Peru – Lima – The City of Kings

My first sights of Lima were obscured by a thick shroud of fog, a fog that apparently sits over the city for months on end. The Lan flight up from Santiago had been clean, quick & uneventful as was my exit from arrivals. The expected mob of faux taxi drivers & touts that I’d prepared myself for consisted of perhaps 15 people at most one of which, Miguel, my arranged taxi driver stood smiling broadly, holding a loft board with my name on. He guided me swiftly through the taxi rank & surrounding car parks, then out through a side entrance in the security fence & into a clapped old banger that was to serve as my lift to the Barranco Backpacker in Southern Lima. It wasn’t long before I realised my beaten up old ride matched almost every other car on the road so I relaxed into a pigeon Spanish conversation with Miguel as he settled into driving Peruvian style finding any possible space of road to squeeze the car through.

The low rise, seemingly half finished buildings of Suburban Lima spluttered past as we wound our way through every conceivable shortcut known to avoid the traffic. My attempt to discuss football with enthusiasm quickly dwindled into nods & the odd “Si, si, claro.” So I looked out the window & people watched instead.

I arrived in Barranco, an up market suburb & checked into a shared room before crashing for a hours power nap. I spent the evening picking the brains of a Swiss lady from the hostel, who was heading home after 4 months in South America for Peru’s highlights. I was glad of the

company, especially when in translating the menu she discovered we had a choice of Offal, including cow’s heart & sheep’s stomach to pick from, I chose the former – Anitchuchos; which tasted similar to a beef kebab! We spoke slowly in Spanish all evening which left me feeling significantly more confidence.

You'd have thought I'd arrived in down town NYC when I turned a corner & spied these hairless Peruvian dogs being taken out for a stroll - nice jumpers mam !!!!