Lima

Lima

We arrived in Lima in the rush hour.  Well I say that, but in fact I'm not sure that there was any time of day that wasn't the rush hour.  The traffic in Lima is horrendous and the drivers are all insane.  Izzy did an amazing job of getting us safely into the centre of Lima despite cars and buses careering from one side of the multi-lane carriageway to the other, desperately pushing in front of each other and just generally driving as dangerously as they possibly could.  At one point she even had a bus driver trying to have a chat with her through the window as they drove along.  And we're not talking London traffic speeds here, all of this was going on at speeds above 50mph!

When we arrived at the hotel we caused huge consternation as we had to block the road while we all got off and unloaded our bags.  In a city where they hoot their horns if you so much as look as if you might get in their way, you can imagine how many blaring horns that produced.  Indeed this is a place where horns are blown all the time, as the buses and taxis constantly toot at people to get their attention in case they want a ride.  It is a noisy city.

Lima



But having got there in one piece and avoided being torn apart by angry drivers, we checked into the hotel and then went out for our end of leg dinner.  It was a good evening and Nic and I tried out some of their two for one cocktails, which were very good.



We only had one day in Lima and unfortunately we didn't get to see much if it as we had some practical shopping to do.  The old part of the city has some very grand old buildings, but it is a bit like the wrong end of Oxford Street - the buildings are OK but they are past their best with a lot of shabby shops in them.  But I wouldn't rule out Lima at this stage, as we didn't really give it enough of a chance and some of our fellow travellers who did get to some of the sights, such as the catacombs, did quite like them.  So perhaps Lima will need to be revisited at a later date.



Lima



In the evening a group of us went to the new, more upmarket part of town, as it was one of the groups birthday.  That involved more hairy trips through the Lima traffic.  Her choice of pub was a 'British' one, but beyond the obviously imported decoration and the traditionally kitch version of 'olde worlde' there was nothing British about it.  Except perhaps the prices - we only stayed for one!

We ended up eating in a place called Beirut, that looked a bit dubious but actually wasn't bad.

In the taxi on the way back, it was worrying to see that the drivers obviously feel no safer on these roads than we do.  Our taxi driver touched his rosary and crossed himself not once but twice as we set off on the major road back to our hotel!