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HQ Villa So, after Mother Nature decided to show just how powerful she is and put us all in our rightful place, we finally made it Heathrow a week later than planned to start our South American adventure. We had a yummy brekko with the Mama's (finally got my eggs Benedict!), said our emotional farewells and prepared ourselves for a mammoth flight. Luckily we had 4 seats between 3 of us and so had plenty of space to spread out (well, I did!) but Ian busied himself with 2 lunches so was happy enough. We got to Miami and were only delayed for one hour, which is pretty good going for me when travelling, and Pizza Hut kept us fuelled and Ian happy. I did get called over to the desk at one point which got me slightly worried as I don't have the best travelling record to say the least, but all was ok, just a change of ticket. So we boarded the second, much smaller plane, which was bloody uncomfortable and we had to share a TV screen with 30 other people, much to Ian's disdain. We did get to see Up in the Air - quite apt - and Ian
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Our stuff (apparently) got chatted up by the air hostess when I was asleep. We finally made it to Lima airport and had the usual South American debacle of having to queue up to scan your luggage again on the way out of the airport. We then paid an extortionate amount for a taxi to our hostel but seeing as we arrived at night time we were happy to get there safely. Bed was a welcome respite from the aeroplane seats, but yet I still couldn't sleep and so ended up a space cadet for the next few days.
We were up early the next day for brekko and then went on a wander to Larco del Mar and the Costa Verde, where there was a cool Malecon area built up on the cliffs, with lots of nice restaurants and shops, a recently developed area that seemed pretty fancy. Everywhere was nice and clean and there were some friendly security guys on the Malecon, wishing everyone good day as they passed. Nice. Lima has a random mix of buildings, lots of grass, parks, trees and colourful flowers, which led us to make constant comparisons to Guayaquil (polar opposites - sorry Guayaquilenos!)
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Some nice ceramic art in the garden of the hostel We found a local restaurant to have a cheap almuerzo, Lucuma y Cafe, where we feasted on pollo adobo, papa rellenas, ensalada, milenesa, desert and chichi morada (a black maize drink with lime) - yum yum and all for 18 soles (about £4.50 for the 2 of us!!). We then cruised up to Huaca Pucllana, a pre-Inca adobe mound and sacred place, slap bang in the middle of the city. Apparently women were the main sacrifices here and what an honour it was according to our guide...We then foolishly went for our first beers in Peru in the most expensive place possible opposite the ruins, which didn't taste as sweet as they should have done! Then on to dinner which consisted of, shock horror, a MaccyD’s for Ian - a McBacon - and they did have a great choice of condiments which almost switched me but not quite. Instead, Sandwich.com for me, a yummy caprese sandwich, and lovely staff. We then headed past the Parque Kennedy to Cafe Cafe for two for one cocktails - Mai Tai for me and beers for Ian. At this point, the beer table of excellence is as follows: Number 1 is Cuzquena, 2 is
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Our first room in HQ Villa Pilsen and 3 is Cristal (not the hip hop champagne of choice). More to try though me thinks...again the staff were really friendly and on the walk home we saw old boys playing chess on street tables (we heard they play to the death...)
Up the next morning and I finally got my super-duper fantabulous new camera insured (thank you Bro!) and we planned the next part of our adventure. We wanted to see some of the old town so set off on a bit of mission that ended up with us wandering around in the posh area of Lima, (very nice I must say), trying to locate the bus ticket office. This apparently didn't exist and so we jumped on a local bus to Centro, wandered up to San Martin Plaza and then up a shopping street, dubbed Knorky-street as there were about 500 of the Knorky chicken shops along 4 blocks - seems that Peruvians love fried chicken. We got to Plaza Mayor with the Palacio del Gobierno, a relatively modern building considering the history of the city, but still tasteful, and stopped for lunch in Cesar where Ian stayed on the Western trend and had a
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A squidgy toilet! pizza and chips, while I went for tortilla and rice. We had our first Inka Colas of the trip, a tasty, sugar-laden, luminous yellow drink that tastes like Irn Bru. As we left the restaurant, Ian got religiously raped by 2 old dears selling the virtuousness of God (totally lost on him obviously!). Fully sated, we then went for a tour of the San Francisco catacombs, a 17th century Moorish style building, where they found the remains of about 70,000 people. It was a little creepy, wandering around this mass burial ground, and our crap guide made it all the less interesting, but the whole group managed to laugh about it so we bonded over his lack of enthusiasm. After we sat and people watched in Plaza Mayor, before heading back to Miraflores by bus. There was a BBQ at the hostel that night but we went against the grain and went for some more sandwiches at my now fave place in Lima, Sandwich,com, which didn't disappoint. Had a beer and a wine at Haiti, a Miraflores drinking institution, but I felt dodgy so we left and got some sleepy time instead.
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Marit
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Great travelogue and pictures! Keep them coming. I insist that is NOT a lama!! Lots of love, Marit