I have 1/2 a day to explore Lima before I fly to Piura in the afternoon. I figure I may as well take the cheap (& safe)Urbanito bus service into central Lima. Good plan, but the bus service from the airport no longer exists, so the only option is an expensive taxi - 35 soles ($15). I could bargain with one of the cheaper cabs outside the airport but apparently they can be dangerous & have been known to hijack their passengers, rob them at gunpoint, dump them in the slums minus money & sometimes minus clothes. Sure, it sounds like an urban myth on par with waking up with 1 kidney missing...sold off for a transplant! I have been told by several very sincere Peruvians that the kidney trade actually occurs in Lima & I should be careful...maybe that taxi driving over there is planning on robbing me AND cutting out my kidney. Slightly delirious after only 1 hours sleep I opt for the boring, safe & expensive taxi to central Lima.
My first plan is to visit the medical supply shops on Emancipacion street to buy an ambu bag for the chronic doggie diaphragmatic hernia waiting to be operated on in Iquitos. This simple item is not available in Iquitos, even in a children's hospital. Don't get sick in Iquitos! After visiting a lot of shops I find my ambu bag, but 'cuanto questa???'. Its sucks being a gringa & having to deal with inflated prices, after all the locals conclude I must be rich...haven't they checked out my scrappy backpacker clothes. At least I can afford to buy supplies (suture material, chlorhexidine) for the animal charity 'Association Humanitaria San Francisco de Asis' that I will visit next in Colan near Piura.
I have to do something touristy in Lima as 'all work & no play' makes Bethy a very dull girl. I opt to take a tour of the 'Catedral de Lima' built in 1555. A magnificent structure with all the usual ornate golden trimmings of a South American church. It has been destroyed by several earthquakes only to be rebuilt with more grandeur each time. The eventual home of Francisco Pizarro's beheaded corpse, it holds many gorey secrets, & hidden crypts...all which makes for a great tour. There are also several paintings & sculptures of Peru's favourite saint 'Santa Rosa'. A lover of pain & self flagellation, Santa Rosa is always depicted with a thorny crown & a stream of blood flowing down her forehead. I think I'll pass on becoming a saint in Peru.
