Lima

Lima, the Capital City lies on the west coast of Peru, roughly half way up the country. It’s a large, sprawling metropolis, and unfortunately like many large cities in South America it is known as a place to avoid exploring alone or by night. Saying that, we actually found it a very pleasant city to wander around by day, and had no problems at all with criminals… save using our usual avoidance techniques for pickpockets of course.

The historic centre of Lima is based around a few Spanish Colonial Squares – pretty, colourful buildings with lots of wooden balconies, nice fountains, green parks, and the usual elegant churches. The ‘historic’ buildings are very much mixed in with the functional commercial centre of Lima, giving the pleasant impression of a bustling hub rather than a tourist attraction. Admittedly, the ‘historic’ buildings aren’t exactly that ‘historic’ by our standards in the UK – every 50 years or so a cracker of an earthquake seems to come along and demolish half the city, meaning each beautiful church or hall has been reconstructed a number of times!

We actually stayed quite a long way from the old town centre, in the very pleasant cliff-side district of Miraflores. This affluent suburb with lively streets, parks and shopping centres had the advantage of being safe to wander around in the evenings which we thought would lead to a more relaxed stay. The central triangular park of Miraflores is a particularly nice place for an evening stroll on the weekend as a lively mobile market is set up. It was great on Valentines Day, when crowds of couples (and plenty of girl or boy groups hoping to couple up) bustled in all directions, fending off hordes of flower sellers and balloonists!

Our Valentines Day wasn’t particularly romantic – my fault I admit (although Gary’s not exactly romantic at the best of times!). The 14th of February this year marked the 6 Nations clash between Wales and England… and despite being in Peru we managed to find an English Pub in Miraflores that showed the match! Being a Welsh girl of course, I always enjoy it when Wales beat England at rugby! After the match we did have a pleasant meal out on the cliff-top complex of Larco Mar – a new development full of swish shops and restaurants with great views down over the beaches of Lima – before a nice stroll back along the cliffs to our hotel at sunset via the Parque Del Amor. Perhaps it wasn’t such an unromantic day after all!

Anyway, we are now leaving the Southern Hemisphere for Mexico and the last stage of our trip. We’ll arrive in Mexico City and then travel westwards for a month to the coastal town of Cancun and our flight back to the UK. And of course en route we plan to visit a few Aztec and Maya pyramids – apparently their appetites for human sacrifice was far greater than the Incas, and as a result the temples often have carvings of beheadings and the like all over the walls! Great!