A quick stop in Lima

We had a great flight to Lima (no cheeky upgrades this time) and have done a far bit since we arrived in Peru. Whilst at the airport in Ecuador we saw some members of the Ecuador Olympic team, we saw 5, so either they are sending a very small team or they are meeting up with others later! They seemed to be having a great time and were being interviewed for TV, we also saw them in the departure lounge and they were clearly not that bothered about their diet because they were eating huge slices of cake and drinking coke!

Me in the park in Miraflores!

We touched down in Lima and the fun and games began almost straight away. We saw lots of signs warning us of dodgy taxis operating and to use official airport taxis. The sensible English streak in use told use that we should follow this advice. Going through customs was interesting, it is completely random, you have to press a button and if the light goes green you can go through but if it goes red you have to have your bag searched. We both got the green light to which the official said "well done, very lucky". We located the official taxis and then were stunned when we found out the price of a safe taxi. We tried to negotiate but that didn´t work. We asked why we should use them and not another company and the reply was "we have insurance". So we relented and agreed to pay up. They then asked which hotel we were in and started naming all the 5 star hotels in Lima, we then had to explain that we were in a hostel...oh the shame of it! The taxi was a huge black Toyota so at least we would be arriving in comfort and style. But then we had to endure more embarassment when we had to get out all our books and maps so the driver could work out where he was going because he had never heard of it!

At the market

We got to the hostel safely, of course, and were really pleased with the accomodation. We headed straight out to get some food. The area we were staying in was Miraflores, it´s very upmarket and could be any major European city, it even has a Country Club! We found a supermarket that could have been Waitrose and bought ourselves a feast. When we got back to the hostel I immediately bumped into someone who was also born and grew up in Reading...small world!

The next day we decided to head to a bus station to get our onward ticket. Peru is getting ready for a big party, it´s Independence Day on the 28th July and there are flags and banners everywhere, it´s on a scale not unlike Christmas! We had been warned that travel might be difficult as lots of Peruvians travel at this time. We headed out onto the main Avenue to hail a taxi. The taxis in Peru are hilarious, they are mostly the Daewoo Tico, the predecessor to the Matiz and are some of the funniest cars I have seen. We hailed a taxi and then Dom helpfully left it to me to negotiate a price. In my "first-thing-in-the-morning-haze" and my confusion about the Sole and the Dollar, both of which are accepted in Lima, I somehow managed to negotiate the price up!! We travelled up towards Central Lima and then it soon became apparent that the taxi driver had no idea where he was going. We went round and round central Lima in this silly little car which had some kind of slushy radio soap opera in the background. At one point we drove right through the middle of a street parade! It did mean that we saw the "sights" of Central Lima, apart from the main square which is quite nice (and where we asked our third policeman for directions!) central Lima is nothing to shout about. It´s pretty run down and not the nicest or safest looking of places. We eventually found a bus station but didn´t like the area and thought it wasn´t the best one to buy tickets from. So we jumped into another taxi and headed down to the main bus terminal where we were able to get a ticket to Nazca for the following morning. We decided not to head back into Central Lima so hopped in another taxi back to Miraflores. Dom haggled really hard over 1 sole to get a good price and won, but then the taxi driver wouldn´t stop going on about it so we agreed to pay up in the end!

The Tico Taxis (taken in Cuzco)

Once safely back in Miraflores we wandered around the markets and wished we could buy lots of things! I did find my first thimble in South America though so I was really pleased about that. We´re saving shopping for Cusco, I´ll need to make room in my bag so I think Mum and Dad can expect a parcel! We had a nice but overpriced lunch, so far Peru has been a lot more expensive than Ecuador, we´re hoping things calm down a bit after Independence Day. In the afternoon, in the absence of any else to do which didn´t require significant effort or bargaining on our part, we decided to go to the cinema. Armed with a bucket of popcorn and some Inka Cola (the Peruvian rival to Coke, everywhere and tastes like fizzy bubblegum) we really enjoyed the new Batman film.