A Tour of South America: Lima (Day 1)

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Hola, amigos! Que pasa? Unfortunately my Spanish isn't much better than that, but at least I really am working on it this time. I'm sitting in a hostal in Lima, Peru, on Day 1 of my 3-week peregrination through Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil. I've been wanting to do a backpacking trip to South America for years now, so when my friend Lauren asked if I wanted to come down with her, I jumped at the chance. It's mud season in Breckenridge, which means that everyone lucky enough to get out of town does, if only for a week or two. I'll probably be broke when I get back, but it'll have been worth it! As I mentioned, I'm traveling with my good friend Lauren, from Washington DC, and two of her friends, Allison and Lisa. They are arriving later tonight, so I had a day to settle in and look around Lima by myself before they get here. It was nice, because I was able to sleep late AND get all my Christmas shopping done (score!).

I arrived late last night and spent today exploring the area of Miraflores, where my hostal is located. Miraflores, along with neighboring San Isidro, are the two poshest parts of Lima. You can find all kinds of western restaurants and fast-food chains here : ( , as well as nice residential homes. It's striking to see, especially since the ride to Miraflores from the airport takes you past some of the roughest parts of Lima, where the houses are crowded, ugly, and bristling with rebar, and the streets are dangerous. That's not even the poorest section of Lima, though - of the city's 8million+ residents, roughly half live in shantytowns and slums. I've been to them. It was like visiting the moon, it's so far removed from the developed world we inhabit.

Exploring alone today, I wasn't about to take any chances of running into trouble, so I stayed in Miraflores. My first stop was the mercado del inka, a handicrafts/art markets positively filled with beautiful silver jewelry, hand-tooled leather goods, multicolored alpaca woven goods, paintings, toys, flutes, and more. It's like an Aladdin's Cave of Peruvian handcrafts. I LOVE it! It reminds me of the bazaars I visited in Istanbul. I spent a solid 3 hours there, and I was able to cross all of my Christmas shopping off my to-do list, a couple of months early! After the market I found a post office and shipped everything straight home, so that was a good use of my time. I also bought myself a nice comfy pair of leather flip-flops which I'm wearing right now.

Following my spending spree at the market, I headed down towards the oceanfront. Having been to Lima 4 years ago with my father, I recognize bits and parts of it, especially the super-ritzy centro commercial of Miraflores right on the cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. We had a really good seafood dinner in one of the restaurants there years ago, so it was nice to revisit it and see something familiar. It's hardly a typical sight in Peru, though, because it resembles a fancy outdoor mall in the United States more than anything else I've seen in Peru. Lima is a city of stunning income inequality, and Miraflores definitely represents the upper end of that spectrum. There are gorgeous high-rise apartments overlooking the water, high-end boutiques, well-manicured parks and public art dotting the bluffs above the ocean. Far below, surfers paddle out ito the Pacific and ride waves into shore, which is surprisingly fun to watch and kind of lulls you into relaxation. As I strolled along the paths at sunset, all of the people I saw were well-dressed, upper-class residents or tourists, with surprisingly few street vendors. That's probably due to the surplus of police, who are no doubt needed elsewhere in the city but serve as glorified guards along the Miraflores waterfront. (Basically a placebo!) That being said, it is a beautiful part of the city and I really enjoyed "easing into" my trip. I know we'll get to the grittier areas later, so the sight of Dunkin Donuts and Tony Romo's was kind of reassuring today. There is a stretch of parks that link together over roughly 2 miles of waterfront, and it's a very peaceful and calm setting. The Parque del Amor is a famous park where lovers go to stroll together in the evening, and there were certainly lots in evidence today. It definitely has the best make-out scenery in Lima! LOL. It reminds me of Park Guell in Barcelona, because it's decorated with colorful mosaics spelling out all kinds of romantic quotations from famous Spanish writers. In the center is a huge statue of two lovers embracing. It's not quite as avant-guard as Gaudi's Park Guell, nor nearly as big, but it is pretty romantic. It made me wish I wasn't there alone!

After the Parque del Amor I continued along the cliffs towards a big lighthouse. There is an amazing mist that comes off the cold ocean and sits on Lima for the better part of the year, and this fog is already beginning to lower for the winter. So this lighthouse is not only functional, but incredibly necessary! The fog is so thick that most of the time the city is gray and bleak, although I was lucky enough to have some warm sunshine today. It got chilly as the fog came in, though, so I didn't stay still too long. (Although I did sit on a bench and have a really nice 20-minute conversation in FRENCH with a Japanese man! Very enjoyable. I wasn't expecting to practice my french down here, but every little bit helps!)

It was growing dark by 5:30 because of the fog, so I headed back to my hostal, which is about a twenty minute walk from the ocean. Tomorrow the girls will be here to join me, and I'm sure we'll do lots of sightseeing during their only day in Lima. On Monday morning we fly to Cusco, where I will finally get to see Macchu Pichu! We've already had a slight hiccup in our plans, since a planned farmer's strike has disrupted our plans to do a 5-day trek to Macchu Pichu, but we're working to reorganize another trek and make the best of the situation. Peru requires, above all else, patience and fortitude, because you never know when your bus will break down or a labor union will throw a strike. (For example, we only found out about this 10 hours before my plane left Philly!) Oh well. Que sera, sera. Hopefully I'll be able to post from our hotel in Cusco, so keep your eyes open for that!

Here's a rough itinerary of my entire trip:

Lima: May 16-17
Cusco & Macchu Pichu trek: May 18-22
La Paz, Bolivia: May 23
Beni & Lake Titicaca (Bolivia): May 24-27
Rio de Janeiro & environs: May 28-June 3
Brasilia: June 4-6
HOME! (June 7, just in time for little brother's graduation)

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