On to Lima ... amazing experiences I thought I was prepared for...

I had often heard that Lima isn't a popular destination ... or even a safe one. But none of that prepared me for today. Hard to describe ... but here goes. Arriving at the airport in thick fog, after circling in a holding pattern for what seemed like ages - we were pleasantly surprised to see our name on a sign held by one of the numerous taxi drivers. BTW - I use the term 'taxi' very loosely. Will have to see if I can get some photos to show what I mean. Shouldn't be too hard - it seems that 80% of the traffic on the roads are taxis.

The smell that met us was almost suffocating - don't know what it was, but coupled with heat we'd not experienced in Chile, and being locked into the taxi for our safety.... [got the picture]. Road rules don't seem to exist, 10 lanes of traffic can suddenly become 3, taxis stop in the middle of the road to let passengers out and pick up more [some of these are apparently not taxis at all ... but more like buses...], hawkers walk up and down lanes of cars stopped at stop signs trying to sell their wares ... anything from lollies, newspapers, soft drinks .. all warm, pens, scissors ... anything. Cars weave in and out of the traffic!!!

Arrived at our hotel... down a narrow 2 lane street. Two security guards outside a locked gate. Driver starts to unload our bags [we're still locked inside] and I had visions of bags disappearing in the crowd before we were out. In fact it all happened in a bit of a blurr - bags were whisked away by security guards, we were suddenly out of the taxi and being guided across the road and into the lobby. At that moment I really didn't think I'd be leaving the hotel over the next 3 days.

However, once refreshed, Zac took us for a guided tour. Not far from our room are some stunning buildings - churches, monumnets and government buildings. Later in the afternoon he took us [courtesy of another taxi ride] to an area called Miraflores - it couldn't be more different from the areas we'd seen so far. Lots of shops, markets, parks etc .. all very clean and inviting. We walked down to the beach ... another surprise as the beach is a long way down. The coastline is a high cliff. It appears to be a popular tourist area ... expensive shops, restaurants etc