48 hours in Lima

Friday, 26 May 2013

I finally arrived at the hotel just after 11pm, after a 23 hour journey from home, across different time zones, 7 hours back in time. My arrival at Aeroporte Internacional Jorge Chàves coincided with the anticipated arrival of some sort of teenage celebrity. If I wasn’t so tired and my Spanish so non-existent poor, then I may have tried to make an effort to find out who. But there were teenagers with balloons everywhere in the arrivals area, on the galleries singing very excitedly. Unfortunately, this made spotting the guy with the G Adventures sign a bit difficult… So after walking up and down through the throng of teenagers chanting and singing, I decided to phone the hotel, whom claimed not to have any knowledge of a pick-up, but after the second phone call offered me the number of the emergency contact for G Adventures, which number did not work. Thank goodness, after some time I finally spotted an equally nervous young man with a G Adventures sign, desperately trying to find me.

After finding a taxi and starting our journey to the hotel, with two other G Adventures travellers, who had to be dropped off at another hotel, I started relaxing and the first thing I thought is, that this could be Africa! The traffic at 11pm at night, with cars hooting and people stopping anywhere on the road, made me think of Africa and in particular of Egypt. The taxi driver had to negotiate his way around traffic circles, past cars that stopped in the middle of a busy road to talk to a pedestrians, and it was clear why so many of the cars looked dented and old!

After a while, the road started meandering along the coast, and I had my first spotting of the Pacific Ocean, or like the taxi driver exclaimed, ‘Pacifico’, like it was a sweetheart that he was introducing to us. It was dark and I couldn’t see much, but the dark expanse of water with lights from ships in the distance fascinated me. Finally, we reached the hotel, and I checked into my room with a sigh of relief. This was going to be a great trip!

Saturday, 27 May 2013

After a fitful night of sleep, I woke up early with a rumbling tummy. Travelling over time zones, eating breakfast at lunch time, a light lunch in early afternoon and an early dinner, it took me a while to work out that I had last eaten around 17:00 local time, so no wonder I was hungry…! I also regretted not listening properly to what time breakfast was being served, and decided that 8:00 was a safe time. So, I sort of twiddled my thumbs, read a bit and assured everyone back home that I was safe and sound, until I could finally head off to the breakfast room. Which, unfortunately was a bit of a disappointment. Yes, maybe I should not have been so adventurous and shouldn’t have ordered the Peruvian breakfast and laid low on the (strong) coffee, but nevertheless, I got something in the stomach.

By 9:00am I was ready to hit the streets of Lima, or the Miraflores district in any event. For starters, I needed to go and buy a converter plug, because my googling clearly let me down and the plugs were all American and Japanese in the hotel, as opposed to the European plugs I was expecting. And I wanted to buy a data card for my iPad, so save on roaming charges (even though the hotel had excellent wi-fi).

Parque Kennedy, Miraflores district, Lima

Wary of the fact that I often get lost, I had a quick squiz at the map and hit off in the general direction on the major streets on the map…which I assumed led to the shopping area. Which it did….except that the only shops   open at 9:00am in the morning were pharmacies. It appears that the other shops in Miraflores district only opens at 10:00am on a Saturday morning. So, I did a walk around, discovered the John F Kennedy park, which had free wi-fi (free wi-fi is a strange phenomena for someone from South Africa, I would have you know), and was transported back to the 80’s after hearing Modern Talking’s Brother Lois being played super loud from a passing car.

I found the converter plug fairly easy, but the data card appeared to be a bit more of a challenge, especially if you cannot speak Spanish. I headed back to the hotel, not sure what time my friend Ingrid and her husband were arriving from Quito. They arrived just after 11:00am and we decided to head towards the beach area for a spot of lunch and a bit of sightseeing.

Miraflores is the touristy area of Lima, and quite pretty, with a beautiful promenade and touristy shops with a view over the beach, or rather, the Pacific Ocean. The restaurant we chose for lunch, specialised in chicken, but I was like a local version of the Spur restaurant chain back in South Africa, which basically is a cheap Mexican steakhouse joint. My chicken salad consisted of a large heap of chopped up lettuce, with a side portion of chicken. The lemonade was good though…. After lunch, we headed back for a little siesta and only then did I suddenly realise how tired I was!

Miraflores promenade, Lima, with the ever present cloud of mist over the Pacific

For dinner, Ingrid and Rob scouted the Tripadvisor and we visited a local Italian restaurant with delicious pasta on the menu. The hostess was a charming Spanish lady who went out of her way to make us feel welcome. We were the only patrons in the restaurant (either because it was early or because Lima residents don’t really eat dinner…), so we got special treatment! The pasta was delicious, the portions very generous and the prices very reasonable. All and all a very good day!

Sunday, 28 April 2013

I went to bed with a nagging thought of going for a run in the morning. We booked a tour which started at 9:00am, so whichever way, I had agreed to meet Ingrid and Rob for breakfast (take 2) at 8:00am.  I woke up just after 6:00am, and decided that I would go for a short run. The previous day, we were talking about the route to the beach, as the promenade is quite high up along a cliff and I decided to take the road to the beach and then take the first road up towards the promenade that I could find. What I didn’t realise, was that the first road up towards the promenade was at the end of the the route, on the border of Miraflores, quite a bit further than I had intended to run. So, my 30 minute run, ended up as a 40 minute run, and in the humid climate, I was literally dripping with sweat by the time I got back to the hotel. It was a fantastic way to see the local area, so I was glad that I did it!

After a quick (equally disappointing) breakfast, we met our local tour guide for our day tour to Lima and Pachacamac. We booked two tours of three hours each with the same tour company, Haku Tours. The guide, Edwin, quickly suggested that we would be better off doing Pachacamac in the morning and the old city tour in the afternoon. Something to do with the mist/sand cloud and direction of the sun. And who are we to argue! He suggested that he then takes us to a local place for lunch and continue with the city tour in the afternoon.

Edwin turned out to be an excellent guide, with a degree in Sustainable Tourism. His company supports the local communities and ploughs money back into some of the poor communities. And his endless energy and enthusiasm was contagious.

En route to Pachacamac, a pre-Inca site build in the desert of Peru, south-east of Lima, we drove through a Shantytown, on the outskirts of the glamorous Chorrillos district. Despite the poor state of affairs, I loved the colourful houses and it is clear, that even here, tourism is a very important aspect of the economy.

Shantytown, north of Chorrillos, Lima

Pachacamac was pretty awesome. Most of the buildings were built between 800-1450 BC, and there are several pyramids. Not quite the size of the Egyptian pyramids, but otherwise, the sand dunes, nearby residential areas reminded me a lot of Cairo. In fact, there seem to be a lot in common between the Inca culture and the ancient Egyptian cultures.

After our visit to Pachacamac, Edwin took us to one of the local areas for a quick lunch, which ended up being one of the best lunches we had on the trip, and exceptionally cheap.

The first pyramid at Pachacamac, Lima

The temple of the Sun, Pachacamac, Lima

The Acllahuasi temple, or the house of chosen women. Until early 20th century, buried under the sand…

After lunch, we went for our City of King’s tour, which did not disappoint. A highlight was certainly the Catacombs of the Monastery of St Francis, where there are large and deep holes, filled with bones and skulls arranged in circular formations and sorted by type of bones. It is quite creepy and our guide indicated that this was done by a Spanish priest post the Spanish conquest. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures in the catacombs, but it was certainly a memorable visit.

The Spanish colonial style buildings in Lima are very impressive and you can imagine being in the centre of a Spanish Plaza in the old city centre of Lima. Several buildings still feature the original wooden balconies and Spanish baroque, and colonial style buildings

Typical Spanish colonial architecture in the historical Lima city centre

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Plaza Mayor, Lima

Time for a snooze…old lady, Lima, Peru

Or a local drink, Pisco Sours…it is happy hour after all! Lima, Peru

Our tour eventually ended around 16:30 in the afternoon, which essentially meant we had a seven and a half hour private guided tour, as opposed to the six hours tour we booked and paid for. Fantastic value.

It was time to head back to our hotel for a shower and a meet up with the rest of the G Adventures crew for our tour to the Amazon, Cuzco and the Inca trail!

Lima certainly did not disappoint and the city is certainly more than just a stopover on the way to Machu Picchu!

 

Counting the sleeps…

It is finally here!

In just a bit more than a week, I am leaving for Peru and my Inca Trail adventure. I am so excited that I can barely contain myself, so if you’re prone to jealousy, then I would suggest you stop reading round about now..:-)

I haven’t written much about this fabulous trip, except for the fact that I will be hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, which I have been exercising for. So, I thought I would share a bit more about the details of the trip.

We are doing the trip through G Adventures, and the official name of the tour is In the Shadow of Machu Picchu. It is a 10-day tour and starts off in Lima, the capital of Peru. Lima is knows as the City of Kings and was ‘founded’ by the Spaniard Francisco Pizarro in 1535. Lima is also known as the Culinary capital of Latin America, and apparently a seafood lover’s paradise. I definitely want to try out some yummy food and maybe do a culinary tour, which is an add-on activity. On day two we take a flight to Puerto Maldonado, on the edge of the Amazon Rainforest. We travel by motorised canoe and take a walk to our lodge in the Tambopata Rainforest Area, an area which apparently holds the world record for the most bird sightings in one area. We will be doing plenty of walking and will be spending the night in a rainforest lodge, with no electricity, so pretty rustic. (Note to self – don’t forget to take lots of elastics and bands for my hair, because the combination of heat, humidity and no electricity is sure to create havoc with my hair!)

On day three we take a flight over the Andes into the heart of Inca territory, Cuzco. Cuzco is the site of the historical Inca Empire and the continent’s oldest continuously inhabited city. The elevation is about 3 400m (11 200ft) above sea level. Now, for someone who lives in a city which is about 1 750m (5 700ft) above sea level, the adjustment may be slightly easier but this is still pretty damn high, so I am stocked with altitude sickness tablets that I will start popping round about this time! At the height of the Inca Empire, the Inca occupied territory stretched from Ecuador in the north to Peru and Chile in the south. In 1525 Huayna Cápac, the ruler at the time, died of the smallpox, introduced to the area by the Spaniards, after he set of to investigate the unfamiliar men. His death was followed by a Civil war between his two sons, Huáscar and Atahualpa. The combination of the war and the effect of the smallpox epidemic weakened the empire, and eventually the Spaniards captured Atahualpa (who had by then defeated his brother).

The Inca Empire

Legend goes that the Incas collected and paid a handsome ransom of silver and gold for the release of Atahualpa, but they reneged on this once the ransom was delivered. Eventually, Pizarro executed Atahualpa, and instituted the puppet Inca Túpac Huallpa in his place. He died shortly after and was succeeded by another puppet ruler, Manco Inca Yupanqui. But Manco Inca turned on his captors and recaptured Cuzco in 1536. Eventually he was driven out of the city and he retreated into the mountains of Vilcabamba, where he and his successors ruled for another 36 years until the last ruler, Túpac Amaru, Manco’s son, was eventually tracked down and executed in 1572. It is believed that Manco Inca built a magnificent city in the mountains which was filled with all the remaining riches of the Inca empire. For years treasure hunters and grave diggers were searching for the lost treasures and the lost city, until eventually, the American historian Hiram Bingham ‘found’ Machu Picchu in 1911. He believed that it was the lost city and final retreat of the Inca’s, but no evidence has ever been found to conclusively prove this. But before I bore you to death, the purpose of this little history background is to highlight just how special this area and in particular, the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu is. Or maybe to highlight what a geek I am!

View from the top of the Westcliff stairs

The Inca trail is a 43km hike and stretches over a four days, with the final day spent mainly at Machu Picchu. I have been exercising and am hoping that I am sufficiently ‘moderately’ fit to tackle this trail without passing out halfway amongst the 2 000 steps on the trail. To prepare myself for all these steps I have, on a few occasions, done the Westcliff stairs (two flights of stairs of 400m, consisting of 210 stairs nestled in between the beautiful residential area behind the Westcliff hotel in Johannesburg). The stairs are very popular amongst runners, and in particular Comrades runners. For those of you who don’t know, the Comrades is a 89km ultramarathon and any runner’s dream to complete.  Bruce Fordyce is a legend in South Africa, and won the Comrades a total of nine times, eight of which were consecutive. And, apparently Bruce used to train at the Westcliff stairs. The difference, of course, is that I tend to huff and puff walking up the stairs on my second lap, whilst the runners actually run up and down the stairs. But, I am not running the Inca trail (which you can do, if you like…), so that is okay with me!

In addition to training for the Inca trail, I also had to do a fair amount of shopping. Since this is the first multi day hike I am attempting doing, I had no idea what to expect in terms of the actual conditions of the hike. It is autumn in Peru, and as I understand the daily temperatures in the mountains are fairly similar to Joburg this time of the year, but it gets pretty cold up in the Andes mountains at night. And layers are highly recommended for the hike. Luckily, porters will be carrying most of our gear and clothes, so we only need to carry a day pack with water, jackets, camera, snacks etc. Basically, everything that we would need during the day. We are sleeping in tents along the route, so I am stocking up on warm clothes, thermal underwear, a silk sleeping bag liner (who says you cannot sleep in luxury in a tent??). And of course, I could not resist buying all sorts of hiking gadgets and stuff, like a small towel that folds up to the size of a matchbox and a multi purpose buff, that can serve as a hat, arm band, hair band, balaclava and (if you can figure out the complex drawing) even a pirate hat! Harr, harr!

Finally, I want to take some awesome pictures to remember this trip by, and on the few hikes we have gone on, I have quickly realised it is not the best idea to have to stop a whole line of hikers in an effort to take a DSLR out of a back pack to take a quick snap, so I had to find an alternative solution. I finally found a bag that I can carry on a shoulder harness in front of me, so I ordered the bag and the harness and am just hoping it is not too big, so that I can still walk fairly comfortably!

Now, the only thing to do is to count off the sleeps until I finally leave for Peru, via South America, on the 26th of April. And make sure that I pack everything… I am notoriously bad at this part and always forget something, so I am going to do a packing list to make sure that I am not stranded in Peru without a water bottle, or medical insurance card, or hiking socks, or blister plasters, or travel vouchers, or hat, or sunscreen, or gloves….oh my goodness, I think I must start to pack!!

Adios Amigos!