Outskirst of Lima
Night 250!
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Now that i´ve had time to look at aus news...i see that New Zealand bred horse Efficient won the Melbourne Cup this year! And Aussie bred Zipper got fourth!
And mum said she was a winner at her ´girls cup day´! Whoohooo...every dollar is a winner dollar! Even if it is only a dollar! hehe
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Lima, Peru, South America
US$1 = 3.00 Peru Nuevos Soles or AU$1 = 2.8 Soles
It took 2 hours air time to arrive here in Lima, from Santiago..but timewise it took four hours...so we´re now 14 hours behind you guys in Perth!!!
All this changing back the clock is affecting our equalibrium!!!
After arriving in Lima we disembarked and found ourselves in a more South American country..or at least, more like we expected..the airport is older..and it has SO many hawkers and people ready to óffer help´that it´s just not funny!
I got my luggage checked and scanned and had the thorough going over (must be my south african coat i had on, i blame that!) and Greg waited patiently (why doesn´t he look suss..or are they just targeting women at all these airports?) and then went through immigration (no apricots to get me in trouble this time!) and then the fun began.
We had to find accomodation.
The tour wé´re going on recommended a few hotels but they were booked out, and have been for a week because we´ve been checking on the net but had decided to do the ´find the hotel at the airport thing´and wing it.
After getting totally harrassed at the international section..we decided if we went to domestic we´d be more likely to find a local hotel without the ripoff prices. And we did...they were much cheaper..and the girl there was really helpful.
At first she said if we knew the area, we could just get in a taxi and they could show us hotels..but we didn´t grasp this concept and thought it was such a weird idea...! So we asked if she could help by ringing around.
She rang a few hotels..and then found one that was suitable..and booked it for us. It was US$30 a night for the two of us. King bed. No breakfast, but that was no worries.
She told us to catch a ´green taxi´and not any of the ones that are offering deals because they are safer. The hotel said taxi´s were about 20 pesos but she said that´s outside the airport, not from within. Different prices!
We took her advice and we were quoted 40 pesos for the taxi to the hotel, which is $US13. Isn´t it funny how we now convert to US dollars instead of Australian! We seem to have converted to Euro´s until we got to Americca..now it´s American conversion..but that´s because that´s what they use here in South AMerica..a bit like it was in South Afric!
That seemed cheap tho..to get to our hotel in Miraflores, about 25 mins from the airport, and near the hotel where we´re meeting our tour group in a few days.
People and taxi´s in Lima!
Once we got in the guy´s taxi...he started negotiating!!! He was telling us to Go to this hotel¨´..that hotel is cheaper´´...and it´s closer to downtown´´..and it´s not as noisy´´...blah blah blah..!!!!
I was thinking..is this a Las Vegas experience!!!! (the timeshare thing!) where we´re going to get conned! I mean, this Green Taxi Service was meant to be reputable..not one where they start doing their own deals once inside!
He INSISTED on taking us to some different hotels after showing us the one we were supposed to be at (it looked dingy....but what can you expect for the low price!) and finally, we arrived at this particular hotel which WAS nice..and it cost a little more..but it was downtown..and it had nice rooms..and breakfast..and well..it just FELT nice!
So here we are...happy. The taxi driver got the tip he asked for from us! AND he got his commission for finding us the place..and we are settled in. We didn´t worry about the hotel the lady at the airport booked for us..because we just thought this must be common practice..that the taxi drivers ´do a search for the client´and walah..a suitable hotel is found!
I kept thinking of my late Great Aunt Kate..and how she came to Peru and was an important guest and she had a burial mound opened to her and given a necklace and a wokka that was over a thousand years old THEN, in the seventies.
I wonder what she thought about it here? And what was she doing here? At the time it would have been a brave thing for a single woman to do..to come to a land that was little known, and an old land with lots of secrets.
How long was she here? Where did she stay? What brought her here? Did she go to Machu Picchu?
I´d love to talk with her now about her peruvian experience!
We´ve been out for dinner...and have decided to go into restaurants for at least one meal a day, for health reasons...intead of relying on take away places like in America...
It´s more expensive..but it´s part of the cost..and it´s far better to be healthy than to be worrying if what you´re eating has hidden trans fats, sucrose and all the baddies that can instigate heart disease.
Lima is an old city. As we were driving to our hotel from the airport we could see a lot of ruins and old torn down or half built buildings. There is poverty here. Even where we are, downtown, it´s dilapidated and contrasts to the little we saw in Santiago.
We passed a huge flood canal out of the airport that had an odd feel about it. A poor feel. There are old cars..hawkers everywhere...beggars...and shanty towns on the city outskirts.
It reminded me off Malaysia 20 years ago.
I would have thought with the influx of tourism this may have been remedied..and maybe it has in Cusco..the place where people take the train to the Inca Trail.
Lima is the largest city in Peru and it´s capital..it is called ´the city of kings´and is located on the central western coast,
It´s an important colonial city...it is large, noisy, polluted and has a culture all of it´s own, from what i can see just from today and walking about after dinner...
But I will know more after we´ve spent a few days exploring...
Who knows..there might be hidden treasures awaiting us here!
