The best place to watch Indiana Jones 4?

Thursday May 22nd

Today was a free day in Lima. Technically it is the last day of the tour. I was too busy trying to sort stuff out, new camera flights etc, to do anything really touristy like visit any of the sights. Of course I did sepdn 2 hours in cinema watching Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It was opening day in Peru, and we were in the first showing of it in a cinema on the main pedestrianised shopping street in Lima, and there were only about 20 people there. It was the English language version though, maybe the Spanish version next dorr had more people in it.

However what made it cool is that is is set in Peru. None of us knew that, so when they started talking about Cusco and Nazca lines and so on we were all looking at each other saying cool, we were only just there. I'm glad I saw it in Peru, rather than waiting until I got home. I'm not going to review the film, but I thought it was pretty good, similar to the others, except for the last 10 minutes which is a bit xfilesish.

One other thing, probably the best thing of all, was the price. 4 Soles, which is just less than a Euro. When you think about how much it costs to see a film in Dublin its best to watch them here.

As I said I didn't see much of Lima, but from what I did see it is a bit weird. It is very noiy or one thing (car horns are beeping everywhere) and there are some weird public behaviours. For example while getting lunch in KFC (some of the other lads were suffering withdrawal symptoms from fast food) I went to look out the window and was treated to the sight of two lads pissing against it. Again on one of the main streets in Lima, not exactly what you would want. (OK this happens in Dublin as well, but at 2am not 2pm).

In the evening we went back to Miraflores for dinner. This was the goodbye dinner for some of the group but it turned into a bit of a fiasco. The taxi drivers didn't know where to take us, they took us to the wrong restaurant, and the traffic was very busy. We should have been (and eventually were) in a shopping centre called Larco Mar which is probably more western than most Irish shopping centres. It was an amazing design, etched into a cliff overlooking the ocean, and it had all the big name chains there. But we were in a local fish restaurant which was amazing, if a bit slow in serving.

The biggest part of the fiasco was after dinner when we tried to have a last drink with our departing comrades. We struggled with the choice of watering holes available in this complex, and in the end after two hours of debate, and 5 bars, we only had one drink before we headed home. Sometimes we are better off in the small towns where there is less choice and we only have ourselves to entertain us rather than having us look or the happening place.