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Day 5: Miraflores and Larcomar Mall

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Day 6: Organic Food Markets and Barranco

I woke up at 5:30am this morning. UGH!! I ended up using this early morning to catch up on my blog (well up to day 3 at the time hahaha!)

Bella and I surfaced out of bed at about 9am. Lima is a bit like Dubai, you can do it in a few days and admittedly, we were starting to run out of things to do (hence no rush in the mornings!). We had another awesome brekky, but all we had planned for the day was the 4pm walking tour. I ended up checking out some travel blogs about Lima that I had found whilst in Sydney, and discovered that there was an organic food market in Miraflores, only a 15min walk from our accommodation! The markets were open Monday - Saturday from 8:30am - 2:30pm. Our actual words were “Why the hell not?!”

We left our accommodation about 1:10pm. We packed our luggage before we headed out because our taxi was booked to take us to the airport the next morning at 3:30am. The markets were a long line of stalls along the footpath opposite a church. There was fresh produce, organic honey, different quinoa, black corn that looked like it had been dipped in ink, stubby carrots (that certainly wouldn’t pass the beautiful veg requirement at Sydney supermarkets) and plenty of places that sold food ready to eat! We walked up and down the line of stalls and I was graciously welcomed to photograph their produce. The tables were overflowing with such bright colours; there were huge pumpkins, mushroom stalks that looked like broccoli and cherry tomatoes that looked like the range of autumn colours. If I ever come back to Lima, I will ensure that I have access to a kitchen and I will be sure to buy some fresh fruit and veg from these markets! 

We were beginning to feel a little peckish and there was a stall that sold what looked like a range of sweet and savoury breads and empanadas. We figured out after the fact that it was actually a vegan vendor. There was a significant language barrier, so there was lots of hand gestures, smiling, laughing, confused looks and pointing! After at least 5mins, we ended up with exactly what we both wanted! Once we had obtained our goods, we walked into the park behind to have our picnic feast (minus a blanket). The park was teeming with young, local families. There was even a 6th birthday party! We were the only caucasians in the park and I certainly felt like I was off the tourist path and enjoying Lima like a local.  We shared an empanadas and we ordered the one that had carrot, caramelised onion and grapes inside. It melted in my mouth!! We ordered a slice of bread that looked sweet and turned out to be a really heavy panatone. Although it was pretty tasty, it certainly didn’t compare to the panatone Auntie Chiara has!! For desert, we each ordered what looked like a strawberry and (what we thought was) cacoa tart. The strawberries were so fresh, juicy and sweet, but it certainly wasn’t cocoa on the tart. It tasted more like a tahini with a bit of sesame seed oil. The pastry was lovely, but I ended up scraping most of the tahini stuff off. We ate our feast and lolled in the afternoon. The cloud cover prevented seeing the sun.

It was nearing 2:40pm and we decided to begin to head off for the 4pm tour to Barranco. We initially thought of walking, but according to google maps it was a 1hr 30min walk. There was an option to meet at Kennedy Park in MIraflores (a 20min walk) at 3:20pm and catch the bus with a guide to the meeting spot in Barranco. We opted for the latter option. We made our way through Lima to Kennedy Park. There, we met up with Rosie and Jo and met some Americans, a Brit who had been travelling for 4months and once again, I was certainly surrounded by the backpacker crowd! I only lacked a leather thong necklace with some charm on it, a few tattoos and a bandanna and I’m sure I would have been synonymous with the crowd!

The local bus ride was 1 soles. The local bus was of the general class of vehicle I described in one of my first posts in Peru...it looked like it should have been retired a solid 15 years ago. I was sitting above the wheel and it was quite the bumby ride...as in I think there was no suspension left in the vehicle whatsoever. We went over a bump and my bum left the seat, it was like a roller coaster but on four wheels and with less safety regulations. This American student started talking to us. He was a med student and working in one of the hospitals, but for this post I’ll refer to him as med student Mike. I was able to convince Mike that Bella’s boyfriend’s name was Edward and he sparkled in the sun during summer (due to sweat). So gullible! I was rather proud of my low key Twilight reference. 

We made it to Barranco and it is so beautiful!!! Street art is encouraged, I walked past countless buskers playing lutes, to guitars and drums and at the end of the walking tour there was a solid busking brass ensemble (with an honorary sax player). The Barranco walking tour wasn’t as information dense as the tour of Lima City Downtown. I’m not sure if that was because I was always lagging behind the group taking photos, because we had a different guide or if this tour served as having a free navigator to get you around the suburb without the need for Google maps. Most likely, it was a combination of the three. 

Barranco is bright and vibrant and sort of like the Peruvian equivalent to Newtown, but with views of the Pacific. According to the architecture and houses we walked past, Barranco was also one of, if not the most affluent suburb of Lima City. We even visited a house built by the same artist who made the sculpture of the passionate couple in the Parque del Amor. We crossed a bridge where, legend goes, that if you make it across holding your breath and thinking of a wish that it will come true. I won’t disclose what I wished for because then my near fainting spell would go to waste! As I was crossing, a group of tourists stopped dead in front of me. I did a rather un-elegant bolt to make it the final stretch across the bridge though! 

We wound through the streets and there was many beautiful doors that I was able to take photos of (I’ve started an instragram for all the photos of doors I’ve taken on my travels). We visited a beautiful church that has survived most of the natural disasters in Lima without too much damage and there was a wedding on! We watched the bride enter the church. I felt sorry for her, being gawked at by tourists. 

The tour finished at around 6:30pm, and super starving we went in search of food. Med student Mike and another American lady joined us for dinner, which brought some interesting discussions to our dinner conversation. Due to dietary requirements, we found both a vegetarian and vegan restaurant. We were there for a few hours, the food was good but honestly not as filling and as satisfying as I would have liked. At about 8:30pm, the six of us caught the local bus back to Kennedy Park. Under the direction of Rosie. we went to this (apparently) famous churros place called Manolo. I paid 15 soles for 6 churros sticks and a cup of molten chocolate, which was more like a custard consistency. I gave the chocolate to Bella pretty quickly (I think I’m a chocolate snob haha). We all then walked back to Kennedy Park and sat in a small and circular amphitheater that went down into the group. Med student Mike thought he was awesome and a camera buff and wanted to use my camera. He started changing all the settings and nearly broke it because he didn’t understand that you were meant to press the button in the middle of the settings wheel. He didn’t even have it in his hands for 30secs. 

Bella and I ended up leaving the park at about 10pm because we were conscious that our taxi was arriving in 5.5hrs! We walked the 10mins or so back to our hotel and finished packing. Suddenly it was past 12am!!! We jumped into bed quickly and dozed off fast...ready to be awake in less than 3hrs!

[ash-travels-peru]

Day 4: Lima City Downtown

Today I was moving accommodation to stay with other uni peers!!! Three days was enough of individual travel for me and I was so excited to be able to share things with other people and experience what they want to do! I was up at 8am, had another awesome brekky and was ready for my taxi at 9:45am. The taxi came and took me the 1.2km to me new accommodation. 

My new accommodation is a B&B, and seems a bit like between a hostel and hotel. There are heaps of tables and sitting areas in a patio type area surrounded by brightly coloured and morrish style tiles and leafy green pot plants. I dumped my bags and then the two of us got ready to head back out. We had organised with two other Macquarie Uni girls to do a free walking tour of Lima City Downtown at 11am. The meeting point was at a backpacker style bar which was a 20min walk. Seeing as it was 10:45am, we caught a taxi there! 

The free tour had a price of 2.50soles for the bus trip downtown. You could certainly pick where the tour began from because there were heaps of tourists and backpackers loitering out of the front. The street was bright and each building was a different colour! Inside, the bar had sick and psychedelic murals and served craft beer. 

Our tour set off by foot and walked a few blocks to the bus stop Ricardo Palma. I took a photo of it and sent it to one of my uni mates because his name is Ricardo! There are no temporary bus tickets available for tourists, so if you want to catch the bus, you have to beg a local to tap you on and then pay them the money in cash for the fare. There was a fair few people on the walking tour from all over the world. However, the tour group was much smaller at the end of the four hours than at the beginning because many people left the group and went exploring on their own. I met some Brits and Canadians on the bus and was able to show them the photos of the Nazca Lines because they weren’t going to be able to make it there themselves. The bus was quite crowded! I don’t think Lima has trains, so these articulated buses seem to work a bit like trains around the city. It was mainly standing room and people were packed into the bus like sardines. This trip brought a whole new meaning to the phrase! The driving in Lima is a little interesting, the drivers seem to accelerate as fast as possible and then stands on the brakes...its as if they forget there are regular bus stops! If it weren’t for being pressed on every side, I probably would have gone flying along the bus and gotten badly injured. Alas, instead I think I kept stepping on some poor Peruvian’s toes. Sorry! 

Once off the bus, we walked through a famous plaza which is apparently quite famous. During the 1950′s the rich and famous occupied all the buildings around this plaza. There was a marble statute in the middle of the square, with a female figure on it. There is a Llama on her head, and our guide told us that there is a theory that it was meant to be a flame on her head to show strength, but because the spanish words for llama and fire are similar, the artist must have gotten confused. One of the famous hotels facing onto the square has been voted the best Pisco sour in the country, and our guide also told us that all important marches/protests are always staged in the plaza. We continued walking and passed the bar that invented the famous Peruvian cocktail, the Pisco sour!! 

We continued walking down a ‘commercial street’ that had many vendors who would walk up to you trying to sell you super touristy necklaces. There were also heaps of people painted in all gold or black doing statue busking. A few of the statues were quite macabre, referencing ‘black slavery’ and had chains around their neck. It wasn’t the most encouraging of things to observe. We passed many beautiful and colonial buildings in bright colours!!

At the end of this particular street was Plaza de Arms! It was a public holiday in Peru, so the plaza was teeming with people! The Cathedral of Lima was closed for the day and our guide told us that only the rich and famous were permitted to get married there! Our guide took us to the fountain in the middle and told us that it was the oldest construction in Lima because it has survived all the earthquakes. Apparently the figure on top of the fountain used to be solid silver and gold, but was “lost” when it was taken for cleaning one time. Since then, the statue has been replaced with a copper figure. Our guide also told us that on Peru’s independence day (24 July) the fountain is filled with Pisco Sour and people can fill up a cup and drink free Pisco Sour!! 

We left the Plaza and walked down some side alley into what was a walking alley that was filled with cafes and restaurants. There was a large rock in the middle of this area, and our guide informed us that this was sort of a nod to Incan culture in the midst of Spanish colonised architecture. We headed into one of the cafes and were given a free sample of local Peruvian Coffee. Peru coffee beans have consistently been voted the best coffee in the world, but I just don’t think there is a sufficient barista population that knows what to do with this coffee gold. There is not a large coffee culture in Peru, unlike Australia and if you do get coffee...its usually NesCafe! First thing I do when I get home is get a flat white!!! Whilst our group was standing around sipping on the black coffee, an older gentleman walked around with a tray of churros filled with caramel. It was about 12pm and it turned out to be a perfect morning tea. Our tour group then walked next door and tried some local potato dipped in some classic sorta sauce. The local knowledge about the good places to eat was awesome, and there were plenty of photo opportunities to check out some beautiful colonial style buildings!

We walked back through the Plaza del Armas and stopped in front of the Government Palace for a photo. We left the square again and walked through a myriad of UNESCO protected colonial buildings. I think I’ve already mentioned it, but the lack of gutters really struck me as odd, particularly as the sky is always cloudy and looks as thought it is about to rain!!! We walked into a colonial building, which also was a restaurant! Here, we tried a craft beer made from star fruit. To begin with, I’m not a fan of beer. I think it may be because I was on a beer tour in Munich when my HSC results were released. But I still wanted to have a go! The beer was initially quite sweet, but then you were overwhelmed by that distinct hops taste. I didn’t finish the small tasting glass. 

We then headed through the post office building. There was a strip of little stalls that sold super touristy items, such as key rings, postcards and selfie sticks. What struck me most about this place was that there was no glass in the roof! There was an atrium style roof frame, BUT NOTHING IN IT!!! I’ve started to believe that it seriously must never rain in Lima! Immediately left after this walkway strip was the house built by (and still owned by the family) the youngest Spanish Conquistador. He was 19 when he came to Peru and built his house. We then headed over to the Lima river bridge, if you could even call the trickle a river! There were so many people, women particularly, who walked past me dressed in that stereotypical Peruvian dress; big hats, plaits, jackets and short flaring skirts. 

We continued on our way and we were taken to these little tourist markets that seemed to be in a little street maze between buildings. There were enough stools set out arranged for us and we all grabbed a seat. We found out that we were doing Pisco tasting! Pisco smells a lot like grappe, but knocks you for six just like schnapps. Grappe is made from fermented grape skins, whereas Pisco is made from the fermented grape flesh. The first pisco we tried was between 38-45% alcohol and it smelt like rubbing alcohol or something. Our guide showed us this particular way of consuming the alcohol so it doesn’t burn your throat! The second Pisco we tried was with passionfruit. It was quite sweet and was apparently the drink of choice for the ladies of Peru! I can definitely understand that! We drank out of these tiny plastic shot glasses that were made out of the same colourful and transparent plastic like the gelato spoons you get when you want to taste test. 

Our tour finished (at about 3pm!). As we were already a block or so away, the four of us headed over to San Francisco Basilica. It is a bright yellow cathedral that is famous for the catacombs underneath and also for the heaps of birds that roost on the roof of the buildings! We crossed the road which was crazy and we went inside! It was five soles entry, but there were free tour guides available to take you through. Unfortunately we were unable to take photos inside, which is sad because it was so beautiful and opulent, but good because it forced me to really look and absorb what was around me! The first thing that I noticed was that all the steps, regardless of being wood, marble or stone were all sloped due to the wear over the past hundreds of years. We first went into the stairwell which had the most intricate ceiling! It was a geometric pattern that was made of more than 9,000 individual pieces of wood. It was stunning!!! 

We then visited the library. The library was two levels and our guide told us that the first level was texts from the 15th - 18th century and the second level were texts from the 19th century to present. There were over 20,000 books in this library and it was so gorgeous!!!! Like the other library I visited before, there were two hymn books written in latin. Our guide explained that these sheep skins books weighed more than 200kg each due to the weight of the pages and the weight of the cedar covers! We visited the beautiful cathedral, saw a gold altar, a renaissance style passion of Christ pained by Peruvian artists (including pearly white skin and the Mona Lisa style eyes that follow you around) and beautiful cedar chairs set against aqua coloured walls! 

We then headed down into the catacombs. They were sort of freaky and since visiting the Killing Fields and S-21 in Cambodia I’ve never felt fascinated, but rather horrified at human remains. It is known that the catacombs in San Francisco has more than 25,000 people but there is believed to be more than 75,000 due to layers beneath! Many bones were on display and looked so dusty and brittle. It was sorta creepy, because all the bones that has been examined by archaeologists were then arranged in patterns. It looked interesting but still eerie at the same time! I was relieved to head out of the catacombs, a) because it was out of the creepiness but b) so I could get out of the low ceilings and stop hitting my head! 

The four of us headed back and found a bus ‘C’ heading in the right direction. We grabbed some local Bitel sims and bought plenty of calls and data for the month. However, we think we’ve been ripped off and given a lesser amount and the vendors have pocketed the difference! We made our way back to Miraflores and grabbed dinner near Kennedy Park. It was down a super touristy strip which I wasn’t overly keen on, but we were all hangry! Lima is known for its food, and this meal we had was positively BAD!! I had this pasta that turned out to be drenched in soy and was quite a turn off! Lima cuisine does not seem to be straight Peruvian food. The city seems to be a fusion of Peruvian, Italian, Japanese and Chinese cuisine! It was so odd! 

We finally finished dinner and parted our ways around 10pm and Bella and I headed back to our accommodation.   

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Day 3: Nazca Lines

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Day 2: Lima City

I made it! I woke up around 7am local time and chatted with Mum and Dad on whatsapp. I had a really filling brekky of eggs and fruit and cereal which was much better than plane food! I actually ended up going back to my room and chilling for a few hours, then napping for another few! Jetlag certainly caught up with me and I was just super super tired.

I got out of bed at about 1:30pm and got ready for my Lima city tour. I had a hotel pick-up at around 2:30pm, so there was heaps of time. Alas, I went down to the lobby at 2:10pm thinking I could organise with the hotel a wake-up call for the following morning and found that the tour guide was already there and waiting. Thus, I left the hotel, hopped into the mini van and my exploration of Lima City began!

I had one fellow tourist, an American Lady who was accompanying her husband on one of his business trips. She spoke both English and Spanish fluently, which meant that at times I had no idea what was being said and at other times she helped me by translating! 

Our tour guide was hilarious. He went to great lengths to explain how and why Peru was the best country in the world and went into minute detail about how Lima, as a city, was vastly improving and would therefore be the best place in the world to be. The area of Miraflores, where I am staying, was exceptionally clean due to Local Council initiatives and he pointed out the new bus system working across the city that had been introduced because Lima was hosting the Pan-American games next year. He also defended Lima, stating that the constant cloud cover is NOT pollution, but rather the constant humidity. Apparently it never rains in Lima (due to the humidity) and some buildings don’t even have roods! It last rained in the 1980′s, and apparently when it did rain it absolutely poured.

En route to our first stop, we drove past a pre-Inca pyramid. It was nothing like the infamous Egyptian pyramids. There was no spaces, or anything inside this pyramid. Instead, as our guide explained, the flat top of the pyramid was used for religious purposes and around the bottom of the pyramid were markets and other social gathering points. The pyramid was made from mud brick and according to google earth (as search by my fellow passenger) the pyramid stretched for nearly a mile. 

Our first stop was the main square of Peru. It is really quite large and the european influences were very evident! We headed into the main Church, the Cathedral of Lima. It was a beautiful church inside, whereas the exterior of the building was a mix of styles because it had collapsed in various earthquakes and was then rebuilt. One interesting fact is that the Church is actually made out of wood. The walls are mainly bamboo that are then covered/rendered in stucco to protect the wood from humidity and rotting. The lime in the stucco also repels termites.The remains of the Spanish Conquisador, Pisaro, can be found inside the Church in a coffin and the lead box in which his head was found separately is also displayed. This church also boasts the oldest statue of the Virgin Mary in America. She is some 400 and something years old, and despite looking like marble she was carved out of cedar! The statue was then rendered in stucco to protect the wood from the humidity and have that stone finish. We went down into the crypt underneath the alter and saw the tombs of Peru’s archbishops and other noble Peruvians. We walked through a very narrow entrance way that led into a large void. Our guide explained this void was a technique used by the Spanish to absorb the shocks of earthquakes and to assist in preventing the building collapse. 

Our small tour of three returned to the main square where we had a good look at the fountain in the middle. It is the oldest piece of construction in Peru because most colonial buildings collapsed during the various earthquakes. We also admired the Government Palace, which was built by Pisaro as his house. Peru’s government consists of 130 senators,18 governmental departments and affiliated ministers and 1 president. Apparently the president only works, as opposed to reside in the Government Palace. 

We left the main square by foot and walked a few blocks down to Saint Dominic Priory, the Sanctuary of Peruvian Saints. The first room we walked into had a ceiling made of over 9,000 individual pieces of wood that was held together by tongue and groove joints, as opposed to glue. It looked like one large block of chocolate!! We continued out into ta compluvium sort of area, a garden situated in the middle of a building. Very Roman!! At the centre of the garden was a beautiful water fountain and surrounding rose garden. The verandas were all covered in tiles, which were all had made, painted and glazed and dated back to the 17th century. The moorish influence continued on the second floor balconies which were entirely wood!   

We left this outside space and hit a LIBRARY. Oh the excitement, it was literature heaven! The books in that library spanned over four centuries, were written in all the known European languages as well as the Incan Quechua language and it remains to be a working library today. A particular highlight was the hymn book on display. It was more than 300years old, was written in Latin and the pages were sheep skins.

We then visited a room, and then the crypt chapel dedicated to San Rosa of Lima. She was a nun who became famous for the miracles she worked. Apparently many used to come to her to be healed, and it is said that she once summoned a storm to banish pirates from the coastal waters around Lima. 

After a bit more looking around, we left the Priory and headed to the coastal part of Miraflores. We drove past the Palace of Justice on our way and I promised Mum that I would try to look in if I had the chance. Its a bit of a tradition in our family to always visit the Courts of any town or city we visit #nerds. 

The view from the Miraflores coast was spectacular! The Pacific Ocean was beautiful and misty, but looked very cold! Our guide picked these flowers from a nearby bush and we sucked out the honey of the flower. We then walked around the headland to the Parque del Amor, which is famous for its mosaics and statue of a couple in passionate embrace. After we had looked around and enjoyed the view, it was about 5:15pm. We walked across a bridge connecting the headlands of Miraflores (also known as the death bridge...barriers had to be constructed for reasons I purposefully will not explain here) over to Larcomar shopping centre. Our tour finished, but my fellow passenger and I continued on and looked around the local artisan markets and the shops in Larcomar shopping centre. Together we grabbed some dinner at a restaurant called ‘Popular’ and I tried my first Pisco Sour flavoured with Passionfruit! I didn’t even make it half-way through the drink in order to avoid any of the effects of alcohol. The cocktail has frothed egg white on top, which sounds gross but it takes on the taste of the drink! 

After our meal, I grabbed a taxi and was back in my hotel by 8pm. I went to bed early as I was being picked up at 3am the next morning for my tour of the Ballestes Islands and the Nazca Lines!

[ash-travels-peru]

Day 1: Arrival in Lima

After 28hours, or something fun like that, I’m in Lima! The customs and immigration checkpoints at the airport were not difficult at all. I got my bags scanned and there was clearly nothing suspicious that came up on the scanners...so I pretty much walked straight out of the airport!

I had a hotel transfer arranged to take me from the airport to my accommodation. But I did laps of the arrival area but couldn’t see anyone standing there and holding a sign with my name on it. It was also super humid (at about 19degrees celcius) and I was wearing my super warm jacket. I was starting to feel the heat and so I decided that rather than standing there stressing, I’ll go back inside the airport and book a green (and legit) taxi. As I walked to the taxi stand and made the purchase, I thought to myself that (murphey’s law), I’ll now find a driver standing at arrivals with my name on the sign. Alas I was right! I took the hotel transfer because it was pre-arranged and therefore safer in my mind and ended up paying for the same trip twice! The other green taxi driver must have been stoked at such a generous tip he ended up receiving. I also didn’t want to get to the hotel and make the concierge realise that I’d left their driver stranded at international arrivals.

My hotel driver was really nice, but he had as much english as I do spanish. I don’t think I was very successful in explaining that he should be careful of his back lifting my bag into the boot of his car because they were so heavy. 

It was very muggy, and the constant cloud cover was a slight brown or copper colour, which I think was the combination of both pollution and light pollution. We had the windows rolled down in the car to get some ‘fresh air’. The air constantly smelt of petrol and car fumes and the noises of a very busy city, particularly for 10:45pm on a Monday night! We drove past some construction work and the RMS would have totally gone to town on it if it were in Australia. there was only a cyclone fence separating the freeway from the building site and the sand being moved by machinery filled the surrounding air so it was all you could smell, taste and breathe! 

But oh dear, driving was an experience in itself and it did take a good 45minutes to get to my hotel! Driving in Sydney is, comparatively, very structured, predictable and regulated. In Lima, collisions are narrowly avoided every minute. Here, there is no conception of personal space or a safe stopping distance between cars. The roads we drove on were usually about three lanes each way. At traffic lights, drivers are close enough to high five or shake hands with the passengers in other vehicles without either leaving their seats. Often drivers (and mine included!) would drive straight down the middle of two lanes. Only the bad drivers ever used blinkers. There was one moment where there were three cars coming from different directions all trying to enter the same two lane road. I hope my driver didn’t mind when I winced because we were the car in the middle and I thought my passenger side door was about to be re-moulded like clay. There was also a lot of stray dogs on the road, as in sleeping on the road. They only moved out of the way to let cars pass when they were honked at. Many cars and most of the buses I saw were looked as though they should have been retired about 10 years ago and by the sounds of their engine, were also a few years overdue for a service. There was a ute I saw that had the flap to the tray half hanging off! Quite a few vehicles also had flashing brake lights to communicate to other drivers when they were slowing down, as opposed to the block lights we have on our cars! 

We arrived at our hotel (in one piece and without even a scratch). My hotel is lovely. I have a small single room which is perfect and a reliable source of wifi! Huzzah!

[ash-travels-peru]

Some photos from flying over and landing in Santiago, Chile

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Transit: Santiago, Chile

Although I'm sitting in my Lima hotel, I thought I'd take advantage of some reliable wifi and post the photos from my 28hour transit from Sydney. I wrote this at 4:30pm Santiago time: "I'm currently in Santiago Airport, Chile. I've never been to South America before and I was certainly taken by how beautiful it is! There mountain range behind Santiago is stunning and I got a good squiz out of the plane when landing. Two flights down, one to go. Boarding for my flight to Lima begins in an hour!!"