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)...

Mar 16, 2005 - Lima

After a great 9 days visiting all the sites and catching our breaths in Cusco and Aguas Calientes (Machu Picchu) it was time to make tracks to Lima and climes further north. Caught the 5pm bus from Cusco planning to be in Lima by 2pm next afternoon to see to my new passport. Had prime seats on the bus - top deck and seats 3 and 4 right at the front - afforded stunning views of the surrounding lush countryside before dark fell, but also felt every sudden jerk of the wheel by one of the bus drivers - this fellow was a bit on the "hairy" side....

Mar 8, 2005 - Lima

We arrived in the early evening at Lima airport. We reclaimed our luggage from a very very chaotic baggage reclaim area, this was a good sign ;-) We struggled our way through customs, who to our surprise were extremely active checking almost every bag very thoroughly (maybe because a plane landed about the same side from Ecuador?). Luckily, we had booked a hostal and asked for a driver to pick us up. We crushed through the sea of people and found our names above a small Peruvian. Later we found out that some people got charged 600 dollar...

Mar 3, 2005 - Lima

I don't know about Darkest Peru, it seams very light and sunny here to me. The city planners also forgot to think about shade. First time at sea level since mid January, first time below 2000m for the first time since the end of january, oh what a lot of oxygen. Off to look for Padington.

Mar 2, 2005 - Peru, Lima

Lima "centre" a été baptisé en son temps par Charles Quint, « la cité des Rois » . Ville superbe, arborant de très nombreux balcons, dont certains remarquablement travaillés. Ville qui fut aussi entourée de hautes murailles pour se protéger des pirates dont certains célèbres comme Francis Drake qui attaqua le port de Callao Le centre de Lima par la suite déclina beaucoup, circulation plus que chaotique, marchands ambulants envahissant trottoirs et chaussées, insalubrité généralisée, etc. Lima Centre regroupe autour de la Place d'Armes...

Feb 25, 2005 - Things that keep you awake in a shanty town....

1. Dogs barking across the valleys to each other all night..it must be the only time they can hear each other 2. The sound of someone's party or music carrying across to you from somewhere far away 3. The weird sound the cars honking at each other makes...honestly, their horns sound like blokes whistling at women, I don't know if that's the idea of the design, but they really are car horns! 4. The sound of dogs trying to snuffle their way the gates through into our living complex 5. Cockerels crowing 6. Sleeping on plastic mattresses on...

Feb 15, 2005 - Arrival in Peru

LIMA (MIRAFLORES), PERU Our first impression of Lima was that it was a bit of a 'hole'. Grabbed a Cab as quick as possible to Miraflores just outside Lima. We were staying at the 'Flying Dog' Hostal. Marc believed this was possibly a relation of the 'Flying Pig' in Amsterdam. A very funky place with cool travellers, who filled us in on loads of info of what to do in Peru.. Lima is a crazy place. There is non stop noise from tooting horns of taxis and minibuses with people hanging out the doors and windows. It is also a very dirty city and...

Feb 14, 2005 - Lima

Safely into Lima after a 3 hour stopover in Santiago airport. Fleeting visit, Lima not as grim as everyone had told us. Huge, sprawling expanse of city which suddenly meets cliffs which plunge into the Pacific. Impressive colonial centre in good nick, more modern business area atop the cliffs where you can find many a pleasant bar to sip a pisco sour while watching the waves and the sunset.

Feb 11, 2005 - Chicas de Lima

Nope, absolutely NO ridiculously hot women here in Lima (especially not in the tony upmarket hamlets of Miraflores and Barranco) and there is NO nightlife to speak of. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. I have nothing more to add nor report. Faithfully submitted, Brian David Jones P.S. As no one ever believes that I'm thirty-nine, I've selected to abandon my upstream battle and lie. So in case anyone asks, I'm now thirty-one. That said, I'm currently debating whether or not to lob off an even decade and revert to my roaring 20's, but...

Feb 10, 2005 - Lima

Lima - was soll ich darueber schreiben? Die Stadt gefaellt mir eigentlich ueberhaupt nicht. Sie ist sehr gross (ca. 11 Millionen Einwohner), dreckig, versmogt, usw... Aber ich musste ja dahin. Dort hat Copa-Airlines eine Vertretung und dort ist die Schweizer Botschaft. Erstaunlicherweise war es einfacher, einen neuen Reisepass zu erhalten (24 Stunden) als die bereits bezahlten Flugtickets fuer mich zu reaktivieren (3 Tage!). Ein Abenteuer war dann noch, den Stempel fuer die 90 Tage Touristen-Aufenthaltsberechtigung zu erhalten. Man begibt...