Lima
We stayed in miraflores at a place called The BackPackers Family House - can't recommend this place more than enough. Pedro and Christian the two guys running the hostel are very helpful, unfortunately I didn't get much of a chance to see the Hostel as Matt had met some Canadians and had agreed to meet up with them that night for a couple of 'quiet' drinks and dinner. With 2 hours sleep since I left London I knew this was a terrible idea but I was still pissed off about Iberia screwing me out of 250 pounds that I thought what the heck!
Needless to say, there was never any mention of food once we were out as we hit the Lima watering holes fairly hard and decided to finish the night with a pisco sour - i still cant quite describe the taste of this drink - almost like tequila with lime with some frothy egg like substance on top! All i know is that it took me from being merry and having a good time to looking like a fairly seasoned hobo that kept smiling and trying to follow the conversation whilst retardedly fighting a losing battle to keep his eyelids open. When I actually fell asleep and almost hit my head on the table, we knew it was time to head back home!
Disappointingly we didn´t get to see much of Lima as we were frantically trying to pay for our Galapagos Cruise but we couldn´t finance it in time which meant we had to try to get into Ecuador asap to pay for it in person. By the way Miraflores whilst being a very nice area to hang around in Lima is also home to the BEST supermarket in the world! I´ve been to posh supermarkets in both London and New York and they can´t hold a candle to this one! Considering the general dumpy nature of Lima, it was like findng a little oasis in a desert! So how to get up to Quito from Lima? Flight? Too expensive although a very cheap flight from guayaquil to Quito meant we could chop that part of the journey but we still had to get up to Guayaquil first. Enter our first infamous bus journey in Sth America, which completely lived up to expectations.....
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Friday, October 9, 2009
5 months in Sth America - Week 1 part 1
First update of the trip.....where the f$ck do I start???
Lets start with the ridiculous decision to leave a week to organise
everything for sth America! The reason why this is a recipe for disaster?
1. Hearing last minute horror stories from people which eventually leads
to....
2. Me visiting every bank under the sun trying to get last minute accounts
as back ups to travel on (got about 5 at last count...)
3. Visiting every travel store and being convinced that I need to equip
myself up to the standard of a US Army Marine on his way to a tour of duty
in Afghanistan...seriously my backpack is 90% full of gadgets and 10% full
of clothes!
4. I should have instead worried about little things like Visa´s and
potentially overstaying my welcome in a country instead!!!
Which leads to the first part of the trip...I will admit in advance that going to Munich for Oktoberfest two days before my flight to Lima was not the smartest move I have ever made, especially as the cut i received between thumb and forefinger keeps splitting, at least it leaves a trail behind so anyone can find me if i get lost!
The cab journey to Heathrow had been relatively pain-free and things were looking smooth until Iberia airlines got involved. on board its not bad actually but their staff are a bunch of inbreds! Check-in was looking good until the devil disguised as a check-in assistant, would not give me my ticket to board the plane as I had to prove that I wasn´t going to stay in Peru for more than 3 months! Queue some explicit swear words to the check-in assistant explaining that i would take my chances at the border. Unfortunately this outburst brought the attention of the Security Guards and the Manager of the check-in service! When I asked for my bags to be given back to me so i could work this out I was told it was too late as they have been checked in and on their way to Lima?!?! Which gave me the solitary choice of being forced to pay for a flight out of the country if I wanted to catch my flight to Lima! Its been a while since I´ve opened a Law Book but pretty sure thats entrapment! So after a 220 quid hit (supposedly not able to be refunded???) to the pocket followed by more cursing and being told to calm down by security guards I was finally on my flight to Lima!
After being asked NO QUESTIONS about how long I was staying in Peru when i got to immigration I was glad to see Matt at the airport and there was a big man hug that probably lingered a little too long for the locals watching us!
Then finally my first experience in Sth america - the lima traffic. Anyone who has ever done that trip from the airport into town will know what Im talking about but for the others, just imagine 100 dodgem cars trying to enter 3 lanes of traffic with no regards to speed limits and traffic lights - just what i needed to wake me up after my flight. After carefully digging out my fingers from the dashboard I noticed something quite surreal. Next to us was a run down shitty Datsun with half of Lima´s population rammed inside it (for people in australia, think of an Italian Family all travelling in the one car to a wedding). The most bizarre part was the obviously freshly spray painted word ´TAXI´on the side. Lima would have to have the highest population % of taxi drivers in the world for the simple fact that ANYONE can be a taxi driver - just need a shitty car with no brake fuel and a spray can and VOILA new career! Add to this the bus system, which I caould happily sit down and watch wit a bag of popcorn all day! There are massive buses, small buses and minivans zipping around with one guy hanging out the side Indiana Jones style yelling out where the bus was going. When the locals hear this they start into a light trot on the side of the road 100 metres ahead of the bus, which quickly turns into a sprint and swan dive into the bus which does not stop but only slows down!
Lots more to come on Lima and Galapagos Islands soon including photos but now got a plane to catch to Bogota, Colombia!
Lets start with the ridiculous decision to leave a week to organise
everything for sth America! The reason why this is a recipe for disaster?
1. Hearing last minute horror stories from people which eventually leads
to....
2. Me visiting every bank under the sun trying to get last minute accounts
as back ups to travel on (got about 5 at last count...)
3. Visiting every travel store and being convinced that I need to equip
myself up to the standard of a US Army Marine on his way to a tour of duty
in Afghanistan...seriously my backpack is 90% full of gadgets and 10% full
of clothes!
4. I should have instead worried about little things like Visa´s and
potentially overstaying my welcome in a country instead!!!
Which leads to the first part of the trip...I will admit in advance that going to Munich for Oktoberfest two days before my flight to Lima was not the smartest move I have ever made, especially as the cut i received between thumb and forefinger keeps splitting, at least it leaves a trail behind so anyone can find me if i get lost!
The cab journey to Heathrow had been relatively pain-free and things were looking smooth until Iberia airlines got involved. on board its not bad actually but their staff are a bunch of inbreds! Check-in was looking good until the devil disguised as a check-in assistant, would not give me my ticket to board the plane as I had to prove that I wasn´t going to stay in Peru for more than 3 months! Queue some explicit swear words to the check-in assistant explaining that i would take my chances at the border. Unfortunately this outburst brought the attention of the Security Guards and the Manager of the check-in service! When I asked for my bags to be given back to me so i could work this out I was told it was too late as they have been checked in and on their way to Lima?!?! Which gave me the solitary choice of being forced to pay for a flight out of the country if I wanted to catch my flight to Lima! Its been a while since I´ve opened a Law Book but pretty sure thats entrapment! So after a 220 quid hit (supposedly not able to be refunded???) to the pocket followed by more cursing and being told to calm down by security guards I was finally on my flight to Lima!
After being asked NO QUESTIONS about how long I was staying in Peru when i got to immigration I was glad to see Matt at the airport and there was a big man hug that probably lingered a little too long for the locals watching us!
Then finally my first experience in Sth america - the lima traffic. Anyone who has ever done that trip from the airport into town will know what Im talking about but for the others, just imagine 100 dodgem cars trying to enter 3 lanes of traffic with no regards to speed limits and traffic lights - just what i needed to wake me up after my flight. After carefully digging out my fingers from the dashboard I noticed something quite surreal. Next to us was a run down shitty Datsun with half of Lima´s population rammed inside it (for people in australia, think of an Italian Family all travelling in the one car to a wedding). The most bizarre part was the obviously freshly spray painted word ´TAXI´on the side. Lima would have to have the highest population % of taxi drivers in the world for the simple fact that ANYONE can be a taxi driver - just need a shitty car with no brake fuel and a spray can and VOILA new career! Add to this the bus system, which I caould happily sit down and watch wit a bag of popcorn all day! There are massive buses, small buses and minivans zipping around with one guy hanging out the side Indiana Jones style yelling out where the bus was going. When the locals hear this they start into a light trot on the side of the road 100 metres ahead of the bus, which quickly turns into a sprint and swan dive into the bus which does not stop but only slows down!
Lots more to come on Lima and Galapagos Islands soon including photos but now got a plane to catch to Bogota, Colombia!
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