Tony and Liz's Travel Adventures: PERU: Lima

Lima, Peru

Hola everyone Como esta?

Leaving Miami just after dark didn't leave much to see from the plane so I took a photo of the on-board monitor so you could get an idea of our flight, and because of the flight time I managed to see 3 movies. I must confess this also included the rest of Tower Heist which I fell asleep through on the plane from Brisbane to Los Angeles. You could tell I was bored. We arrived on time at 11.15pm.

Just as with most of our adventure, our arrival into Lima was eventful. We had cleared through Immigration, got our entry visa and made our way to the baggage carousel. Our baggage seemed to take for ages. Anyway while we’re waiting there the sniffer dog comes straight up to ME – ME, bypasses everyone else and comes to ME of all the 250 or so people who arrived on that flight! Now I’m starting to panic. I’ve got my little backpack, and a Carry on Bag which has some snack food, papers and smelly shoes (no drugs – not even paracetamol). We were of the understanding that we could carry certain foods into the country and what I had was in that category. So here I am unloading my belongings onto the floor and, as you could imagine, everyone just peering at me. “Hola, Liz has arrived in Lima”. The dog wasn’t interested in the papers or the smelly shoes, it was the dried apricots I had to munch on. Now, if anything I thought it would have been the shoes, perhaps having trampled over another dogs territory in Miami. No, the apricots. The handler should have fed the dog before bringing it to the airport. PS. Tony had disappeared when all this was going on. Not sure if it was out of embarassment, or thinking he should just leave now should I be arrested. I was thinking “Where was the Australian Consulate Emergency Phone Number ???” I got the all clear from here after they realised there was no issue.

After we collected our baggage, we then had to get through the Customs part of it. At least I had passed stage 1 (ie. hungry sniffer dog, who came back to me for a second time). We then had to queue up at the next checkpoint, Tony and I together in the one line. We were watching as the arrivals were moving through and we could see a Green and Red light as each person passed through and seemed random. Green means Go, Red means you are corralled into another line to have your baggage checked. We were both standing there observing, and said “What are the chances of both of us getting the RED light”. You guessed it – we both did. By this time it was around 12.30am. We had to put the bags through a large X-ray machine and after my luggage had passed through X-ray the security guy left his seat, came up to me and asked about the 2 computers I was carrying. Under Peruvian regulations you are only allowed 1 laptop/ PC/ Ipad etc. otherwise you have to pay Tax on any additional ones. Tony and I had compacted our luggage and put both the laptop and Touch Pad into one bag which I was carrying. So after some explaining in Spanglish and pointing to Tony who was directly behind me we finally got the all clear to leave the airport at around 1am, still at least another 20 minutes before we get to Miraflores. We were used to keeping unusual hours by this stage.

Heaven knows how long he had waited but we were greeted by Carlos who would drive us to our accommodation, the Casa Rodas 2 in Miraflores, one of the safer areas of Lima and on the edge of the Pacific Ocean or should I say over this side the “Oceano Pacifico”. We knew it was our man because he was holding a sign saying TONY JOHNSON, with the Ns, Ss and Js written back to front. He couldn’t understand us – must have been the Aussie accent again. But we are now officially known as the “HOHNSOONS”. As we were driven from the airport at that ridiculous hour of the morning there were people in the streets, hundreds of cars on the roads and we just couldn’t believe how poor the people, houses and city appeared to be. As we would realise later it is nothing compared to what we would see along this journey. Miraflores was the exception and the tourista area of town.

Public Transport in Peru

We’d be spending 3 days in Lima and using “Foot Falcon” only. We were warned that the public transport can be quite cheap and a bit dodgy. And after seeing it for ourselves we can only agree and avoided it like the Plague. There are large buses but the most common ones are these little mini-vans which are supposed to hold about 16 people, but hold 36 with a squeeze. There are individuals who hang out of the door yelling out something about going to some destination. Now even though we thought we were quite conversant in Spanish NOT, we didn’t know what they were saying. (LOL).

On our first day after a big catch up sleep, we met Raul who was the young man we had been communicating with to get our accommodation. Raul was well educated, had travelled abroad to study English and was now studying French at an intermediate level. A high achiever with a yearning to travel more, and made us feel most welcome with both his hospitality and information about Lima. (Raul, thanks for keeping breakfast for us at 10.30am, after our late arrival that morning, much appreciated). Raul was also interested in our country, and from what we understand it is very difficult for Peruvians to get Visas, and the cost is beyond the means of most. The average wage in Peru, if you are fortunate to have work is about US$600 per month. The local currency (is Neuvo Soles ) and equates to about 2.65 Soles for US$1. Sounds like a lot but not much value. To exchange money there are Money X-Changers in the streets. These people wear Blue jackets, like high visibility vests except they are adorned with Euro and Dollar signs. These people are sanctioned by the banks and the city to conduct this business. And one of the things we noticed was there was an abundance of yellow Armoured trucks like Brinks/Armaguard (except more intimidating looking) continually trawling the streets to collect money from the Money X-changers. The rate of exchange was always better than the banks but we summised they work in collaboration with, or for the banks.

Jorge our guide at Huaca Pucllana

Raul gave us some great pointers about nationals food dishes (Cerviche, Yum! raw fish marinated in lime juice), places to see (there were many) and things to do that we wouldn’t have time to do before leaving on our trip to see the greater part of Peru. But we would be back in Lima in a few weeks.

On Raul’s “must do” list was a visit to the ancient ruins of Huaca Pucllana and only 2 blocks from where we were staying. Just brilliant. Because we arrived late in the afternoon we had our own personal guide, Jorge. He explained that this monument, in the centre of multi story buildings, and prior to it being set aside as cultural significance in 1981, was used as a motor-cross track – can you believe!

Archaeologists are still working digging on the site and over the years have found artefacts, skeletons – sacrificial and have tried to recreate the lifestyle by using seeds found to create gardens and utensils used in ancient times. Check out the following link for more info about the site - http://www.limaeasy.com/culture/huaca_pucllana.php or have a look at Google Images for Huaca Pucllana.

Sunset over the Pacifico

That evening we went to the Lacomar Centre, 3 levels of shopping and food court set on a cliff over the ”Oceana Pacifico”. So what else to do but have a bite to eat, drink and see the sunset over the ocean. I even gave a little wave to the folks back home on the other side of the Pacific. When I checked the Latitudes of both Cairns, Queensland and Lima, Peru there was very little difference in distance from the Equator. Cairns – 16 degrees S., Lima – 12 degrees S.

On the second day in we had just finished breakfast (at a reasonable hour) when the (can’t speak a word of English just a lot of head nodding) manager of the hostel summonsed me over to the phone. Somehow with a lot of hand waving, the message got across to me that the person on the line wanted to talk to an English speaking person – ME, why pick ME? Tony was there too. Anyway, with my little Spanish/English dictionary in hand, (read that as - always with me) I managed to find out that the caller was bringing someone to the hostel to find out some details ie Check in (La Salida) and accommodation. It was Raul’s day off, been in the country one day and now I was sitting in as receptionist. Hahhahaha ! Everyone was happy and we look forward to our return trip having rebooked with Casa Rodas 2 for when we get back from the tour - we re now in the good books.

One of the 3000 varieties of Peruvian potatoes

We spent more time investigating what’s in the supermarkets, comparing to prices at home and generally being inquisitive about life in Lima. We actually ordered food that we translated to be ie. Chicken (Pollo) and salad. Like the USA they love soda. The most popular here is Inca Cola, and the description we were given was it tasted like bubblegum. Turns out to be good old Creaming Soda, same colour, same taste. But made in Peru. There were also lots of fruits and veges we don't see at home like these potatoes. And these huge cobs of corn with white niblets. We found out that there are actually 3000 varieties of potatoes in Peru, don't believe it, we didn't either until we visited many markets on our trip. The shapes, colours and sizes are unbelievable.

Corn (maize) Peruvian style

Another thing that surprised us was the number of VWs in fairly good nick being driven around Lima. Tony used to have one many many years ago so they took our interest a little so we decided to take some pics of these. There was a Kombi in particular that we thought we might like to hire to drive around the country. The thought didn't last too long. Check 'em out.

Our last day in Lima was some more discovery, trying eagerly to learn more Spanish before we would venture into the depths of Peru. But first we had to check into our new accommodation at the Hotel Britania Miroflores and that evening meet the 15 people who we would be sharing our lives/time with over the next 3 weeks. We were wondering what our new G Adventures friends would be like ie. Would they be party animals, the quite ones down the back of the bus or just fun people to be with – I guess they were thinking the same of us.

That night after a quick meeting and some introductions and ice –breaking we went to a restaurant in the heart of Miraflores where some of us were introduced to some new foods as well as new friends. Of course we forgot many names, and on our way back tried to remember who was who. We didn’t have a problem remembering our new Peruvian guide’s name Alim Escobar. We all know of one of the worldest biggest drug lords/cocaine trafficker, plus head of a cartel kingpin and one mean mother called Pablo Escobar – well Alim tells us he is no relation – I thinks we all breathe a sigh of relief on that one! But hey, we are a bunch of foreigners in a country that possibly, only possibly, turns a blind eye to the cocaine that passes through the country and we have a tour guide with the surname Escabor – I’ve watched those cable TV shows where foreigners get caught drug smuggling, unaware of what they were involved in. And we will be travelling on a variety of buses, boats, and ferries. Yeah I’ve watched them - Banged Up Abroad!!!

During dinner we all had time to briefly get to know each other – I think it is going to be a really FUN trip with really FUN people.

A big Hola to –Alim our guide (Arequipa, Peru), Glen (Belgium), Stephanie (Switzerland), Johnny and Claire (Scotland), Hannah, Heather, Adam, David (Daveed), Nicola (UK), Andy and Raina (Hong Kong) and XiaoMin and QuanLu (Los Angeles)-sorry if I misspelt the names. And of course, our intrepid travellers, Tony and Liz.

Our next blog will be from somewhere in the heart of Peru, or with privileges - from a Peruvian jail.

Cheers