Smogtastic Lima
We stayed at the Miraflores in Lima, which is a lovely 4-star,
however my first impressions of Lima were not at all good. It was crowded,
noisy and covered by a blanket of smog. A real pea souper with hardly any green
open space, and the weather was dull and dreary.
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| Smog |
We spent 2 days in Lima, which
was more than enough. There’s lots of cathedrals, monasteries and museums to
see; we went to 4 in one afternoon. There were city tours for about 75 soles,
which is around £20 per person. We decided to hire a taxi to give us a tour as
we wanted to see the city at our own pace, which was fast; it cost 150 Soles
for 4 hours. (way to early to haggle!)
The Franciscan monastery was
amazing with recently uncovered frescos dating back hundreds of years, and
lavish ceremonial carriages gilded in gold. Bionic woman has a real morbid
streak and loved the catacombs, which I found very disturbing. I can’t imagine
those poor souls realised that when they were dead and buried their bones would
be exhumed and arranged into lovely designs or just heaped in piles for
tourists to come and gawk at; it's cremation for me!
The architecture was very
interesting; it had a Spanish colonial style to it, and the people were
friendly enough and willing to help a weary traveller. We did get stung by the
taxi driver who offered to take us to a nice restaurant and wait for us to
enjoy our meal; this little friendly offer cost us twice as much as the city
tour. This was our own fault as everybody knows all prices should be negotiated
before the trip, as well as any “kind offers,” but we were tired and weary, so
can be forgiven for this oversight!
Though the city is on the coast it was more stone beaches as opposed to sand; but the seafood was amazing, as was all the food in Peru .
By the end of the second day we had seen enough and were
ready to depart to Arequipa.
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| Bridge of lights! |
We left for
Arequipa at the crack of dawn: 4:30 a.m. to be precise. I am not a morning
person so needless to say I was out of sorts. The taxi ride to the airport was
a short one and we arrived at the airport in good time. So began the first of
very many domestic flights. We flew with TACO airline which had a fleet of more
sturdier plans as opposed to the tiny little propeller things passing
themselves off as commercial airliners.
Check-in was
tedious as we had suitcases and our cumbersome backpacks, mine being 35 litres.
We finally got through the domestic airport and to the departure lounge. By
this point I was starving; unfortunately, there was nothing to be had within
the domestic departure lounge. However, being the African that I am I had come
to Peru prepared with several bags of “choffi.”
Choffi is an African delicacy which can only be described as
seasoned deep fried and cured turkey
rear! It’s delicious! Unfortunately for bionic woman, being a vegetarian meant she
had to be content with a dubious cup of coffee until we got to Arequipa.
Arequipa is a beautiful
city, also known as the “White City.” It is located at an altitude of 2,328
metres above sea level, and is nested between mountains and a volcano. Of all
the cities we visited it was in fact one of my favourite. On arrival at
Arequipa I was surprised at how basic the airport was; it was like a wedding
marquee, the immigration desk was a box, and customs was a dude who stood behind
what appeared to be a garden table. This did not mean that security was lax; there
were at least 3 sniffer dogs! I prayed for my uneaten choffi!
We stayed in a
hotel called Sonesta Posadas del Inca Arequipa, which was a lovely hotel
ideally located in the town square with all major attractions within walking
distance, with fantastic views of the volcano and a rooftop swimming pool. The
air was nice and crisp and the people were warm and friendly – a far cry from
the pea souper we'd left behind in Lima.
Since I was
ravenous I headed straight to the buffet breakfast, which was great! After
being fed and watered I headed straight to bed. The jet lag was no joke. We
spent 2 nights in Arequipa. I was all churched out after Lima and wanted to do
nothing more than read and relax by the pool. I told bionic woman that it was
all part of my acclimatisation; she insisted on a daily work out of 100 squats
and lunges, planking which would make Ms. Carter cry, and her personal
favourite: a gruelling session of abs. I was ready to pass out and saw the
first signs of what the altitude could do to one's fitness. I was a little
concerned.
There was lots
to do in the city and its surrounds. The activities were mainly extreme sports
-- well, that’s what I judged them to be. White water rafting, volcanic ash
surfing, mountain biking down the volcano, climbing the volcano... We opted out
of all of these on the basis of trying to conserve our energy and to avoid
injury. Besides visiting Santa Catalina we did very little. I did even less. I
purchased my first bag of coca leaves and begun to chew. The leaves did indeed
pep me up a bit. It was becoming apparent, however, that the altitude was gonna
be a bitch!
We left Arequipa,
and to be honest I was sad to leave, or perhaps I was more anxious about
traveling to a higher altitude and, even more so, dreading the trek!!!
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