Lima, Peru
We stayed 3 days in Lima. We got to see quite a lot in this small amount of time, and experience many aspects of the capital. So Francis, the hostel owner gave us a map in the beginning, where he marked places we should see and the places we should not go into, which was helpful.
We have been using both buses and taxis. The taxis are very affordable, but like for the rest, you need to try to bargain, as they easily take more money from tourists. Traveling by buses we have learned and experienced more the local life and the atmosphere. Plus it is really cheap, appr. 1-2 soles (25-50 cents) depending on the length of the journey. Buses are mostly minibuses, which we find funny for a 8 million inhabitant city. They don’t really have bus stops, but they shout to the people by the roads, tell them where the bus is going and try to get passengers. On the first day, we were extra careful, and didn’t dare taking the camera out much. On the second day, things went so well, that we perhaps became a bit over confident. The third day, while changing buses, Netta got too greedy and took one picture too much. In two seconds the camera was gone from her hand. Chris tried to catch the guy, but it was too dangerous as he disappeared between the traffic. Netta feels bad obviously as she feels she should have known better and not to take the camera out in a place she didn’t know. Especially because so far we have been very careful, took good care of things, left credit cards on the hostel, took copies of our travel documents etc. Well, things like this happen…
Luckily it’s just a thing that can be replaced and the insurance should pay for it, but it was a wedding present from Netta’s parent’s and brand new, so pisses you off for awhile of course.
Otherwise people have been very friendly and helpful. Chris’s Spanish skills have helped us a lot to move around as people don’t speak much English. Today at the police station (which looked like someone’s living room, policemen were watching American serie from tv) we got new proof of people’s friendliness. The police were nice, and when the hostel owner had heard what happened, he came to pick us up from the station and made sure everything was ok.
Lima is not very uplifting city apart from few nice plazas and rare buildings. Most of the buildings are in bad condition, mostly because of the poverty, but also due to frequent earthquakes. The only nice thing about them is that they are colourful.
Prices for food and clothes vary a lot depending on the area. The same menu can cost you 5 times the price, but also quality can be a surprise. The first day we had a traditional chicken dish in a fancy area for 20 soles (5 euros). The following day we wanted to find a price we were expecting from Peru. In the city centre we were happy to find 6 soles (1,5 euro) menu, but found out that beef on the menu was big pieces of pure fat… nice.
Have had some problems with stomach, perhaps for washing teeth with tab water, just keep forgetting it..
Luckily not too bad yet.
Among places we were able to visit: city center of Lima, Cerro San Cristobal (the hill behind the city), Christian catacombs, Huaca Pucllana (sacred pyramid of Lima civilization, 1 to 700 AD), pyramids of Pachacamac (Lima, Ishma and Inca civ.), Arqueologic museum de Lima, etc.
Next episode: Paracas National Reserve.
You can click here and here to see our photos.