LIMA

Having been told by several people that we met (and even by the Rough Guide to Peru) that Lima was a dump we were VERY pleasantly suprised to find that it is, in fact, quite the opposite .... lovely, in fact!

The streets are wide and tree lined with very little of the litter that is a way of life in the rest of South America. Didn't even feel threatened when walking late at night (which went against everything that we had heard). that said, we were staying in Miraflores which is the affluent area of the city but even in the other parts the atmosphere was much more laid back than that of the other S. american cities that we had visited. The hostel we were staying in was pretty basic but had little luxuries like DVD and a balcony overlooking the busy roadway, the main factor, however, was the overwhelming OTT security ... cameras on every level, high security gates with electric fencing, alarms everywhere, etc etc. This led us to the conclusion that we were just fortunate not to have witnessed any muggins, etc whilst in the city.

The shore front of Miraflores resembles an upmarket N. American East coast town with lots of nice cafes, expensive stores and even a Hooters Bar! Spent several hours exploring the walkways and enjoyed watching the paragliders taking off from the cliff front ...... lovely take off area with incredible ridge lift which renewed my interest in paragliding!

Whilst in town we noticed a great childrens hair salon where the kids sit in toy cars whilst they have their hair cut .... great idea !

The Taxi to the airport was quite a long one ... about 45 mins .... but was a much nicer option thann trying to fight the locals for a seat on one of the several buses that we would have to have taken.