Lima

When I woke up in the morning I felt a lot better which was a good sign. We left Huaraz at 7 for the long drive to Lima, driving back the way we came to the coast along the stunning Casma route. We had breakfast on the truck which was an assortment of cakes and pastries, and a lot of fruit which had been purchased the day before. The drive down the mountains was pretty smooth and we were soon on the coastal tarmac road and able to cruise along without any problems.

For lunch we stopped at this restaurant in the middle of nowhere, although I have an onsite farm and play area which kept us amused. The food took ages to come though. We then made one big push for Lima, although the city was massive. It is in fact the 2nd biggest city in the Americas. The outskirts was effectively shanty town and it felt like we were driving through them for ages. The roads were also chaotic as no one seemed to us their lane, with cars all over the place and beeping.

We arrived in Lima pretty late in the end as it was so busy coming in. Lima is split into various different districts and we were staying in the old town. After unpacking we went out for dinner at this steak restaurant. I shared a mixed grill with someone as they did mixed grills in sharing platters. There was a lot of meat. We also said goodbye to 7 members of the group here, including my truck parents who have been on the truck since Cartagena. Afterwards we went out to a few bars and it was pretty late night.

Come morning I was up pretty early and after breakfast set out to explore Lima with a few others. We looked round a couple of churches and this big market place selling all sorts of stuff, before heading the main square, which was a mission to get into. All the streets in were cordoned off as apparently the president was home, but we managed to get in by blagging our way onto a tour group. We watched the changing of the guard and looked round the cathedral, before going for lunch at a local restaurant which had awful service.   I had the lasagne.

After lunch I went with a couple of others to another district, Miraflores. This is the rich part of Lima full of big shops and the banking. It was also by the coast. What we actually went to see was the Paddington Bear statue. It was cordoned off however but we could see it. We wanted to go down to the sea but we couldn't work out how to, so we headed back to the old town after a while. Our taxi driver on the way back was a lunatic though! 

Come evening I decided to go and visit the fountains and the light show. I went to pizza hut for dinner before and it was a fair walk to the fountains. It was pretty spectacular with uv lighting and music creating images and shapes with the water. There were various different fountains and I spent quite a while looking round. I then headed back to the hotel and relaxed and had an early night as we had a very early start the following morning.