Time out for two... Peru - The land of contrasts. Let's start in Lima...

10.11.22, we finally landed in Lima. Since our flight from San Jose to Bogota, the Colombian capital, was delayed, we missed our connecting flight to Lima. We had to spend the night at the Bogota airport. The next flight was not until early morning. It was not very comfortable to sleep on the hard benches in freezing cold. I don't understand why they always have to cool the airports down to what feels like below zero degrees...

We arrived at our accommodation completely exhausted. After a short nap, we gathered ourselves to explore the city a bit. The next day we continued with the next plane to Cusco. We dragged ourselves through the city completely tired. If we're here, we want to explore the area. As long as it's not like in San Jose... 😊

The city of Lima was very big, crowded with people, and the traffic was just as chaotic as in Mexico. Outside the city center, the poverty became more and more apparent, which did not make the city very attractive (but still much better than San Jose). But when we reached the old town, we were really positively surprised. The center presented beautiful old buildings, narrow streets, and many nice cafes and restaurants. Here, the capital of Peru had its charm. We almost had bad luck and wouldn't have been able to enter the most beautiful corners of the old town. In the center, there was a huge demonstration, which blocked access to the main square. Fortunately, a friendly police officer let us through the barricade. Brilliant. The streets were empty and we could leisurely stroll to the square and explore the entire old town. The restaurant we entered was also happy to welcome a few guests. The local cuisine was definitely very tasty.

The first important lesson we learned in Lima was to exchange 200 Peruvian Sol banknotes into smaller denominations immediately! Our receptionist at the hostel gave us the tip to exchange these notes at the bank, as they are the easiest to counterfeit. Many places therefore do not accept these notes. The ATM only gave us the 200 Sol banknotes. So we quickly went to the bank and were able to exchange the majority into smaller denominations.

The short city stroll was completely sufficient for us. I think we saw the most beautiful corners of the capital. Now the next city in Peru awaited us. Cusco is actually considered the center of the country. From here, you can reach the most famous and popular sights that Peru has to offer.