The Point Backpackers Hostel Lima

I know, I am really bad about keeping my log up to date. So after Iquitos, where i stayed for 4 days, I headed back to Lima for a few days, and for the weekend. You know it's a good sign when the hostel (The Point, in Barranco, a few k's south of central lima on the coast)has a sign for a pub crawl, to begin at 1 am. Thus began the start of a few 9am nights. Crazy city. There is something inherently wrong with leaving a bar when it is light out. Anyway, then I decided it was time to get to Cu...

Well, I've finally left Lima, and on to pastures new. I´m now in Pisco a few hours south, still on the coast. My drive here was amazing. First we had to drive down through the publos nuevos or shanty towns of Lima. These, seen from a distance, seemed to be horrific. The buildings are constructed from anything on hand, and any stone buildings I saw were completely run down, no ceiling, crumbled or missing walls and yet, of course I guess that these would be seen to be 'upmarket' dwellings. Eve...

Here on earth have the last 3 weeks gone? Each day blurs with the last, drinking, dancing, playing with street kids, chatting with gringos, internet, the odd ruin and occasional, fruitless trips to the library. And what a great time I had! Living by myself, in my "own" apartment, answerable to no one, I could come and go as I pleased. I felt really at home in Cusco, more so than Puerto, mainly because I had a home! My home in fact beong to Margs, a lovely Mexican girl off my course who has be...

Hola from Arequipa! After spending quite some time in the Cusco area, it was time to leave for what looks like will be my last real stop in Peru. My bus for Arequipa was supposed to leave at 9pm but ended up leaving at least half an hour late. One interesting thing was that someone official came around to videotape each of the passengers on the bus -- for security I guess? But we made it to Arequipa in the morning and I checked into my hostel (The Point). There are some interesting things to ...

Arriving into Lima was a bit of a shock for me. After weeks of traveling in poorer communities I had forgotten about luxuries like movie theaters, mowed lawns and fast-food chains. Well... perhaps I had not "forgotten" them, but I had grown accustom to living without them. And really I was just fine with that. You come to have a much greater appreciation for all the simple things one usually takes for granted. I personally may never have to give up the "good life", but I do think a bit more a...

Hey all, How´s it going? Well its now my third day here in Lima, Peru, and I´m having a great time. I checked in to a hostel called Point in an area called Barranco. It´s actually not strictly Lima. It´s a very very upmarket area, filled with the most incredibley luxurios apartment buildings. It´s great though because it´s really safe. And the night life´s not bad either :) You´ll all be pleased to here that it is somewhat colder than Mexico here. Average temps for this time of year are 17oC,...

After a day of travel, I met up with Eldon at the Lima airport in Peru. Fortunately we found each other in the immigration line, which we then waited in for 1.5 hours. (and VERY fortunate for me, because his flight landed like 6 min before mine, so I cut in front of about 50 people when I saw him... how very Paraguayan of me.) We made it to our hostel in Barranco (a subburb of Lima, right on the coast) pretty late (1am) and crashed. The next day we hung out and wandered about Barranco. For lu...

Tuesday - Jamie and I took a taxi from the bus station to The Point hostel, checked in and went out to find some dinner and a cash machine. The people in the hostel warned us not to use the yellow cash machines because they give out fake money - how mad is that?! Just walking from the hostel to the main square there were loads of locals in costumes dancing in the streets - the whole place was really busy, I guess in preparation for the festival of the sun. We went to a pizza / pasta place and...

Well, almost a week later I'm still in Lima. There's not much to see here but the parties and the hostel (The Point) are awesome. Ran in to Will, the Aussie from my first couple days in Bogota the other night. Tomorrow I'm finally off to Cuzco. That's it for my Lima post. Love y'all, take care.

Written from Barcelona, mid June: I was reading through my old entries and noticed that I started to get lazy right around this point in Lima. This journal serves a second purpose besides keeping in touch with all of you. I'm trying to be diligent with some details about each location that will jog my memory years from now. Let's see what I remember of Lima after 5 weeks. I stayed in Barranco, a nicer suburb known for it's nightlife, at a hostel called The Point. It seemed very different at t...