Blogs from Miraflores, Lima, Lima, Peru, South America - page 55

To all...this is short and sweet... Its been a journey to get where we are now...and we apologize for not writing in a while...but we have been drunk pretty much every night since the last blog... we are back in Lima, Peru...as much as we said we were glad to leave Peru, we are so happy to be back...when you are here, the recogintion of the fact that you are in a different place is very evident...Argentina was great, but the comforts of home were everywhere and available...this place is different...its more real...and, and i stress and,...we have zero money and peru is so much cheaper... so, how we got here...funny ...with no money, our only option was bus from BA argentina...turns out our bus was this little piece of crap. We last minute decided ... read more

Lima´s mass transit is about as different from San Francisco´s as you can get. From the airport we took a minibus to Miraflores where the Sisters of Mercy own a house. These buses are owned by a private business and leased out to local people. A team of 2 guys will rent the bus (usually an old Toyota with seats for about 10, made in the 70s or 80s) for about S./30 per day. One person drives while the other hangs out the slide door, shouting at pedestrians to ask if they want to get on. He also collects the money (S./ 1 for a short journey, 2 for longer). They drive along prescribed routes (there are people who sit on street corners all day counting buses to monitor the performance) throughout the day, trying to ... read more

We are in Lima, Peru! Can't believe it! We are leaving for Cusco tomorrow so we are having a mellow evening here at the Loki Hostal. A really nice hostal, with lots of cool travelers, right in the center of Miraflores, which is the nice part of Lima. We went to a fantastic outdoor mall, right on the cliffs above the ocean. LA is smoggy, but it would feel like fresh air compared to here... crazy buses with people jumping on and off without it stopping, playing frogger everytime we cross the street, and dodging through the gauntlet of people trying to entice you into their restaurant. Not much to report other than that...we are really looking forward to Cusco, we hear its really cool, well cold I guess I should say. ... read more

...and it had only just begun! Big news in the world of Lizzie and Spud - Mark has arrived! Yay! It is fun to have an addition to the group, and such a welcome one at that (Faye almost peed with excitement before his flight got in yesterday)! Having spent the day wandering around central Lima, we are all travelling to Ayacucho tomorrow on an overnight bus, and from there, who knows?! Heading towards Cusco, ultimately...and anyone who read my last entry can guess how ridiculously happy I am about THAT! Much has occurred since I last wrote; Faye and I set off from Cusco to Arequipa, which was a minor disappointment as we had been told such wonderful things about it, but in comparison to where we had just been, it was a let down! ... read more

We touched down in Lima Airport at about lunch time and we were both shocked at the contrast between here and Brazil / Argentina. At last it felt as though we really were in the depths of SA! Although Lima is the capital of Peru it was very under developed compared to Rio and BA. We hopped in our taxi and feared for our lives.....the driving was mental. They don't like to use their breaks, they'd prefer to use their horns!!! Seems to work mind you! haha. We stayed in the Mirofloures area of the city which is where all the hostels are. We hadn't booked in anywhere and couldn't get into our first choice hostel but wondered down the road and managed to get into a place called "The Flying Dog". It was briliant! ... read more