One from Auckland International + one from Heathrow + two 12 hour trips = Dad and Daughter in Lima!

Just so you know how thing will work - Dad will write in itallics, the normal text will be me, Jo.

Wednesday 20 April - Buenas tardes de Lima. We made it here in one piece! Nearly didn’t due to our taxi driver having terrible pains down his arm and telling us he’d just had a stroke! Probably didn’t help that he took on any car that tried to overtake him and beeped his horn every 10 seconds. I don’t think he was out of the ordinary; most of the other drivers in the Easter traffic jam were doing the same. It was like the clash of the wing mirrors, lets see if I can get my wing mirrow in behind the car beside me to piss him off. Some of the cars actually had chains on wing mirrors so they dont lose them after a clash. We drove through the docks and caught a glimpse of the ‘real’ Lima, young children being carted around in huge trolleys, the hustle and bustle of 100’s of people cramming into run down buses and cars with dents all over. We made our way across town to the place where all the tourists stay, Milaflores. Got to our rather lovely ‘Buenvista Hostal’ and checked into our rather spacious room. Dumped our bags and attempted to go down the road for our first Peruvian meal. Ordering in Spanish turned out to be harder than what I thought. Dad just spoke in English and hoped the guy would understand. I didnt need to learn as I am travelling with my guide Juanita Joanna. Together with my intermediate Spanish and the dictionary I downloaded to my Iphone we managed. The only thing we messed up was we didn’t get Sangria we got a litre of beer instead. No biggie though! Well I thought a litre of beer was quite a biggie really but it didnt last long. Pretty good for somewhat jetlagged people.

Thursday 21 April - Lima  The next day we slept through the complimentary breakfast (until about 11am!) and ventured into Milaflores about lunch time. Had an overpriced lunch in Parque Central Kennedy, as Dad reminisced about being there 11 years earlier with his sister aka Aunty Annette. We had the table with the view of the park and you just have to do this once on the trip. The budget will kick in after a day or two! We then wandered around trying to find me some sunglasses, as it was rather glary and I had smashed mine when previously snowboarding. We then wandered down to the beach to Parque Salazar, a big shopping centre (When we were wandering around the shops it could have been Takapuna mall or Oxford Street, all the major brands, quite up market really) on a cliff above the beach and had a beer (must have been Jos idea to have a beer!) at bar overlooking the ocean.  After all this eating we decided we needed some fresh air and excercise so we strolled along the cliff and down to the beach. Along the way we found another park, Parque del Amor. In the centre of the park was a gigantic statue of a man and woman having a snog and there were plenty of locals surrounding it also having a snog. It was sunset by this time. We did bump into our first fellow kiwi traveller here. I tried to take a photo of the statue through cupped heart shaped hands, a bit creative. The kiwi came introduced herself and had to help dad as he couldnt manage to make the heart shape, was quite a laugh (Its a generation thing taking all these creative photos). It was quite a walk down the cliff to the beach (about 200 steps) but we made it in time for the finish of the sunset and watched the surfers catch the last few waves. Seemed like quite a hot spot for surfing. Just have to mention that we found another nice restaurant for dinner (dont want to give the impression that all we do is eat). This one staffed by a friendly man from Egypt who had been in Lima for six months and spoke good english. Made me feel right at home. After ordering we had an unmitigated disaster, the resturant had free WIFI - Woo Hoo.. so out came the Iphones and tried to connect, It didn't work!!  "Oh my god" we had to accept that we would have to talk to each other over the meal!!!!

Friday 22 April - Lima   Today is Good Friday and the Cadbury Easter Bunny has made it all the way to Lima! Too many for us to eat though so we decided to share half of them tonight with our Intrepid Tour group that we will be meeting at 6pm. We decided to have a bit of a lazy day but after breakfast meandered our way first to check out the Catholic church but left when they started singing and then to La Hucana Pucllana (Juliana) some ruins of an Adobe Pyramid from AD 400. But like most things in Lima on Good Friday it was closed, we were allowed to have a sneeky look at the outside wall though. We decided to get ourselves a sandwich from the local supermarket and sit in the Parque Central Kennedy and people watch. And then joy oh joy, Jo found some sunglasses at a street seller, a whole $NZ8. Made her day as the last sunglasses had been squished when she fell over while snow boarding in France. Just have to mention that the expensive pair before those got left in a Taxi in Auckland!  Takes after her Dad as mine last only a few weeks before I loose them or sit on them. Next stop was the supermarket to buy the hair dye. Another Woo Hoo as Jo is now dark haired again and very happy with the result. (I have to add in here ... it's not my fault I got bad genes and am starting to go grey at 25!).

Tomorrow we get a tour around downtown Lima (or the real Lima) as part of our trip so we have used the last few days for relaxing and getting used to the timezone. I think the Intrepid 21 day trip from Lima to La Paz will be quite full on! 

De feliz excursionistas, Adios Amigos.

(from the happy travellers, good bye friends). Until the next blog...