Lima shock! The first day

In the morning the Bolivar looked even bigger and grander. The hotel took up a whole block. The huge corridors stretched out before us. Faded chaise longue sat elegantly in the corners. It took us 15 minutes just to walk “around the block”. The ancient elevator just looked too dodgy so we descended the ornate stairs to make a grand entrance into the expansive hotel lobby.

Breakfast inclusivo! Black strong coffee – phew! Even stronger than Greek coffee… omelette con jamon, fresh breads and toast set us up for the day.

Decided just to explore the streets. Mmmmm I thought the traffic in Vietnam was chaotic BUT it was slow. This is Vietnam ‘no rules traffic’ BUT all travelling at max speed stopping just a the last minute to avoid hitting a pedestrian, car or shuttle.

Money changers everywhere and the pavements were just packed with a moving mass of shiny black haired people jostling. Like in many places in asia streets have a character of their own….pharmacies or cars or photocopia.

By lunch time we were ready to escape the noise and so ducked into a quiet little café……the meals were huge so we decided to share a stir fry. Yum. $3 pretty good!

Walked down to the main square bordered by a huge cathedral, presidents palace and men’s club. Says it all really. Fab architecture decorated for Christmas. Watched the amazing spectacle of the changing of the guard. High kicking soldiers dressed to the hilt in red jackets, pom pommie hats and bright blue pants did almost a showgirl routine to the sounds of brass band playing everything from Broadway hits to Beethoven. Surreal.

So many military and at least 10 types of police everywhere. Crime here is unbelievably high and as tourists there are set places to go. We did go to a couple of “dangerous” places such as the bus station when we left, but travelled in an official taxi organised by the hotel and we were escorted straight to the bus.

Groups of riot police on every corner with rifles and shields…spent most of their time chatting and laughing with people as they went by. Just got the message over though abut who was in control. Not as much poverty here in the city as I expected. Maybe our 1st world cities have just caught up and we have got used to seeing street people. Certainly the case in Los Angeles and Sydney.

Decided that we needed time out and so caught the tourist bus around the city. Mmmm chose the wrong time of day as the whole place was grid locked with traffic. Worked out the traffic system, basically drive as fast as you can, at an intersection don’t look just honk your horn. If something is in your way honk your horn more loudly. As a final option stop.

Our bus was turning left from the middle lane, another shuttle wanted to go straight ahead … so they did… curving around our turning bus and driving over the median strip avoiding an accident by the wisp of the blue smoke from the exhaust!

Traffic cops on every corner blow whistles and wave arms ineffectually as the traffic does just what it wants.


Huge plazas and statues tower over every junction. Whenever there is a slight pause groups of young men acrobat over the roofs of cars in breathtaking performances. They then run up and down getting a few soles here and there. Not only were their athletics astounding but also the fact that they didn’t get hit by cars.

Amazingly we didn’t see one accident while we were here!

I am sure the commentary in the bus was fantastic but traffic drowned out words and it only added to the general melee. Seeing all the different people squashed into buses and the higgledy piggledly style of unfinished houses gave us a real sense of the place though.

Eventually the senses could take no more and we decided we needed the peace and tranquility of the Bolivar… time to reflect, read and of course write journals