LIMA and beyond... (by Flic)
Oh is the land of chaos - otherwise known as Lima. All the guide books claim that this is a huge, busy, dirty city, and they weren´t far wrong. However to its credit, central Lima did posses an odd sense of charm and I was well impressed with much of the architecture. There were beautiful old buildings hidden among modern monstrosities, and some beautiful old churches and museums. And I was also impressed with how clean it was - the mayor of New York should visit sometime.
The flight from NYC knocked us both around some what, so we spent much of our time in Lima just floating about, checking out buildings and gardens, getting lost on occasion, and eating some yummy food.
The streets of Lima are pure chaos, and rival that of Istanbul for sure. I am amazed that there are not more accidents, or people run over, but there seems to be a secret agreement between all involved. Short of nothing that a toot with one´s horn won´t sort out. We even got tooted at to cross the road when the light was red for the cars (meaning it was green for us) - strange - wonder if Aunty Clare would think of enacting such a rule if the current new NT laws don´t work as expected (that is one for you Alf!!).
Needless to say, we didn´t want to stay long (the fog/mist/smog) blanketing the city was more than we could both handle (both had very sore throats and eyes after two days drapped in it), so we decided to bail and head to Cusco.
We are now staying in the delightful little town of Huancayo, about 3200 mtrs about sea level. The bus trip up was long (about 7 hours) and we were at about 4100 mtrs at the height of our travel. Needless to say, I ended up feeling quite sick, especially as I had to go to the bathroom at that level (negotiating the moving bus). By the time I got back to my seat, the exhursion nearly had me passing out (headache, nausea, cold sweats), but thankfully we were then over the ´hump´of the mountain, and heading back down. I feel much better now, although still a low grade headache, and a constant feeling that I have just run about 5 blocks. According to all our sources, that is to be expected.
We thought we could get to Cusco easily from here, but it appears we will need to take a bus to Ayacucho, and then on to Cusco. So we won´t be arriving for a few days yet. Not to worry, there are many mountains to see, and we have decided to stay in Huancayo for an extra night. We might even get a chance to go see some native craft or some such thing. Ah the joys of travelling...
Till next time all...
The flight from NYC knocked us both around some what, so we spent much of our time in Lima just floating about, checking out buildings and gardens, getting lost on occasion, and eating some yummy food.
The streets of Lima are pure chaos, and rival that of Istanbul for sure. I am amazed that there are not more accidents, or people run over, but there seems to be a secret agreement between all involved. Short of nothing that a toot with one´s horn won´t sort out. We even got tooted at to cross the road when the light was red for the cars (meaning it was green for us) - strange - wonder if Aunty Clare would think of enacting such a rule if the current new NT laws don´t work as expected (that is one for you Alf!!).
Needless to say, we didn´t want to stay long (the fog/mist/smog) blanketing the city was more than we could both handle (both had very sore throats and eyes after two days drapped in it), so we decided to bail and head to Cusco.
We are now staying in the delightful little town of Huancayo, about 3200 mtrs about sea level. The bus trip up was long (about 7 hours) and we were at about 4100 mtrs at the height of our travel. Needless to say, I ended up feeling quite sick, especially as I had to go to the bathroom at that level (negotiating the moving bus). By the time I got back to my seat, the exhursion nearly had me passing out (headache, nausea, cold sweats), but thankfully we were then over the ´hump´of the mountain, and heading back down. I feel much better now, although still a low grade headache, and a constant feeling that I have just run about 5 blocks. According to all our sources, that is to be expected.
We thought we could get to Cusco easily from here, but it appears we will need to take a bus to Ayacucho, and then on to Cusco. So we won´t be arriving for a few days yet. Not to worry, there are many mountains to see, and we have decided to stay in Huancayo for an extra night. We might even get a chance to go see some native craft or some such thing. Ah the joys of travelling...
Till next time all...
posted by Flossie | 8:22 AM
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