Hello! Welcome back to my blog, it's been a while! It's actually been almost three years since my last post, during which time I have been having a blast in London but have also been living that rat race life. Well you know what? Enough of that! Due to some unforeseen, and in hindsight greatly appreciated circumstances, I have found myself out of a job and have decided to take a break from adulting for a while and explore South America! I now have until late November to try and see as much of this amazing continent as I can and there is a LOT to see. (my vague planned route below)
The last couple of months have been crazy! I went on a month long trip to the USA with my family where we travelled from Seattle to San Diego with a detour to Las Vegas for my dad and Sally's amazing wedding. I then flew back to London for a few days before jetting off with Grant to Ireland for another wedding and a mini road trip along the beautiful Irish west coast. Then, the day after I returned from Ireland, I caught a flight from London to Lima in Peru, which is where I am currently writing this post from. It's fair to say my body has no idea what time or day it is, but I am so happy to be here!
My time in Lima started with a very early arrival into Lima airport and a taxi ride through the crazy streets of the city during rush hour (or maybe thats what every hour looks like on the roas of Lima). I arrived at my hostel, Puriwasi Lima, before my room was ready and so decided to take advantage of the free breakfast. During brekkie I met Katie, a British girl who had just arrived herself and was due to be in Lima for the same amount if time as me. We both signed up to the free walking tour the hostel offered and by 10:15 we were making our way to the centre of the city with Andres our guide (and the hostel's barman). The centre of Lima is gorgeous, filled with colourful and sometimes crumbling colonial buildings, huge churches, and imposing government buildings. We walked around learning the history of the streets, which played a huge part in the fight for independance, and some of the famous figures immortalised with statues around the city. For lunch we found ourselves in a surreal part of town, and somewhere I did not expect to see in Peru, China Town. We ate wantan soup and noodles, made even more surreal by the jet lag that was certainly kicking in by this point. Back at the hostel I put my feet up for a well needed rest and that evening we ate tacos at the hostel and got an early night.
The following day Katie and I decided to visit Huaca Pucllana, a pre-Incan ruin which is found right in the middle of the suburb we were staying in. The site had originally been used for spiritual practices such as human sacrifices and burials and was constructed out of millions of clay bricks, laid vertically so that they would be able to withstand the earthquakes that Peru often experiences. It was here where I learnt that Peru has over 3,000 different species of potato (you could eat a different type of potato every day for nearly 10 years!) and, a fact which traumatised me way more than hearing about the human sacrifices, guinea pigs are a local delicacy!
After our tour Katie and I made our way, using our very rusty Spanish skills, in a taxi to the fisherman's wharf, where the fish caught that morning are brought and sold. We tried a Peruvian classic, fresh ceviche and shared a huge bottle of Inca Cola, Peru's favourite soft drink (imagine Iron Bru but bright yellow instead of orange). That evening we visited the local evening market in Kennedy Park and had some pisco sours at the hostel bar before some over enthusiastic karaoke and a trip to a local (awful) club ensued.
Today got off to a relaxed start with a lie in and leisurely stroll around Kennedy Park. In the afternoon I joined a group of Americans from the hostel on a free walking tour of the Barranco district of Lima. This area has kept many of the colonial architecture and is the home of the art and music scene of Lima, which is made very clear by the abundance of street art that covers most of the walls. The tour was brilliant and finished off with a quick guide of how to make the best pisco sour. I loved this area and would love to have spent more time exploring it.
Lima as a whole has definitely outdone my expectations and has been a great start to my Peruvian journey! Tomorrow I fly to Cusco to start my two week volunteering project and explore more of what Peru has to offer, including of course, Machu Picchu! I can't wait!
Thanks for reading!
Emma
