andrew Bird placard and asked him about it. He turned out to be the singer for the opening band and a real nice guy. He pointed out a 15x8ft red box in the corner of the food court and said that was the place. Since I had some time, I walked down the street a bit and found a little Chinese food place (Chiffa food) that served Chinese styles with local produce. It was tasty and the owner with a funny older gent who fist bumped me after I payed. Back to the mall to wait in a growing line at the red box until we were finally allowed to enter the door, descent a bunch of stairs and into the venue. The beer the had (just one) was Pilsen, which wasn't bad for a pilsner, and the opening band was pretty good, for being entirely in Spanish. Andrew Bird was amazing as usual, though I was someone disappointed that the crowd wasn't singing along. I seemed to be the only gringo, the only English speaker and the only one who knew the lyrics. Made me feel a bit lonely. But, the show was good (aside from some girl passing out and falling on me at one point) and afterwards we were promptly shooed out into the night. I walked along the ocean at around 330am, which made me worry a bit, but I encountered 3 policia along my way through this very safe neighborhood. Crashed out at the hotel for a whole 2 hours of sleep. I can sleep when I get home, right?