Day 149 – 153 : Lima Wrap Up

Having not known much about Lima before this trip, I have always thought that Lima was rather backwards and undeveloped, and after having been to La Paz, I thought Lima would be rather similar to La Paz, maybe just a little more developed.

So from the 1st day I got into Lima till today, I have been time after time greatly surprised by the developments and how modern Lima actually is!  There are so many gardens and parks dotting around the city, and all extremely well landscaped and very well taken care of. 

I think it can actually compete with Singapore on being a green city, and I must say that the landscaping is in some places way much better than Singapore.

Pisco Cocktail Lessons

After making my own Pisco Sour cocktail yesterday, I got to learn how to make another not commonly known Pisco cocktail, which tasted almost like Bailey’s, just before leaving Lima.  Yum! 

It’s called Algarrobina Pisco.  The only problem is that I don’t think I am going to find the ingredients in Singapore!

Miraflores

Miraflores is a well-known area in Lima, mainly for the surf beaches as well as a pleasant neighbourhood and for hostel accommodations (as compared to staying in the downtown area). 

As usual, this is a rather big suburb area, and I was again pleasantly surprised at the huge landscaped area, as I spent about an hour just walking along the coastal route of Miraflores, located about 30 metres above the beach. 

While doing so, I kept wondering “Am I really in Lima”?  It felt like I was in some other western countries like New Zealand or Europe as it was really modern and clean and well-landscaped!

Trip Extension

After contemplating on changing my tickets for the last 1 month, I have finally got round to changing my Singapore Airline return ticket today and therefore confirm that my trip has been extended!

So the new plans after Colombia would be to travel in a sail boat via Cartagena to Panama, spent a couple of weeks in Panama, and take a flight to Rio de Janeiro (to be booked in the next couple weeks!) in mid February, just in time to attend Carnaval, and then travel down South to Sao Paulo to catch my flight to Barcelona in end February.

Spend about a week in Barcelona and off to Morocco for about 3-4 weeks, and then to London and I fly out of Paris back to Singapore in April!

So if anyone is keen to join me on the additional places, let me know and I will give you my detailed plans!

Rare Pictures of Machu Picchu in Park of Fountains

We headed to the Park of Fountains, which contained 13 different fountains and supposedly have a Guinness World Record for either the largest number of fountains or biggest musical fountain. 

It was definitely an extremely huge park and there were some rather interesting fountains here, including a really enchanting laser show using the fountain’s water as a backdrop.

Lima Downtown

Downtown Lima is way much much bigger than I expected!  Marco and I must have walked for about 4 hours and only covered part of the city! 

It is definitely not as clean and modern as San Borja or Surco (where Marco’s place is located), but it does have some beautiful buildings with the Spanish architecture and balconies.

Where’s my Appetite!

Seems like I am down with a stomach bug.  Been feeling strange about 3 days ago (after a Russian couple prepared a pizza and Pablo cooking Papas Huancaichina), but it seemed to have gotten worse over the last 1.5 days with effects of queasiness, some bowel runs and loss of appetite.  On self-medication, though seems to be taking some time to get better.

Not great, especially when Lima is said to have a wide range of food offer. 

Trip to the Nation Museum

Having about 5 hours free, before moving over to Marco’s place, I decided to take the chance to explore San Borja area. 

San Borja is a rather pleasant neighbourhood, with a large park separating San Borja North and South region.  Lots of casinos and also Chifas in this area.

There is also a train that runs through here but is not yet open to the public.  I subsequently heard that the tracks has been built for many years, but was never in operation (It was recently completed, and is now in the testing phase, with expected opening early next year). 

Hostel–less in Lima

Having covered all I needed to see in Ica, I decided to leave a day earlier and head into Lima.  So after a 5 hour bus ride, I caught a taxi and headed to San Borja to a hostel address for “Happy Up Here Hostel” (without a booking), which I had taken off one of the famous hostel booking website, in the hope that there would be a bed available.  And if not, availability of other hostels in the area.

When I arrived in the area, I was surprised to find that it was a residential area, and the address brought me to the doorstep of a house!  There was no hostel name on the front, and so I decided to try my luck and ring the bell.

Day 148 : Earthquake 9.0 in Ica

I was staying around the outskirts of Ica in a place called La Tinguina, and the best way to travel from La Tinguina to Ica town centre is via “Collectivos”, where a taxi will ply on a certain route between down town and another suburb, and any passenger can hop on and “share” the taxi with other passengers. Definitely a cheap and affordable way to travel.

There are also motor taxis (tuk tuks), and the vehicles apparently came from India!  They are supposedly cheaper than taxis, but routes are usually limited within a suburb. 

So I hopped into a Collectivo and headed to the downtown of Ica to explore.  I was faced with a pile of chaotic traffic on the roads and putting it together with the stifling heat within the city centre, I didn’t quite enjoy being in the centre for too long.  So after just visiting Plaza de Armas, the main square of Ica, I wanted to escape the city centre. 

Winery Vista Alegre, Ica

Ica is the wine capital of Peru, with a number of vineyards scattered across the huge region of Ica.  Pablo knew of a fairly good vineyard near his place and brought me there to have a look.

Pablo shared that the locals seem to prefer the sweeter variety of wines such as Rose and Vino Dulce.  Vista Alegre does a really good job in producing a wide variety of wines including the sweet ones, as well as the traditional whites and reds, Vermouth and even Pisco!