I´m leaving Lima tomorrow in the early am and heading to Cuzco, which is the main stop close to Macchu Picchu. I hear it´s a fun town with lots of history. Looking forward to it.

Was on the Union Street (pedestrian street) yesterday, minding my own business. All of the sudden all these people start running past me screaming frantically. People were running into shops, shop owners were closing their metal garage doors. I looked behind me and saw smoke everywhere. The first thing I thought about was a terrorist attack from some anti-government group. They have been pretty dormant here for the last 10 years though. I ran into a department store. I looked back out onto the street and people had stopped running and were looking back at the smoke. I could smell a certain kind of burning gas smell in the air. I just hurried off the street and went back to my hostal.

So later on that night I went back to Union Street. Everything was normal, people milling about everywhere. I asked a security guard what the earlier commotion had been about. He told me that a bunch of chickens had caught on fire at one of the chicken restaurants, and one of the workers had to put the fire out with a fire extinguisher.