Finally I arrived in Lima, capital of Peru, last stop of my journey. At this point of time I was not really eager any more to do a lot of things. I felt in need of holidays. That may sound strange to you but I can tell you: to sunbathe on the beach owned by a hotel in Mallorca or to do backpacking e.g. in South America are two very different things! I don't know how it feels to sunbathe in Mallorca (I even don't want to know it) but I can assure you that backpacking in South America is extremely interesting but strenuous.

Additionally I had heard a lot of awful stories about crime in Lima and very often the recommendation not to leave the touristic district Miraflores and not even to go to most parts of the city center especially if you're a (very) white, young woman. In consequence I used the two days left to befriend me with the receptionist, talk to American travellers, walk through Miraflores and eat bunches of exotic fruits (of which I don't know the names any more). The fruits over there are just fantastic and taste totally different! I made some pictures and if you have any questions concerning the taste, don't hesitate to ask ;)

So I can only describe Miraflores, the tourist city within the Peruvian capital. To be honest: it feels as if you walked through a big European city. You really have to concentrate on the difference to see them e.g. the way Peruvian look like (the same way you would imagine "civilised" Native Americans). It's funny, however, to see all the souvenir shops on the streets which sell "typical" Peruvian stuff like fluffy Lamas or Alpakas made of the fur of killed Alpakas. There are incredibly soft but you mustn't forget that an animal was killed for that!

I encountered another kind of soft animals right in the centre of Miraflores in front of a church. There is a little park and if you walk through it you will discover dozens if not hundreds of cats EVERYWHERE! They're really cute-looking but most of them too shy to let them stroke. I asked the receptionist of my hostel why there are so many of them and he told me that some nuns of the church had felt sympathy for the street cats and started giving them food. Now the cats "belong" to the main plaza and you're even asked NOT to feed them because they get it from the nuns.

There's another park: the "Park of Love" in Miraflores is very popular, especially among smooching lovers showing their romantic relationship to everybody whether they want it to see or not. More than the kitschy statues I liked the beautiful and (to me) special trees which had branches formed like stars. As I was sitting under those I thought about everything and nothing at the same time. There was an abstract feeling as if my presence in this area of the world was unreal but also my return to Austria seemed totally non-realistic. (And I was also thinking about my boyfriend to be honest…

Anyway… Miraflores is situated at the edge of Lima and ends at high cliffs with beaches. The Ocean lies in front of you with all its mysteries and surfers. In autumn, which means during the time I was there, great parts of Peru are covered up in mist. Especially before midday it's strange walking through a greyish white which makes you wet all over and is combined with a very pleasant, not too high temperature (pleasant for me at least)

I also visited a very interesting art gallery where I was especially fascinated by the "Conceptual Handicraft" by Alexia Pedal. It really changed my opinion of handicraft and its scope of expression.

So… those were the last days in South America.

On my way to the airport I was lucky to be brought there by a taxi driver with whom I enjoyed talking about basic English ("Nice to meet you…"), his career, his family as well as very personal things about me and my life. Once again I was astonished how interesting and personal a short time (~40 minutes) with a stranger can be!

The last three hours on Peruvian ground I spent cuddling with dead alpacas' furs and toys made out of it (sorry, but they're so incredibly soft!), being amazed by beautiful Peruvian handicraft (carved pumpkins…) and scrolling books.

The flight from Lima to Madrid was not very special, just long (~12 hours) and boring. While I was waiting for my next flight from Madrid to Vienna I listened to an entire Louis Armstrong album ("What a wonderful world!") and wondered why the Austrian dialects sounded so ugly to me. However, sitting next to a lady from Lower Austria telling me about Ecuador and the Easter Island I soon got used to the sound of Austrian German again and had no problems neither understanding my boyfriend calling me right after my landing nor explaining my sister, who picked me up, why I looked so fat (because of my belly bag with all my important stuff in it)

Those two incidents showed that my journey through Argentina, Chile, Bolivia and Miraflores was finally over and with it the most exciting time of my life until now.

´¡Sin embargo, America Latina, está seguro de que vuelva!