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Buenos tardas! So. here I am in the vibrant city of Lima, Peru which turns out to be more foggy than vibrant but the brightly painted buildings more than make up for this. They are red, orange, yellow and green with just the odd grey or white one as if their owners had decided that enough was enough and they would opt out of the local decorating style.
I arrived 2 days ago so fogged with sleep that I simply collapsed into the bed I was given with little thought for the place I had arrived in but have since had time to have a look around and gather a few first impressions so here are some thoughts on my journey so far:
1. Air travel for 19 hours is brutal no matter who you fly with so I would like to give a big thanks to the airline ticketing gods who saw fit to seat me next to another lone traveller who happened to be taking the exact same journey as me, down to the hotel. It turns out that this nice young man (a dashing naval officer no less) was heading off to do a South American tour with the same company though his tour is slightly shorter than mine and leaves a day earlier. Still, it was reassuring to have someone to figure out the journey with and negotiate taxis with - a promising start to my adventure.
2. Note to self: learn some Spanish! There is no quicker way to look and feel like a total idiot than when someone chats away to you in Spanish and you have to politely shrug or wave your arms helpelessly at them to slow down while muttering, "perdone, Inglese, no hable espanol!". I am becoming an expert in charades.
3. I miss hot showers.
4. Getting hopelessly lost is part of the fun of solo travelling according to my guidebook... fun? Really? Maybe that doesn´t include getting hopelesly lost because you had a minor disagreement with the taxi driver and being asked to exit his vehicle in the middle of nowhere in Lima? At least, in my case, the middle of nowhere was the wealthy district of MIraflores so I guess I´ll get over it!
5. The kindness of strangers can never be underestimated so thanks to the security guard who pointed me the way to the bank while apologising for his terrible English (it was far better than my Spanish), and to the lovely Police man who gave me directions after my disagreement with the taxi driver, the many waitresses who have waited patiently while I decipher Spanish menus and hideously mangle their language while ordering and finally, to Javier, my guide at the museum this morning who kindly conducted the whole tour in English so that I could follow what was going on!
So, all in all, an interesting start. The good definitely outweighs the bad, though I will be relieved when I join up with the rest of my tour group tomorrow and I have other travellers to hang out with (I fear I have begun talking to myself!). Despite my awful sense of direction which has resulted in me seeing very little that could actually be classed as a "sight", I am getting a feel for the city of Lima; it is a bustling place that seems dusty, busy and unappealing at first but once you peel back the foggy layer, it is actually quite fascinating. There are little pockets of peace and calm to be found everywhere, including at the Museo Pedro de Ormes (where Javier was my guide). It is situated in the mst unlikely of places in Barranco where I am staying, down a long dusty road that seems to have nothing of interest on it but is a fantastic tranquil place housing some beautiful and intriguing colonial art. The building was a house (mansion might be a better word) that became a private museum after the owners death and it is definitely worth a visit. So, now that my work for the Peruvian tourst board is done, I am off to find somewhere to eat (and a decent cup of tea... hope is dwindling on this front!)
C x
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