Lima

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Getting off the plane from Iquitos in Lima was a shock! Bo and I were both in shorts and t-shirt when we stepped out of the plane and into the cold night of Lima (15 degC). Outside the aiport was even worse: no mototaxis but only cars. We were back to some form of civilisation!

After having put on a few layers and a little half hour ride with a crazy taxi driver, we found our "party" hostel in the trendy and arty suburb of Barranco.

For our first day in Lima we decided we wanted to explore the historical center and its colonial buildings. We visited the cathedral, the dominican convent (with an amazing cloister), the franciscan monastery and much more. By 4 pm we were saturated with culture and decided it was time to head to the Plaza San Martin where a massive screen had been set up to follow the Chile-Peru football match. The square was absolutely packed and for once it helped to be a head taller than everyone else. However, the crowd was quickly silenced as the Chileans scored within the first minute and then again 10 minutes later. At half time, it was 2-0 and we felt as sad as our hosts. We therefore decided to try and find a bar to watch the second half. We found a lovely rotisseria and sat next to a nice peruvian guy now living in Germany. The good chat compensated for the bad fooball; Peru ended up losing 4-2. It was time to go back to our hostel and to bed after a long day.

The next day and a half were spent in the rich suburbs of Miraflores and Barranco, which ressembles a lot of other rich southamerican suburbs with the big houses, the parks, the big cars etc. In Miraflores, we had amazing ceviche (raw fish and sea food marinated in a lime sauce) and apparently one of the best in town considering the queue outside the restaurant!

After a bit more than two days in Lima we decided it was time to move onto our next destination: Arequipa. A 17h bus journey was waiting ahead of us!

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