Blogs from Lima, Lima, Peru, South America - page 82

Landed in Cusco in the early afternoon today. On the flight I coincidentally spoke to some people who I had met from the plane from Atlanta two days earlier. I like Cusco very much. Many colonial churches, a large central square (Plaza de Armas), and many people. I looked for little Z´s carved into buildings until I realized I am not in Mexico - I would have a good emoticon to go with the comment, but this keyboard is a little confusing... Anyway, I am experiencing the expected altitude sickness of the first day. Not too bad, but a little dizzy, faster heart rate, faster breathing. I think acclimation takes about a day. A German traveller at the hostel explained his was a little worse, with headaches. If I can get pictues uploaded tonight they will ... read more

Today I explored Miraflores and then central Lima. Miraflores was a quick walk, I found the park nearby and walked through some of the stores. The streets are very noisy, both here and in Central Lima, as taxi drivers make up the majority of the drivers and are often honking to find fare or get people in front of them moving. Boston has nothing on Lima with regard to driving... In Central Lima I visted Plaza de Armas and Plaza San Martin. The vendors are quite persistent - a tatoo artist in his early/mid 20s started walking with me and conversing. He sort of was a tour guide in this exchange. It was nice to get the practice Spanish, and I did so well that he got lunch and 6 soles.... he actually knew of vegetarian ... read more

Saturday After a 16-hour night bus ride from Cuzco, I arrive in the Peruvian capital of Lima at around 11am on a Saturday morning. I plan to be here for about a week. Most backpackers cringe at the thought of spending so much time in this city. The weather is dreary, the local beaches are crap, crime is rampant, and there aren't really a lot of sites to see. But I spent two weeks here several years ago, and happen to know that the city can be tremendous fun if you know the right people and where to go. Unfortunately, I'm not terribly close to any of the Limeños that I know living here at the moment. So the week will actually be spent focusing on four goals. - The cab driver drops me off at ... read more

I have finished my first tour...and i can´t believe just how quickly 45 days can go... but to return to the story...so a quick flight took us to arequipa which is a very pretty colonial town - which has some very decent restaurants...just a quick note in terms of food to let you know what sort of stuff we have been eating...llama, alpaca, guinea pig, ceviche (raw fish in lemon juice), stuffed potatoes...seem to make up the peruvian diet...and all are very good...as are the pisco sours...the cocktail here... after a night in arequipa we headed out to the colca canyon...which is apparently the second deepest canyon in the world...and i can confirm it was pretty deep....and again saw shitloads of llamas and alpacas etc....then headed to some thermal baths which were nice if not a ... read more

Up early and feeling much better I’m pleased to report. We had an 0800 Taca flight to Lima to catch so we carried the backpacks down the stairs from hell for one last time. The cab cost S8 (NZ$4) and we were at the airport before 0600 to check in. I tried my luck - or more correctly my stomachs luck - on some vegetable soup whilst Jo went for the more traditional Peruvian breakfast of chocolate cake. The flight was only 5 minutes late departing and the Airbus A320 had plenty of legroom, both luxuries on this side of the world. After so much long distance travelling in the last three weeks the hour flight literally flew by and before we knew it we were back at our first point of call in Peru - ... read more