Bday in Lima

Hey everyone,
all things are good and well. i'll try to upload as many pics as possible over the next day or so while we are still in lima as i dont know if we will get a net connection in Cusco. bare with me if its only news.

Monday 28th. another year older eh. definitely can say i havent experienced a birthday quite like this. Peru / Lima, what a place. different in all respects to anything experienced so far. a culture shock is definitely the word. the people are super friendly but the whole economic infrastructure is driven by tourism. if your not a 4 foot tall, indian (Peru indian) then ur immediately a tourist and they can see a dollar a mile away. every taxi that passes us honks its horn for a lift. every street seller is hawking something. and if ur an unsuspecting tourist u can get ripped off easy. were learning fast, but its all good. just getting by learning a bit of local spanish here and there to buy the esentials, water / fruit. you soon learn what to "really pay" in US Dollars, whos out to rip you off and whos honest to the dumb tourist. lol

the whole place reminds me initially of Africa, minor crime is a problem so much so that every house hold or building is either patrolled by security, has burglar bars on the windows, steel fences, barb wire or electric fence wire. the smell is full of diesel, in the inner city. the transport system is basically 5 taxi's to 2 bus's to 1 normal car. once you walk out of the heavy traffic zones and hit the coast or open areas you get fresh air and a breeze.

Perth, you think we're having a drought? LOL ... it hasnt rained in Lima since 1970 haha. mark and i noticed on the first day that this place has no arched roofs for water run off or water drains in the sidewalks. they just dont get rain, the source their water from the two main rivers. however its always cloudy here, low level water rich clouds blow in from the coast and rise up over Lima and the Andes, then fall in the mountains and highlands.

while im dribbling on sorry if i miss something, its just every second is a new experience and to jot it all done is taxing. Inca Cola = their national soft drink, awesome stuff, kinda on a par with grape fanta and mountain dew. super stuff.

thats enough for this post. news soon.
gracious.


they have central city "plaza's" or circle gardens in the city. kinda like a mini park in the hussle and bussle. this is a plaza 20m from the hotel. funny thing is that everything is so green because they have to water everything by irrigation and there's a high humidity, not a dry heat like WA


this is the view outside our hotel window :) this is the suburb or "district" of the city known as Miraflores. its the upper class area, kinda like a cultural tourist zone, Subiaco style ? city elements and traffic yet touristy and near the beaches. btw, people surf here as well ! yeh there's some awesome breaks here as the beaches are stone pebbles, ala UK style. very shallow which makes for great waves, cold water though.



hotel from the front. 4 star in Peru. safe and secure, great people.


view of the coast, walking down about 200m from the hotel, and walking down from the cliffs. the beach in this area rises to cliff faces made from river pebbles and stones, its not solid rock, but with no rain fall theres no erosion.




local corner Peruvian store. right outside our window, the attendent is honest enough to give you correct money change as she realises the hotel guests come to her first, shes then recomended as a "safe" option. like i said, tourist economy.