Lima – a stop over
Lima was booked as a stop over en route to Cusco. As we had to pass by the airport anyway we decided to stay a couple of nights. This was a great decision. While waiting for our flight in Quito airport we bumped into our American cruise crew mates who were heading back to Florida.
We arrived in Lima at 8.20pm after a short flight of 1hr 50 minutes. We will never understand the food allocation on flights, as this was a short flight we had expected at most a snack but somehow they managed to serve a full meal and sell duty free all in 1hr 50 minutes.
The arrival process through Lima airport was quick and the baggage was already there when we got through passport control. On exiting the airport there were taxi desk where you told them where you were going and they sorted the taxi and allocated you a driver. The whole processes was very efficient and smooth. The next part of the journey in the taxi was interesting to say the least. The traffic in Lima centre was horrendous and the taxi chopped and changed lanes to get ahead of others. Having said that we reached our hotel in about 30 minutes. The taxi pulled up as far down the street that he could but road works prevented him from reaching the end of the street and our hotel but as we had the hotel location on a map we were confident we were in the right place.
This proved to be our most interesting place to stay so far. Second Home Peru. It was dark when we arrived and it was difficult to find the hotel and there was no obvious sign but we found a bell with a small name for a large house. The house was the most amazing building filled with beautiful art all painted / made by the owner Victor Delfin. Our room was a large double with old fashioned bath and toilet behind a screen. We had a great view of the ocean as well as a semi private terrace. We were also fortunate to be invited to be shown around Victor’s studio by his daughter, Lillian who runs the hotel.
We only had one day to explore Lima so early the next morning we headed into town in a taxi placing our lives in the hands of the taxi driver and armed with a small map and walking tour set off. We started in Plaza San Martin and took time to admire Gran Hotel Boliviar on the square. After a bit of orientation we wandered up paved shopping street taking in the architecture until we reach Plaza de Armas. Here we were able to admire the grand cathedral and palce. We had arrived just in time to watch the daily changing of the guard which was a pleasant ceremony with a military band playing many tunes including El Condor which is the 2nd national anthem of Peru.
Lunch was at the Pisco Museum on the corner where we were able to sample our first pisco sours in Peru and also partake of the great food. After lunch er continued to follow the walk plan and went into the Basílica and Monastery of San Francisco of Lima. The monastery had the most wonderful domed ceiling that had been destroyed by earthquake but rebuilt. The art work was from the school of Rubens. There was also a tour of the crypt which was a bit creepy in my opinion to see so many skeletons. Our walking tour ended in the local markets and Chinatown area which was a bustling area packed with locals. We did feel a little uncomfortable looking at our maps in this area so headed back to the main street and parliament buildings to plan our next activity.
I had read that one of the top attraction in Lima is a set of colourful fountains in one of the parks, as we were only there for the day we decided to make the most of it and head to the park. We like to explore the areas by walking as you can see so much more that by using taxis but we do sometimes misjudge the time it will take and distance. The walk took about 50 minutes and was an eye opening experience of real non tourist, non historic Lima with 1000s of ordinary people thronging the streets going about their business. We arrived at the park just as it was starting to go dark and found there was a show planned in 45 minutes. Before the main show we explored the park and the small fountains and then headed back to the large fountain for the show. The show was one of fountains. music, lights and lasers and was spectacular it was definitely worth the wait. After the show we grabbed a taxi home and quickly changed and headed out to the local area of Baranco near where we were staying for a meal in a traditional Peruvian restaurant, Songoro cosongo. over the local “bridge of sighs”. Tired and aching feet of a day of over 20,000 step prevented us from walking much more round the area. We were delighted to climb into our comfortable bed.