Lima, Peru

To start, I would just like to say that Peru is an absolutely massive country, something I did not really fully take note of when I was beginning my travels. Due to this fact I was forced to buy a plane ticket from Cuzco to Lima in order to stay on schedule. That was definitely an unexpected blow to my bank account, but a boost to my frequent flyer miles (Those really do not cancel each other out, but I gotta look on the bright side.)

View from the mall in Miraflores

The great city of Lima is, in my opinion, not so great at all. The neighborhood of Miraflores, however, is pretty incredible. The city sits right on the Pacific Ocean and the local mall provides some spectacular views when the sky is not overcast. Kate says it looks like an IV on steroids and Miraflores kind of was. It's streets are bustling with young people and packed with bars and cheap places to eat (the cheap food definitely sets it apart from IV). The whole vibe is just really cool. Our hostel had a connection with the bar down the street so we could get discounted drinks. I must say though, after exploring some other parts of the city I was SO glad that we were in Miraflores. The rest is a lot more run down/unsafe and really dreary looking.

Our second day in Lima we went downtown to the Plaza de Armas. Lima has an incredible central plaza! There was a german girl staying in our room at the hostel and she told us that there was going to be a changing of the guard at the main government building. It was cool to see but the band was the best part, they were playing some jams for sure. Who knew military bands knew how to get down, really entertaining. After the whole production was over, I don't even think I saw the actual guards change cause there was so much going on, we decided to head down one of the pedestrian streets. We just walked with no direction and ended up at the other main plaza in Lima, Plaza Bolivar. We definitely noticed a difference in the crowd there, we were getting a lot more stares and random "I love you's". Apparently that was the only english they knew. We returned back to Plaza de Armas fairly quickly. On the opposite corner of the plaza from where the pedestrian street was some really great shopping. The artesania in Peru is basically the same as in Chile but so much cheaper! I surprised myself though by not really buying anything. Who am I turning into? I guess I'm just getting a lot pickier and don't feel the need to buy everything at every stall, that was a little excessive. 

Before the changing of the guard

Plaza de Armas

This is about 1/5 the storeroom

 February 1 hit me with a certain kind of shock, I only had one more month of traveling left. I know that is a long time, but I had just been looking forward to this vacation for so long and it was already flying by too quickly. The last two days in Lima went just as quickly. We went to this incredible museum called the Larco Herrera Museum and has a huge collection of pre-colombian art/artifacts. We're talking pottery, jewelry, fabrics, weapons from before the incan empire. After taking an Pre-Colombia art class I was allll about it. It's one of the best museums that I have ever been to, it was just incredible. 

Pure gold pectoral

I want these earings!

 My favorite day in Lima though was the last, I went paragliding! The instructor was actually really annoying an arrogant, but the paragliding was incredible! We drove about 45 minutes outside of Lima to the mountains where the air was clear and you could see all the way to the ocean. But first, we ran out of gas... It was kind of hilarious, we were on the road and then our instructor, Marco, just goes "ohhh no, no, no, no, this cannot be happening. So we pull over and Marco grabs a cab to find gas. Me and Briana were just sitting in the car laughing. We were up and running again within 10 minutes and soon enough arrived at the paragliding mountain. You think it's going to be really adrenaline pumping, and the take off is, but it is so incredible peaceful once you are in the air. You really feel like you are flying and it's really calming. If you are forever in search of a good, quiet place to think I highly recommend learning how to paraglide by yourself. :) 

 

Takeoff!