Lima The Return

I was in Lima about 6 years ago and had no intention on stopping here on this trip, but its pretty hard to get to where you want to go when heading south and no pass through. A couple nights were not going to kill me.
The bus ticket on Linea was and expensive $20 and there was a bit of grumbling until we got on the bus. Holy crapola. Huge soft seats would have been more than enough to justify having to take the VIP bus. 30 minutes in we were served a hot meal, chicken, rice and brocolli. It was better than most meals I have had on any flight. Then came the soft drink, dessert and tea. A couple hours later, after our first of 4 movies (9 hour bus ride) we were given pop corn and soft drinks. Then a bun with cheese and meat and as much tea or coffee as we wanted.

The ride was through the amazing Atacama Desert with massive sand dunes on the left and the Pacific Ocean on the right and the long black highway cutting a pretty impressive swath through the middle of it all. There were a few towns along the way and we stopped infrequently, I think for the drive to take a pee. Arriving into Lima at night is always a sight. The 300,000 squatters who have set up homes in the surrounding hills give the entire town a ghostly yellow light palor. I forgot how insane the drivers here are but from the top level of the bus it was just fun to watch. 

Checked into the hostel and ran out for a quick beer and some grub. Ohhh the tourist area of Miraflores, avoid it at all costs. Restaurants lined up one after the other and touts doing thier best to lure you into thiers and with every 20 steps a new offer of Hash or Pot, Kareoke or some dance club with happy hour makes Lima a town trying real hard to be hip and find itself. Trying to hard always fails!

The morning brought a trip to Plaza del Armas. The entire plaza is ringed with yellow colonial building and churches with the exception of the massive and I mean massive Royal Palace in its stately white. We wandered around then decided a trip into the catacombs of San Franscico church would be a nice eerie thing to do, and it was. With a few more offers of Hash we walked a few blocks to the Plaza Saint Martin. Pretty typical but all the buildings surround the park were white. Quite the contrast to Plaza de Armas.

A Nice day, better than expected for Lima..oh I almost forgot. Dove into a Pisco Sour after the Catacombs. Tart and delicious.