Hola mi Amigos!
Ok so short stop at our next destination and so a short blog. However, this doesn't mean it won't be the usual startlingly entertaining read from my good-self :o).
So a big hello to the city of Lima, the next stop on our journey!! After the good times of Colombia, I wasn't really sure what to expect from Peru. To be honest, I tend not to think too much about the places we're about to visit and just prefer to wait and see. That said, outside of the obvious sites of Peru (Machu Piccu et al), all that I'd heard was not to drink the water. So I guess if I did have any opinions about the place, perhaps they were maybe not the best. Oh and the fact that Lima had been put on Tsunami alert before we had even got to the airport, wasn't the best of signs. Anyway...
So what of our 24hrs in the capital of Peru? Well I gotta say it was something of a surprise and a rather lovely and pleasant one at that.
First tick in the box for Peru was the fact that by the time we had got through customs, both our bags were off the carousel and waiting for us! Now that's what I call service.
Ok so given the limited amount of time we had to experience the delights of Lima (approx 24hrs), we decided to rope in Timmy Tourists best friend, the opened top tour bus. Now I know some look down on such modes of transport, me however, I'm a big fan. The plan was to take two separate tours; one of Miraflores (the coast) and a second tour of the historical old town.
So what were our impressions? Well I have to say if I've been in a city as clean as Lima before, then I don't remember the occasion. For a big city it was fantastically clean. At least it was in the parts that our whistle stop tour took in. Now I'm not foolish enough to believe that the whole city was like that, but like I said, the parts we saw, were in fantastic knick. Outside of basic hygiene I'm also pleased to report that the city was lovely. The highlight of Miraflores was the seafront and what they had done to it. It wasn't really the prettiest of coastlines in terms of beach action, however, a large part of said coastline was beatifully landscaped into a number of different parks and leisure spaces for the community. We are talking parks to sit and chill, bike lanes, tennis courts, childrens playgrounds etc etc. A real example of what you can do with a coastline in a big city.
Second bus tour, old city. Now I'm not gonna claim this rivals Cartagena in terms of colonial architecture, however, what Lima did have had been restored and it also had a couple of lovely plazas to boot.
So in a nutshell that was basically our quickfire tour of Lima. Given more time, I can safely say it's a city that I could spend a little more time exploring and chilling out in.
Oh nearly forgot, another massive highlight was that we managed to have dinner with Pele!! Lovely meal of local delicacies it was as well. Ok so the Pele in question was made out of clay and was in a restaurant called Estadio F. C. Marvellous place!! A themed restaurant around footie now less. The offer of sitting at a table with the great man himself was one I couldn't turn down. Becky was almost as keen as me :o). Marvellous!!
Onto Iquitos we go!!