Unfortunately our guide Ana wasn't there to meet us at Quito airport so we had to get a taxi into town. We then had a quiet night nursing a Dry Martini in the hotel bar and eating a rather over sided rack of lamb in the restaurant.
overyourhead - some irreverent musings by a gay London guy - crawling though technology, love and life... so you don't have to.
Showing posts with label Lima. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lima. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Day 5 - Tues 25 November - Cuzco to Quito...
Ridiculously early wake-up call at 4am before a flight to Lima (Stu got hauled away by the cops at Cuzco airport but that's another story) and then an onward flight to Quito in Ecuador for an overnight stay at the Grand Mercure Alameda Hotel.
Unfortunately our guide Ana wasn't there to meet us at Quito airport so we had to get a taxi into town. We then had a quiet night nursing a Dry Martini in the hotel bar and eating a rather over sided rack of lamb in the restaurant.
Unfortunately our guide Ana wasn't there to meet us at Quito airport so we had to get a taxi into town. We then had a quiet night nursing a Dry Martini in the hotel bar and eating a rather over sided rack of lamb in the restaurant.
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Day 3 - Sun 23 November - Cuzco...
Up at the crack of dawn with a 6 am wake-up call we headed to the airport for our flight into the Andes.
Peru has three famous cash crops... coffee, chocolate and cocaine. The nearest we got to the latter was a cup of tea made from the coco leaves at the airport. So please excuse the wobbly handwriting.
The flight to Cuzco (3,400m altitude) was pretty smooth with some spectacular vistas of the Andes en route. I took some lovely snaps out of the airplane window.
We were met by locally born guide Romulo and transferred to the Eco Inn Hotel for a two-night stay. After a brief lunch in the next door restaurant we had an afternoon tour of the historic centre of Cuzco starting at 2pm. This included the fantastic Cuzco cathedral and the Inca sites of Sacsayhuaman, Tambomachay, Kenko and PucaPucara.
Jetlag, dehydration, lack of coffee and altitude sickness all conspired to give us spinning heads, wobbly legs and migraines so an early night was on the cards. I kept waking up during the night with my heart racing and with a pounding headache.
Peru has three famous cash crops... coffee, chocolate and cocaine. The nearest we got to the latter was a cup of tea made from the coco leaves at the airport. So please excuse the wobbly handwriting.
The flight to Cuzco (3,400m altitude) was pretty smooth with some spectacular vistas of the Andes en route. I took some lovely snaps out of the airplane window.
We were met by locally born guide Romulo and transferred to the Eco Inn Hotel for a two-night stay. After a brief lunch in the next door restaurant we had an afternoon tour of the historic centre of Cuzco starting at 2pm. This included the fantastic Cuzco cathedral and the Inca sites of Sacsayhuaman, Tambomachay, Kenko and PucaPucara.
Jetlag, dehydration, lack of coffee and altitude sickness all conspired to give us spinning heads, wobbly legs and migraines so an early night was on the cards. I kept waking up during the night with my heart racing and with a pounding headache.
Saturday, November 22, 2014
Day 2 - Sat 22 November - Lima...
We landed in Lima at 7am - pretty exhausted. Having battled Peruvian immigration and baggage reclaim we were met by an agent (Milly) from South American Tours (Voyage Jules Verne partner in the area) who arranged for us to be transferred to the Hotel Jose Antonio in the Miraflores area of Lima for one night with breakfast. In fact we sneaked in another breakfast upon arrival which was pretty tasty.
We also met up with our traveling companions for the trip - Richard, Lynn, Suzanne, Ulla and Lizabeth.
With a few hours to kill Stuart and I headed out to explore. We went down to the ocean, walked along to a new shopping mail, returned along the precipitous walk to Lovers Park and then headed inland to the Chocolate museum where we had a lovely tour - and some great tastings.
Our little excursion taught us that Peruvians love their fast food, drive like maniacs and put Chocolate in any and everything. Oh and you can get really bad sun burn ever when it's overcast. Ouch!
In the afternoon there was a city tour of Lima which included the impressive buildings of the Plaza de Armas Square, the UNESCO World Heritage 17th-century church of San Francisco with its dusty library and piles of 200 years of blackened bones in the crypt and the Larco Herrera Museum (fascinating history of Peru, great art and erotic drinking vases).
In the evening we ate a traditional beef 'lomo' dish in the hotel restaurant with some pretty terrible wine and had an early night.
We were here!
We also met up with our traveling companions for the trip - Richard, Lynn, Suzanne, Ulla and Lizabeth.
With a few hours to kill Stuart and I headed out to explore. We went down to the ocean, walked along to a new shopping mail, returned along the precipitous walk to Lovers Park and then headed inland to the Chocolate museum where we had a lovely tour - and some great tastings.
Our little excursion taught us that Peruvians love their fast food, drive like maniacs and put Chocolate in any and everything. Oh and you can get really bad sun burn ever when it's overcast. Ouch!
In the afternoon there was a city tour of Lima which included the impressive buildings of the Plaza de Armas Square, the UNESCO World Heritage 17th-century church of San Francisco with its dusty library and piles of 200 years of blackened bones in the crypt and the Larco Herrera Museum (fascinating history of Peru, great art and erotic drinking vases).
In the evening we ate a traditional beef 'lomo' dish in the hotel restaurant with some pretty terrible wine and had an early night.
We were here!
Friday, November 21, 2014
Day 1 - Fri 21 November - London to Lima...
Off on our South American adventure we headed for Heathrow for our first evening flight.
We had thirteen flights - twenty-six takeoffs and landings in the next seventeen days. First stop was Madrid for a connection to Lima, Peru.
This first Iberia flight was fine but suffered as they all do from a basic lack of service, uncomfortable seats and indifferent trolly dollies.
The second overnight long haul was much better though. It was a code share with LAN Airways (a new one on us) and the service was great, the food good and the seats comfortable. Even if (or maybe because) the plane seemed to have flown in from the 1960s. We were to come to appreciate LAN more and more as our trip progressed.
We had thirteen flights - twenty-six takeoffs and landings in the next seventeen days. First stop was Madrid for a connection to Lima, Peru.
This first Iberia flight was fine but suffered as they all do from a basic lack of service, uncomfortable seats and indifferent trolly dollies.
The second overnight long haul was much better though. It was a code share with LAN Airways (a new one on us) and the service was great, the food good and the seats comfortable. Even if (or maybe because) the plane seemed to have flown in from the 1960s. We were to come to appreciate LAN more and more as our trip progressed.
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