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Published: October 3rd 2008
Lima Cathedral
Located in Lima CentroI am quickly learning to adjust to not ingesting the water here in Peru. I am so paranoid about getting sick that I hold my breath every time the water even gets near my face. Better safe than sorry though.
We ate a buffet breakfast at the hotel this morning and then met with Viviana (our travel agent) to collect our final itinerary and all of our documentation. Our trip has only begun, but so far Peru Tourism has been a wonderful company. I was so wary because there are SO many Peru tour companies on the internet and it´s hard to judge which is best to book through, but so far, so good (knock on wood)!
Our hotel is two blocks away from one of the main streets, Avenue Larco, so we wandered down that and stopped at Western Union to exchange some money. There is no shortage of places to exchange your money here...we´ve seen about two per block so far. We walked about five blocks down to the Larcomar shopping center, located right next to the ocean. Ít´s a really cool shopping center with several shops selling local goods and Alpaca (although quite overpriced), as well
Sol del Oro Suites Apart
The outside of our hotel in Lima as a Starbucks, Tony Roma, and even a Hooters restaurant.
After wandering around we headed back up Avenue Larco to a supermarket to stock up on bottled water for the hotel room. There are so many casinos around here! I mentioned that it reminds me a bit of Atlantic City, and just as we were walking up the street to the market, we passed a casino called ¨Atlantic City¨. Go figure. Not sure if I´ll go gambling but it looked like a fun place to hang out if I get the time.
Our city tour started at 2:30pm, led by Elisa from Condor Travel. Some highlights of the tour included:
1. The Park of Love in Miraflores- located right next to the Pacific Ocean, the park is home to a sculputre titled ¨The Kiss¨, and has a great view of the surf below.
2. Huallamarca- an archaelogical site (and pre-Hispanic temple) in San Isidro
3. The Lima Cathedral- located in the Main Square in Central Lima, the Barogue Renaissance style church was originally built in 1625 and rebuilt after an earthquake in 1940. Inside is the tomb of Francisco Pizarro, the founder
Larcomar
Shopping center located near the beach in Lima of Lima.
4. The Presidential Palace- also located in the Main Square
5. The Church of San Francisco- located just off the Main Square, this was my favorite stop of the day. The building is beautiful, a yellow colonial complex built in the seventeenth century which sits upon a network of underground catacombs that were used during colonial times. The catacombs are the only ones here that are now open to the general public.
During the tour (and on the way back to the hotel), we got to see the Lima transportation system at work. Let me tell you, it takes a brave soul to drive these streets. There are barely any traffic signals, let alone stop signs. To notify someone that you are entering the intersection, you simply honk your horn and make your way into traffic. This adds up to a whole lot of horn honking going on. There is also no metro or subway system in Lima. If you are not brave enough to drive, your options are taxi or bus, and I´m not sure which is the better alternative (I´m leaning toward bus though...at least they´re bigger!).
After returning to
Larcomar
Shopping center located near the beach in Lima our hotel, we ventured back onto Larco Avenue in search of food. I couldn´t find the vegetarian restaurant I was looking for so we settled on a pizza place called ¨Don Piippo¨ located nearby. How Peruvian, right? Here´s the thing though... for 8 pieces of pizza, two beers and a coke, the total bill was $30 soles, which is about $10 USD, including an extra 10 percent tip. I´m pretty sure that´s the cheapest restaurant meal I´ve ever eaten. It wasn´t bad, either.
We headed back to the hotel to redeem the ¨FREE PISCO SOUR¨ coupons we received when we checked in. They are as good as I´d read they were, and also very strong (30-40% alcohol). Ahh, the perfect way to end the day.
Tomorrow we take a short flight to Cusco and head straight out on a city tour. Hopefully the altitude won´t get to me!
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Michael
non-member comment
That's funny you were thinking about how much like Atlantic City it was and then the 'Atlantic City' casino pops up :D Sounds like a bargain place for eating! Possibly because you're unlikely to keep it zooming around in the traffic! I'd definitely stick to buses, they're sturdier.