Lima

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After our Machu Picchu adventure we spent another 1,5 days in Cusco before boarding a bus to Lima. This was our longest busride so far: 21 hours. If you look at a map, Cusco and Lima are not that far apart from each other but they are divided by mountains, so most of the trip was just up- and downhill zigzaging through the mountains. Pretty boring. We strongly recommend the Norwegian approach to overcome mountains: bridge, tunnel, bridge, tunnel, etc.

For the long travel, we booked a very nice "cama suit" bus with comfy seats, blankets, pillows, dinner, breakfast and onboard entertainment. It felt like being on a business class flight or what we imagine a business class flight feels like. The movies that they showed however ranged from mediocre to really really bad and scored an average of 3 on IMDB. Tough.

Arrving in Lima, back at sea level after weeks in the Andean mountains, we were greeted by thick clouds and fog that would never really disappeared so our impression of the city were a little "cloudy". Nevertheless, we did a little sightseeing in the city center, strolled along the waterfront promenade, watched surfers and explored the neighbourhood Miraflores where we were staying. Apparently the safest in Lima, even though all houses were surrounded by high walls and electric fences...

The most annoying thing in Lima was the way that taxi drivers and public buses tried to get attention. They honked at us and every other tourist/pedestrian on the street. So basically every second car that passed us by honked. It was nerve racking.

The most time in Lima however we spent obtaining our temporary passports. After a visit to the German ambassy, I am now a proud owner of a green passport. Our next trip was the Swedish consulate where Grim filled out all the paperwork, left a whooping 252 usd fee that took us 1,5 hours to pay because we had to walk to the bank where after 30 min waiting we were told it was the wrong bank, went to the next bank, waiting another 30 min to be told that Grim cannot pay the fee without an identification (DOAH), luckily I had my card with me and a copy of my passport. Ridiculous Peruvian bureaucracy. Two days later, Grim got his pink (!) temporary passport and there was only one more thing on our list: new entrance stamps.

Whoever read Kafka's "The Trial" will get an idea of how the Migration office in Lima works. Numourous queues, running up and down stairs, waiting, paperwork, waiting, getting stamps, more waiting, copying, going to a bank, waiting, stamping, waiting... Our passports went through a lot of hands and offices and after two hours we left the Migration office with fancy official stamps in our passports. Success!

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