Peru - Lima

This will be a long write up as I am covering two days, so don't read further if you are already bored!

It was a very long day yesterday. I was awake at 6.30 am on Sunday morning and we finally got to sleep at 11pm local time in Lima which meant we were awake for 23 hours. The 12 hour flight from London to Lima was fine, and I was grateful that we were on a direct flight as there are only a few of those per week, otherwise an indirect flight via Madrid would have been even longer. We fly BA as we use air miles to upgrade (and we like the excellent lounges) but I really don’t rate BA. We were on a very old aircraft and the food, despite being business class, was not great. We got lunch soon after take off and then another meal was served about an hour before we landed so it was a very long time between meals. I watched one movie but I can't really see on those small screens so I read my book for the rest of the journey. 

We were met by our tour rep at Lima airport who efficiently took us to the awaiting taxi and we finally arrived at our hotel at about 8pm local time. Lima is a huge city with a population of 10 million people (London has 8 million) and the traffic was terrible. We are staying in the Miraflores area which is very nice, with modern apartments and hotels on a cliff above the beach - it reminded me of a larger scale Durban, in SA.

On Monday morning we were awake at 4.30am - hello jet lag! As soon as it got light Gavin and I went for a run on the promenade above the beaches, and there were many runners and dog walkers out. It was cloudy and foggy, and remained that way all day. After an excellent breakfast at our hotel we set out to explore the old city. We got an Uber to Centro, and the traffic was horrendous. It took ages to get there with some very bad driving, including our driver who was watching a Youtube video on his phone while driving us. Most of the cars on the road would not pass their MOT in the UK.

We were struck by the police presence everywhere. These police with riot shields were all over Plaza de Armas, the central square where the cathedral and the Presidential Palace are located. This shot shows a group in front of the Presidential Palace. I have some extras of the lovely buildings around the square and one of the traffic. The Centro area is very third world with many derelict buildings and stray dogs wandering across busy streets. When we got back to Miraflores it was like entering another world, with shiny new buildings and smart cars. The wealth gap is very noticeable here.

Lima is known for its excellent food and restaurants, of the top ten restaurants in the world, two are in Lima. It is also the home of ceviche (raw thin slices of fish cured in lime juice and spices) which we all love to eat, with many cevicherias around the city. For lunch we had ceviche and tonight we are going to a highly recommended restaurant. The food so far has been excellent.

Tomorrow it is an early start as we fly to Cusco, which is the 'gateway' to Machu Pichu.