Peru Adventures
Arriving in Lima
Saturday, December 17, 2011
We left our home on December 17, 2011 at 5:30 am for the airport and enjoyed an undelayed and uneventful flight to Newark, arriving there around 10 am. However, there we learned from Continental Airlines that we could not get a boarding pass for Sophia due to "weight issues". Obviously, this came as a shock and surprise to use given that Sophia does not even weigh 50lbs. After some negotiations, we finally received a boarding pass for her as well and left Newark almost on time at 2:30 pm for a flight straight down South.
Our arrival in Lima reminded us that Peru is a developing country: The overcrowded arrival hall was not air conditioned and the immigration line moved at a snail’s pace. We were sweating in our Pittsburgh winter outfits, but finally, at about 1:30 am on Sunday, we met Carlos, our guide for the next 12 days, outside the airport.
Sunday, December 19, 2011
Welcome to Peru! While the travel guide and brochures described Lima as Peru’s "bustling capital”, not much of this was visible at almost 2 am on Sunday morning. However, the nightly drive to the city gave us a first impression of Peruvian life which displays many features of a third-world country with the majority of its 30 million people living at or below the poverty line. Peru’s 2010 per capita income is estimated by the International Monetary Fond at $5,195.
Exhausted, we made it to our accommodations in the coastal suburb of Miraflores where we received two clean and spacious rooms which even had wired Internet connection.
In colonial times, Lima was one of the richest cities in the world and South America’s most important port, linking the continent to the Spanish empire. The vibrant, modern district of Miraflores offers cinemas, shops, casinos, cafés and some remarkable pre-Hispanic ruins – Huaca Pucllana and Huaca Juliana – two amazing pyramid-like structures.
Knowing that the following week would be packed with activities, we decided to take it easy and used most of day to rest in the leafy courtyard of the hotel, check email and read up on Peru's history.
Alexandra (with a 1,5 year experience of learning Spanish in school our only Spanish speaker and therefore designated translator) tried her moderate language skills ordering the first of many bottled waters... Spanish is the main language of Peru, with Quechua being the main indigenous language.
At 6 pm, Carlos picked us up at the hotel for a 15 min walk to the Pacific ocean.
This was also the first time we met our co-travelers, a family from Toronto, Canada.
From left to right: Alan, his wife Andrea and their daughter Mira (13), Sophia (10), Gisela, Alexandra (13) and Carlos.
Larcomar - the "unique tourist, entertainment and shopping experience" in Lima / Miraflores.
[More pictures]
We enjoyed a wonderful dinner with ocean view and the sounds of the waves in the background.
Back at the hotel, we had to rearrange our luggage, as we could take only a daypack and small overnight bag for our two-day trip to the jungle.
Our sleep was interrupted at 12:37 am by an earthquake of a magnitude of 4.8 on the Richter scalev (we are not sure if the shaking woke us up or the triggered car alarms).