Lima, Peru

After 13 hours of traveling we arrived in Lima just before midnight. My first thoughts of Peru were: AHHH! Apparently there are no rules on the roads - or if there are, no one follows them. The cars that get to pass through an intersection are the ones who are most daring, which makes for very scary taxi rides. And the same goes for pedestrians; you basically have to step into the road and hope that the cars stop. Thankfully we survived the taxi ride and checked into Loki Hostel for 3 nights. It was your basic hostel dorm room, no frills, but everything you need (including hot water). At roughly $9 a night I was pretty happy.

The next day we walked along the coastline through the beautiful Parque de Amores and just wandered about Miraflores - the neighborhood we are staying in. Everyone recommends staying in Miraflores because it is the safest, but there's not a ton to see here, and everything is a bit more expensive (in Peruvian standards). Downtown Lima, where all the historical sites are, was very interesting. Plaza de Armas (the main square) is quite beautiful. We toured around with some Brits we met at the hostel, took a tour of Museo San Francisco and visited the catacombs within.

We were utterly exhausted from walking around all day but had one more stop downtown: Gran Hotel Bolivar. This is where the Peruvian cocktail Pisco Sour was invented. We were warned if you have one not to plan to do much after as they are very strong. This is all too true - heed this advice, as we did not. Beware!