09/12/18 I changed what I had left of Colombian pesos then went through immigration. Lori was way too early for her flight but it was easier to wait at the airport.
I didn’t receive anything on board, not even a glass of water during the 3h flight, but I bought a bottle of water before boarding. The joy of low cost airlines.
Just after I landed in Lima, I knew I had to wait for Lori for 3h so I was not in a hurry to turn on my wifi. When I did, I got a message from her saying that she missed her original flight as she arrived too late at the luggage drop off due to the amount of people at the check-in. They never called passengers for Lima before closing the registrations but they did for other flights so she thought she could just stay in the queue. They finally put her on the following flight landing in Lima at 6pm, so now I have to wait for 6h instead of 3 ?. I purchased a 24h pack of internet at the airport so I can make some research about my next trip, as they only offer you 30 min of free wifi.
While I was waiting for Lori, a lady was advertising for a shuttle bus to the centre for $8 each. So when Lori arrived we quickly bought our tickets and the shuttle dropped us 5 min walk from the hotel.
Lima has big western influences. Many American brands can be found here like McDonald’s, Dunkin Donuts, KFC, Levi’s and there are many casinos in town with bright advertisement boards like in Las Vegas. It is the second largest city in the desert in the world with 9 million people, Cairo being the first with 20 million. Most houses and properties have fences at their windows but there are a lot of police officers everywhere so we didn’t feel insecure.
Flying over the country was interesting as you see miles and miles of desert and dry mountains, very little trees.
10/12/18 We explored Miraflores on foot, the district where the hotel is located searching for a new Nikon camera for Lori. We found 4 shops but only one of them had Nikon cameras and too expensive. Our last option was the Nikon centre, a bit further so we took an Uber (they have it in Lima!) and we were lucky as Lori could buy a new one there. We stopped by a pharmacy to buy some more medical things to clean up my wound.
I saw many beetles (my fav car) in the streets ?.
We stopped at a café for lunch then took another Uber to reach the historical city centre.
While Lori was visiting the cathedral, a Bolivian musician came to sit down next to me on the stairs and started to chat, hoping to convince me to go to the bar where he was playing later that day.
Once Lori was out, we walked along the main shopping street and took a taxi back to the hotel to meet with Paul, our guide for the tour and Sasha, a girl from Melbourne also joining the tour.
Lori read about a restaurant where they serve anticuchos, a local dish. The guide said it was ok to go there so we went for dinner. Beef heart is not my thing but I tried so I know what it tastes like. When we got in, the waiter who is used to tourists explained to us the menu in English and tried to convince me to order the local specialty. He could see it on my face that I wan’t as keen as Lori but I still wanted to try ?.
As expected it was not to my taste but everything else on the plate was. The spicy sauce, the chicken and pork skewers, the potato and corn were nice and well cooked. We also tried Chicha Morada, another version of the south American corn drink, this one made of purple corn.
11/12/18 We hoped to visit Huaca Pucllana, an archeologic site but it closes on Tuesdays. So we just had time to buy some water, snacks and take some cash out before meeting the group for the tout departure.
The guide squeezed us, 3 girls on the back seat of a car to reach the bus terminal to get to Paracas. The bus was the most luxurious I have even been on. Leather recliner seats, detachable tablet, on board entertainment, with lunch provided.
We checked in our luggage and were just in time for the sunset along the beach. We stopped by a local fish restaurant where I had a delicious causa, a layered dish with potato, avocado and lobster. The view of the fishing boats and the seagulls all facing the sun was enjoyable as the rare clouds turned into pink and orange colours. During dinner we also met our first hairless Peruvian dogs, black skin, rat tale and a hair crest on their head. Not the sexiest dogs but still adorable. They look a bit like hyenas.
12/12/18 After a buffet breakfast without Lori (she didn’t feel too bad letting me go for breakfast alone as I could join Sasha and the guide) our first activity was a boat tour to watch sea lions, penguins (I didn’t know they had penguins in Peru) and thousands of birds. The sea was very calm so we didn’t get wet, but the smell of bird poo left on the rocky formations was difficult for my nose. I could still smell it on my stuff hours after the excursion. The sea lions were tanning in unflattering (but funny) positions and the boat could get pretty close to the penguins so we took some nice pictures. The boat also stopped near a famous inca geoglyph (giant design on the mountain).
