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Lima wasn’t what I expected, in fact I had no idea what to expect from my first South American country. I think I expected to be confronted by poverty but staying in the cosseted neighborhood of Miraflores any sign of the struggling sprawling suburbs is deftly swept under the tourist carpet.
Having been here for nearly 2 weeks I can say that Miraflores is a pretty nice place to hang around. It’s perched on the Lima coast high up on the cliffs with glossy apartment blocks, swanky hotels, lush green parks, department stores and numerous souvenir shops tempting the cash from your wallet. It must have the highest concentration of shoe shops I’ve ever seen, they must out number clothes shops by 4 to 1 at my reckoning. In amongst the polished cars of the well off locals the rusty VW beetle makes a regular appearance, (well you can almost count to 10 and guarantee you’ll see another one passing you in the street) and huge antique busses jostle for position with a conductor shouting the route to tempt passengers aboard. The parks are manicured to within an inch of their life. In Park Kennedy in the centre of Miraflores
they sell toffee apples and popcorn from street stalls. During the day you may see the odd person catching a quick siesta on a park bench but in the evening the benches seem to be for the canoodling couples, and there are lots of them!
Miralflores doesn’t fail to throw up a few surprises every now and again. The supermarket may play ‘happy birthday’ over the tannoy for you on your special day, make an announcement followed by the customers giving you a round of applause, you may also be lucky enough to be entertained at the traffic lights by jugglers and unicyclists or alternatively you may run into the riot police on a quiet sunny afternoon. One particularly unremarkable day I walked down the main street and watched as a police van drew up and off loaded a dozen riot police. Within seconds, with lots of shouting and use of shields they had barred the way back! I took a quick side step into an accessory shop where after a few minutes I realized that they were just redirecting a protest that had gone astray down the wrong street. Peace returned as quickly as it had started.
I’ve taken a few day tours here to explore the city. I’ve seen the changing of the guards at the Presidents official residence, the grizzly exposed bones of 25,000 people in catacombs under a beautiful church, hidden frescos in cloisters, pre-Inca pottery and gold artifacts, vultures circling the city skies, dazzling lit crucifixes shining down over the city at night and Inca ruins at Pachacama. I’ve filled my days here reading, soaking up the atmosphere, having the odd manicure or pedicure (bargain at £2 and £5 respectively), trying cheviche and sushi with some nice girls from the hostel, even going to see Oasis at the National Stadium but mostly I’ve been stuck on the internet booking and re-booking a tour. I hadn’t booked anything before I arrived here and what I did book fell through, twice. Now my tour doesn’t start until the 14th of May so I’ve decided to nip to Chile for 10 days until then. How exciting! I’m feeling frustrated I’ve been in Peru for so long and I feel I haven’t accomplished much or seen anything bar Lima. Going to Chile wasn’t on my agenda but it makes best use of my time while I wait
for my tour to start. I know the sights of Peru will be worth the wait.
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