Lima is not only the capital city of Peru, but a city where I have a few friends and I hope that since being here I have made a few more.
After arriving on the long bus journey from Cusco I was a little tired, but also happy that my friends Cousin from Madrid, and hopefully now my friend also, was able to meet me and show me around Miraflores.
We took a taxi down to central Miraflores, which is a nice area on the east of Lima, right on the coast and near where most of the tourists come to visit as it is where it is happening and liveliest. Casinos, restaurants, bars, shops, cinemas are all here, in bright colours and clean swept stores.
The beach area itself is the most up-to-date and well kept area and it would not look out of place in city twice its size in the States or even back in London. Most people here in Miraflores that are out and about seem to speak a little English as well as Spanish, clear evidence that many western tourists chose this spot to visit when they come to Peru.
As it was already pretty late when my friend arrived at my house, we only had time for a stroll along the boulevard, a trip to the waterfront and a few photo opportunities, however my camera is not very good at night shots so nothing worth showing to anyone who wasn't there and who could remember it clearly.
Miraflores also has a few love parks, where there are amourous statues and plenty of seats for couples young and old to sit and canoodle in semi privacy, complete with the wandering rose sellers who seem to be eveywhere in Miraflores but here most of all, and here just like anywhere else they seem to think that they can embarrase a man into getting his female friend / lover a rose despite trying to charge the earth.
In a city where you can have a complete meal for only PES 5 it is totally unreasonable that a flower seller thinks she can for onto you a single rose that also costs PES 5, especially when you see the state of some of the roses.
There is also a bridge where so many people have historically thrown themselves off, dashing themselves onto the rocks and water below, that they local government has decided to erect a plastic barrier around and over the bridge, furthermore some of the lovers names have been commemorated in collage art in the love parks seats and fountains.
By around ten at night it was time for us to leave and head on back to my hostel, which was fine with me.
The next morning I still was suffering with the bad tummy, so I decided to cut back on my eating as the internet doctor suggests and just try to wait it out til I can eat again, and eating in Peru is a real treat as they cook everything from fresh ingredients and are very proud of their culinary skills.
I met up with my other Limean friend shortly before Midday and the again we returned to Miraflores to take in the daytime sights, which gave me a few more chances to take photos that I couldnt take the previous night.
As my Limean friend speaks only a little English it was up to me to do my best to practice and speak in as much Spanish as possible and within a few hours I had got the hang of arranging the few words that I knew into enough sentences to convey most messages, with hand signals and basic English for the few times that my Spanish vocabulary was exhausted and even the mini dictionary that I purchased was not helpful.
In Miraflores, right in the mini shopping plaza there is also a small but interested Museum called the Gold of Peru, where you can use a headset set in several main languages to help guide you around the musuem and explain the way the Inca's and even pre Incan people of Peru called the Sican's, shaped and worked gold right up to the recent rediscovery of Manchu Picchu by an explorer in the early 1900's.
I was very amazed at how they were able to use human bellows and blowpipes to heat the gold, poured it into clay moulds and then with a smooth rock flattened til it was almost as thin as paper and very easy to the skulp and work on, often with very intricate and delicate patterns. The artisans of the past were clearly not stupid and used techniques that are almost identical to todays jewelry design, despite being all crafted entirely by hand as opposed to being automated in modern times.
There was also a mini film about a pyramid shaped temple that had been found in northern Peru, that might be good to visit one day, where they found a body of possibly royal birth that was all dressed in fine clothes but was buried upside down in a sitting position, surrounded by the usual offerings and female slave sacrifices.
Afte the musem we then took a trip next door to the cinema and together we chose to watch a gangster film called Crimen Oculto, which we thought would be great as we both enjoy watching action movies, however it ended up being a film called Paranoid Park in English, as was some directors weird vision of high art and clever filming to try and stretch out a relatively simple accidental homicide into a bizarre remake of Train Spotting using Skaters instead of druggies. Neither of us were impressed but I couldn't explain that I dislikedit enough that we should just walk out and do something more exciting.
After the movie we headed on back to my friends house, to meet her family and as very good luck and timing would have it, a family friend who had moved to the states and married an American who spoke less Spanish than I do.
My friends house was very modern and spotlessly clean, a contrast to much of what I had seen in Peru so far, as I can see why she was a little hesitant to taking a normal taxi to her house, as crime does exist in Peru and travelling to this part of town I guess could make a single woman appear like a very attractive potential victim to a desperate criminal. Sharing a meal and a conversation with my friend and her family was great and getting the chance to speak proper English again was a relief but also a bit of a bad thing as during the day I had sort of got used to understanding Spanish but barely more than an hour speaking only English to the American guy and quickly my mind went blank and lost all its Spanish when my friend joined in the conversation.
Around 1am I returned to my hostel, and the taxi had a hard time finding it, despite having the directions and so I am even more sure now that a map and compass is not only a good idea but almost a necessity.
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