Hotel Espana Lima

Almost half way... The north is done. Wrapped up in 4 gigs of photos and some amazing memories and now we have the exciting prospect of Cuzco on the horizon, and the legendary Machu Picchu to come. We flew to lima early in the morning to give us a day to climatise and maybe see some sites before we move on again. The guide mentioned Hotel Espana in the center describing it as part labyrinth, part museum. How incredible it feels when the reality matches your imagination. This place is incredib...

Bienvenida a Lima!! At least thats what it said......we arrived to a small airport greated by a Small Old Slightly Blind Erratic Peruvian Taxi Driver! But "Esta Bien" Apparently. We scurried off from the airport past the main Taxi Rank to this Corroding Piece of Metal called a Toyota Corolla which was to take us into central Lima... I had sorted out our hotel via the magic of the internet, and Hotel Espana was where we were to be taken. After Dodgy Roads, driving past shanty towns and fearing...

Awoke clutching my knife as a loud bang erupted from the streets below, I murmured something about the Flintstones and tried to doze off... but I couldn't because it was 25 Celsius. Today was the day I decided to check out of the lovely and authentic, but crummy Hotel España and into the new and tourist friendly Flying Dog Hostel In the safer Mira Flores. (At 10$US per night with free cable TV, it was a steal) I spent the day playing the white man and having a fun time, I most likely tabbed a...

Hola!

We have finally arrived in Lima after an exhausting day yesterday...32hrs of mindless travel for us, including a boring boring boring 8hr layover in Santiago that involved us having very uncomfortable naps on airport benches. But we did arrive safely last night (at midnight) and are staying in a fantasticly quirky hotel, that has 2 resident birds that sing us some not so lovely wake up songs, and 2 turtles that were trying to eat each other, before they spied some bigger prey......

Well I cant believe it, we are on our second day in Lima. Some of it is just like I expected, but even more has taken me by surprise. This afternoon while walking to the Cruz del Sur ticket office we passed through the very grand and beautiful Plaza San Marin. It was complete with bronze statue, flowers, colonial architecture and of course tourists. A sight that we were happy to see, being that we had not seen much in the way of "Gringos". What I wasn´t ready to see was a Pizza Hut and a KFC,...

Good things come to those who procrastinate, n´est pas? After planning this trip in my head for years, I´m finally off. I have googled,trip advisored, you tubed so much that at one point I felt that I could tick South America off my list, and move on to another continent. Although my plan is to pretty much follow the gringo trail, it´s highly likely that with my sense of direction, I´ll veer off it at some point and see something unplanned. Hopefully not in some back country coca producing r...

Jour 2 - Lima

Nous sommes installées à l'hotel Espana depuis hier soir après un voyage qui s'est bien deroulé malgré quelques aventures d'aéroport... Le plus facheux est que les bagages de 2 d'entre nous, Stephanie et Linda, ne sont pas encore arrivés. Nous espérons qu'ils arriveront ce soir et nous pourrons ainsi poursuivre notre itinéraire. Nous restons à Lima encore ce soir.

En fait, nous avons passé la journée à tenter d'obtenir des informations et de l'aide pour récupérer l...

Jour 3 - Lima

Il a été impossible de régler la situation des bagages par téléphone hier alors Linda, Steph et Lorraine décident de s'y rendre en personne.

L'expédition jusqu'à l'aéroport s'avère inutile... les bagages sont sans doute arrivés mais il n'y a aucun représentant d'Air Canada à l'aéroport de Lima les fins de semaine. Lorraine qui ne reviendra pas à Lima avec nous, part pour Paracas en début d'après-midi. Nous en profitons enfin pour faire du tourisme et embarquons da...

I tried to begin entries in this log a few days ago, but for the life of me could not remember my password. Spent a half hour and 1 Soles trying every word of significance in my life I could possibly have used. It was like a trip down memory lane. We´ve all been there. Right? I leave my baggage at the hotel in Lima and take a walk in Miraflores, the more touristic district of Lima. The first day in a new city is always different. There is a lot going on, getting a feel for the look, geography...

This is day 1 of my 15-day Peruvian trek. The flight was a surprisingly comfortable 8 hours. On a related note: Air Canada, how I´ve missed you! I know I cheated on you that one time (okay, twice) with Air Transat, but that was a huge mistake and I promise never to leave you again. I got in at 12:20am, and went to meet the hotel transfer I´d pre-booked. Every Peruvian I had spoken to up until this spoke excellent English (people at LAN Peru´s call centre, and customs officials). But, the hote...