Lima...Lima...Limone...

I arrived in Lima early, having enjoyed a full night sleep on the CAMA bus (my new favourite bus!). It felt odd to arrive in such a big city, and as it felt a tad bit dodgy I overpaid my cab ride to the hostel by 100% just so that my cab driver could show me his official TaxiDriver badge (no photo though!).



I met up with friends I have made in Central America (the Danes and the Irish!) and we proceeded to explore the sites Lima had to offer. On the first day we stayed in Miraflores (the posh part) and really didn´t get very far. We ventured into the many "artisanal" markets honing our negotiation skills. I have been slightly disappointed with the products that are on offer, they lack the colours and TchaTching of the products produced in Central America. Having said that I couldn´t resist buying a peruvian hat.

It was extremely fun to be with the Danes and the Irish again. No more "where are you from?", "where are you travelling and for how long?"...although I understand that these are the easiest ways to meet fellow travellers, sometimes it´s just nice to go straight to the point. We visited the Catacombes, a number of churches, saw the change of the guards and most importantly went to the local Hooters!



I did enjoy one night out in the town. A friend of a friend had invited me for diner and knowing my friend I knew this would be similar (in standing) to a corporate diner. Although the thought of enjoying a glass of wine and good food (ie. that costs more than 2 usd) was extremely appealing, this opportunity also created a problem, CLOTHING. As anyone who has travelled with a backpack knows, clothes are practical and not necessarily pretty. I endured a 30 second panic thinking about what I was going to wear. But in the end I realised that my choice was limited so I had to go with my best clothes (black skirt, nice top and low and behold...black flipflops!!!) I know....I know....but what could i do? I don´t think hiking boots would have been appropriate either! But I pulled it off...with a big smile.

Next stop; Cuzco

Trujillo and Chan-Chan

I took an extremely uncomfortable night bus (which included babies, too many big bags and odd smells) from my beach paradise to Trujillo, a city nested in the middle of the coastal region of Peru. The main point of interest of the region are the many pre-inca sites. I arrived exhausted, left my backpack in a hostel and decided to go look for a one day tour that would allow me to see the sights and take a night bus over to Lima. I know, I was aiming to be extremely efficient.

As I walked into the center of town I felt a little like the weather, tired cold and grey. The main square was pleasant (even at 8 am). In the space of 1 hour I was accosted 5 times by tour sellers, saw a funeral procession for a policeman that had been shot as well as the first communion of many little peruvian kids. Not bad for a morning´s walk around the block.


I joined my tour late morning and was happy to see that I wasn¨t the only solo traveller. While the other foreigners were rather unfriendly, I was be-friended a group of Peruvians who could also speak english. Two of them had jobs on cruise ships and had travelled around the world and the other lady was a psychologist. We first went to Huacas del Sol y de la Luna, two pyramids that date back to the Moche era (500 AD). It was interesting and fascinating to see how they managed to build these huge pyramids using mud bricks (aka adobe) and how the colours and sculpted figures had been maintained. We then moved on to Chan Chan, the ruins of the imperial city of the Chimu people. It is supposedly the largest adobe city in the world.


I was at the bus station on time for by night bus and luxury of luxuries I travelled on a CAMA bus (ie. think business class in a plane..but on a bus!) all the way to Lima.