We ended up spending three days in Lima which for me was three days too many. Although it has it's fair share of cultural attractions it's a pretty shitty city and quite uninspiring in it's architecture. Modern, congested and polluted it's not a place I would encourage anyone to visit.Memorable sights included the Iglasias San Francisco with it's amazing tilework, panelled ceiling and library, and the Cathedral With No Name. Also interesting was the Spanish Inquisition museum with a fun recreation of gruesome tortures at the end of the tour and the Museo National de Anthropologica, Arquelogica y Historia with a good political and social history section amongst a lot of Inca pots. Worth a miss is the Museo Arquelogico Rafael Larco Herrera with more pots (yawn) and a disappointingly unerotic erotic section of cermaic artifacts.
However, on a slightly less cultural note, we did manage to enjoy a riotous day out at the annual Pisco (the national drink) celebrations where we managed to demolish a very nice bottle of the national tipple before I got hopelessly lost in the backstreets only finding my way home hours later.
So, the following day we head 3hrs south to Paracas, bypassing the depressingly ugly town of Pisco, where we holed ourselves up in a quiet little hotel on the coast. The next morning we took a tour out to the Ballesta Islands which are home to a giant sealion colony and many blue boobies.
Our next stop was a beautiful oasis in the desert further down the coast called Huacachina where in the afternoon we enojyed some dune buggying and sandboarding. We also took time to visit some nearby vineyards in Ica where we sampled the not so fantastic wines that Peru have to offer.
An overnight bus journey saw us further down the coast in Arequipa, a pretty town and a base for excursions to the deepest canyon in the world Colca Canyon. It was here that I had my first, and last, Cuy or Guinea Pig. We decided on a two day bus tour of the canyon and the next morning, we were picked up from our hotel and driven towards Chivay, a small town on the edge of the canyon. On the way we found some alpacas and stopped at a couple of villages to watch some traditional dancing. After a night in Chivay, where we also enjoyed the local thermal baths, we continued on into the canyon which is spectacular. Because it's so deep and we were so high we found ourselves between two layers of clouds which proved an awesome sight. To top off an amazing day, on our return to Arequipa, we even managed to view some condors soaring on the thermals nearby.
Tonight we head for Cusco on the trail of the Incas...
Stuff:
Currency: 3.19 Nuevo Sols to $1
National Drink: Pisco Sour, made from distilled grapes, similar to Grappa
National Dish: Cuy otherwise known as Guinea Pig
Zarcillo Hotel, Paracas
Films:
Rocky 6 - don't waste your time on this depressing vanity project, not even a decent montage
The Prestige - interesting film about two competing magicians
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