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Published: December 4th 2007
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Day 6 Friday 30th November 2007 Lima, Peru.
I arrived in Lima at 08:25 following a long sleepless flight. It was a free for all outside the airport as I was mobbed by the dozens of taxi drivers. I negotiated a price of 40 Soles (£6.50) for the 45 minute journey to the hotel Girasoles which is located in the Miraflores district of Lima. The journey in the 1973 Datsun Sunny was fun to say the least, it was rush hour and there are no rules in terms of lane discipline etc.. Much of Lima is like a run down Spanish city and the place is shrouded in low cloud and fog for much of the year but apparently it does lift in January for 8 weeks or so. Karl at Travel Nation had booked an expensive single room for me and boy was I glad. I felt like I needed five showers and two days sleep. I had the showers, just two of them and headed out for some food with a crowd who had all just finished their adventures in Peru. Back at the hotel I grabbed about four hours sleep before heading out into the hustle
of central Miraflores for some dinner and then back for an early night.
Day 7 Saturday 1st December 2007 Lima, Peru.
I didn’t wake up until 11 this morning! It must be the partying in New York and the sleepless flight down to Lima, well I must have needed it! I caught a taxi down into the center of Lima, well that’s where I thought we were going however the taxi driver miss-understood where I wanted to go so we ended up at a shopping mall on the wrong side of town (I am going to have to learn a little Spanish! Ha!) So off we went again and he eventually dropped me at a statue in the middle of a roundabout. I still thought it was the wrong place so I decided to have a walk round. The city is vast and many of the streets look the same and with my nonexistent Spanish I was on a looser all the way. So after walking around for two hours and seeing nothing of any historical value I grabbed a taxi back to Miraflores. Never mind if anything it taught me a lesson - do a
little research and make some notes!
Back at the hotel I chilled out for a while and booked a tour of Lima with an English speaking guide for tomorrow. I WILL get to see the sights! Ha! Later on I got chatting with the group that were setting off to do the Inca Trail on Sunday and ended up going for dinner with three English girls from the group. It was nice to have a meaningful conversation that I actually understood. Following dinner it was one drink and back to the hotel for 11.30. (I still feel really tired)
Day 8 Sunday 2nd December 2007 Lima, Peru.
Well, I made breakfast this morning, just! I had booked my tour for today and my driver, Roberto picked me up from the hotel at 11. His English was good and we headed down into the centre of Lima passing the Justice Palace on the way to Plaza San Martin, which dates from the 1900s, and was created to honor José de San Martin, known as Santo de la Espada and the Knight of the Andes. From there we headed to Plaza Mayor, which is the main square
in Lima and is home to the Plaza Mayor fountain and the Palacio de Gobierno which was the house of Marquis Francissco Pizarro who was the founder of Lima City in 1535. The palace that stands now mainly dates from 1938 after the original palace was destroyed by fire in 1921. Also in the square is the Cathedral which is built on the site of an Incan Temple, again started in 1535, however the current building dates from 1797. History lesson over. The square was very busy because of some ceremony at the cathedral which involved all of the armed forces and the Fire and Police forces. We also visited the Convento y musgo de San Francissco which is a church built in the 17th Century and The Fort of Lima which I don’t know much about because the guide only spoke Spanish. The last stop was the Larco Museum. A nice place with thousands of pieces including an erotic pieces room! Roberto kindly dropped me back in Miraflores where I grabbed some late lunch and headed back to the hotel.
At 5.30 I went to Inca Trail briefing and met the crew who would become my travelling buddies
for the next week. It was pretty much as expected letting us all know what we would be doing and when. The early morning calls were booked for 03:15 to enable us to catch the 06:00 flight to Cusco. We all then
went for dinner and got to know each other. There is Nick from Kent who I will be rooming with. Kynan and Tamara from Sydney. Marco, Christina, Boris, KP and Neil all from the States.
Following dinner the sensible ones retired to the hotel to grab a few hours sleep. Me, Nick, Kynan and Tamara decided against our better judgment to make a night of it! We went to the old pub in Miraflores until they kicked us out when they shut at about 01:00. We had met Dave from States who was in Lima for Spanish lessons to help with his relationship with his Peruvian girlfriend. We all headed for the only place still open which was Tequilla Rock. It was a seedy place full of young attractive Peruvian girls, needless to say this wasn’t your average nightclub. We all had a laugh and headed back to the hotel for about 03.00. (Nick a little earlier....
lightweight!)
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Mark W
non-member comment
Good Reading
Hi Dave, thanks for copying me into your blog. great reading. Good luck and keep up with the good stories.