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Published: September 23rd 2008
Leaving London
a very heavy rucksack.. something I would later regret!Trying to pack just one bag for six months travel was more of a challenge than I thought and seemed to take forever. Was make-up really necessary? Hell yes. Jeans? Definitely. The trial pack went fine but the final one made me feel and look like a pack horse. I was adamant I would need it all though and got the train to London. But after carrying my rucksack to Clapham I realised there and then I would be doing a repack. I suppose it didn't help that my rather large first aid kit looked like I was going to the Everest by myself. Luckily when I got to Sarah's she made me see sense that I really didn't need 4 moisturisers and space was made. Got a taxi at 5am and after a few pictures of me posing with the rucksack i was through departures and on my way to Lima via Madrid and I was very very excited..I was FINALLY going travelling!
The guy sitting next to me on the plane was rather amusing and seemed concerned that little 'ol me was going to South America by myself. He gave me great advice like "short men are the
Not a bad view
Arriving into Lima most dangerous" - isn't that the truth! ha ha. Apparently short men in Lima carry guns to mug you - lovely. I noticed the guy had bought a carrier bag full of Rizla's which is odd as surely they sell them in SA. He also looked a bit dodgy and I thought he looked like a drug dealer. I didn't really sleep on the plane so when I arrived in Lima I was so tired and jet lagged and expecting to be mugged the minute I stepped out the airport, and felt rather paranoid when this guy kept smiling at me and looked like he was waiting for me. Embaressingly I thought he had put some drugs in my bag while I was away from my seat and therefore went to the corner of the airport to completely empty my daypack.. just incase. He didn't, but I put this all down to being tired and in a strange country! At least immigration had a sense of humour. The guy called his colleague over while he was checking my passport and they called me 'Clairo Blanco' and were putting their arms against mine and laughing at how white I was. Yep
my first experience of a hostel
such a shit hole!!! Luckily this was a one off. I'm hilarious.
I was greeted by a short taxi driver the hostel had booked for me. He seemed rather sweet and he didn't look like he was carrying a gun. He could only speak a little english and i can't speak spanish so there was lots of gesturing and smiling and us both looking like idiots. The drive to the hostel was something else as the driving here is so dangerous - there is no highway code - anything goes and it was a hairy ride. The cars weave in and out of lanes without indicating, and it seems the indicators are purely decoration. Basically it's the sort of driving people in the uk would love to get away with. One guy indicated left but got his passenger to stick his arm out the window to turn right. The taxi driver liked to take a few short cuts but then turned the headlights off as we were going down the side streets!! Those that know me well know I'm not the best car passenger at the best of times so although he couldn't understand me, I think he understood the "whoa watch out!" I seemed to shout alot. I
My ´ventilation´ in the room
When I opened my cupboard there was a hole in the top which ended up here... my fresh air. You have to admire the genius... was sitting there absolutely exhausted from no sleep and was quite disorientated and held my breath all the way to the hostel. It was a real eye opener though. Lima is so poor and much more than I was expecting. When you drive you have to keep your bag out of sight as people will literally open the car door and take it at the traffic lights. In the uk you will have people selling you flowers or washing your windows at traffic lights, but in Lima they wash your hub caps even though the car is so dirty you can't tell what colour the car is. I felt like I needed to roll around in the dirt to blend in. I am a bit of an advert for North Face and Berghaus at the moment!
The hostel was a shit hole - no other way to describe it!! I had nothing to compare it to but I knew I´d made a mistake when I turned up, but you live and learn. It looked completely different to the photos I had seen on the internet. I took one look at the room and planned on leaving the next day.
Plaza de Armes, Lima
otherwise known as ...the centre It was very dark, dingy and my 'window' was a cupboard which had the top cut off to make some makeshift ventilation to the roof. At least I had a room to myself and my own bathroom which was something. I sat on the bed and thought "what the hell have I done?", but apparently this feeling is experienced by everyone who first goes travelling. I was well and truly out my comfort zone!! I decided i couldn't stay in that room any longer so went up the bar which was just as dingy, and met a 19 yr old guy called Liam who was really nice and we chatted alot about travelling etc. After a few beers I decided to call it a night and got back to my room which was like walking into a nightclub. It appears my room backed onto the strip of clubs behind the hostel, so from 9pm to 6am I had a party practically in my room. If you can´t beat em.. join em! I went back up to the bar and the owner Jose decided to show me the bars. They all had the sort of security you would expect at Waterloo
station if there was a heightened alert of a terrorist attack. I got the feeling Jose was showing me off as the peruvian men love blonde hair, but I can't really complain as I loved the attention! Jose wanted to salsa dance and I can't, so the next bit was rather amusing. I was in no mood as I was so tired, but since I was not going to get any sleep with the music, I decided 'what the hell' and did the worst attempt at salsa dancing you´ve ever seen. Jose tried to teach me but his moves were hysterical. He started with his hands in the air (think Karate Kid) and was gyrating his hips all over the place. Trying not to laugh I did my own dancing and his way of teaching me was to say "just dance like you REALLY want me". Once I'd stopped laughing I decided to call it a night and went back to my room which was like sleeping in the back of the club, which I was.
After an ok nights sleep I decided to stay as it was safe and clean enough (ish). Did some sightseeing in the city
Below Lima Cathedral
bit crowded down there.. the next day with a guide from the hostel which actually turned out to be more like a chaperone. I should have realised a guide who can't speak great english was going to be a problem but since I can't speak spanish either i didn't have much choice. I was still really tired and wasn't really taking anything in.
I went to see Lima cathedral although I´ve seen better in Prague and Barcelona. My guide and I followed the official english speaking guide (what was that all about?) and ended up having to tip him too. Much more interesting was the San Francisco church. It´s built on top of a network of underground tunnels (called catacombs) which were used as a cemetery during colonial times. It´s rather eerie as there are appromiately 80,000 bodies down there and the monks arranged all the skulls and bones into various circles and by bone type.. odd. OCD perhaps?
I tried the Inca Kola which is like liquid bubblegum and also the local peruvian dish which I can´t remember the name of, but it´s potato, cheese and chilli and I think an egg... I can say I´ve tried it but won´t be eating
it again. The two course lunch and a drink came to GBP2.00 Bargain. I'm not a fan of Lima though and over the next few days tried hard to find something impressive to visit but struggled. I did buy two fleeces though for a fiver each so rather pleased.
I found Liam in the bar after my sightseeing and we decided to cook together as it would be cheaper.. so he thought! He was thinking pasta and tomato sauce, and I was thinking Gordon Ramsay´s pasta with bacon, peppers, chilli etc. He didn´t know what a courgette looked like! He found it very amusing being sent to find tomato paste and an aubergine as this was clearly not a travellers diet. I ended up cooking and made enough for 6 so shared it out with others in the bar, including one american who asked what year I was at uni! Spent the next few days just relaxing and going to the beach, although it was fairly cloudy. I´ve noticed it´s not as dangerous as people make out. As long as you´re a bit streetwise and don´t look like a target then you´re ok. On my last night in the
hostel we all went to the club again which was brilliant. It was packed and with a great party atmosphere. I love the fact the emphasis is more on dancing than drinking and I really noticed how peruvian men love to dance. You would never get english guys on a dancefloor unless they'd had 5 pints. One local came up to me with a piece of paper which said "wool you donce wit me". haha. The men are so short here and most come up to my shoulders. I think I had most of the oxygen in the club being 5ft 9. It was a funny night though and i can't remember the last time I danced so much.
So after a few days getting used to Lima and finding my travelling feet, I moved to a hotel where I would meet my group - i'm doing a G.A.P tour across Peru and Bolivia for 31 days. Went to the welcome meeting and the group was 5 girls and 9 blokes ranging from 19 to 37. Some of those blokes looked so hacked off.. I think they were after alot of young girls and realised after 5 minutes they
The Catacombs below the church
The remains of 80,000 people are down here and someone thought it would be cool to arrange them into a circle and by bone type.... would not be pulling for a month (well.. within the group anyway!). First impressions are always interesting as after we all introduced ourselves I wondered how the hell the group was going to gell as we looked a rather odd bunch, but that didn't last long. My room mate is a great girl called Lois from Liverpool who can talk as much as me and is up for a laugh so at least there was one person I knew i could have a laugh with. Our tour leader Ruben, a rather cheeky flirty peruvian, went through the whole itinerary and mentioned that the next day we might have to get a private transfer to Pisco as there is rioting there and we can't risk taking the public bus as the rioters are robbing buses and setting them on fire. Great. So with the prospect of being burnt alive, we had no problem making our first group decision to arrive in Pisco in one piece. Ruben said he doesn't want anyone being late and if we are 10 mins late for anything then we will be left behind. But.. peruvian time means that we might be leaving 10 mins after the
Peru´s version of Coca Cola
nice try.. but it doesn´t come close to the real thing.. alloted time. Hmm.. double standards! But then I smiled and realised that peruvian time is actually Claire time! We all went out for a welcome dinner which was great as barriers came down and we started to get to know each other and it was a really good group. Instead of going back to the hotel after dinner, I managed to drag Lois, Ruben and an irish girl called Orla back to the club I had been going to for the last few nights. It was excellent. We drank too much tequila and danced alot. I think Ruben realised his tour group was not going to be quiet, and we were also thankful we didn't have a boring tour leader either. More to follow..
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