Sunday 22nd -Monday 23rd September: Lima, Peru
I have emerged from my little cocoon of my hotel room!
After arriving Saturday night and falling asleep quicker than I probably ever have, I woke up the next morning feeling absolutely dreadful. Jet lagged and lethargic along with an awful headache and sore throat.
As a teacher of the last 4 years I’ve learnt to teach and work through an array of illnesses including laryngitis, bronchitis, chest infections you name it… but nonetheless I definitely wasn’t feeling well. I was obviously dehydrated and potentially a bit germy from the 24 hours of travel.
Determined to not be unwell through my trip, I set off to find a supermarket. After about a 15 minute walk I came to a store called ‘Wong’ which is a supermarket. I went around and bought the essentials. My mum is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to home remedies, and finding myself in a foreign country where there seemed to be no medicines on the shelves (you have to go to a pharmacy it seems), I found myself resorting to those home remedies embedded into me by mum. So there I was buying pineapple and apple cider vinegar. I bought other fruit as well, along with bread rolls and cheese, orange juice, and a massive bottle of water.
Ahh yes the water – I learnt my lesson the night before when I grabbed the glass on the sink and had some tap water… rookie error guys. Peruvian water is not safe to drink. The sulphuric smell coming from the tap when turned on should’ve clued me in, but I was so tired and didn’t think. Anyway, I worked it out in time and only had a few sips. I would have to wait till morning to get some clean water.
So I wasn’t out long on Sunday but I did try and observe and learn as much as I could whilst out on my little errand.
Here they are:
1. Roads are terrifying to cross! Zebra crosswalks are merely suggestions to cars to stop from what I can gather. And they don’t stop. So you either wait a very long time till you’re sure it’s safe or do as the locals do and hold your hand out to the car like “don’t even try it!” I haven’t worked out my preferred method yet.
2. Cars, buses, bikes etc all love to use their horn – I’ve never heard anything quite like it!
3. Hotels tend to have guards out the front. They open the gate for you to come and go, and always greet you with a smile. They check you’re meant to be there if they don’t know you.
4. The amount of people employed at the supermarket is something I’ve never seen before. There are so many! Either stocking shelves, being located to stand and assist anyone, and also no self check outs! What a novelty it was to have the lady scan my items and pass them to the man who happily took my fabric bags and packed my groceries for me. As well as this the guard at the door farewelled and thanked me.
The rest of the day was very uneventful, I just tried to rest, eat my pineapple, drink loads of water, and down as much apple cider vinegar as my throat could take.
Upon waking up this morning at 4am (hey there jet lag, old friend…) I realised my throat wasn’t as bad and my headache was basically gone! It’s continued to improve throughout the day and whilst my throat hurts a little, it’s very manageable. I downed some more vinegar before I left my hotel room just to be sure.
I came down to the lobby and saw the sheet that my group leader had put up on the noticeboard, I had 3 hours before we all would meet. So I checked out of my current room and asked the receptionist if I could put my backpack in storage. I then went for another walk, putting my developing skills of crossing roads in Lima to the test to reach a nice big cup of coffee. What better motivation, right?
At 2pm we had a welcome meeting with our tour leader and group. There are 9 of us in the group. There’s one girl from Australia, a husband and wife from India, 2 British guys, 2 New Zealand girls, 1 guy from Switzerland and then there’s me. So a good mix of people.
Our leader is named Cris. She is from Peru and is really experienced as a leader. She seems really nice and we all get along with her well.
Cris took us on a 45 minute walk to the coast within Miraflores (a district within Lima). They have some beautiful parks by the ocean. The beaches are mainly rocky but the surf is good for those who like to surf. It was nice to see the Pacific ocean again as I only ever see this when back home in Australia.
We finished our walking tour in the Love Park. A meeting point place for many couples and friends in Lima. There is a sculpture of a couple in the park which can obviously tell you that you’re in the Park.
Our leader left us there as she had to go and pick up our boarding passes for the flight the next day. So the 9 of us decided to go for dinner by one of the ocean restaurants. It was a nice chance to chat and get to know each other. I had a pasta dish with huancaína sauce. This is a Peruvian spicy cream sauce. It was so delicious! I also had to have a Pisco Sour as I am Peru!
We headed back to the hotel and made sure to have an early night as we were meeting at 6am the next morning to go to the airport.
We are on the bus now headed to Lima airport again. We are flying an hour and half today to Puerto Maldonado (the Amazon jungle!). We will be staying in a lodge deep in the jungle for a few nights. There will be no electricity and no hot showers. It is forecasted to be about 38 degrees there with really high humidity. Can’t say I’m excited about that part, but hey it’s all part of the experience!
So I look forward to updating you on our adventures in the Amazon in a few days time. In the meantime I will trying to spot some animals, enjoy the activities that we will partake in at the lodge, and spend my evenings by a kerosene lamp.
So until then, I hope this post has been interesting… I feel like I’ve waffled on a bit! Oops!
Take care and wish us luck on this next part of our journey!
Salud! (Cheers)
Eye Believe Eye Can 