My Trip to Peru - Lima

Earlier this year I decided I wanted to take a trip and see some more of the world which I hadn't yet seen. I had heard great things about visiting Machu Picchu in Peru so I looked into trips there. After visiting a travel show in Chicago I found a company - GAP Adventures - that had a great trip for a great price. In April I booked my trip and a short 6 months later I was off.

On Friday September 8th I flew from Chicago to Lima, Peru connecting in Miami. I was fortunate enough to use frequent flyer miles to get first class tickets. My flight out of Chicago was a little delayed so I was concerned that I might miss my connection in Miami. Fortunately, we made up some time in the air and once in Miami my second flight was at the gate directly across from my arrival gate. I had plenty of time. We left Miami around midnight but they still served us a full dinner. The food and service were great.

About 4:30AM we landed in Lima. Incidentally, Lima is on central time so there was no time change that I had to adjust to. I got through immigration and customs pretty quickly. About 5 I took a taxi to my hotel. After arriving at my hotel, I found out there was a letter there from GAP saying that I would be staying at a different hotel as this hotel was sold out. It would have been nice for them to e-mail that to me so I could have gone straight there. In any case, I jumped in another taxi and got to my new hotel which was not too far away. The good news was the new hotel was going to let me get into my room right away so by 6AM I was in bed for some extra sleep.

I got up around 11 and did some exploring. I was staying in one of the nicest neighborhoods in Lima called Mira Flores. My hotel was in walking distance to the Pacific coastline and beach. Although with the weather (overcast and maybe in the 60s) I didn’t do any swimming. After getting some lunch I grabbed a taxi and headed into central Lima. I looked around the Plaza de Armas and took a tour of the Cathedral. My entrance to the Cathedral cost about $3 and I ended up getting a private tour with an English speaking guide. On the right is a picture of the government building on one side of the Plaza de Armas.

That evening I didn’t do too much but did go out and get some dinner. I was still pretty tired so I watched a little TV (there are English channels) and got some sleep.

The next morning I was being transferred back to the original hotel at 11 to meet up with the rest of my group later in the day. While waiting in the lobby I heard two others talking about transferring back to the other hotel so I asked if they were taking the GAP tour. Turns out they were so that’s when I met Max and Marigold. They are from New Zealand but had been living in Ireland for the past three years. They were in the process of moving back to New Zealand but were taking 3 months to travel around before going home.

When our transfer was over 30 minutes late we decided to just take a taxi (it cost less than $2). We checked into the hotel and then went out exploring again. Max and Marigold wanted to buy some extra clothes for the hike so we went to a department store and then to the outdoor market where I picked up a beautiful knit hat for about 2 bucks.

My overall thoughts on Lima are that it’s an interesting city but Peru has a lot more to offer than Lima. The city is what you might expect from a big city in a developing country. It’s polluted, busy, and noisy. But the people are friendly so it’s a nice city.

Sunday evening we had an orientation and we briefly met the rest of the group. They gave us a Pisco Sour which is a traditional Peruvian drink and we got the details on the trip.