Lima & Miami

After our awesome time in Argentina, it was time to head back to Lima. We had three days before flying to Miami and decided to enjoy it to the fullest. Everybody had warned us about the city center of Lima, that it was dangerous and there was nothing beautiful to see. However, we decided to take a cab anyway and head to the main square of Lima. The center was actually really nice. We walked around and saw the two main squares which were surrounded by beautiful colonial styled buildings. We also discovered an old train station which was now converted into a library and museum, and you could enter for free! It was really peaceful and quiet. We had dinner in a local restaurant, and I ate a typical Peruvian dish called Causa rellena con langostino (mashed potatoes and shrimps), delicious! Claudio had ceviche off course :-), which is raw fish marinated in lime, chilli peppers and onion. Njam!

Center of Lima

The other two days in Lima we spent in Miraflores, and mainly evolved around eating good food. We went to a really good fish restaurant called Costa Azul, definitely recommendable! For our 7 year anniversary, the 15th of December, we went to a fancy place to celebrate. The restaurant (La Rosa Nautica) is surrounded by the ocean, you see the waves below your feet through the window... super romantic :). After dinner, we walked back home on the beach, and I had the great idea to rinse my hands in the ocean. So I went into the dark towards the sea, sticking out my hands carefully, and all of the sudden a huge wage arrived... And my whole legs and shoes got soaked! I guess I had a bit too much wine ;).

                       

7 year anniversary

Sea food salad

The next day it was time to leave for Miami! We arrived at the airport at 21h and our flight was supposed to leave at 23.30h. But we had a 4 hour delay. So eye-mask on, earplugs in, found a quiet spot in the airport and slept... During the year, I always have so much trouble trying to fall asleep, but nowadays, I can sleep basically everywhere. The benefits of having no stress I guess :). We finally left at 3.30h, and got into the worst plane we have been in so far. The planes of Peruvian Airlines, TAM, and LAN are so much better then the ones of American Airlines... To avoid if you have the chance! Anyway, I just slept again and around 10h we arrived at the airport in Miami! First we had to wait 40 minutes again to go through the border control. The guy was looking at my stamps of Peru, Bolivia and Argentina and started firing questions: "why were you in Argentina? How long are you traveling? How can you afford to travel for so long? Where do you work?" Djeeeez! Then Claudio followed, and the guy knew we were together so he asked him: "How was the steak in Argentina?" hahaha so they CAN be nice ;-). 

We made it through migration, joy! (@Miami airport)

After this, we picked up our luggage and then we had to wait again for 20 minutes to go through customs. We took the bus to go to the center and arrived at our little studio we rented through airbnb. It was so nice, we had a kitchen, living room, and bathroom all to ourselves. We immediately went out to explore South Beach, and got some pizza on Lincoln Avenue, the main shopping street. After this, we had a short power nap and then we were off to see the game, Miami Heat - Utah Jazz!! We took the bus again and arrived at the American Airlines Arena, which is so luxurious, it's just ridiculous. If you would go to the bathroom during the game, you would hear the commentator describing the game, or in the hall there are flatt screen tv's everywhere so you don't have to miss one minute of the game. The introduction of the players included huge fire flames. The sound within the arena was perfect, there were huge screens where they showed replays, etc.... What a cool experience! If we would live in the USA we would go and see games every week for sure! Besides all that, the game itself was really good. Lebron James played really well, and even though we are not Miami Heat fans, we were very happy we saw Lebron in action!

At the Miami Heat game!

The next day, we had a relaxing day, we went to the beach but it was not so warm (23 degrees). I went to swim anyway, I mean, maybe I will never be back right? But the water was freezing brrrrrr. After our beach adventure, we walked on a big shopping street and saw the Quicksilver & Roxy store. We went in and had a shopping attack: two hats, swimsuit for Claudio, t-shirt and pants for me. My sweet mum had sent me some money for Xmas so we used it to pay for all this. These brands are so much cheaper in the US than in Europe, it's ridiculous! After this, we also went to BestBuy and bought a cheap laptop (we only spent 300EUR, long live the US)! Finally a laptop again :) After this shopping mania we felt guilty off course so we stayed home and made some pasta to save some money. 

The next day it was already time to leave :(. We really did not want to go, it was so much fun in Miami! I really hope we can go back there one day, it is the perfect holiday city! You can party, eat well, relax, and it's family friendly, safe (in South Beach at least); you have the sea, but also all the facilities of a city. Perfect!
But for our budget it is not really optimal, especially when you have shopping attacks hahaha.

Miami beach on a cloudy day

Pretty fly for a white guy ;-)

Xmas tree surrounded by palm trees

So off to our month in Mexico... I will wrap this whole month up in our next post! Talk to you all very soon!!

Big kisses from me and Claudio XXX