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Published: September 17th 2012
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13
th September
The sun doesn’t directly shine in Lima as there is a permanent sea mist from the ocean that blocks the sun out. Our guide Jesus arrived at the hotel at 10am to take us on a tour of Lima. Gorgeous city with some unreal buildings. A lot of the architecture is 15
th, 16
th century and still look to be in excellent condition. We visited Main Square where there are a lot of Government and foreign government buildings. All 16
th century syle and excellently maintained. Our guide took us to a place where we could change money. There are moneychangers on lots of street corners but he chose one that was just outside a bank and there were 5 policemen standing around. The traffic signs for walking across the road and for the cars are great. They have a countdown to when the lights will go red and for when they are green letting you know how much time you have to get across the road or intersection. Everything in downtown Lima is looked after and maintained, not like Buenos Aires. Walked around a fair bit and ended up having lunch on the beachside. We also visited the Museum
Rafael Larco Herrera where they have a lot of pre inca and inca discoveries and a chart depicting the history of Peru in parallel with Europe. Excellent place to visit, highly recommend.
They have this great potato dish which tastes like nothing I have ever tasted before. Absolutely delicious. They have over 4000 types of potatoes in Peru.
Lima is a great city, much nicer than Buenos Aires. The people are so friendly and helpful, even the police. They are happy to have their photo taken with you. The traffic is unbelievable and the way everyone drives has to be seen first hand. They have stop signs which are mostly used as a suggestion to the traffic to stop. Most cars and buses don’t stop. All of the traffic police are women. We witnessed a demonstration from the teachers who were followed down the street by the police with their shields and a tank with a water cannon. Amazing.
They have street vendors on most of their corners selling anything from corn to snacks and drinks and fruit. There is a square in Lima where all of the couples go to make out. See photo with
red statue. There are lots of shanty houses built on the side of the hillside. Our guide explained that a cross was erected on the top of the hill by the Spanish when they first arrived. Has since been replaced with the big cross as seen in the photo. Dante also mentioned that the first people who built the shanty houses came from the country to make a living in the city and that they had no education but the shanty houses today are proper constructions and the people living there are more educated and go to school, etc.
Security is taken very seriously in lima. All of the banks have a number of security guards outside the doors and the majority of residential buildings are gated and have extra security measures such as broken glass cemented into the top of their walls or electric fencing.
Four of us went to this food fair. It was an hilarious evening with trying to work out everything and sampling all the different foods from Peru. Had a taste of Pisco Sour (very nice)and various other drinks. It appears the locals really like tourists, especially Australians. Everyone that we spoke to
and helped us in some way had to have their picture taken with us. Even the security guard who helped us call our taxi driver to pick us up after the food fair. Tomorrow we are flying to Puerto Maldonado via Cusco to visit the Amazon.
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