Hello Lima! We flew in late but nothing was stopping me from heading out to satisfy my desire to try my first pisco sour. I wasn’t disappointed. Our first day was a relatively early start (or so I thought at the time) to wander through Miraflores and embark on a local bike tour to soak up the sights and learn the history of Lima.

I never knew much about Peru’s history, let alone Lima. This did add to my feelings of guilt and self-disappointment that I also never learnt Spanish prior to this trip. I was amazed by the melting pot of different cultures. Now can understand why Lima’s known as foodie heaven! I was especially surprised by the Japanese and Chinese constituent, who came to Lima in the early days to work in the mines.

Fun fact: One of Lima’s first major industries was guano. Anyone who is an Ace Ventura fan… you will know what that is! Farmers came to collect/farm the white, sticky, bird poo from the coastal islands off Lima and it was popular and well known as the best fertiliser at the time.

Other memorable visits in the bike tour were:

• Kennedy Park, a park full of wild cats who are looked after and fed. The cat population has been cut to only a third of what it was three years ago due to birth control (i.e. Neutering). I loved seeing all the cats climbing and snoozing in the trees. Made me miss my Buddy back home.
• Barranco, a suburb with many more upmarket style houses and a more obvious mixture of diverse cultures and architecture. This area has a pedestrian ‘bridge of sighs’ which is famous for the good luck brought by making a wish at one end then holding your breadth while you walk to the other side. I gave it a go… watch this space for my wish to come true!
• An ‘off the beaten track’ local Bodega where we had the opportunity to eat the local staple lunch. Ham or cheese, or olives in a bread roll, served with a red onion pickle. Simple, but yummy nonetheless. They really like their red onion here! Along with a pisco sour… Which made the ride home a little more challenging/fun.

More walking, almost 28,000 steps in total as we meandered through the streets stopping for more pisco sours, more ceviche, and a nice dinner out on the cliff tops by the ocean. I really like Lima! Saturday we went off on the bus journey down to Huacachina.

A 4.5 hour journey which was completely bearable as we got to see some of the outskirts of Lima, the poorer farming villages, the swanky beach resorts, OTT advertising on gigantic billboards, and hundreds of small shack-like structures which mostly seemed deserted from what we could tell. We even got served a simple lunch and Inca Cola. Peruvian bus travel at it’s finest! I keep ‘donking’ my ukulele in transit, Damnit!