“Eating and Trekking” could probably sum up my time in Peru; this week was a perfect example of exactly that.
Arequipa
I arrived back to Arequipa late Monday night from my Colca Canyon trek and just lazed around, grazed on crackers and sipped gatorade until my Tuesday afternoon 16.5 hour bus ride to Lima (it was a 180 degree seat/bed – I honestly prefer these journeys to sleeping in a top bunk bed in a hostel)
Chicken nuggets, some limp vegetables, rice and chips + mystery jelly – best bus meal ever
Lima
Arriving in Lima on Wednesday, I was struck by three things:
(1) Pollution – it’s pretty bad, like China-level bad
(2) Traffic – terrible, got to be some of the worst I’ve ever experienced (and I once spent an hour from the entrance of a shopping centre to actually parking a car in Malaysia).
(3) Sprawling and…not that aesthetically pleasing.
I stayed in Miraflores, which is the fancy touristy area along the coast and a false representation of what the city is really like.
As the supposed gastronomic capital of South America, my main mission for the +/- 40 hours I had in the city was to eat (within the confines of recovering from violent food poisoning – took in total a WEEK to properly recover, not a day). Here’s what I can recommend….I had a fantastic coffee and sandwich at El Pan de La Chola, interesting flavours at Amaz, dim sum (YES! In Peru – 100% authentic as well) at Salon de la Felicidad in Barrio Chino and a great coffee and choc-chip cookie at Tostaduria Bisetti in Barranco.
Dessert at Amaz made from a jungle fruit (that I forgot the name of!)
Steamed prawn dumplings in PERU
Barranco District – most beautiful area in Lima by FAR
Apart from eating, I really didn’t do much apart from walk around. Had a couple of runs along the coastal track which was really nice (especially to run at SEA LEVEL after nearly a month at altitude).
Huaraz
On Thursday night I took an overnight bus out to Huaraz, 7 hours north of Lima, 3000m high in the Andes. Friday was spent ‘acclimatising’ ie. sleeping, eating and doing all the boring, mundane planning/research stuff no-one warns you you need to do pretty often when you’re away for a year!
Saturday I did a day acclimatising hike to Laguna 69, up to around 4600m – it was a beautiful trek. After 11 weeks in South America, I finally sort of understand the weather and made it back to the bus before torrential rain started.
This isn’t Laguna 69…Just one on the way
Today’s a relaxing day before I commence a 4 day camping trek tomorrow.
Mistake of the Week
– Trying to take a shortcut from Barranco, the district next to Miraflores on the coast, back to Miraflores. I followed a staircase down only to find I was on a path next to a freeway. Continued on this path, surely there must be a way to cross it? There wasn’t. I walked along a freeway for 20 minutes contemplating risking my life to cross it before finally cutting my losses and turning back. (It’s not like I could do that thing you do in a shopping centre where you pretend you got a text and then turn around, I CLEARLY had no idea what I was doing)
Don’t take these stairs ever people!!!
Hannah on Holiday 