The Big Smoke, Lima

Lima

Rolling into Lima was CRAZY. The amount of pollution was ridiculous. In the downtown area, at night, you can actually see clouds of pollution in the headlights of cars at. It’s like a light fog. It’s hard to believe that people breathe this nasty air all day, every day. Luckily for me, I was headed to Mira Flores which is quite a ways from downtown Lima.

We got to our hostel in Mira Flores and were right in the main square which was beautiful. Lots of lights, like Vegas style. Flashing signs, lots of people, pimps, playas, and hustlas! Haha. But seriously it was a really nice area. Near by was a place called Larcomar which is situated right on the coast. It’s brand new and has a lot of things that feel like home like massive movie theaters, Starbucks, and Hooters (Stoked!).

We set up and just chilled that night. The next day we met up with Miguels good friend Mario who ended up being the key to our good times in this city. We also met up with his cousin Patty, and auntie Marina. If y’all didn’t know, Miguel was actually born in Lima. His dad is Peruana and his mom is Chilean; which is crazy because there is a major feud between the two countries. Well, most countries don’t like Chile, but I like to consider Miguel a leader and problem-fixer for the two neighboring countries. I’m always encouraging him to spark some sort of a solution for the two nations. Anyways he moved to Canada when he was 3 and never looked back. Now he has returned, SAN MIGUEL, to rebuild the burnt bridges of the Peru and Chilean people.

Anyways, back to Mario. This guy is the balls! He knows a lot of people and introduced us to all of them. He showed us the best parts of Lima and the best clubs. The first few days were spent getting adjusted to the craziness around us. There were MAD gringos and Cholos. A Cholo is a little Spanish thug that scrapes by by robbing, stealing and cheating. This city is packed with them! Mario took us to this black market with anything you could possibly want. I found the camera that I lost, same model so I bought it cause I missed it. I felt complete once again.

After settling, we thought it necessary to find an apartment in Mira Flores. After only a couple days of looking, we found a PIMP spot near the centre. It had 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and it was fully furnished! Set. We had a nice house warming party/barbeque with a bunch of people we met. We were stars because everyone lives with there family and we had the rule-free spot haha.

We got invited to the beach by a couple friends, Patty and Diane. We got into her jeep and drove down south a bit until we got to this cool little spot. We kinda had to watch our shit though because Cholos go to the beaches to stick people so I had one eye open the entire time haha. After the beach we hit a wicked little lookout point where we could see the entire coast line all the way to Callao which is North of Peru. With a bit of a hungry stomach, we went to this place called Bembos which is the Peruvian equivalent of McDonalds but waaaaaaaaaaay better! The burgers were as big as my head! When we were done there we were on the way back to Mira Flores when Diane put the jeep into this cement ditch! Hahaha. We were holding up so much traffic and needed like 7 guys to help us pick the side of the jeep up out of the ditch. It was so random haha. Once we fixed that problem, me and Miguel promised each other that we would never ride with her again…for our own safety haha.

The next day we went to Larcomar with Mario and a few other friends. We checked out The Prestige. What a dark movie! It was tight though. I recommend it. After we chilled in the area and eventually made it to Hooters!! Good times. If you’ve been to a Hooters and enjoyed it, you REALLY need to see a Hooters filled with Latina girls! Ma’ God! Lol.

The next few days were filled with a lot of chillin’. We met up with one of Marios friends Daniella and her friend Luli. They took us to Callao which is the most dangerous part of Lima. PACKED with Cholos! We went in the day time so it was all good haha. It was actually really nice. We went to La Punta which is a beach point in southern Callao. We got a couple pics but left quickly cause there was a pack of shady looking dudes hanging out close to us. After, we went to this dope little restaurant that had some great seafood and were lucky enough to be treated!!! YEEEEEEAH! Lol

One of the coolest gringo things that we did was with Miguels family. They took us to the main Lima square which hosts the parliament buildings, main church and museum. We learned a lot about the Spanish conquest of the city. We also got to see another great lookout point in Lima. It was hilarious because this was the main “Mirador,” but there is so much smog that you can’t see shit haha. It made for a good sunset though.

A couple days later we hit up the Lima ZOO! It was TIGHT! Man I have never seen Lions, Jaguars, and other crazy cats before. These guys were really chill though, they didn’t really do much. I wanted to throw something at them to get them all riled up but the security at the zoo looked pretty pro so I fought the urge. The best part was this Siberian Tiger. It was so cool looking! I felt bad because it was trapped in a cage but I wouldn’t be able to get so close to one if it weren’t for it so it’s all good. Also, the monkeys were cool to watch. One of them got its dish all wet and threw it at us. It hit the cage and the water on the dish sprayed all of us checking him out. Smart monkey.

The majority of the time in Lima was spent with all of the people we met, get-togethers at our crib, and going out salsa dancing. We had a blast! There’s not much stories to tell so I’ll let the pics do the talking. We planned to stay in Lima for 3-4 days and ended up staying for 3 weeks haha! We heard a lot of bad things about Lima but when you meet the right people and go to the right places you have a great time! We saw the best parts of Lima and surrounding areas thanks to Mario, Alvaro, Patty, Diane, Daniela, Marina, Vanessa, Carlos, Katia, Licet, Patricia, Tia Marina, Lechuga just to mention a few. If you guys read this drop me an email and let me know where the next party is haha! Thanks for everything, I hope we meet again.

We went to Huacachina (my next blog) with Mario for a few days but came back to Lima (well a beach city called Lobos which is close to Lima). Alvaro has a house on the beach there and it was cool because we weren’t expecting to see everyone again. We spent the next couple days in the sun at his crib. It was a perfect way to end our Lima experience. After our goodbyes, Miguel and I jumped a bus to Arequipa to head to the Colca Canyon which is the deepest canyon in the world. We got a lot of exercise and amazing photos. I’ll post it all soon so keep an eye out.

Come to think of it..my next blog won’t be Huacachina, it’s going to be my New Years/Birthday experience (crazy!! Haha) since it just recently happened and it won’t make sense posting in later in January. So I’m mixing it up for a minute so check back soon…


ps...this blog has ALOT of pics because a lot of people tell me they enjoy them so this one´s for you guys!

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