Day 3

After a semi decent sleep last night we were both up super early as we aren’t quite adjusted to the time difference yet. We started the morning with the free breakfast on the hostel rooftop - eggs, bread, jam, and coffee not bad for a £15 a night hostel. We then tried to head into central Lima on the bus and this was quite the experience. Let’s just say I’m VERY glad I never have to drive here, there seems to be no rules at all and the sound of Lima is definitely honking cars. After about 10 minutes the bus driver proceeded to kick us off as we didn’t have a locals bus pass which seems impossible to obtain unless you are Peruvian! We walked into the centre from where they left us and enjoyed taking in the city. It’s not what I expected at all. I expected the capital to be more developed- skyscrapers, finance districts, guys in suits. It was the complete opposite, we only passed one sky scraper today everything feels much more under developed. A plethora of small stalls line the streets selling street food and fresh juices, battered cars line the streets and what’s nice is everyone has been super friendly.

Arriving in the centre we walked past a protest, which we later discovered was about the elections in Peru with one candidate suggesting there has been dodgy vote counting. Making sure we stayed clear of the protest and large presence of police we wondered into shops and stalls looking at various goods. That’s when we met Luis the owner of an art stall. Having lived in Lima his whole life he now has a small studio which he also lives in and sells his art for a living. He enthusiastically showed us articles from local newspapers that he had featured in that he had cut out and stuck up proudly at the front of his shop. His work was beautiful, watercolours depicting various scenes all over Peru. Keira and I were too tempted and both bought a watercolour of Machu Picchu each. He then pulled out his phone and asked for a selfie which we then also did on my phone. He was such a lovely man, neither of us spoke very fluently in the others language and yet we felt we connected with him.

We continued to meander the streets of Lima coming across another friendly store owner keen to give us recommendations of where to eat and what to do. We have been pleasantly surprised with how friendly everyone is so far, coming from grumpy England it sure is a change!

We then took a tour of the Basilica and convent of San Francisco. Really interesting history and Spanish influence with Spanish tiling and architecture in the courtyard. It also housed a very impressive library with books 500 years old. The tour also took us down into the catacombs which were very creepy. They estimate 25,000 are buried there. It sits directly underneath the cathedral as apparently some like to be buried underneath a holy site as it is seen as sacred ground. Sadly no photos were allowed on this tour so I only managed to get one sneaky one.

We then grabbed some late lunch before heading to a supermarket to pick up some bits to make lunches for the next few days. Having been out since 8.30am this morning by the time we got back at 3pm we were pretty tired so took a couple hours to chill out.

We then headed up to the rooftop bar for a pisco sour making lesson- the national cocktail of Peru. They kindly let me make one without egg in! I can’t say it was particularly nice but a fun experience and met some more people staying at the hostel!Read more