After our banana work visit in southern Ecuador and finishing off all the writing up in northern Peru, we got on a supposedly luxury overnight bus to Lima. After battling through the night with our bus hostess (who in fairness served us tasty chicken and rice, hot drinks and breakfast whilst on the move) to turn the air conditioning on, we finally arrived in Lima. It was far better than I had remembered it, since February is about the only month when the capital city is free from a grey sea mist.
Lima is a huge, sprawling city with dramatic cliffs dropping down to the Pacific in the fancier part of town, Miraflores.
The local authorities have done a great job of making the whole cliff tops into a public space, starting with a lovely tribute to lovers, the Parque del Amor, and followed by one long park with bike tracks, jogging routes and a skate park. This is flanked by very modern, exclusive apartment blocks. We spent a couple of days in this area, cooking for ourselves at the hostel, which has a novelty value these days (pancakes on Shrove Tuesday) and jogging along the cliff tops.
We set off to the airport on local buses to meet our parents and the contrast was striking as we drove through miles of poor housing and shanty towns perched precariously on desert-like hillsides.
As we awaited mum, dad and Lynne to walk through arrivals, Simon was tasked with finding us a bargain taxi. He returned just before they came through, having seemingly located a people carrier for half the price of anything else. It was fantastic to see everyone and after an initial reunion we welcomed them to Lima by marching them out of the airport after Simon’s taxi contact for a quarter of a mile past all the swanky taxis to a dilapidated estate car. Four of us crammed in the back and Dad in the front with his knees touching his chin. As we dropped down the cliff road towards Miraflores the car was making loud banging noises. It was all part of the fun which they were to learn as squeezing all five of us into little taxis became the norm for their holiday.
We enjoyed exploring Lima, it was sunny and warm and we had some delicious food overlooking the sea. Although they were a bit alarmed by their first Peruvian £1.50 meal deal which included mixed vegetables and tripe (mum was aghast that she had chosen this over a vegetable omelette option which Simon and I enjoyed).
Lima is a huge, sprawling city with dramatic cliffs dropping down to the Pacific in the fancier part of town, Miraflores.
The local authorities have done a great job of making the whole cliff tops into a public space, starting with a lovely tribute to lovers, the Parque del Amor, and followed by one long park with bike tracks, jogging routes and a skate park. This is flanked by very modern, exclusive apartment blocks. We spent a couple of days in this area, cooking for ourselves at the hostel, which has a novelty value these days (pancakes on Shrove Tuesday) and jogging along the cliff tops.We set off to the airport on local buses to meet our parents and the contrast was striking as we drove through miles of poor housing and shanty towns perched precariously on desert-like hillsides.
As we awaited mum, dad and Lynne to walk through arrivals, Simon was tasked with finding us a bargain taxi. He returned just before they came through, having seemingly located a people carrier for half the price of anything else. It was fantastic to see everyone and after an initial reunion we welcomed them to Lima by marching them out of the airport after Simon’s taxi contact for a quarter of a mile past all the swanky taxis to a dilapidated estate car. Four of us crammed in the back and Dad in the front with his knees touching his chin. As we dropped down the cliff road towards Miraflores the car was making loud banging noises. It was all part of the fun which they were to learn as squeezing all five of us into little taxis became the norm for their holiday.
We enjoyed exploring Lima, it was sunny and warm and we had some delicious food overlooking the sea. Although they were a bit alarmed by their first Peruvian £1.50 meal deal which included mixed vegetables and tripe (mum was aghast that she had chosen this over a vegetable omelette option which Simon and I enjoyed).
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