Sep 2005

Just a quick entry,

Food is pretty damn good here. The set course meals you can get for about $2 have loads of veg and chicken so we haven't yet been tempted to go into McDonalds, even though we have found one. The golden arches can be seen from the top of the Inca Pyramid in the middle of town, so whilst learning about child sacrifices we were mentally deciding on either a Big Mac or Quarterpounder. I also haven't had a problem with my insides yet, although it can only be a metter of time. The beer is quite good, like a wheaty Budweiser and once this is finished we are off to spend the afternoon in a bar. Why I hear you ask, just because we can!

We are pretty much finished here in Lima as it is in fact a very boring city and we have done everything the guide book says to do. Best site in my opinion is the Palce of Justice which I can only assume is the Law courts, though obviously they didn't feel like letting us in to have a look at South America "Justice" in action. It looks like a building straight out of Judge Dredd as everything else around it is 1 story and it is a towering monolith of grey concrete and parapets.

Miraflores where we are staying is the sort of tourist district, whilst Lima itself feels just that bit more unsafe, although nothing really to worry about. Went into a department store there which has clothes at UK prices, however not sure who would buy them as across the road there is a clothes shop which sells pants by the kilo. You grab what you want and then weigh them and pay per pound. It also sells clothes by George at Asda; not sure if Mr Asda is aware of this, but it shows George has hit the big time when you can buy their fakes!

A grey mist hangs over the city from April to December so it is a grey place. However even though the sun doesn't come through the clouds at all, we are still properly sunburnt! We now put suncream on even though we also wear jumpers, and I have had to wear a Bandana over my shaved and pink head.

The taxi and bus situation still makes us laugh, you certainly cannot point at anything without getting a taxi swerving over to where you are, and we are haunted by the sound of their bloody horns trying to get our attention. Went on a bus today, it was just like we thought, the bus almost comes to a stop and then you jump in through the door. Only costs abour 20p per journey though so we could ride them all day (if the engine exhaust and constant use of the horn didn't drive you mad).

Went to the beach and although there were loads of surfers it was way too cold to go in (and the waves were bloody massive). Today Rach got walked into by a blind person whilst we were daydreaming in the street and I have been offered coccane for the first time. Ah South America. Cusco and Machu Picchu tomorrow

Guys,

We are writing this from an internet cafe in Lima. Firstly Rach wants me to set the record straight about my last entry as she has actually done loads of preparing for the trip. I make it eight weeks in fact as that was the last time she set foot inside work!

Now thats out of the way let me tell you about our journey to South America. The plane journey was OK, but our first flight from London to Madrird was delayed after security stopped one of the flight crew from boarding the plane - which reading between the lines means they stopped the pilot because he was drunk. On the next 12 hour flight Iberia only fed us two small meals so we got to Lima hungry and knackered, but to my surprise both our bags arrived with us so a big thumbs up to Spanish bag handlers.

I had booked a taxi through the Hostel over the net to pick us up from the airport, as if you look on the Foreign and Commonweath website for "travel advice" before going abroad you will be convinced that you are going to be mugged at knifepoint the moment you get off the plane or driven down an ally by a rogue taxi driver to be robbed by his mates. This meant we were pretty paranoid at the airport and although other unlicenced taxis tried to get us to go with them for less money we went with our semi official man. However although he had my name on a bit of paper outside the airport there was nothing on his car which made it stand out like a taxi! In fact i'm sure he was moonlighting with it from his day job as a stock car racer since it was missing body panels and stalled whenever he breaked.

During the entire journey we expected the car to swerve off into a small alley and be held up by masked men (when he did veer off the main road for the first time I did squeeze Rach's hand a bit tighter) but we made it OK and just went to bed. Downtown Lima which we drove through is pretty rough and most of the buildings look like they are held together with the Coca Cola and beer signs on them. Everytime the taxi came to a stop we prayed that the decrepid building outside the window was not infact our hostel, but thankfully we eventually arrived in Miraflores where we are now as that is the better part of town.

First day in Lima has been a bit of an eye opener. Not sure what I was expecting, but to be honest this isn't a must see stop on the tourist trail - there is pretty much bugger all to see or do - unless taxi spotting is your bag. We reckon there are at least 9 taxis to every car, but the difference to London is that they actively tout for trade. They slow down as they approach us and beep their horn to alert us to their presence in the event we actually want a taxi despite us sitting at a cafe looking like we are not going to move for hours. Busses also are pretty dodgy. They are either very old ex-USA school busses painted in multi colours or minivans crammed full of seats. One bloke drives whilst another hangs out of the side door shouting at us to get on his "bus"! We haven't used one yet but we need to do a bus journey tomorrow so will see if it works. There are no bus stops so you just stand there and wait to be shouted at I suppose!

On the plus side we have had a three course meal for $2 with a bizzare muled wine tasting ice tea drink thrown in for free, and will probably spend the afternoon getting drunk or going for a nap.

As long as we make it through the second night alive I'll write some more when we get to Cusco on Friday. This however involves an internal flight so high dramas so I expect something to go wrong between now and then.

Right,

This is my last entry in the UK so hopefully this will be the last boring entry and I will have something worth reading to write about next time.

Our entire pre-travelling preparation has consisted of:
a. Going to the doctor for Anti-Malaria pills,
b. Taking Anti-Malaria pills (which Rach reacted to!)
c. Rach reading "The motorcycle diaries" by Che Guevara

Thankfully she has also read the guide book quite throughly as not sure the motorcycle diaries is that relavent to todays traveller; me, I can just about name the countries we are visiting! I plan to spend the next 7 months in a semi-drunken state so haven't put a lot of effort into planning for this - I'm more worried now about the fact that I am unemployed and jobless.

We didn't pack till last night and leave for London in 30 minutes so we will obviously have forgotten something. I also finshed painting the last outside window I stripped last week this morning so have white hands. Why oh why can't we plan our time better. I really hope you don't need a Visa for Peru or we are knackered, plus what currency do they take? We have been told to pay for the taxi to the hostel in US Dollars so I can only assume cash machines out there give it in Dollars?

As you can see we are completely unprepared!

Anyway I'll stop this rambling and go get a train