A breath of fresh air.

I'm thrilled to report that the last few days here in Peru have been on the beautiful and delightful side, rather then the disheartened and discouraged. We only spent one night in the first hotel. The next day Juan showed up at 8 a.m. and drove us around until we found a Hostel, not Hotel, there is a difference. A hostel is often much, much cheaper, normally its an old large home divided up into shared dorm rooms and some private rooms. A hostel can vary from nice enough and clean to the more common type, old and run down. The one we found used to be run as a hostel but now is just a home owned by a Peruvian couple and two children. They rent out rooms here and there but its not full of randome backpackers like most hostels and its very nice and clean. Luckily we have our own large room with a private bath. Apparently we dont have the negotiating thing down yet and being greengos makes it even harder. We are paying $25 a night for a 20 day stay before we move on. Pretty far out of our budget but we figure we can cut corners in other ways latter in the trip when we are in more rural areas. For now we feel safe, clean and have great accessibility to everyday conveniences. We are located in Miraflores. It's a district in the Lima Province. Known for it's shopping areas, gardens, flower filled parks and beaches, its one of the upscale districts that make up the city of Lima. Here are some photo's of out Hostel entrance, our room and Zara exploring the stair cases to the beautiful views of the roof top!

Hostel entrance and cute Pax man.

Zara exploring the hostels stairs to the roof top. 

Our three beds, private bath, room.

It was a breath of fresh air being in our new digs the first night. Everyone here is lovely, friendly and obsessed with the "bebe". Not to mention the constant shaking of the heads as they say "TRES BEBE'S??" After unloading and the kids woke from their naps we decided to take a walk and see the streets. Diago the home oner pointed us in the direction of the beach and kept saying kids park in spanish. I've read a lot that there aren't really "parks" for kids to play on in Peru so I knew it wouldn't be anything special. Hoever the kids are pretty easily entertained as long as they have open space to run, so off we went. We waled about three blocks and began to see the wide open air and ocean in front of us. We crossed the street and then stepped up onto the walkway lined with hedges. As we got closer to the hedge we leand in and peered over. To my astonishment I saw a luscious green park with a fabulous playground below! Zara started freaking out immediately as was I! Poor pax was still feeling pretty sick and had little energy to get excited. Daddy kept pax on his shoulders as Zara and I hurried ahead. As soon as we got down to the parks level, Pax jumped down and was all in! I just couldn't have felt more relived to know that I have this perfect place to look forward to everyday with the kids, at least for now.

Next we explored the lower levels of the park and realized we were on top of cliffs! You have to hike down the cliffs on trails to make it down to the beach. Of corse I'm totally paranoid about super energetic Pax the whole time. So other than a small argument between Sean and I on holding Pax's hand, we made it down safe and sound. To Seans benefit of the argument, he was right, it was an easy going hike with wide trails. Probably not worth the caliber of anxiety I had about it.

Once we made it to the beach we hung out and through rocks in the water. We were bummed there wasn't any sand to play in here but I'm sure we will find the sandy beaches soon enough. 

This is  Tarrisa, Hulio and their daughter Pamela,the home owners, paying with our kids.