Au revoir Blighty...

...see you in 4 1/2 months!

Heathrow airport – 5am!

So, after all the discussing, planning, re-discussing and re-planning, our sabbatical has finally begun albeit that day 1 got off to a shaky start. After getting to Heathrow airport for 5.15am (thanks Vinny for dropping us off), our first flight from London to Madrid left 50 minutes late. We ended up being slightly too rushed for comfort when we got to Madrid to catch our connecting flight to Lima.

"I hope our luggage makes it!", Sarah said.

12 hours later we arrived at Lima airport, fairly shattered and knowing that the B&B we were staying in had sent someone to pick us up. It was dark, cold and fairly miserable and all we wanted to do was catch up on our sleep. We headed straight to pick our luggage up. Mine came out very quickly but Sarah's didn't. We waited and waited (along with about around 20 other people - all of whom were getting increasingly agitated and cursing in Spanish (its funny how, despite having not spoken Spanish since university (a long time ago!), I remembered so many Spanish expletives!). 45 minutes later, we were told to return to the airport the next day at 7am to see if the back pack had made it onto the next scheduled flight from Madrid to Lima. I hoped that this was not a sign of things to come!

Fortunately Sarah's back pack, which contained all her essential bits and pieces (including altitude sickness pills, malaria tablets, print outs of our itinerary and sleeping bag) turned up the next morning - a HUGE relief.

Our B&B

Crazy Lima!

We have now spent a couple of days in Lima – a really interesting, bustling city. The opening line of the Lima section of the Peru Lonely Planet reads:

“It’s wacky, it’s wonderful – yet it sometimes feels like the Wild West”.

Street entertaining at traffic lights!
This is a very accurate description for such a diverse, noisy and colourful city. There is a real mix of cultures (European, Andean and also Asian) and this is there for all to see in the architecture, museums, food etc – you can’t fail to be impressed.

Satsuma time!
On our first day (Monday 30th), we walked from our B&B along the coast to an area called Miraflores. As you can see from the photos, you can either follow the coastal path along the top of the cliffs or walk along the beach, both of which are great fun. One of the things that really strikes you about Peru is the mix of properties all in the same area – amazing modern apartments next to much older builds – and Miraflores is no exception to this.

One of the other highlights of Miraflores was watching the paragliders taking off from the cliff edge – not for the fainthearted! There was no way I was talking Sarah into giving it a go!

Check out the red hiking trainers!
One of the other things you notice about Lima is the noise-levels – it is definitely a vibrant place with car horns continually sounding, people jumping on and off buses that have barely stopped and police/security people blowing their whistles. You do get approached a lot on the street, mainly by people trying to sell you anything from empaňadas (delicious snacks, not too dissimilar to pasties), street maps, hammocks, hats, cigars – the list is endless! Some people seem very intrigued by Sarah – maybe it’s the blond hair and the fact that she is about 6 inches taller than most of the Peruvians!

Today (Tuesday 31st), we headed for the centre of Lima on a very efficient bus service which must have been built fairly recently. It has its own separate two-way lane in the middle of a busy road in and out of the city centre and operates almost like a tram at a cost of 1.50 Soles per journey (about 30 pence) – a great way to get around. Another interesting thing to note about Lima is that, despite being South America’s 5th largest city by population, it does not have an underground.

We wondered around Lima’s 2 largest and most impressive squares (Plaza San Martin and Plaza Mayor), the second of which was largely sealed off by police, some of whom were in riot gear. I’m not sure what they were expecting but we didn’t stick around to find out. Some of the uniforms and clobber they wore, as well as the police vehicles, were very interesting and not exactly what you would call up-to-date. Still, they were nonetheless quite intimidating!

On Lonely Planet’s recommendation, we took in some culture at the San Francisco Monastery which is one of the oldest buildings in Lima. Beneath the Monastery we explored the dusty catacombs which were a challenge on many levels, not least because they date from a time when people were a good foot shorter than Sarah and I!

San Franciso Monastery

This evening we are eating at a local restaurant recommended by the B&B. We are both going to take the plunge and a local seafood recipe called Ceviche – according to Wikipedia, the dish is typically made from fresh raw fish marinated in citrus juices such as lemon or lime and spiced with chili peppers. Could be an interesting night’s kippage!
Tomorrow, we head back to Lima airport around midday to catch a flight to our next port of call – a city in the Andes at 2,380 metres called Arequipa – from where we will climb up to over 4,000 metres. Hopefully we won’t need to resort to taking the altitude sickness tablets…

Sarah has had to get used to a new morning routine…