Wow the last minute rush to actually get ourselves going was horrendous. A special thank you to Jamie and Sophie for being so brilliant putting us up and clearing the bedlam we left behind! Needless to say we were still packing at midnight when our taxi to Heathrow was at 3am. Backpacks and daypacks stuffed to bursting we finally set off after hardly any sleep at all and flew to Madrid for our connection to Lima. Whilst waiting to check in at Heathrow we realised that we had left our tickets for our Copper Canyon trip in Mexico back at the flat, along with the internal US flight tickets - genius! Anyhow after a few frantic phone calls we can get the tickets replaced but it will cost us a bit of cash - what a start to our trip!
The flight to Lima from Madrid was hideous - 12 hours sat between two spoiled brats who were amusing at first but after hours of lack of sleep cramped in to tiny seats with no entertainment (avoid Air Iberia!) I wanted to inflict pain. One lovely young girl kicking the back of my seat for hours on end, and another young boy who thought that all the other passengers wanted to be entertained by him singing and showing off constantly. Parents please control your children or don´t let them fly long-haul.
Anyway enough of that back to the trip! We arrived in Lima rather late and got absolutely ripped off by the airport taxi rank - a tip - always have a rough guide to whatever country you´re going to if you don´t know what the score is and don´t speak the language fluently! Anyway the Hotel Kamana in downtown Lima - very basic but ok - has two guards on the door. First impression of Lima - dirty polluted place with absolutely crazy driving. Beeping is the order of the day to let other drivers know that you are going to perform a manoeuvre - what that manoeuvre is is anyone´s guess however. Also beep beep to tell everyone else to move - comedy. People are short and stocky and stare a lot but then to them we are giants so I suppose it´s to be expected!
We spend the first day walking around Lima - there is some great architecture here buildings are huge and imposing and come in all shades. We try out some of our Spanish on the locals and this gets a good response in the main albeit a rather amused one. We find some very cheap places to eat - veggie places too - portions are absolutely huge here so much food is wasted. Best discovery of the day: POTATO is the Peruvian national dish of which there are thousands of varieties - hurrah! Potatoes come with everything and are cooked to perfection - I am in culinary Heaven - Viva la Potato - Viva Peru!
