Lima

Kara says:

We're on the road, roughing it in a youth hostel, sharing kitchens and living rooms and other people's bad taste in films. Being on the road the quality of the blog will suffer (further) and i'll just put up a few photos and then write something underneath and you can figure out what's what. 'Cause you're a clever bunch.

So, arriving in Lima by plane (Lan Peru stewardesses have now out-surlied the Lufthansa crew in out surliest crew competition) you don't see anything 'til about 2 seconds before landing you finally make it out of the cloud. But the suburbs near the airport look like south america, finally! Small, squarish, colourfully painted but very homemade houses cluttered all on top of each other and with extra floors being added here and there whenever the whim takes someone. In one of the photos of a hill behind a big red building you can see the houses climbing up the side of the hill. Apparently these are built by the impoverished migrants from the countryside and most have no electricity, running water, sanitation etc.

On the other hand we're staying in Miraflores, a fancy schmancy seaside suburb where all the rich folks live. It's allegedly pretty safe but our hostel, along with all the houses and apartment buildings, does slightly resemble a high security prison - see photo of pink building behind high wall with electric(!) fence. And it's gorgeous here, though it's all in a cloud. Something to do with coastal mist that lasts most of the year and that we haven't quite worked out the meteorology of yet. Photos of buildings (Miraflores) perched on a cliff above the coast and of building in a cloud. There are people in penthouse apartments who surely have never been able to see the view. We have the Parque del Amor on top of the cliff (see picture of me under sculpture of two people en amor), it has walls with romantic quotes in mosaic tiles and is full of couples being romantic. We tried to watch the sunset from there but then realised that seeing as we hadn't been able to see the sun all day through the cloud it was highly unlikely to make an appearance at this stage even for all the lovers in the park. See photo of the pier in the dark with a giant, lit-up cross across the bay that you can hardly see through the fog. There are waves here too, Karl dipped his big toe in the water and declared it "not too cold" but judged the waves not to be of sufficient qualilty for his Peru surfing debut. Some great tandem surfing though - parents with their kids on longboards, one guy would lift his son onto his shoulders once he caught the wave. Benny, surely Isaac's old enough? And some handstands too.

We did also make it into the centre of Lima and were really surprised by how nice it is. Lots of gorgeous old colonial buildings in very good condition and pleasant plazas. Caught a military parade complete with band (photo) and soldiers doing fancy gun twirling moves. To get to town we risked life and limb on the buses - so much fun. There's a million (no exageration) different bus companies vying for your business. They drive by the bus stops like they're cruising for prostitutes, hoping to pick up a few passengers. The conductor hangs out the door and tries to convince the waiting passengers that they should come on his bus (he doesn't seem to care much if they hadn't intended to go to his destination). Time is evidently of the essence so when you get on a bus the conductor (most fun job ever) yells "get on, get on, get on!) and when you get off he yells "get off, get off, get off!". While you're wallking down the steps he tells the driver "wait...wait....wait" and then the instant your foot leaves the last step "go, go, go!". Most entertaining. And quiet the buzz when you make it in one piece.

So today we're leaving for Nasca by bus. I still haven't decided whether or not it's comforting that in the bus company's brochure, along with photos of their wonderfully cosy seats and claims of their excellent value and superior service, there are photos of their drivers undergoing eyesight and breathalyser tests. But if we survive the journey I'll tell you all about it. Same blog time, same blog channel.