South America Day 57 - Miraflores

---

Today we are flying to Lima. I’m so looking forward to returning to sea level – very sea level as our hotel is only 400 metres from the ocean.

We are back to flying with LATAM, the only airline we have used in South American without problems. And sure enough, we are due to land at 11.06, and by 11.07 we are sitting in a taxi en route to our hotel.

We are staying in Miraflores, an upmarket suburb by the Pacific. The hotel is nice but backs onto a scrap metal yard, so is rather noisy during the day. But if you peer over the car wrecks, you can just glimpse the ocean.

After lunch in the neighbouring chicken shop, we go for a walk on the promenade which runs along the cliff top. It’s a pleasant stroll through gardens overlooking the ocean. It’s rather like being in Bournemouth with one major exception; much of the city’s sewage is pumped straight into the water. There’s a stink of shit on the ocean breeze which is quite unsettling.

We walk as far as Parque del Amor, a park lined by a mosaic wave wall and dominated by a giant orange sculpture of a couple kissing. Then we return to the hotel via a general store. I want a 6-pack of beer so ask for six cans; ‘seis latas’. He looks bemused, I have to point at what I want. He corrects me, and says I want ‘un six-pack’. I ask why it’s not ‘un seis-pack’? He looks at me like I’m completely bonkers, but I think I have a valid point…

---