Still in Lima... but i have luggage!

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Hi,

Well what a couple of days it has been!... excuse the essay below but its best to get these things out...

Without meaning to go on.... we woke wednesday 3rd to Pauline questioning her sanity and asking me to reassure her that we hadn´t missed our flight to La Paz that left Lima airport at 00.25 am on the 3rd... slightly confused i had to dissapoint her in the fact that we definately missed our flight and by the way... WHAT THE HELL ARE WE STILL DOING IN LIMA??? DOH!!

A little dishevelled to say the least, we hot footed it out of bed cursing ourselves evey other word and hopped online to try and book a flight to La Paz only to find the next flight was Saturday and it would cost $430 for the pair of us!! Also we were supposed to be checking out of the hotel on the 3rd and so potentially had nowhere to sleep for the remaining 3 days in Lima.... eeeexcellent smithers!

After confessing our stupidity to the very kind lady in the hotel she managed to keep our room for the next few days... we then, in panic, purchased a phone card to phone LAN airways to spank $430 on new flights... luckily for us the phone card was crap and it automatically hung up before i got through to someone i, no doubt, wouldn´t understand anyway! It was then explained to us the LAN had an office not 5 minutes walk away - result! Off we trotted, still cursing our amazing inability to understand the most basic principles of a 24 hour clock. (Bear in mind 1 of us is a primary school teacher responsible of raising the future generations!!)

So 2 minutes round the corner we were able to speak to a LAN woman who, once she had stopped laughing her ass off at us, managed to rebook our flight for the princely sum of $50 each - bargin! Unfortunately we had to sit there for a good 30 mins while she rebooked all our other 8 flights as by missing 1 we had actually cancelled the lot! - well done us!! Imagine my disgust if i had forked out $430 on new flights to find the rest had been cancelled and we could have rectified the problem for a mere $100!

Anyway... with new flights arranged and a place to stay for the next few nights we decided a night of luxury was in order... no $2 dinners this evening!! We also decided to brave the local bus system after meeting a suprisingly nice Peruvian named Mijael... he took us on a local bus, down to Miraflores and showed us a really nice little restaurant off the main drag where one could enjoy a 3 course slap up meal and a pisco sour (obligatour!) for 23 soles (4 british pound and 50 english pence). This was fantastic until the greasy little b&%$"*d waiter decided to skank me on the tip for a whole 5 soles (98 english pence)... i know, i know... but there are principles involved here people!!

So... this brings us to today (4th October)... following Mijeals advice we jumped on the local tour bus which gives us gringos´a chance to brandish our shiney digital cameras without fear of having it snatched by some local tea-leaf... The tour was quite cool as we got to see some shanti towns and many, many parks that we wouldn´t have bothered venturing round unles driven! You should be able to see a photo gallery attached....

So thats enough for now... until next time...

Adios!!!

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Photos

Crazy Lima Roads
On top of the tour bus, feeling brave we got the digital camera out... This is looking down Av. Arequipa - one of the main roads in Lima

Happy bus driver
The roads are full of these tiny buses with crazy conductors shiuting lots of random stuff. This 1 took the time out to give us a wave!

Shanti Towns
From the safety of the bus we snapped these shanti towns on top of buildings. The rich poor divide really evident as 3 blocks away is the swanky Hilton hotel overlooking the bay.

2 luuuvers
On every park bench (and there are a lot of them) there seems to be another couple of lovers getting it oooon... And to comereate those lovers - a mahussive statue of 2 lovers in Amors Park!

Cold Pauline
Freezing our perverbial nuts off on the open top bus!

Brighton Peir
Limas version of Brighton Peir... except its actualy still standing!

Miraflores
Not the most riveting photo - granted, but this was the MIraflores area which over looks the bay. Very expensive, very western.

Comments

[Steve Walker]

Missed Flights?
Stevo, one word mate, Muppet! On a serious note though, good to hear youre having a great time mate.

[Nicole]

Hello
Hello Pauline and Steve Nice to meet you Steve;we are a family from the Dawnay school who have also helped Pauline to loose her sanity. Now I know why Natalie has found the 24hr clock difficult! only joking. Have a fantastic time in peru. I have such incredible memories of the country;get to Cuzco and Mach Pich if you can. The train journey from Cuzco to Machu Pich is wonderful! Keep safe and Im pleased it wasn't British Airways that lost the bag! panihana

[nan grandad]

our holiday
hi steve and pauline you seem to be having a great time. have you won the lottery going on these luxury yachts we have just had a good holiday in lanzarote. we both feel so much better after all the problems with my brother and his death. hope you both have agreat christmas. cheque gone in your bank. love nan and grandad.