Author: Ged

Photos: Both

Lima day 1

We woke early on our last day in the jungle and hastily packed our bags with the mass of sodden filth we formally knew as our clothes. Sad to be leaving, but looking forward to a hot shower and less mosquitos, we climbed aboard our motor canoe for the last time and headed up river from the Tambopata reserve.

We arrived at the airport three hours early for our flight to discover two things:

1. Freestyle rapping priests exist in the Amazon rainforest and they hold nothing back when it comes to spreading the word about their current mission (my Spanish/ability to follow rap skills were not good enough to discern where the mission was to). Papa Francisco’s troup of followers joined in when possible and made for an interesting wait for check in and baggage drop off.

2. We were the smelliest people to ever sit in business class. For reasons unknown to us our ticket was actually for business class rather than our usual economy class. This fact would have been useful to know several hours earlier when we decided not to have another cold shower and that it was fine to wear the clothes from the previous day. No doubt we had an aroma of overally ripe bananas mixed with goat thanks to the humidity of the jungle. Sheepishly, we took our seats at the front of the plane and accepted our “business class” drinks as every person on the flight filed passed us to their seats, likely wondering what the hell that smell was.

The flight back to Lima was straight forward and we arrived at about 4pm with two objectives: Get clean. Get our clothes clean. As our Uber ride conveyed us to our AirBnb in the San Isidro area, we dreamt of the perfect washing machine, capable of removing all of the grime of the jungle and rendering us respectable smelling again. Dreaming of washing machines is not something either of us would ever have thought of before, but here we are. We bust into the studio room to discover…… no washing machine. Disaster. Quick fire messages to the host confirmed that she did indeed own a washing machine, but it was in storage in another part of the building and not installed!! We only booked the studio because she said it had a washing machine! We glumly made ourselves smell as good as we could and grabbed a quick pizza before turning in. Perhaps the next day would bring our salvation from the stench that was palpably getting worse in our rucksacks.

Lima day 2
We woke determined to find a laundrette and were heartened to learn that one was literally just around the corner. After some enthusiastic hand gestures, dodgy Spanish, and eventually Google Translate, we negotiated for our clothes to be washed and dried for the next day for 4 Peruvian Soles per kilo (about 80p).

San Isidro is a very residential area and I think smelly tourists with terrible Spanish was something of a novelty (and I daresay amusement) for the woman who worked in the laundrette. Confident that Rachael wouldn’t have to wear her emergency knickers twice, we set out to explore the city.

Our first stop was the archaeological site of Huacca Pucllana in the Miraflores area. The site is a complex of several hectres with the main focus being a large, but low, step pyramid of gleaming mud bricks of pale yellow.

Built by people of the Lima culture (predating the Inca empire by around 1000 years) the site was initially the focus of ritual and communal activities before becoming a burial ground during the Wari, and eventually Inca occupations. Excavations started in 1981 and are ongoing with a new Wari tomb discovered only last year! We learned about life at the site, the cultivation of maize, consumption of fish, the rearing of alpacas, and the keeping of muscovy ducks. However, perhaps the most interesting was the way the site was built. The method of stacking the mud bricks “book shelf” style with gaps between each vertical brick seems to have been an anti earthquake measure.

Despite Lima being flattened several times in the 1500 years since the pyramid was built, it still stands today with only a minimum of restoration work to help it. We wandered the site for a few hours but I could of spent all day there.

Next we decided to walk to the coast and see Miraflores on the way. This area is lovely and safe, if a little touristy. There are gimmicky restaurants like “Liverpool” and some strangely named hotels such as the unfortunately named “Colon Hotel” (I wonder if anyone has ever told them?!?).

Grabbing a delicious empanda on the way, we came to the coast and Parque del Amor: the park of love. I’ll be honest, we were underwhelmed. Perhaps we were spoiled by the views in Rio, annoyed by the overeager drinks vendors, or subdued by the grey sky (turns out it never actually rains in Lima but is usually overcast), but we weren’t feeling the love.

It was nice enough but the aesthetics of the main statue didn’t really do it for us so we decided to press on to the second archaeoligcal site of the day. 2.5 miles and a slice of pizza (£1!) later…

…we arrived at Huaca Huallamarca which was another pyramid, but on a smaller scale. This was heavily reconstructed in a rush and had been rebuilt square instead of the original round shape, but we learned more of the Wari culture and particularly of their burial practices. Crouched burials in sacs (or layers of sacs) containing offerings were finished with wooden masks, often with sea shells for eyes.

These are then interred in the pyramid or caves with up to 30 other cadavers, perhaps in family groups. Again, I could of stayed a lot longer but the sun was getting low in the sky and we realised we had already walked 10 miles that day! We rested in a lovely park on the way home and made plans for tea.

Dusted off and washed, we found a restaurant serving alpaca burgers….. curious we went for it. The food was delicious and pretty cheap! We are also aware now that alpaca has almost no fat in it, so win bloody win.

Lima day 3
This day we could of stayed in bed, read a book, sat in a park, or found a swimming pool. Did we do any of that? Nope! It is quickly becoming apparent to me that if there is something to be seen then we want to see it. If we were weary from the previous day then neither of us admitted it. Up and out to the famous Plaza San Martin with its monuments before heading to the main square; Plaza de Armas (via an ice cream shop for an insistant Rach – only her second one of the trip so far, must be a record!) This square has the presidential palace, the cathedral, and a place invitingly called “Choco Museo.”

As we entered the square we could hear drums and a marching band, see many rainbow flags waving, and see a large crowd gathering. Had we stumbled onto a pride parade? We strode forward to check it out and found there were actually two things crowds were gathering for. Firstly the changing of the guards at the presidential palace, and secondly a gathering of people singing traditional songs and dressed in bright colours. It seems they just like the bright colours of the rainbow flag and it was nothing to do with a pride parade!

We watched for a little while before wandering the square and eventually being coaxed into the chocolate museum for a hot chocolate. I don’t usually have chocolate so opted for a traditional recipe of dark chocolate, milk, honey, and chilli flakes. Wow. The flavour was intense and it woke me up so much more than a good cup of coffee. Rach opted for a milk chocolate drink which was clearly delicious based on how much the bottom of the pot was scraped with the spoon to get the very last of it.

After the chocolate we headed to the Priory of Santo Domingo which is not far from the main square. This priory is one of the oldest buildings in Lima with beautiful cloisters, an amazing library, and the oldest glazed tiles in Peru.

We were given a brilliant tour and learned a lot about the history of Lima, the saints of Peru, and the Spanish influence on the culture of the area. The tour ended in the bell tower with a brilliant panoramic of Lima.

On our way home we picked up our washing and were over-joyed, ney, ecstatic, to find they were clean and ready for us. Rach had an expression of pure joy for hours.

Donned in clean garb, we decided to have one last nice meal before hitting the road for 34 days. We chose the Malabar restaurant and had a brilliant meal of the locally caught fish and our first Pisco sours. A close contender for our favourite drink so far after the caiparinhas of Rio.

To round the evening off we headed to the Parque de reserva. This is a closed off park famous for it’s water fountains and sculptures. It was lovely to walk around and take in the cool night air but the main attraction was a light and water display set to music.

This was genuinely fun to watch, if a little nationalistic, and impressive to see the water “dance” to the music. Knackered, we caught a ride home and conked out.

Lima day 4
Waking on our last full day we had to pack up and move camp from our AirBnb in San Isidro and check into a hotel/hostel in Barranco. Barranco has a lot more going on than San Isidro in terms of cafes, bars, craft shops, etc. but isn’t as central to go see the museums and other sights in Lima. In any case, as soon as we got out of the Uber we liked the vibe of the place.

For the next 34 days we have booked ourselves on an organised trip through G Adventures so all accommodation and places to visit are out of our hands. We did this to make sure things like our Macchu Picchu trek and Bolivia border crossing are sorted and also to help out with time. We only had a short amount of time to plan our whole trip! We had no idea what to expect from the accomodation but the first place, hotel/hostel Gemina, was clean (if very dated) and comfortable enough. The TV in the room probably belongs in a museum, but who goes travelling to watch TV anyway???

We quickly checked in and decided to get a ride over to one of my picks for an activity: the Museo Nacional de Arqueología Antropología e Historia del Perú.

This museum is housed in a villa style building with open courtyards and a beautiful garden. The entire human occupation of Peru is showcased here from the initial human migration onto the Andean plateau, the emergence of farming, pottery, and metallurgy, the rise of the various pre Columbian cultural groups, the Inca empire, the arrival of Europeans, Peruvian independence, and current issues with the destruction/abuse of the rainforest. This museum is well worth a visit and we learned a lot, but I forgot I am the biggest museum nerd in the world and Rachael got museum fatigue long before the security guard was trying to encourage me out the door. I totally lost track of time!!

We headed back to the hotel, grabbed some food from a cafe and waited for the welcome meeting for the G Adventures trip. One by one people joined the group and I was pleased to see we were really international. People from Belgium, France, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Sweden, Finland, Norway, and the UK are on the tour. Quite a group for only 18 people! Folk started to make the introductions and pleasantries when suddenly Jesus spoke to us…. “Follow me and I will lead you.” Our guide was called Jesus! He proceeded to give us a detailed outline of the adventures we are to have and how tough the climb and altitude will be as we head into the Andes. A good night’s sleep was needed ready for setting off the next day.

We had initially intended for Lima to be a place to rest and recouperate after the trials of the jungle and the onslaught of the coming month. However, we did nothing like rest. We packed as much as we could into our few days and the city really grew on me. I am finishing this post as we sit waiting for the start of our journey and the four and a half hours of sitting on a bus to Paracas.

No rest for the wicked.