Lima – city of kings

We decided to go by bus from Quito to Lima, a ride that takes around 35 hours. The planned departure of the bus was 03:00 AM but we were told to arrive at the bus station around 22 – 23:00 because the bus comes all the way from Venezuela and could arrive earlier and after a short break it would leave (without us)

We were not expecting much from Lima as most or all of the travelers that we met told us they did not like Lima but let me tell you one thing, WE LOVED IT. People are extremely friendly, everybody that we met tried to help us, no scams, nobody that wants to rip you off like in Quito (ok, maybe except the taxi drivers), everybody smiled, it was a huge difference to the people that we met in Quito. And the food… oh my God… the food is excellent. We tried some typical Peruvian dishes, the best being the Ceviche which is raw fish and seafood marinated in lime juice with onions and some spices, extremely delicious. And the juice or shake of a fruit called Lucuma that’s typical for this region is a knock out.

Of course Lima also has some areas where you should not go if you don’t know what you’re doing. Like Juan from the hostel said, “In Lima if some place does not look safe, it almost always isn’t”. But the district of Miraflores is the one where most of the tourists stay and it’s completely safe. The same is valid by day for the center of Lima where most of the tourist attractions are, like the Governor’s palace or the San Francisco Church with its catacombs. We also went to the Parque Reserva where there are lots of fountains and in the evening you can watch some amazing shows of music and light projected on the water.

One amazing thing we’ve seen or done

Many cities have a park where a sort of animal is the king. In London in the Kensington Park or in New York in the Central Park the squirrels rule the area, in the Galapagos Islands the sea lions where everywhere even lying on benches and so on. In Lima, in the Park Kennedy, the cats are the kings. There are tens of them because the municipality takes care of them and people are encouraged to adopt them. Because we’re both cat lovers and are missing our tomcat back home, it’s understandable that we had to write this at “One amazing thing..”

Next stop

Huacachina, Peru