Apr 27, 2005 - Passing through Lima

I landed at around 4am, after 3 uneventful flights from Halifax, and managed to make it in time for a 5:45am flight to Cusco. The plane was pretty large (I had been expecting it be the same size as the ones I fly on to Boston)and the 1-hour flight to Cusco was amazing. Once we cleared the low-lying fog that hangs around the coast, I had a great view of the terrain below me. We flew through the snow-capped peaks of the Andes and had to fly around the steep hills that encircle Cusco. Flights to Cusco are frequently cancelled when the...

Apr 23, 2005 - Lima

Lima me parecio a primera vista enorme!! El viaje del aeropuerto a Miraflores, la region mas "segura" y recomendable para los turistas fue...diferente de lo que yo me imaginaba encontrar en Peru.. Parecia mas bien las Vegas o algo asi.. Un mar de luzes, cientas de salas de juegos, casinos, discotecas, restaurante...bueno, como dicho, un mar de luces!! No parecia que se estaba en un pais que supuestamente es pobre... Ya miraflores es un poquitin mas tranquilo..queda frente el mar y tiene un paseo maritimo bastante bonito..un centro comercial...

Apr 21, 2005 - Peru Part I - Nasca Lines

Touching down in the Lima Airport at 10:00pm, it was 11:30pm before we were settled into our airport shuttle on route to a hostel that we had booked earlier that day. Unfortunately the booking that was sent for the 15th of April returned as confirmed for the 16th. The joys of seamless user-to-user e-service. At 12:15am, the confused shuttle driver rolled up to the address that we had given him - a locked grid-iron gate which separated a three story townhome from the dusty streets of Lima, from the street there was no visible evidence that...

Apr 16, 2005 - Cusco - Nasca - Pisco - Lima

Liebe Freunde, Von Cusco folgte eine Marathonstrecke Richtung Nasca. Die ersten 200km begannen mit einer Serpentinenstrecke auf gutem Asphalt welche mit einer "KTM Superduke" wahrscheinlich noch mehr Spass gemacht haette. Allerdings bereitete mir Sorgen, dass sich meine Durchschnittsgeschwindigkeit auf dem GPS nicht ueber 70km/h steigern liess. Somit wuerde meine Ankunft sich wohl auf kurz nach Sonnenuntergang verschieben. Die zweiten 200km machten Mut, denn nun waren die Kurven langgezogen und obwohl es dauernd zwischen 1'900m und 4'500m...

Apr 16, 2005 - Arrival in Lima

Well, we're here in one piece! We left our home at about 3:45am for the flight, so were a bit tired upon arrival. Quite an eventful journey - when we got to Madrid for our connection I was really worried when they called out my name. I was convinced that they'd lost my suitcase or something, but no - we'd been upgraded to business class. Brilliant. They obviously hadn't seen the state of my hair before deciding to do that. Shortly after we left Madrid, though, we had to move forward a few seats because somebody was taken ill on the plane....

Apr 14, 2005 - Lima, Peru

this is the last entry i'll be making from South America, and it's from the capital city of Peru. Lima is realy nice. big and modern, with lots of shops and supermarkets (i've missed big supermarkets!). i'm staying in a realy nice hostel, that i don't think you can even call it that. it's a jewish family house, and they rent rooms that they have. they are one of the nicest people i've met in my travels, and they realy try and making everything as good as possible. today they took me shopping for a new suitcase (i bought a realy good one...

Apr 3, 2005 - Lima

After the Ballestas trip we headed onto Lima. We weren`t that impressed with the city. It is Fast Food heaven, for some reason! EVERY food place down the main high street was fast food - they had Mc D`s, KFC, the LOT! We all went for a group dinner that night in an area called Mira Flores, except for Eric and Edu, who wanted to try out Lima's gay scene! We went to a restaurant called Tony Roma`s. I`d never actually heard of the chain (think it`s American) but it's known for the best spare ribs!! And it`s true! They were FANTASTIC! Actually...

Mar 29, 2005 - Lima 18.-21.3.2005

Asuimme aivan kummallisessa hotellissa Liman keskustassa. Hostal España oli suuri siirtomaa-aikainen rakennus, kunnon sokkelo, jonka huonekorkeus oli sanoinkuvaamaton. Puhumattakaan niista ovista, jotka olivat lahes Merimiehenkadun kamppani pinta-alan kokoisia. Kaytavat olivat taynna jalustoilla seisovia antiikkisia patsaita ja katossa roikkui hamahakinseittien peittamia kristallikruunuja. Kerroksesta toiseen paasi vain huojuvia kierreportaita pitkin ja huoneiden seinilla roikkui huonoja kopioita maalaustaiteen klassikoista. Respassa oli...

Mar 28, 2005 - Lima...last stop, but not without adventure.

If you havent read the Atacama section, do so, there are some great pictures there. Anyway, I flew from Tacna to Lima, and landed in the evening. My flight was not scheduled for a few days, but I inquired as to whether I could switch and leave right away..after much inquiry, they tell me that I can't but that they can put me on the 1st flight leaving in the morning, and that I should be there by 5:30am to check in..well, being that it was 11pm and the hotels were 25 minutes away, I did what every well worn traveller should do at least...

Mar 23, 2005 - Disgruntled taxi driver

Just endured a 20 minute Lima cab ride with a toothless old guy just complaining and complaining about Peru, the people, the government, etc, etc! Taxi drivers I think are the same the world over!! He obviously hates everything about his country but can probably not leave it. He pointed at every Peruvian on the street to tell me they were shit, worthless, useless, robbers, corrupt, lazy, you name it, he said it. I think he was annoyed as they just put the price of petrol up, even though it is supposed to be stabilised by the government. The...

Mar 20, 2005 - Lima-Cuzco (tour bus tales - week 1)

(Updated by: Giles) LIMA Arriving at Lima airport at 11pm meant that we got to see an interesting side to Lima and it's suburbs as we made are way to our hotel (it's all hotels from here on on this tour - woohoo !). Not that far from Quito, on a global scale, we failed to appreciate the difference the drop in altitude can make and therefore how much hotter Lima was to be than Quito. From a 'travelling' point of view, we have found that cities, expecially those in poorer countries are best seen on a 1 day tour and before moving on and Lima...

Mar 19, 2005 - Lima - Peru

We finally made it to Peru after being delayed for 4 hours at Los Angeles airport. We were meant to leave at 8pm but didnt end up leaving until about midnight. We got fed while we waited and again at 1 in the morning, and arrived in Peru at about 10 in the morning. Got talking to a guy from Perth and shared a cab out to the Hostel. The three of us went down for a drink at the beach and ran into another lone Aussie on his way back from Europe. The 4 of us sat over looking the Beach at Miraflorens (outter suburb of Lima where we are staying)...