astrid

In Arequipa con Christian, Claudia and some of her friends...

posted by Astrid @ 5:46 PM 1 comments

My weekend in Arequipa....

….was really nice….. had a great time there with Christian (friend from Guatemala who came to visit me last week), Claudia and some of her friends….

The bus journey from Lima to get there was impressive….. through the mountains, through the desert and along the coast…. That part can definitely keep up with highway Nr. 1 in California…..really, really pretty….

Claudia was a great host and it was a lot of fun hanging out with her and her friends on SUN night….. SUN afternoon Christian and I walked all around the downtown area of AREQUIPA and saw pretty much all of that amazing white city – the cathedral, the monastery of Santa Catalina, lots of churches and other beautiful “white” buildings and architecture….. all made of Sillar – a lava-stone that is made from the lava of the volcanoes surrounding Arequipa….

On Monday, two of Christian’s webmaster-friends who he was organizing some conferences with in Arequipa during the following days, gave us another great sight-seeing tour through the “Campinas” of Arequipa, to a historic Molina, some miradores with beautiful views, la casa del fundador and some small villages surrounding Arequipa…. Very interesting and impressive as well, with some perfect tour-guides…. Thanks so much again Raul and Julio…!! :)

A few days without dancing…. No salsa in Arequipa on SUN night….. was missing that a bit, but still had a great time…. I just think that Lima feels more like home to me…. Of course, after all the time I spent here already…. So it was nice to come back here too, see my friends here again….. and hear / dance some Salsa…. :)

posted by Astrid @ 4:13 PM 0 comments

Arequipa - The white city... La ciudad blanca...

posted by Astrid @ 3:48 PM 0 comments

LARCO MAR... really nice part of MIRAFLORES... (just a bit touristy)

posted by Astrid @ 7:37 PM 0 comments

been a while again....

Yes, yes…. Mucho tiempo otra vez that I haven’t written anything…. Lo siento mucho….. but been living my life here in Lima….having a really good time…. It’s still very hot and sunny aqui en Peru at the moment….around 28 – 30 C every day….nice…!!

Last Saturday, I went to an Open-Air classical concert in a park on the Malecon here with my friend Michael….very nice…. and on Sunday, Ana – nice girl from couch-surfing, Pedro y Veto (salsa-friends) and I went to another outdoor Tango event…..loads of people…!! Didn’t think it was that popular here…. Almost like the Tango events in NYC during the summer….
And I also learned the basic steps with some videos and practice at Veto’s house later….


THU Night (last week) it was Lisbet’s birthday party at Calle 8, another Latin / Salsa club…. Salsa, dancing, cake, many nice people…. Good night… :)

Friday night dancing at Timbalero con Cesar, Luis, Raul, Carlos, Veto. Juan….. and many, many other nice people… :)

SAT – (after the concert on the Malecon) Homenaje por Hector Lavoe aqui en el PIZZOTON en Miraflores…. Went there with Martin, Daniel and some of their musician friends…. Really good music, but not many dancers… :( Cesar was gonna come there too, but couldn’t make it in the end…. too bad… :(
But later Pedro, Veto and I went to a very nice Café here in Miraflores and it was still a good night…:)

SUN (after the Tango) - fuimos a bailar en MARKANO en San Martin de Porres…. Very basic little place, but good music and great fun dancing with Cesar y Chupete….:)

MON nights are really some of the best here I think…. After LOS BOTES (where Cesar teaches a bit On2) we normally go over to Veto’s house and hang out there, dance more, watch videos, talk…. Really nice…. I met a great group of people here – called the “SALSAMIGOS” – super-sweet, all of them…. And really makes Lima a lot of fun for me… :)

TUE – Valentine’s Day….went out with Sandro and come of his friends in LARCO MAR….

On WED - Christian, a couch-surfing friend from Guatemala, came to Lima and has been staying with me the last 2 nights….. WED we just had dinner with some of his computer programming friends and then went to SON DE CUBA…. Mainly cause it’s nice and close to my house…. And you can dance a little bit there too… ;)

Last night he was busy with some other computer event / conference and I went to AMERICAN LATIN CLUB with Francis, Veto and Manolo….. nice place and the FIRST WOODDEN DANCEFLOOR I discovered in LIMA so far…. J wwwooooowww…!!!! unfortunately no dancers there, but we can change that for next THU... ;)

Still had a really nice time there and saved some energy for TIMBALERO tonight…. ;)

Tomorrow night, Christian and I are gonna go to AREQUIPA - the white city in the South of Peru, direction to Lake TITICACA - and visit Claudia, another girl from couch-surfing there…. It’s a 14-hour bus ride to get there, but we’re taking a night-bus and I have MON off, so I only need to be back in Lima on TUE morning….. gonna miss all my dancing friends here in Lima a bit, but it’s also gonna be nice to see a bit more of Peru…..

So, that was a rough run-through of my last 2 weeks here…. Sorry, it’s a bit short and not very detailed, but at least it gives you a little idea of what I have been up to recently….
And I’ll write more when I’m back from AREQUIPA…!!

Big hug and lotsa love from LIMA…
xxxx

posted by Astrid @ 4:58 PM 0 comments

the lighthouse of MIRAFLORES...!! pretty... :)

posted by Astrid @ 7:35 PM 0 comments

las playas de MIRAFLORES....

posted by Astrid @ 7:27 PM 0 comments

Last weekend in Lima...

So, I know I’ve should have written this post here at least a few days ago and always been meaning to, but then time and my job and life here in Lima caught me and I just never got round to do it….

But what I actually wanted to say was that I had a really, really nice weekend here a few days ago…. A friend came over on SAT morning and cleaned almost my whole apartment for me….. very nice and sweet….. then another afternoon on the beach here and at night, after a few hours in SON DE CUBA (the small local Cuban club, very close to my house) I went to another, much bigger club called KIMBARA with Ricardo and yaaaii, yaaiii, yaaaiii…. met some people there who dance Salsa a bit more the way that I’m used to dance and that I enjoy…. Who know what a cross-body lead and a triple spin (at least..!!;) is….. and I had a really, really nice time dancing there….. so – planning to go again this weekend…. J J

Then on Sunday, Martin – the Lima correspondent of www.salsapower.com who I had been emailing with a bit during the last few weeks had invited me to a party in SABOR PERUANO, a nice Peruvian restaurant also very close to my house…. In the famous “Calle de Pizzas”… ;)

Met him and some of his friends there, all very nice and friendly, good music, interesting videos, great Peruvian BBQ and also a bit of dancing….. really nice afternoon….
Then later that night we went to another party with live music in SURQUILLO, a barrio right next to MIRAFLORES…. Was very fun too and met a few more dancers there…. J

Sooooo – Lima, is not tthhhaaaatttt bad after all, and I think I can have a nice enough time here for the next 2 and 1/2 months and get to dance at least once or twice a week properly….J big smile….

Other than that I had a free pass for a gym very close to my office this week and been going there a few times, and one more last time tonight…..
and yesterday I met Aden here, CS-friend from Australia who also visited me in Germany last June, and went out with him, cause it was his last night in Lima before he’s off on a 3-week “Amazon-banana-boat-cruise” and totally worried about getting bored there…. Don’t worry senor, gonna be all good…. And you have Recife to look forward to…. J

Yeah, so that was my exciting week so far….and the next weekend is almost here…. I’m settling in here fine and as above, starting to like Lima, better and better…..

posted by Astrid @ 6:16 PM 0 comments