Blogs from Lima, Lima, Peru, South America - page 83

Turning down the Colombian and his repeated begging to stay in Cuenca, I was off to Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city. My friend Andrea lives there and I was so happy to be seeing her, I was smiling and bouncing down the street when I finally heard her voice on the phone! It just happened to be the perfect time for both of us, and we had a lot of catching up to do. Andrea lives in the newly formed American-style suburbs of Guayas. The house she lives in is a long structure with 4 'apartments' belonging to her family and their help. So even though they are together in a sense, they all have their private space. Andrea's space is bare, hardly any furniture, white, with lots of windows overlooking the yard which runs the length ... read more

Als meisje van 10 had ik, net zoals vele andere kinderen van ongeveer een jaar of 10, topografie op school. Ik leerde dat Lima de hoofdstad was van Peru en een ezelsbruggetje dat ik daarbij had was dat het alletwee 4 letters had. Dat ezelsbruggetje heeft tot op de dag van vandaag prima gewerkt want ik heb het altijd onthouden. Hoewel ik tot voor relatief kort niet had gedacht dat ik er ooit zou komen. Het leek me ver weg, arm en simpelweg niet leuk. Ik was nu dan ook erg benieuwd hoe het er zou zijn, in Lima, de hoofdstad van Peru; N´s verwachtingen waren in elk geval hooggespannener (hoger gespannen?) dan die van mij. Hoe naast kon ik er zitten? We hadden een slaapplaats geboekt aan een groot plein in de hippe wijk Miraflores ... read more

Hi everyone! We´ve been here two days and it feels like home already. Before we left for the town yesterday we spent hours hiding money in socks and thinking of complicated defence ploys, but by the time we´d been side-tracked by our very talkative but gem-filled hostel owner, Angelo, we forgot to be nervous and felt totally Peruvian with our first step outdoors. It´s a cool springtime here which works well because the English summer hasn´t prepared us for marching in the sun. Angelo knows everything about everything and was telling us about the 5000 potato varieties (he reckons potato was genetically invented by the Peruvians) and the Potato Institute which is working to solve world hunger with potatoes. I mentioned that mum is a potato enthusiast herself and he immediately gave me two recipes, which ... read more

Hey everyone!! Finally got a move on and am now in Peru! My first impression of Peru, after arriving in Piura after crossing the border from Ecuador, was not good! Everyone was trying to rip us off ... taxi drivers, money exchange... everyone! There was rubbish everywhere, the food was horrible, the men were sleazy and the bus we had to wait 10 hours for to Lima was really expensive! :o( But apparanlty the driving and roads in Peru are even more dangerous than everywhere else so we decided its better to be safe than sorry and went with the more expensive, better company! We were on the top floor and had the panaroramic seats so by the time we got on the bus we were happy bunnies again! :o) Even more so, when for one ... read more

After much anticipation I´m finally in South America! I arrived in Lima, Perú a couple of days ago and I already having a fantastic time. This week is all about learning Spanish and the way of life over here. I booked a weeks worth of classes at the local language school and am staying with a Peruvian family to get an insight into life over here, to practice my Spanish, and help teach some English. First impressions of Peru I arrived late in the night, minus my bags, running very late, feeling somewhat anxious that the taxi transfer I had pre-booked was long gone. I decided to brave the masses of dodgy taxi touts waiting in the foyer and try to find my driver, Mr Garcia. Fortunately, after ten minutes of hunting I found that Mr ... read more