Continental Lima

... some local delicacies. I expecdt too upchuck that into the Pacific ocean from the araglider. Priceless!

Ah - we also squeezed in today a tour of the old colonial city where the seat of Spanish government was in the old days. Very imressive architecture. Lima is a beautiful city! Loving it so far!

Off to raise a few pints, see you tomorrow after paragliding!!
Woo Hoo

... as if we had cheated ever so slightly....

We then thought it was time to leave our ´Flying Dog Hostel´in the Miraflores to stay in the more Bohemian district of Lima called Barranco for a couple of days. Since Duncan´s DVT, thankfully, turned out to be nothing more than some muscle pain we managed to do lots more exploring around Lima and felt like proper backpackers once again walking around Barranco trying to find a nice hostel ...

... I had a Quara, this nasty fruit flavored beer that's Peru's equivalent of Arbor Mist. Oh, wait, they actually sell Arbor Mist in the grocery store here! I'm so glad they import quality American goods. Shopping in craft stores was not fruitful here. The selection is worse and the prices a bit higher than in other cities. I had churros and chocolate for dinner at Manolo, the only place here with thick Spanish-style hot chocolate. Yes, I'm still on vacation.

... of the bus, the other 50% of the vehicles on the road are taxis.  While they are super expensive compared to the buses, they are still very cheap.  Plus, the taxis charge you per ride.  If you were so inclined, you could share it with as many people as you wanted to.
We got to where we wanted to be in the north part of Miraflores and asked the ticket person for a stop.  The bus stopped 2 lanes into traffic, but at least it stopped and didn't make us get off while it ...

... inside of the church, where we were able to see inside the underground catacombs through a couple of glassed panels cut into the floor of the church. Piles of bones of some of the thousands buried there were visible, with concrete steps into the catacombs marked with crossed bones. After the downtown tour we proceeded to a remarkable place called the Parque de la Reserva, and the Circuito Magico del Aqua (Magic Circuit of Water). This relatively new park is ...

... not just the upcoming weekend, I was surrounded by throngs of locals and Peruvian tourists wading into the many cathedrals and inglesias. Because I love history, I didn´t want to neglect the plazas, but my somewhat arrogant theory is ´you´ve seen one latin plaza, you´ve seen em all´ so I was not exactly enamoured to be visiting plazas. I basically went just for the sake of going. Plus there were the couple certain places I wanted to check out. After getting ...

Lima has some beautiful buildings, and the main square is packed in the evenings with people just sitting on steps hanging out etc. which gives it a lively air. Our hotel (which appeared ridiculously opulent to us at first glance but ended up having awful reception on the TV`s!) was in the downtown which was near to the cathedral, and various other government buildings. After a walking tour of these areas in the morning we headed to Miraflores for ...

... syringe (I was taught to use saline). Anyway, either of these would make for a real nightmare in the operating room and I tried to explain this, but since they don't have small spinal needles or epidural catheters it is what they do. I did one epidural the Peruvian way and it went smoothly. The patient at risk for hemorrhage did well and both of the babies ...

... talkative and friendly local. He advised me to stay close to the centre and not to venture far from the tourist sites as it was not too safe there. He dropped me off at the Plaza de Armas (main city plaza) and agreed to pick me up later that day from the same place to take me back to my hostel.

One could immediately see the Spanish influence in central Lima – yellow colonial buildings and churches. The main plaza has a bronze ...