Touching Down

Hi everyone!
We have finally arrived in Peru! Granted, a day late, but we are alive and well. Our trip definitely started out a little rocky, no one would argue that. Our first flight, leaving San Francisco at 6am, was canceled. After waiting in a line for 2 hours, and stressing to the staff at American Airlines that we were missing our engagement-moon, we were squeezed onto a different American Airlines flight to New York (instead of Miami) that was supposed to leave at 12:30pm, and arrive in New York around 8:30pm, giving us a 2 hour layover to switch airlines to LAN and putting us in Lima around 7 am. Well 12:30 came and sure enough, our flight was being delayed. 15 minutes became 30, 30 minutes became an hour, and by the time we were all aboard and taking off, it was an hour and a half. And, of course, to put the icing on the cake, when we arrived at JFK planes were stacked for landing, and we had to circle the airport for another 30 minutes before landing.
By this point our flight from New York to Lima was supposed to be boarding, and after fretting and a few tears and fears of yet another delay, we decided to make a run for it and do our absolute best to make it onto that flight. Now, everyone who knows Chris and I know that we are not the most in-shape people that you've ever met... Also, anyone who has ever gone through JFK knows what a terrible layout it is, and that you're forced to take stairs up and down throughout the entire airport. We sprinted through the airport, running up stairs and back down, over and over again. I would safely make the statement that there was sweat, blood, and tears. Once we got to the ticketing gate for LAN, we discovered that our flight had been delayed 3 hours... Maddening and a relief all in one. After an incredibly easy and comfortable 7.5 hour flight, we arrived in Lima, Peru, at around 11am on Wednesday. About 48 hours of travel time if you include the drive to the airport from Garberville.
We were so ecstatic to finally be here that we weren't even too upset over the fact that Chris' pack didn't show up. I have to admit, I wasn't surprised at all, and was more surprised, really, by the fact that mine did show up. We made it to our hostel in Miraflores (a fairly ritzy neighborhood of Lima on the cliffs overlooking the pacific) and were very happy with how warm and helpful the staff and other travelers were. We will definitely consider coming back to stay at The Dragonfly Hostel on the way out of Peru. We've also been blessed with incredibly beautiful weather! Its so wonderful to walk around in shorts and a tank top at all times of day and be comfortable!

We've done some exploring over the past few days, checking out the parks of Miraflores, including Parque del Amor, a great spot on the cliffs where couples go to declare their love to the world by hanging ribbons from trees with their names on them. We've been trying the local cuisine too, which is amazing! Since we've set foot in this country we haven't stopped smelling amazing food cooking all around us. If you go to the local neighborhood cafes you can have a set menu with an appetizer and an entree for between 6-8 soles (about $2.50-3.00 USD). Yesterday we had a tamalito (small tamale) and bistec encebollado (steak with onions and sauce) with rice and salad, and today we had papas huancainas (an amazing dish of boiled, sliced, potatoes slathered with a slightly spicy cheese sauce) and arroz con pollo (rice with chicken). Both of which were absolutely delicious! We also had the most heavenly churro either of us have ever consumed. Chris and I are officially addicted, and will without a doubt, be hunting them down for the remainder of the trip.
Today we went to the center of Lima to see some of the colonial Spanish architecture, including the Monastery of San Francisco, which is famous for it's catacombs beneath the church. We toured the Monastery and catacombs, but unfortunately weren't allowed to take pictures. I will tell you this, we saw thousands upon thousands of real bones. It was incredible! An archeologist's dream!
Tomorrow we head to Nazca, to fly over the famous Nazca lines! Then it's off to Arequipa to see the Cañon del Colca! We will be sure to post again soon, and hopefully get some pictures up, since the computer we are on seems to be disagreeing with us!
Missing you all, but we're having an amazing time!
We've got miles to go!