Lima, Peru
Lima is our first destination on our round the world trip. We are settling into our new life on the road. Frank and I both had a moment of uncertainty as we were landing at the Lima airport. We have been so busy up until that moment planning a wedding, getting married, quitting our jobs, selling everything we own, and planning for the trip, that it hadn’t really hit us yet. We were saying goodbye to everything we know and starting this new chapter that was very different from the previous one. So we had our freak out moment, got off the plane, and started the adventure. The fears quickly subsided and we realized we were in our element again. We navigated to our Airbnb and immediately went to sleep. We are staying with a lovely family in the Miraflores neighborhood of Lima.
We decided to take it slow for our first full day in Lima. Since we will be traveling for four months before we settle in to living in New Zealand, it’s important for us to not burn out in the first few weeks. After we slept in, we went to a cute coffee shop down the street for cappuccinos and chocolate croissants. We walked around the neighborhood and took in all the sights and smells. Lima is a very interesting place. The crosswalks are few and far in between, and basically mean nothing. I feel like I am living in a real life game of frogger and it is terrifying. Cars do not stop for pedestrians whether you are in the crosswalk or not. Sometimes, I think they actually try to hit you. From what I can tell, there are no rules to the road except one. Drivers must constantly honk their horns. We successfully made it Parque Kennedy, a cute little park in Miraflores with a charming cathedral in the center. What no one told me about Parque Kennedy is that the park is filled with cats. Lots and lots of cats! I was in Heaven. On our way back we stopped at the grocery store to pick up some snacks and breakfast for the next day. It always takes longer than we would think because we definitely do not speak Spanish. Well, the app Frank is using to learn Spanish is telling him he’s 39% fluent but lets be real. I haven’t heard him say more than “Uno churro por favor”. Speaking of churros, we found the best churro stand down the street from our Airbnb. We stop by his cart several times a day to get a bag of freshly fried churros for 2 soles (about 60 cents).
On day three, we took a walking tour of downtown Lima. To get there, we took the local bus that was jam packed with people. So many people that if you didn’t push your way off, you would be stuck on the bus forever. Downtown Lima is very beautiful and almost looks like a European city. We wandered through the main square, the oldest street market in Lima, past the cathedrals, and through chinatown. After a few hours, we stopped to eat the lunch we packed, a ham and cheese baguette, in Plaza Mayor de Lima.
The next day, we visited the mural-lined streets of Barranco. This was my favorite area of Lima. This neighborhood lies right on the Pacific Ocean and is filled with colorful houses. Around every corner is new street art to admire and photograph. After wandering for a few hours, we headed back to our Airbnb to get some rest before our early departure the next morning.
