Negotiating the bus system in Peru is a dark art at the best of times, and
since I'm a sucker for looking important at the airport by having someone
waiting for you with your name on a sign, I decided to arrange for a taxi to
pick me up. And then I made a total arse of getting a picture of the
guy+sign.
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Click to expand and you can make out my name!
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Even though it's close to the equator, thanks to the Humboldt current, it's
often cloudy and quite cold (I even managed to go for a run today, although
sadly my nearest parkrun was about 4,000km away).
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Overcast, windy, bit cold. I could have stayed in Scotland for
this.
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I eventually worked up the courage to get on a bus and go into "town" for a
tour - which was pretty enjoyable, until I found out I'd paid $30 for it and
everyone else was getting it gratis. Still, we got to see a lot of the
historic buildings of Lima, including the cathedral, catacombs, and balconies
(Lima has some excellent balconies).
Considering the reverence they gave the skeletons in the cave in Belize, it
was quite a surprise to see the cathedral's catacombs had bones of thousands
of dead people literally stacked high and wide in various holes and shelves. I
could even have nicked one as a souvenir (if I was a total weirdo).
Lima's historic centre is one of Lima's UNESO World Heritage sites, and
its balconies play a major part in that. Some of them are covered to
protect the modesty of any young ladies who might want to peer upon the
street below.
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| A nice balcony |
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Another nice balcony
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Throughout Peru, I kept seeing the same symbol on the side of UNESCO
sites. Apparently, during times of war, it's to inform invading armies
engaging in looting and pillaging to perhaps kindly skip this building. I
think I might stick one on my flat when I get back to Scotland, just on
the off-chance.
I'm not quite sure what came over me, but I decided to take a short flight
over Peru in a microlight. It wasn't actually as scary as you'd think,
except when the pilot decided to go into a death spiral and I was literally
strapped in by a single seatbelt. See the video below - expletives drowned
out by the engine.
Overall, Lima is a lovely city and everyone I spoke to was spot
on. I was lucky enough to stay in Miraflores, although other parts weren't
quite as salubrious. I didn't appreciate until I went up in the plane how big it is -
over 10m folk at the last count.
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| A rare sunny day |
My hotel/hostel/hostal was very pleasant and cheap as chips as well. It even had a unheated swimming pool that I had no intention of getting into. But after four days, it was time to move on. I bought a ticket from a company called Peruhop, which takes you all
over Peru and then drops you off in Bolivia. First stop - Paracas.
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