🇵🇪 Landing in Lima

After almost 20 hours in the air and an ‘interesting’ connection in Sao Paolo we finally arrived on Peruvian soil. Fresh off the plane and excited to settle into our first hostel we set about making our way across the city by taxi, however what should have been a 40 minute journey was stretched to over two hours!

A city later described by a local guide as ‘always in rush hour’ was made worse by huge protests which had shutdown almost all major routes throughout Lima.

We made it to Lima House, a lovely hostel in the centre of Lima and NOW we could finally relax… think again!! There were around a dozen police officers at the hostel when we arrived walking in and out of rooms. I thought someone had been arrested though it later turned out they were just staying there ahead of a big parade coming up.

When we weren’t dodging riots we did have a little time to explore the capital…

We took a walking tour with a local and learnt all about the country’s history of invasion after invasion from the Inca’s, Spanish and whoever else fancied it! We also tried local food like anticucho (beef heart skewers), ‘Pardos’ restaurant which our host passionately described as the best chicken in Peru, and the national cocktail, a Pisco Sour!

1 Bad / 2 Good

I want to be honest in this blog and so I’ll tell you I was glad to bid farewell to Lima after 2 nights – I enjoyed the stay but Alicia Keys sums up my feelings quite well – “noise is always loud, there are sirens all around and the streets are mean” I’m slipping into song lyrics but Lima is a busy busy place, slow to get around and the blast of a car horn every second of the day isn’t an experience I’ll miss.

I’d say the highlight of my time in Lima was visiting the Magic Water Circuit – a park nearby with all sorts of crazy water features! At a close 2nd was a park that has been filled with cats to scare off rodents (maybe I just miss my cat too much?)