Lima - Escuela Espanol

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As the plane descended into Lima 17 hours from London I saw the Andes for the first time. Peering across at least 2 screaming toddlers through the window of the Iberia 777, I could see miles of flat desert until vast mountains ascended into lavender sky. I was in a pretty foul mood; the plane was a joke. Admittedly I had been spoiled by the Emirates A-380 but 12 hours without any entertainment combined with the fact that every crying baby and toddler in Peru had decided to return to their homeland on my flight had brought me towards my breaking point. Nonetheless I was stunned by the view. There is nothing in England or anything I saw in South East Asia that compared to the scale of this landscape.

Our driver sent by ‘Friendly Backpackers Hostel’ weaved through crumbling impoverished neighbourhoods on the outskirts of Lima until arriving in Miraflores. Jet lagged and shattered we checked in to a dirty grotto of a room. A fan would have been nice, or some natural light. Regardless our first exploration of Miraflores left us with overwhelming relief. We found the Waitrose of South America. On reflection Hana was probably too excited to find chicken breast in an actual packet complete with plastic. Miraflores itself is a wonderful place. In the heart is the leafy Parque Kennedy, surrounded by cafes and restaurants. In the evenings the locals gather around a small stage in the centre where Peruvian musicians play or local theatre groups perform.

We stayed in Miraflores for 9 nights spending Monday to Friday at Spanish school. We had good intentions to arrive in Lima completely fluent in Spanish but I had trouble extending my vocabulary beyond Tengo. We left with a fairly good chance of bundling through most situations to the extent that in a restaurant we would probably end up with some food, and it could even be chicken.

Overall Miraflores was a wonderful place. We moved hostels to ‘The House Project’ which was a great place to stay. The location was perfect, one street away from the action and the guys were perfect hosts. The standard of the breakfast was well above that of most hostels, they made us free Pisco Sours in evenings and even installed a cracked copy of Rosetta Stone on our laptop, which they do for all guests.

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