Lima is beautiful... but insane - not retarded hot, but crazy hot. Actually it´s not that hot at all considering the latitude - an almost permanent cloud layer hovers above the city at this time of year which, combined with a sea breeze, makes for excellent temperatures and livability. After messy Buenos Aires I certainly didn´t expect it to be so rich or clean in Miraflores where I stayed, with all the modern services a consumer could need like gigantic department stores and supermarkets. Their perfectly manicured parklands are best enjoyed on the cliffs next to the ocean with beautiful vistas to the sea. Strolling through the safe streets reveals fine European architechture combined with a swanky yuppie and backpacker scene. It is definitely a city of contrasts. My way into town from the south passed dusty ramshackle slums the like of which house the vast majority of the seven million inhabitants while the elite live it up at shopping centres like Larcomar, built into the cliffside, complete with cinema, nightclubs, expensive cafes and restaurants overlooking the Pacific.
The roads are very dangerous here, drivers push their way into lanes, beep their horns at every second breath and WILL run you over on the street. There is essentially no train system and the busses are randomly-shaped and styled, poorly and incorrectly marked and almost as crazy as the taxis (which make up literally 50% of the traffic in the inner city).
My primary mission for coming to Lima was to get the rain jacket I had ordered from a US website. The shipping company and Peruvian customs decided I had to pay them $125US for the privelige of... nothing, really. The shipping was already paid for. So it was a ´import tax´and ´warehousing fee´. Great. Of course I became rather upset and subsequently the warehousing fee was dropped, so after a day of fretting and blaspheming I eventually paid the $75 to get it. I also spent the rest of my first few days what felt like pissing into the wind trying to cancel my credit card, order a new one and organise some emergency funds.
I finally got to play some basketball over here, defintely not a very commonly played sport - you see lots of hoops but not many hoopers. Considering my talent, it wasn´t a surprise that I beat the 11-year old boy... convincingly. He then asked me if I was from the NBA - not surprising either. Thanks for the game, Nicolas.
The roads are very dangerous here, drivers push their way into lanes, beep their horns at every second breath and WILL run you over on the street. There is essentially no train system and the busses are randomly-shaped and styled, poorly and incorrectly marked and almost as crazy as the taxis (which make up literally 50% of the traffic in the inner city).
My primary mission for coming to Lima was to get the rain jacket I had ordered from a US website. The shipping company and Peruvian customs decided I had to pay them $125US for the privelige of... nothing, really. The shipping was already paid for. So it was a ´import tax´and ´warehousing fee´. Great. Of course I became rather upset and subsequently the warehousing fee was dropped, so after a day of fretting and blaspheming I eventually paid the $75 to get it. I also spent the rest of my first few days what felt like pissing into the wind trying to cancel my credit card, order a new one and organise some emergency funds.
I finally got to play some basketball over here, defintely not a very commonly played sport - you see lots of hoops but not many hoopers. Considering my talent, it wasn´t a surprise that I beat the 11-year old boy... convincingly. He then asked me if I was from the NBA - not surprising either. Thanks for the game, Nicolas.
During this time while staying at my hostel I discovered a very cool looking beach rave party was going to happen on the 16th south of the city, with an eco-bent and many European and American tech-house DJ´s I knew and liked. http://intifest.com.pe/ So I decided to go. This meant either a long stay in Lima or a side trip, so I decided to head to the rainforest for the first time, in La Merced, about an 8-hour Andes crossing away. Windy roads, 4000m+ altitudes, oh joy.
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