Ola!

Ola!

We arrived in Lima after a very long, but pleasant journey. We are now 8 hrs behind SA in Lima, after a hair raising taxi ride from the airport.

We are staying at Barranco backpackers, in Barranco, which is on the coastal road and apart from loud motorbikes and the bar downstairs, we managed to get a good night’s sleep and quickly moved into the new time zone.

Today was a wander through the town, some amazing architecture and a picnic in the park to watch the paragliders, which we realized was Love Park as we left – very cute!  

Lima is upmarket and grungy all clumped together, and the coastal road reminded us of San Diego. Plenty of police, shoe shiners and all the retailers seem to be concentrated together, from the printing zone to the optometrist area to the banks.

We have already tried a Pisco Sours and fresh fruit juices of which there are plenty of stalls. 

We are going to make our way to Ica tomorrow which is an oasis where sand boarding, dune buggies and winery tours are offered, on our way to Cusco, which we should reach by Friday.

We have quickly learnt that it may have been important to at least learnt how to politely say that we don’t speak Spanish, as opposed to staring blankly at an enthusiastic Peruvian trying to show us how to catch a bus or explain that the museums are closed on Mondays, but we’ll get there, our little Spanish book has come in serious handy – thanks Hel!!