Lima Scores

I like Lima. We've met so many friendly and helpful people. I can't remember the like anywhere else I've been. Spot this theme in the following narrative.

There aren't loads and loads of things to see in Lima, but easily enough for a few days.

We flew in just after midnight going into Sunday. Our transfer wasn't there, and after a 10-minute dual-international call from my mobile (to a foreign number whilst abroad), they said they had no record of us at all. An English-speaking tourism ministry lady organised a taxi for us and used it to get herself a lift home. We were just relieved to get to the hotel without being badly ripped off. On the drive we saw two TGI Fridays and a Starbucks, so felt very far from home (not). The hotel, which we came to love, was the Doubletree El Pardo "by Hilton" in the coastal district of Miraflores - quite a glossy area, so many banks and hotels. After a long sleep, we went for a walk and ate in Burger King (brave explorers!).

Clare was concerned about an insect bite on her arm that had turned into an 8cm red patch. The hotel reception called their emergency medical service who were there in no time and gave Clare a jab and a prescription for some pills, all for free - very impressive.

We walked out again and ended up at the beach. Having recently come from UK/Atlantic and Belize/Caribbean, I couldn't resist the symbolic feat of paddling in the Pacific Ocean. I hadn't quite thought it through, as the "beach" was steep and made of few-cm stones - very painful on the tootsies. The next big wave crashed in and I got soaked! Never mind - I'd rather enjoy being a fool than glide through untouched. Clare looked very smug.

Dinner in the hotel (every day, it appears) is a Peruvian buffet with floor show. The food was good; the show was pretty standard local-culture stuff apart from some rattling-scissors tumbling at the end. I didn't fancy it a second time, but there are many other restaurants nearby.

On Monday we got a hotel car into the historic centre of Lima, arriving just in time for the noon changing of the guard at the presidential palace. This started off with a military band playing not-so-military tunes. As new arrivals in Peru, and trying to get a feel of the situation, we noted being kept on the far side of the street by a sparse line of police with riot shields, and seeing just a few guys with Kalashnikov AK47s beyond. One needs to remember that it wasn't so long ago when Peru was struggling against the Shining Path and others. It's a very long time since I went to the changing of the guard in London, which I now feel I should see to compare and contrast. I was disproportionately cheered by seeing the trombonists' slides sticking out through the palace railings and that the band had been standing on a little platform - reinforcing the feel that the real Peru wants to welcome visitors and the security is a residual feature.

The palace is on the Plaza Mayor (aka Plaza de Armas), which also holds a big cathedral. One block North is the former train station (now a library/arts centre) where, we were told, Paddington Bear started his travels. Another block East is the Franciscan monastery, cheap entrance and tours on the hour in English. We were very impressed, especially with the beautiful library, rammed with ancient books and dual spiral staircases rising to a gallery. At the end of the tour we viewed the catacombs, where at least 25,000 people were laid to rest in the middle ages, underground to avoid diseases. Archaeologists in the 1940's saw fit to split up the remains, collecting all the femurs together into rows, skulls separate and (just visible in side rooms) minor bones elsewhere.

We walked on round the town, and another highlight was the Indoor Market - rows of stalls grouped in similar types, great photo-fodder if my camera battery hadn't chosen then to give out. We were accosted twice as we walked there, and initially fended people off, expecting hard sell or begging. Wrong. One lingerie seller saw our cameras and displayed a brassiere made for a giant so we could photo it. A lady on the street wanted to warn Clare that her camera dangling on a wrist strap could be snatched. How kind!

I wanted to get the Metropolitano dedicated-lane bus service back to near the hotel, but was thwarted. It's a system entirely based on rechargeable cards, and I could understand the instructions, but with no obvious way to get a card in the first place. In the end we had to hail a taxi anyway. I asked the price but misunderstood the Spanish and ended up relieved when it was ten times less than I'd been bracing for!

Tuesday was our hardcore tourist day. We got a hotel car to Huaca Pucllana, which looks like a wide, low hill made from little adobe bricks, but it was closed. We caught the driver and went to Museo Larco, which shows the cream of a huge historical collection (mainly pre-Inca) in a clear and very interesting way. No wonder it's a Tripadvisor top tip. For the afternoon we booked what ended up as a private trip to Pachacamac, a 70-hectare archeological site from an original 500-hectare area of temples, cemetaries and clerical dwellings used by four successive empires over more than 500 years. Very little of it has been excavated yet, with the remainder just sandy desert.

In the morning, Clare had taken her first Maladrone antimalarial pill - the expensive ones supposed to have no side-effects. By the evening she'd come up in rashes on a few parts of her body. We had to get the hotel reception to call the emergency medics again, and they gave her another jab, prescribed other pills and told her no more Maladrone, of course.

Hence, Wednesday morning was taken up with a visit to the nearby Good Hope clinic to get antimalarial advice, bearing in mind our planned trip to the Amazon the following day. As we arrived, an English-speaking gentleman who was just passing by took it upon himself to help us find the right one of the various routes into the clinic (representing different services). He went with us in each different entrance until we found the right place and an English-speaking receptionist. So kind!

We had to wait over an hour to see the doctor, but reckoned you wouldn't do much better as a walk-in at a UK medical centre. The doctor also spoke English and advised Clare against trying any other antimalarials while her body was sensitised. Hence we had to give up on the idea of visiting the Amazon. We went back to the Doubletree El Pardo who scored yet another point by allowing a late checkout. Packed, we moved on to the Inka Path hotel downtown where our tour started - a nice, clean 3* hotel, centrally located but with rooms that have no windows or aircon. We were glad to be there only one night.

At the start of the afternoon we had the welcome meeting for our tour - "Sacred Land of the Incas" with Intrepid. There are only four of us on the tour, Clare and myself plus a couple of Aussie ladies, Gwen and Margaret. We reduced the initial numbers further when we told guide Lucho that we had to skip the two days in the Amazon and go straight to Cuzco on our own.