Being a bit tired of overnight bus journeys and not fancying 24 hours on a bus (even Cruz del Sur), we took the plunge and flew. the cheapest airline was Peruvian Airlines, where the woman who sold the tickets was very nice, very thorough and clear. She then told us we could check in the day before we travelled via a dedicted terminal within that very office. we were due to fly on 2nd January. It didn't occur to us that she hadn't considered that it was new years day on the day we were supposed to do our advance check-in. Of course the office was closed so it meant that we had to arrive earlier at the airport the next day.
We were there 3 hours before departure and joined the lengthy queue to check in. We got to the check-out to be told our flight was delayed for 50 minutes. So 3 hours 50 minutes early! Nevertheless, we went through as Anne doesn't like missing out on what may be on the other side!! There wasn't much.
Anyway, it came to our notice that the flight number on our flight was wrong so off I went to enquire. I was told that my flight was now officially timed at one and a half hours later than original and that there was now another flight scheduled for our time. Then it dawned. They had drastically overbooked and had bumped those who hadn't advance checked-in onto the later time. Unfortunately, they hadn't bothered to let anyone know and so a lot of (foreign) people (including me) were getting a little frustrated. This was especially true of the Australians who had a one hour 45 minute connection (i.e. 15 minutes from the new time of arrival). the staff listened and then walked away leaving people fuming.
So remember this if you want to travel with Peruvian Airlines!
We eventually arrived and were picked by a taxi from the Hotel Continental. This was a more up-market hotel than usual as were a bit fed up of freezing in Cusco. It also served breakfast until 12.00 so we could stay in bed a bit longer!! Another advantage was the big room ("big enough to make a mess in", says Anne) and as the hotel charged laundry by the item (not the kilo!) there was a lot of space to hang washing.
The hotel was located near two main squares in the centre, Plazas de Armas and San Martin. both squares were colonial style and were rather spectacular when lit up at night. Another spectacular feature in de Armas was the christmas tree.The tree was quite a sight, looking more like a wedding cake than a tree and was illuminated at night. The Christmas flavour was also enhanced by the appearance of a manger scene on the upper floor balcony of the city hall. The square was also very busy and was obviously a place for meeting and strolling at night, Limenos as well as tourists.
On one side of the square is the presidential palace, a grand colonial style building which has daily changing of the guard at noon. The spectacle lasts approximately 30 minutes and is seen from a distance by the large crowd that gathers every day as the national guard (seemingly armed to the teeth) form a cordon approx 20 yards in front of the palace walls. The whole ceremony is conducted within the grounds and has to be viewed through the iron railings. It is done to music annd the band play a medley of classics throughout (inc. It seems that the presidentil guard is an institutional fan of John Cleese and his Ministry of Funny Walks as the ceremony was a mixture of stylised goose-stepping and sideways shifting. to cap it off, the final stage was all performed to the tune of El Condor Pasa (better than God Save the Queen -er the original version not the Sex Pistols!).
(photos to come)
The palace also has some pre-colombian figures set in the recesses of the gate columns. From what we gather from our travels is that Peru, in small ways, is trying to reclaim its pre-colonial past and so every now and then evidence of pre-columbian culture is pushed to the fore.
(photos to come)
The palace also has some pre-colombian figures set in the recesses of the gate columns. From what we gather from our travels is that Peru, in small ways, is trying to reclaim its pre-colonial past and so every now and then evidence of pre-columbian culture is pushed to the fore.
Very close to the square there is a plazuela - a little square where there are about 5 places to eat, all grouped together. We ate in 2 of them. here we had papa huancaina again and a variety of things we'd not had before, one of which was a causa, another thing on the list for when we get back (photo not mine). We also maintained, if not further devoped, our taste for Pisco Sours (We've bought a bottle to bring home. Might need a second to experiment with!!)
We have to admit that we didn't do much while we were in Lima - just lots of lying/sitting/walking around in a limited area of the city. Had lots of ice cream. Near the square we visited the 'Artesanal' shops several times while thinking what we might buy IF we could get it in our rucksacks.
We did go out of the centre on one day- we had long ago decided to extend the trip by some days but we needed to to go to KLM to change the date on our ticket. Unfortunately, all the international airlines are based in either San Isidro or Miraflores, the former being a place of high-rise offices (and a nice park!) and the latter, a plastic suburban sort of place with all those names that some people cannot do without: Macdonalds, KFC, Starbucks etc. We had to go to San Isidro to find KLM. However, Lima has not really got its act together in terms of an unified and integrated public transport system so getting around is not particularly easy like it is in many capital cities. They are making moves though. The city has a plan to introduce 7 cross city high speed buses (with dedicated lanes) and 6 cross-city rail routes. the first of these is now up and running. The metropolitano bus runs north-west to south-east and passes close to the two places mentioned above. However, it doesn't plan to go to to the airport though and doesn't seem to think that tourists will be interested in the schemes as it doesn't include any mention of them in any tourist publications. This idea was reinforced by the reactions of the 'helper' at the bus stop and the lack of information anywhere. There isn't even a map which contextualises the route.
So.... we did eventually get on a metropolitano bus to San Isidro and then had a 25 minute walk to the KLM office. that all went smoothly and we then walked on to Miraflores. There were a lot of restaurants including a really nice middle-eastern restaurant where we each had a schwarma - much to the surprise of the owner. Maybe not many gringos eat there! We did walk to the very end of the district to the coast to find the I-peru office but it was unoccupied. It was placed in a plastic open-air mall type thing, straight out of some US suburb c/w Ben & Jerries and other plastic food companies that have been placed around the world. We didn't like it!!
We also went to china town which was conspicuous in the absence of chinese people, though not of Chinese-named businesses.
 |
| not bad for a starter |
We did go out of the centre on one day- we had long ago decided to extend the trip by some days but we needed to to go to KLM to change the date on our ticket. Unfortunately, all the international airlines are based in either San Isidro or Miraflores, the former being a place of high-rise offices (and a nice park!) and the latter, a plastic suburban sort of place with all those names that some people cannot do without: Macdonalds, KFC, Starbucks etc. We had to go to San Isidro to find KLM. However, Lima has not really got its act together in terms of an unified and integrated public transport system so getting around is not particularly easy like it is in many capital cities. They are making moves though. The city has a plan to introduce 7 cross city high speed buses (with dedicated lanes) and 6 cross-city rail routes. the first of these is now up and running. The metropolitano bus runs north-west to south-east and passes close to the two places mentioned above. However, it doesn't plan to go to to the airport though and doesn't seem to think that tourists will be interested in the schemes as it doesn't include any mention of them in any tourist publications. This idea was reinforced by the reactions of the 'helper' at the bus stop and the lack of information anywhere. There isn't even a map which contextualises the route.
So.... we did eventually get on a metropolitano bus to San Isidro and then had a 25 minute walk to the KLM office. that all went smoothly and we then walked on to Miraflores. There were a lot of restaurants including a really nice middle-eastern restaurant where we each had a schwarma - much to the surprise of the owner. Maybe not many gringos eat there! We did walk to the very end of the district to the coast to find the I-peru office but it was unoccupied. It was placed in a plastic open-air mall type thing, straight out of some US suburb c/w Ben & Jerries and other plastic food companies that have been placed around the world. We didn't like it!!
We also went to china town which was conspicuous in the absence of chinese people, though not of Chinese-named businesses.
