We arrived in Lima after a long flight with a transfer in Miami. The city seems to have changed inexorably in the 10 years since my last visit. It is still cloaked in a permanent haze, but now the city bristles with advertising hoardings for every conceivable product and service. The roads are clogged with a multitude of battlescarred vehicles weaving in and out of lanes which seem to converge and diverge at random, all the while beeping and swerving incessantly. In amongst this motorised chaos are scores of street vendors moving through the traffic trying to sell to the passing cars.
We eventually made it through the traffic to the hotel Continental in old part of town near the San Martin Plaza.
On our second day we wandered into Mira Floras, which is the more up market part of Lima and to be honest we could have been in any western city. All the kids were wearing the latest fashions with the ubiquitous phone or mp3 player glued to their ears. All the familar high street shops and brands were present and even some of the prices seemed similar. There was not a poncho or monkey hat in sight.
We found the South American Explorers Club House and went along to join up. SAE is an organisation designed to help peole who want to travel in South America. It has a great website and a number of clubhouses scattered across the continent, full of maps, information and trip reports filed by other members. www.saexplorers.org When we arrived at the club house in Lima they were midway through a yoga class which was taking place in the lounge! We spent a pleasant day there reading through the information and planning our trip to the north of the country.
No comments:
Post a Comment