Lima, Peru

After a restful night’s sleep at our hostel and a breakfast of bread and passion fruit juice we set off to discover Lima, Peru for the day by taxi and foot. Being their winter season and situated next to the Pacific Ocean the weather was cool but nice. Most Peruvians were dressed as if it was late fall back home but we were quite comfortable in the 15 degree weather. The city is quite large at 9 million people and driving around the city you definitely get a sense of this by the sheer number of vehicles on the road and the zealous nature to which they drive trying to claim whatever open lane is available. We started by exploring the Miraflores District where we were staying, which is a safer and more well-to-do neighbourhood in Lima. There is a lot of petty crime due to the poverty in Lima and most guide books recommend this area for tourists. It is a mix of old and new buildings with both local and foreign companies and businesses throughout. The people were very friendly when we were able to string together a few words in Spanish (which is slowly improving by the day). One funny incident occurred when we saw an interesting mural on the side of a building and asked a local gentleman “Quien este?” to which he replied in a string of unbroken Spanish for 2 minutes something that we absolutely have no idea what he said. We just smiled and said “Si” a few times and walked away giggling and thankful he didn’t ask us a question in return as it looked like he assumed that we spoke the language based on his lengthy response.

After touring a Catholic Church and park we grabbed a taxi to Centre Lima, which is the historic Spanish colonial section of the city and about 15 minutes away. The drive there was great as we got to see a wide range of the city from the modern business district to the everyday neighbourhoods characterized by square homes with flat roofs and always with a large steel gate in front. Arriving in Centre Lima we were greeted by beautiful old buildings and churches and even a changing of the guard ceremony in front of the parliament buildings. We had a lot of fun just walking around the area looking into the shops and touching all the Alpaca souvenirs which were very soft, strolling through a pleasant park overlooking the Andes foothills, and sampling delicious deep-fried doughnut type treats that looked like French fries sprinkled with sugar. We actually stopped twice to try different street treats as they were that tasty.

The remainder of our first full day in Peru was spent taking in the waterfront and the views out to the Pacific Ocean. The coast is very steep and there were large rolling waves that the surfers below were enjoying. Unfortunately the skies remained overcast throughout our time in Lima either on account of the weather or the smog, which we tend to believe is the case. After an early dinner we retired to the hostel to relax for the rest of the evening and prepare for our early 5:00 wake-up as we were on our way to Huacachina an oasis surrounded by 300 foot high sand dunes in the morning - 4 hours to the south by bus. Adios!