We didn't have to go as far as deepest Peru to find Paddington, he was already in Lima.

An Equadorian gin, in the airport lounge, would have been rude not to, was very nice too.

Quito airport, that is not a runway you'd want to overshoot.

Quito was so green, the contrast with the outskirts of Lima was stark, so dry and dusty looking.

The Malacon, a clifftop promenade that must be at least a couple of miles long

A launch site for paragliders from the clifftop.

This was the Park of Love along the Malacon.

I was surprised by how well the seafront area had been developed and maintained.

Fruits marinated in pisco, we tried shots of strawberry and coca, both tasted of pure alcohol.

A pedestrian street of restaurants and bars, the whole area was bright, lively and almost all locals

Off To Deepest Peru

January 30 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

Latam Airways usually ask if you want to bid for an upgrade, this time we did, bidding the minimum amount, 29 US dollars. You don't really get that much more, front of the plane, three seats between two people and a bit more legroom. Though on international flights you can use the VIP airport lounge. Our bid was rejected, but this morning I got an email to say we were on standby for an upgrade. So we went to the lounge to see if we could get in and after a phone call they let us in and very nice it was too in there. Though when we went to board it turned out we didn't get a standby upgrade. So it was perfect, we didn't pay for an upgrade but got in free to the lounge, saving 35 dollars each. This could be a tactic going forward!

We took an airport taxi into Lima as the reports on the internet were very mixed about Uber in Peru. Our driver, Alejandro, was a right character, he spoke enough English to give us a 40 min lecture on the places to go, the things to do and not to do, the food and drinks to try and where to try them, the history of Peru and before you know it we were organising for him to pick us up to take us back to the airport in a few days. He was a very good salesman.

Deciding where to stay within a city can be hit and miss. Quito was a miss, as the area was nice enough during the day but by 8pm it was deserted and a little intimidating. The area we are staying in in Lima, Miraflores, is the total opposite. It has lots of shops, restaurants, bars along several main and side streets and a sea front promenade. Additionally, the culture seems to be a very outdoor one, Lima is at sea level so it is much warmer than Quito and there are so many people just spending time outside. A nearby park had a large children's play area which was still really busy with young children at 9pm.

Our taxi driver told us that we must try a pisco sour in Lima, a drink I'd heard of but never had before. Pisco is a grape based spirit around 40-45%, similar to an Italian grapa. So after dinner tonight we found a bar, La Tasca, doing two for one cocktails and so went in. Blimey, we watched the girl make the drink, she put in 4 double piscos, for two drinks. It was like rocket fuel, you couldn't drink more than a couple of those in a whole evening. Then back at the hotel this evening we had a voucher for a drink each at the bar so ordered two pisco sours. They put one and a half doubles into the shaker for our two drinks. In some ways it was just as well it was a real lightweight drink as we could still feel the effects of the first one.Read more