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Three months has passed since we left home. This was roughly the amount of time we had first thought we would spend in South America. With our round the world tickets flying us about on our adventure far and wide, we thought spending three months in a continent would give us the right amount of time. With the flexibility of our tickets, we can travel on our path around the world at our own pace, just as long as we make the flight home before January 16th 2013. Our next flight on the ticket is from New York to London when we are ready to depart. South America has soooooo much to offer for travellers and we could easily spend many more months here, however there are many more places around the world we would like to see and soon it will be our time to leave this lovable continent behind.
During our last few days in Cuzco, we looked into our options for travelling up north and weighed up the costs. Our plan is to arrive in North America by the end of May with San Francisco being our point of entry. So from Cuzco to San Francisco, we needed to work out a travel plan and this is what we came up with.
Flights in South America are generally expensive and so it means a lot of time travelling by road. The option of flying directly to San Francisco was too expensive it was going to be better value for money travelling by road, rivers and catching a few shorter flights as we travelled up north. We didn't want to miss a visit to Central America through all the great things it has to offer from the tropical beaches, friendly people, colourful buildings, bohemian neighbourhoods, warm weather, national parks, tasty food and value for money. With the Caribbean on our path up north, we simply could not say no to a little visit here as we continue on our journey. So with our research complete, our next destination on the cards is Cartagena, Colombia! There have been many days over the years where I have fantasized about swimming in the turquoise seas of the Caribbean, a dream that was now going to come true!
With a direct flight again out of the question, our journey was going to take a little longer but meant we would see more of the country along the way. Sometimes you can pick up cheaper shorter flights which fit into our budget and through our research we planned a route that gave us better value than a direct flight. From Cuzco to Lima, Lima to Iquitos, Iquitos to Leticia, Leticia to Bogota, and finally Bogota to Cartagena we would be travelling by bus, plane, boat and plane to reach the historical sea side town of Cartagena, our gateway to the Caribbean! Through the Andean mountain ranges along windy roads, under the smog of seaside cites, running down stream on the edge of the amazon and high above the clouds, our path to Cartagena was going to be an adventure! Our destination bringing us one more slice of paradise before we arrive in North America and start looking for work. This trip is an opportunity of a lifetime and we will make the absolute most of our time. Everything we did to make this possible has so far been well worth it.
From Buenos Aries to Cuzco, we have travelled this far by road spending hours and hours on many buses, bumpy roads and sleeping horizontally does not always happened. We have only caught one short flight so far because of Bolivian roads being flooded. From Cuzco to Lima we would be jumping on another long bus ride, just another twenty hours on a bus to add to our tiring tally of hours already spent on the road. The option of catching a seventy hours bus ride directly to Bogota was looked and not even given any thought, no thanks!
So in the early evening we loaded our bags onto the bus and over the next twenty hours we chatted to a lady from Germany, ate our dinner, watched some unusual shows on TV, read a little, slept, woke up, slept, woke up again to the bus hitting something in the night, slept, woke up as the sun rose, listened to the sounds of classical music from the bus, ate breakfast, slept, woke up to some crazy loud music, got offered a game of bingo (yes the bus has bingo games), watched a romantic comedy, read a little, slept, dazed out the window, tried to stretch out the sore muscles and then finally we arrived in Lima!
Lima was a pleasant surprise, far from the dirty, noisy and crazy city that I was expecting under thick smog where the sun doesn't shine. I had heard it was like this and given the high population of around eight million, we decided that staying away from Centro was a wise idea. Lima was not on the top of our list of places to visit, yet still intrigued us. We had allowed two nights only to visit the city, with our main focus making it to Colombia. We could not afford to spend too much time travelling to Cartagena, and if we did it would not be fitting in with our budget and the long distance flight would have been better value after all.
We arrived in Lima around midday and luckily we had managed to get enough sleep on the bus, so we were able to spend the day out and about. We jumped into a cab and headed to our hostel in Miraflores, a suburb that made us feel like we were back in Melbourne. The seaside town was home to high rise apartments just like you would see in Port Melbourne, and tree lined streets with houses that made us feel like we were driving through St Kilda. The smell of the sea and the warm air bought home the feeling of a hot summer's day along the esplanade back home. But beyond these familiar sights and smells was a far bigger city than what we know back home. A city with way too many things for us to explore in two days and that we knew, but our stop over city was discovered in a flash, and this is what we saw.
Day one was spent on foot wandering around Miraflores. Right on the edge of the sea, there are many high rises, houses, cafes, restaurants, markets and busy roads where everyone loves beeping their horns. Many restaurants have staff out the front trying their best to entice you inside. It is like walking up and down Lygon Street with a slogan on your t-shirt saying 'I love pasta, I'm hungry'! A visit to the Inca markets quickly loses my interest as pushy shop vendors try too hard to get your attention and more importantly, your money. However we do spot a few bargains and all too quickly we are stepping out of the markets and are heading back down to the sea side. Although there is thick blanket of clouds and smog above us, the air around us is fresher and the scenery is nice. Walking back home we soon begin to lose our energy and soon call it a day. The long bus ride has caught up with us.
On our second and last day in Lima, also being our second last day in Peru, we woke up early to make the most of our time. One of the highlights of the day consisted of tasting one last traditional Peruvian dish, Ceviche which is raw seafood marinated in lime juice, onions and spices. After a little more exploring around Miraflores, we were on the lookout for a nice spot to enjoy a drink. It wasn't long before I spotted a cat, then two, then three! There they were prancing about and resting in the park watching the world go by. We crossed the road where there was a big beautiful church, and in the garden beds there were four, five, ten …. Cats. It was strange to see so many stray cats about. Walking around the church bought us to an unusual scene. About fifty stray cats all hanging out together and they were being fed! Some local people had bought food for them and it must have been that time of day again. It was a very strange sight, even for a cat lover like me. One poor kitty was stuck high above on the roof of the church and looked down in much disappointment.
Later that evening we caught a cab into the city. What were we going to do with our short amount of time? We had a very early start the next morning to catch out flight to Iquitos, so we wanted an early night. Our flight was at 6.20am and we needed to be at the airport two hours early, just for a domestic flight. Crazy! Our alarms were set for 3.15am. Ridiculous! So with what time we had to spare and the city of Lima around the corner, we decided to visit Parque de la Reserva, a mystical world of fountains shooting water high into the air. This park comes to life with music and lighting bringing out the magic of the night and the memorising formations of the water. The park alone is very beautiful and peaceful and a refreshing place to walk around after a hot day. There are thirteen fountains in total, each forming a different shape. Some shoot water high into the sky and some form tunnels that you can walk through. There are even some that shoot water sporadically and the challenge is to run through and not get wet, bringing out all the children to play. A place that will definitely make you smile and is a little escape from the hustle and bustle outside. Also a very fun place to take photos!
After our wet and wild visit, we headed to the main plaza for some dinner. Unaware of how late it was already, our visit here was over all too quickly. We were back in a cab to Miraflores and getting as much sleep as we could fit in. We saw Lima in less than fourth eight hours, yet they were forty eight hours of surprises and our journey to Cartagena was shaping up to be another little adventure.
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