Day 365 – Lima, PERU

Welcome to Peru

Despite all the delays with our Interjet flight, we arrived only 30 minutes later than scheduled. It was 1am in the morning. We were pretty exhausted. Luckily, immigration was a breeze. They just asked us how long we would stay and our occupations.

Near baggage claim, we were able to withdraw Soles (Code is PEN), which is the currency in Peru. The Sim packages inside the airport were super expensive. $108 USD ($154.68 AUD) for unlimited data which would only last 2 weeks! Just before exiting you can go to one of the several taxi counters, to get an official taxi.

We declined, and walked towards the Airport Information to see if we could take public transport to our hostel. The airport information, weren’t really helpful. Therefore, we walked upstairs and found a iPeru office where the staff gave excellent advice and provided us with information about Lima. 

Since it was so early in the morning, we decided to stay in the airport until the sun rose. We had some coffee from a restaurant called Tanta, bought some super expensive water (1L for $4.32 AUD) and then had breakfast.

While we were eating breakfast in the food court, a lady approached us. The lady was wearing an Ecuadorian top and told us that she was robbed on the way to the airport by a man who got into the taxi and held her at gun point. She was then taken to different ATMs and told to withdraw money, before having everything else stolen. She told us that the South African embassy was only in Quito, Ecuador. We had no way to verify it, so we gave her a little bit of money and our water bottle. In retrospect, we should have gone back to the iPeru to see where the embassy was (I checked later and there is a South African embassy in Lima).

Getting to Downtown Lima with Public Transport

Around 6am, we left the airport, looking for the IO55 bus. The streets outside the airport were full of people starting their day. We had to walk around for a while and ask a few people about the bus. We finally found it, where the iPeru lady had mentioned it should be. 

The bus was pretty empty when we got on, but it got crowded really quickly. The bus is pretty small, and only has more standing space than seats. The streets were busy with traffic and we got a lot of strange looks from the locals with our massive backpacks.

We got off the bus at Plaza Dos de Mayo. Our bus journey cost us 1.5 PEN ($0.65 AUD) per person (p/p).

From the plaza, we had around a kilometre to walk towards our accommodation, Orchid Hostel. It was freezing! The weather in Lima was horrible with grey skies. It was a massive change from Mexico’s beautiful sunshine.

Exploring Downtown Lima

At the hostel, we were able to check in straight away, which was awesome. The 4 bedroom dorm, was nice and big. But again freezing.

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After adding on several layers, we went walking around in areas that our hostel recommended. There is a large plaza just outside the hostel called Plaza San Martin. We were in the less touristy Downtown region of Lima.

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From the plaza, there is walking street. We saw a Starbucks, and craving something familiar and warm, we went inside. The coffee was good, but the place was only slightly warmer than outside.

The weather was really killing our mood. We walked back to our hostel and slept for a few hours. Luckily there were really thick blankets so, we weren’t cold in bed.

We then woke up a few hours later feeling hungry. We walked to the nearby Estadio Futbol Club for an early dinner. The food was nice. It had a sports bar vibe.

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Then we went back to the walking street and purchased a SIM Card from a company called Claro. It cost us 5 PEN for SIM and another 30 PEN for 3 GB of data which would last 30 days. The total was 35 PEN ($15.11 AUD).

After getting connected, we walked towards the main plaza, Plaza de Arms de Lima. Here were more colonial styled buildings. 

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San Francisco Museum and Catacombs

We went to the nearby Museum and Catacombs of San Francisco. Entrance tickets cost 15 PEN ($6.48 AUD) p/p and must be done in a tour. As we were waiting a few minutes for the tour to start, some locals started talking to us. The locals are very friendly. 

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The tour was done in English and Spanish. It was really interesting to be taken around the former convent. The church is still in use, but most of the convent is just used as a museum. We also went under the church to the catacombs, to see lots of buried bodies. 

Circuito Magico del Agua

After the tour, we said goodbye to the guide and the friendly locals and went on our way towards some water fountains at Circuito Magico del Agua. When we were walking there, we actually bumped into the tour guide from the catacombs. When we told her we were going to walk to Circuito Magico del Agua she almost had a heart attack. She was very sweet and told us that it could be dangerous.

Therefore, she took us to the bus route C. At the bus station, she asked another local if they could lend us their metro card, which they were happy to do. We paid the lady cash of 2.5 PEN ($1.08 AUD) p/p. The guide also told the lady which stop, we would get off at, and told her to help us.

It turns out the lady was getting off the bus before we needed to, so she asked another local to help us. It was an amazing experience of being looked after so well, by complete strangers.

Our stop was the National Stadium (Estadio Nacional) in Peru and today was the opening ceremony of the 2019 Pan America Games. Therefore, the area was crowded with people and security. 

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We walked to the Parque de la Reserva, where the Circuito Magico del Agua is performed at 7.30pm, 8.30pm and 9.30pm. Security at the park, told us it was closed today. We later found out, it was due to the opening ceremony.

We decided to walk back towards our hostel due to the massive amount of security we could see everywhere. On the walk, we could see so many people walking around the street. The city is really cool, yet cold. We felt pretty hungry so we went to a local shop along the walking street for a really cheap meal.

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Also 1 year on the road!!! We were so busy all day to even realise!