I made it safe and sound. Stefanie and I arrived in Lima’s airport at around 10pm. It was late so we decided to order a taxi from our hostel to pick us up. They had a sign with my name on it and everything. I felt special! So, we met up with our driver and hit the streets of Lima. It was pretty flashy – there was even a fire dancer in the middle of the street. I was actually surprised about how cosmopolitan it felt.
I am staying in Miraflores, which is a safer, more upscale neighbourhood of Lima. It’s near the beach and has a cute park in the middle where vendors sell popcorn and children play. I really enjoy the area. It’s very friendly and familial- although someone did ask me if I wanted ‘blow’ which I politely declined and continued on my merry way with a little more speed than usual.
Stefanie standing next to the life-size replicas at the ruins
I didn’t have any major plans for our stay here. The reception recommended some ruins within walking distance – so I decided to checked it out. The site was very interesting and I definitely recommend it. Basically, an ancient civilization (before the Incas and Mayans) built temples where they would perform rituals and human sacrifices and worship the moon and ocean. Every 20 years, they would cover the temples and build a new one over it. The temples are solid throughout – no rooms or passage ways. They are very common in Lima, but this particular Waccah (I think that’s the correct spelling) began being excavated in the 1980s. Before that, it was simply a hill in the middle of the city. These people were very small compared to modern day humans. They were so tiny, I felt like a giant standing next to the life-size replica.
On the way back, I walked by a house with makeshift barbed wire (i.e. cement layer on top of a concrete fence with shards of glass bottles sticking out from it) If that won’t deter a robber, I don’t know what will!
Today, I tried tampales for lunch. We bought them at the grocery store because Stefanie said she had tried one back in Costa Rica. They are made of meat, corn and other ingredients and then wrapped in banana leaves. You are suppose to boil them, but our reception recommended we just microwave them – so we did and they were terrible. Never again! The chicken was actually decent, but the orange mush was NOT. I threw the rest in the garbage and ate a chocolate bar to last me until dinner, but that was also a disaster so we decided to just give up and eat out. We went to this diner-style sandwich shop with fresh fruit smoothies. YUM! It was a wise choice.
Lima ruins (old meets new)
Now, I’m just taking it easy at the hostel. I think I’m going to try some Pisco Sours tonight – Peru’s signature drink. Tomorrow, I am leaving for Cusco – a 21 hour bus ride through the Andes and up, up, up! I’ll let you know how it goes 🙂
Tags: Andean civilizations, Andes, backpacking, backpacking and hiking, backpacking blog, backpacking in Peru, backpacking in south america, backpacking the world, Canadian Travel Blog, canadian travel bloggers, Costa Rica, Costa Rica backpacking, Costa Rica travel, cusco, flights to lima, hostels in lima, Inca ruins, lima, Miraflores, Miraflores District Lima, peru, pisco, pisco sours, ruins in Lima, ruins in south america, south america, tampales peru, to do travel, tourism travel, travel, travel advice peru, travel and tourism, travel blog, travel the world, traveling in, world traveling
Ryerson University‘s Master of Professional Communication requires all candidates to complete an industry internship. It’s one of the main components that persuaded me to apply for the program. I feel really lucky to have such a great internship position. Since early January, I’ve been interning with Siren Communications, public relations agency extraordinaire. Most of Siren’s clients fall into the ‘travel & tourism’ sector, which is ideal for yours truly. One of my many tasks is blogging and I thought I’d share two of my recent travel tips/advice posts:
Melissa To and Fro 
