Lovely Lima

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Everyone had told us that we would hate Lima, that it was boring and a waste of time. How wrong they all were. Perhaps the weather isn't the sunniest, perhaps it doesn't have as many colonial buildings as cities like Quito, but it has spunk and charm. We set up in a big sprawling hostel in Miraflores that was more like a house and discovered we were the only ones there! We didn't actually do all that much in Lima as far as backpacking goes, but we simply roamed the streets and absorbed its lovely vibe and then spent the nights rattling around in our very own house!

On our first day we befriended an old drug dealer/artist/lovely guy called Pepe, who was an absolute swindler. We loved him. After we refused drugs from him, he "took us" to lunch and we had an amazing meal of traditional potato entree and pasta (although ended up paying for him also). He then showed us a big sprawling local market where we could get wine very cheap. It was a classic South American market with giant sacks of herbs, rice and spices teetering over you, miscellaneous animal parts displayed openly and mountains of vibrant fresh flowers, fruit and vegetables. He conveniently stopped at a herb shop to "show us what peyote looked like" and then convinced us to buy him "a tiny tiny bit of ayuhuasca" to help him paint! Stunned and unsure of what to do, we bought him some and then were overcome with guilt for buying an old man drugs. We chased a little market girl around and around to her screeching "un otre ves!" (another time!) then followed our swindling friend dutifully to his art shop prepared to be plied for money again. However the paintings of his brother in the shop were beautiful oil paintings that were irresistible so we both bought some for a "special price", were somehow convinced to pay Pepe's bus fare home and went to collapse in our hostel.

The remainder of our days in the capital were lovely long wandering affairs. The shore front in Lima was sparkling and fresh, although the shore was all pebbles. I insisted to Adam that that wasn't a real beach, but he's from England so he doesn't know. We watched some comedians in the park across from our hostal (who we didn't really understand) and stared at a woman who was inexplicably (and very defensively) feeding all the street cats in the area.

We wandered through the lovely suburb of Barranco, where we drank hot chocolates in a restaurant made out of a beautiful old train carriage, watched the sun set over the ocean from someones balcony, wandered through a beautiful and poignant street exhibition about water shortage and managed to buy illegal rum! It was election weekend in Peru so alcohol was forbidden, but we found a tienda that would sell us a bottle and felt like absolute rebels!
In the night we watched movies and ate Chifa, although one night we were absolutely decadent and bought goats cheese, olives, garlic mayonnaise and crusty bread and practically fainted from excitement.
On our last full day we were unsure what to do, so had rum for breakfast. The day was funny and hazy, wandering through the city, Adam being hit on by market girls and befriending a guy named Cesar in the park.

Lima was expensive, loud and didn't care that you were there. I loved it.

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Comments

[Adan]

heeeee!
Beaches are like that I tell you! Sand?? sand is for pits lady. Sand castles?? Castles... and sand? Loco Australianos.