Arrived safely in Lima with backpack in toe

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First major milestone met, good start to the trip, despite the delays in both Air France flights.



Even though the weather was great in Edinburgh on Saturday morning, there was delays in Paris CDG airport, so we had to wait 30 mins before taking off from Edinburgh, then we made up the time by the time we arrived in Paris only to be faced with a 30 mins for the bus to come and pick us up....and they say the Greeks are laid back & unreliable, the French are just the same! (don´t mean to offend but everyone on the flight going for connections was rather annoyed with the French this morning). I on the other hand had every confidence that I would make the connecting flight even though it was due to depart by the time we arrived in the correct terminal gate....



So all my walking was put to the test this morning when I had to sprint up 2 flights of stairs with the smaller backpack and run more than 100 metres to make the boarding of my flight to Lima....it took another 15 mins for my breathing to return to normal once I got on the plane! The good news is that I managed to clock up all my GCC steps while at Edinburgh airport this morning since I decided to just pace up and down the terminal before boarding, plus my sprint in Paris and multiple visits to the loo during both flights have ensured a rather respectable contribution of 18,193 steps. That makes up for yesterday´s lower contribution of 9,507 steps, it must have been all the cake I eat when I got home I could not motivate myself to go for a walk....I just pottered around the flat instead.



Back to the trip....the Air France crew made up for the delays by providing great service and the food was rather enjoyable, however the seats were not the comfiest and the flight from Paris to Lima was packed, so very little room to manoeuvre.



So far I have put to good use my very limited Spanish vocabulary "Ola" to say hello and then quickly followed by "No habla Espanol" I don´t speak Spanish, since after my initial greeting I have been faced with a burst of Spanish which I have no idea what it means....



Highlights for me today, were the fact that I was not body frisked at either airport....this is a first for me....I always seemed to get this despite me removing belts / watch / shoes in the past....so today was a great change! Then closely followed by being greeted by a sign with my name (spelt correctly!) on it held by my pre-booked taxi driver....it was such a relief to have got that organised before I headed off, since there were lots of taxi drivers touting for business, it reminded me on Egypt all over again :- (



The journey to the hostel, reminded me a bit of Egyptian driving....lots of horns, old cars and minibuses and everyone driving into each other but no crashes....truly amazing that you survive unscathed. This time I felt relaxed and not horrified since I thought the driving might be like this....the great news is that I can walk every where for next couple of days, just need to avoid the cars turning into the pedestrians even though the traffic lights are on the green man...obviously pedestrians are bottom of the food pile here.... Lots of dogs either roaming in packs or on a lead or balcony of their owner....did not expect to see so many of them in Lima!



A couple of things worth pointing out, there is a 6 hour time difference with the UK and the weather is much hotter than the UK it was a balmy 23C when I arrived @ 4:30pm



Once I got into my dorm and located a bottom bunk, I decided to head out and find the local supermarket and shopping mall, to get some water & juice. The hostel is centrally located and has a very laid back worldly feel to it, lots of travellers are booked in but as there are lots of communal areas, you are not crammed in. Due to heat the windows are all open and it sounds like it might be noisy with the traffic tonight, but my lack of sleep (only managed a couple of cat naps on the flights today) and the past weeks sleep deprivation due to my heightened excitement levels, I feel as if I am going to have a very early night once I have some pasta and have a much needed shower I will just crash, this way I can start the exploring tomorrow with the camera.



Finally to top today off....Sweeden (my favourite entry after the 2 semi-finals) have won the Eurovision 2012 song contest....so glad I have not lost the ability to predict this but even more pleased that it was a worthy entry...well done Loreen ;-)



Until the next update take care

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Comments

[mum]

journey
Tania glad to hear you arrived safely, as they say all the hiccups are all part of the adventure.hope you managed to get a good sleep.

[taniav]

Slept like a log!
Managed to get 8 hours uninterupted sleep and then after a comfort visit @ 6am i got another 4 hours, so a total of 12 hours sleep....needless to say i felt absolutely fantastic for my day´s exploring! Will blog again in a couple of days....really enjoying Lima! Lots of love tx

[Sarah]

The joys of CDG Airport....the few times I went through there, it always resulted in delays...lol!! Lima sounds exciting - looking forward to hearing of your adventures around the city.