Blogs from Lima, Peru, South America - page 172

Well, here we are. 6 years of dreaming and planning and we´re in Peru at the start of what is certain to be an amazing journey. Day 0 Our flight was long and tiring. A brief stop in Madrid before a 12 hour jaunt across the atlantic, over the amazon and dropping over the Andes into the fog of Lima courtesy of Iberia. The flight presented nothing of note other than the dissapointing viewing position for the poor selection of inflight movies, my scalded right thigh from the kind stewardess who poured tea into my lap, couldn´t manage an apology or a napkin and my curious walk and stretch routine to the cockpit. When I say the fog of Lima I wasn´t joking. Passing it off as an occasional occurrance, we have today established that the ... read more

Greetings from Perù! It´s a sunny day in Lima, which apparently is a rare occurance, so we´ll be a little brief! Lima is wonderful, a lot cleaner than we expected. It´s right on the coast, and yesterday we saw the ocean, among other things. It´s most always very hazy and cool here, which is why we got excited to open the curtains and see sun this morning. Even at night, though, the temperatures are mild. We were out in the center of Lima last night trying to find a sweater store and a restaurant and we heard loud reggaeton music playing, so we went over to investigate and found a huge rally for one of the presidential candidates, Alan Garcìa. Police were stationed around in riot gear, and streets were blocked, but the event was peaceful ... read more

Twice in one day... don´t worry, we won't be this frequent in the future, we´re trying to get some photos off the cameras! Today we wandered around on the beach and in the city. The beach was much better than expected. It was all pebbles and had incredibly loud waves, but in a good way. We ate two delicious meals today, and both of mine had eggs! :) Tomorrow we will catch a bus to Ica, further south. Anyway, here are some pictures! Love, Mariel and Ben... read more

So, the foreseen problems predicted by the ghastly check-in wench in Australia?? Non-Existent! I knew I had it all under control. The arrival gate at Lima airport was up to its usual best: crazy and chaotic- I barely noticed, there was only one face I was looking for- the crows of people were thick but there he was, like a butterfly among a sea of moths- flying into my arms; forgetting all about mum and dad being left to the perils of taxi drivers, hostel peddlers, trolley pushers. Juan Elvis Negrón Baca, Elvis to friends and family, my soon to be husband, quickly brought things to control in search for out transfer driver to the hotel- who, typically, had forgotten to pick us up. The trip to the hotel was uneventful- but reflected in my parents ... read more

So...onwards to Peru´s capital city. We stayed pretty close to the Plaza de Armas in the centre of the city, but Lima is a massive place with almost 10 million inhabitants and many varied districts. Wandering round the main square, which includes the presidential palace, it was very reassuring to see a myriad of riot police equipped with shields and tear gas guns, and there was even a tank peering round the corner. Great. At the time, Peru was gearing up for the election run-off between Alan Garcia Perez (former president from 1985-90, his term characterised by hyperinflation, devaluation of the economy and resurgence of the Sendero Luminoso - Shining Path) and Ollanta Tasso (radical nationalist, who by all accounts is a bit of a nutcase...promises to release the Shining Path leader if elected etc.). So ... read more