Hamanns on Adventure: Lima

After an 8 hour flight from LA, we touched down in Lima, Peru at 1am on Friday morning. We were very grateful to find our hotel shuttle driver waiting for us at Arrivals. We immediately were reminded that we were in a 3rd world country with the rickety vehicles, non-existent road lanes, hooting, and the general hustle and bustle of the busy city - it was some what comforting and familiar. Little did we know that the following day would involve our first major traveling hiccup.

We got a good nights rest at the San Antonio Abad hotel in the Miraflores suburb, but that morning we needed to draw some local currency and were directed down the street to the closest ATM. Andy drew the money, and we jumped into a taxi and went over to the Kokopelli hostel where we spent the following night. In no time, Andy realized that he had left his bank card in the ATM! We raced back to the bank, but the card was nowhere to be found. We spent the next 30 minutes on the phone to the Canadian bank. Luckily I have a card for the same account, so we good for now.

Andy's hands sweat when he's stressed, so you can imagine that this incident took it to a whole new level! I thought it would be wise to find the nearest local restaurant for some well deserved R&R. The language barrier in Peru is a lot worse than we anticipated - most locals cannot speak any English, so just understanding the menu requires help from our Spanish phrase book.

That afternoon was spent in the city centre with two American guys, Mark and Shane, who we met at the hostel. We visited a Catholic cathedral which has been active since the 16th century. The tour guide took us underground to the Catacombs, which are underground passageways with Catholic tombs . The human bones from the 16th century have been recently excavated, and have been opened to public viewing. It was fascinating! We grabbed a quick dinner and headed back to the hostel.

We had booked our flight to Cusco the following day at lunchtime, so we decided to spend the morning at the Malecon, which is Lima's promenade. Considering most of the city was rather run down, it was a pleasant surprise to see how much effort and pride had been put into making the Malecon a clean, safe, and beautiful place.