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Published: January 13th 2013
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After arriving at Madrid's ghost town airport and queuing for my connecting flight to Lima I was pleasantly surprised when the airline staff changed my seat number from 14F to 1B. I planned to sleep most of the second leg so the upgrade to a business class reclining seat was very welcome. It turned out however that this was probably a sweetener as Air Europa had oversold Economy tickets and by the looks of it had also overloaded on luggage. With the plane being overweight it sounds like they decided that rather than delay the plane further at Madid they would simply leave 1/3rd of the passengers luggage behind and not tell those passengers until they had sat watching the baggage reclaim belt upon landing recirculate unclaimed luggage for an hour. So I write this from my hotel room in Lima wearing the same clothes I was wearing when I left London on Friday assured by the airline that my main bag will be located and sent onto Cuzco, where I fly to this morning. Fantastic, have never done so much handwashing in a 24 hour period in my life...
Approaching Lima airport from the North you are greeted by
huge industrial areas and shanty towns. Given the City's reputation for tourist crime this did little to allay my fears. However upon arriving in the Miraflores district where my hotel was booked I was pleasantly surprised to find a safe, upmarket area filled with trendy bars and restaurants. It has a sporty, European feel to it with lots of people carrying surf boards, biking, running, playing tennis or simply wandering along the seafront enjoying the sunshine with their families. I wanted to make the most of the time I had in the area so after dropping my bag off at the hotel I went out for a wander along the Malecon (cliff top park walk) with my camera to try and get some practice.
There was no shortage of things on the Malecon to photograph with people tight rope walking between palm trees, Capoeira, skate boarding and a paragliding school providing 50 dollar white knuckle rides over the cliff tops and the crowds of surfers on the rocky beaches below. After enjoying a coffee and watching the sun go down I retired to the hotel to try some traditional Peruvian cuisine and get an early night. Lomos Saltados is
definitely to be recommended - cubed beef with onions, peppers and fried potatoes.
This morning I fly to Cusco to enrole in my Spanish school for the next 2 weeks. Apparently my luggage might still be 2 days away so it sounds like some shopping for traditional Inca shorts and t shirt might be the order of the day!
Sounds like the Bloody Mary retained its reputation as a fierce winter sailing event. Congratulations to Mothies for dominating the Bloody Mary Podium and especially to Andrew Friend for his second place overall. Amazing given his boat is cursed by Satan and throws most pilots out every 2 minutes....
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Name of Spanish School?
Hi James just looking on Google Earth, what is the name of the spanish school you are staying at?