We have just finished our second day in Lima staying at Hospedaje Tinkus hotel which was clean and adequate but thats all. What a massive city and we found it very interesting we have seen a large part of it today which we found fascinating very old beautiful buildings right next to brand spanking new ones or really old run down ones it was just very miss matched. We found a lovely area with outdoor restaurants so ate there one night .
Yesterday we had a short walk around the local area to suss things out but a little worried as the taxi driver said to another girl that was on her own that she was staying in a unsafe area and then when we pulled up at our hotel he said it was a safer area, we are staying in a lovely area called Miraflores where there is a huge park where we were surprised to see hundreds of cats happily sat around they were very tame food/water is put out in little containers as if they are pets and they don't seem to stray from the park but they really are friendly and chilled ( see the picture of the cat with Spiderman on his back that a child had put there and it didn't move or bother!!! )
Today we walked 5 miles to Museo de la Nacion only to find out that it was closed for the day for a conference but it would be open tomorrow!! We then decided to go to Larco Museo but was quite far away so got a taxi there about 20 mins ride and this ride was better than any in Alton towers ( nutter ) but we got there and it was worth it, lovely old building with beautiful gardens with a superb restaurant with gorgeous flowers all around it was also very informative as we found out that cats are one of three sacred animals so we assume that's why there where so many in the park been cared for like pets.
Also next to a lovely restaurant was a erotic museum -- fascinating !! See photos. On the Sunday one of the roads was closed off as there was lots of street entertainment very interesting to walk round and join in !
We then decided to start walking back with aim that when we were tired we would get a bus or a taxi back to the hotel however a few hours and around 10 miles later we arrived back to our hotel seeing a lot of the city that we would have missed other wise, and at no point did we feel unsafe and to be honest we found everyone to be nice and friendly. Lots of beautiful houses and maids in uniform walking dogs !!
Went on open top guided bus tour so saw large part of the city there are some amazing buildings.
We were told about the fountain light show in one of the parks so we went along to see. Parque de la Reserva The fountains are working all day but on certain nights they have a light show with them all been lit up with the colours changing it was absolutely amazing we spent about two hours walking round and looking at them all , some of them you could actually walk into -- fun!!
Watching the Changing of the Guards quite interesting while it was happening the armed police were surrounding the ' Palace ? ' so you couldn't get too close they were all very friendly and quite happy to have their photo taken with you. While the Changing of the Guards was happening it was funny to see one of the police men falling asleep as he stood there ! There was a lovely area with restaurants so we sat outside of one for lunch a waiter was very informative but as we went he actually ran after us asking for more of a tip !!!!
all in all a good first few days.
Lima 8/10
Remember parks and water display