9:00am – Wake up in the morning to the alarm clock warning, hit snooze.
9:36am – Stop hitting snooze. South American time has definitely pushed me to less of a morning person, days start later and end later seemingly everywhere in Latin America.
10:28am – Out of my hotel, slip through street corner demonstrations and calls for revolution and head down the street. I don’t know what status quo for Lima is but I’ve never seen a city like this, it’s wild here. There is what appears to be a huge amount of anger, frustration, etc. Cars honk non-stop, noise is constant and it seems like every street corner features someone with a microphone calling out the government and calling for revolution, see video:
11:00am – A couple blocks from my hotel is an interesting breakfast place. A cavernous space that appears to be something like a former bank lobby, etc, now has a few tables and chairs in it, I really like the food and service. Customer service in Latin America, most of the time, is pretty brusque however Lima counters that to some extent, I’ve found service people notably friendlier here than anywhere else I’ve been.
I get a breakfast of cafe con leche, fresh squeezed camu-camu juice and a toasted chicken salad sandwich. Camu-camu fruit tastes sort of like plum and apple, it’s nice in the morning.
11:30am – After breakfast I explore a but more of downtown walking my way to the edge of the old area. I pass another megaphone situation. This one is from some government agency using actors to portray a scene explaining how dangerous taking illegal short term loans is. I’ve heard this a few times in South America this trip, that there is a problem with what are called “drop by drop” loans, usually cartel run:
12:00pm – Once I walked clear of the city centre I grabbed an Uber to the museum I wanted to see. I don’t tend to use Uber/Taxi at all while travelling as I really prefer transit as a way to experience a new city but transit in Lima is the worst I’ve seen for a city of 10 million plus, more about that in a later post.
12:20pm – Larco Museum, I was informed I could not wear a hat, never been to a museum before that didn’t allow hats…. Oh well, it’s a very good museum of pre-Colombian art and artifacts.
1:15pm – It’s only about 25c out but the equatorial sun is super intense and I find I’m stopping in shade regularly. I walk through what appears to be a really nice, quiet middle class Lima neighborhood to a second museum.
1:30pm – The National Museum of the Archaeology, Anthropology, and History of Peru, Lima was not so impressive, some nice stuff about how peoples from all over South America worked together to ensure everyone gained independence from Spain and a few interesting bits of archeology but nothing like the Larco Museum.
2:00pm – The place I wanted to go for lunch, near the museums, turned out to have been closed about a year ago. I am cooked from the sun so hopped an Uber back to my hotel and had a long nap.
7:30pm – Dinner at Norky’s. A Peruvian/Japanese/Swiss/Chinese food chain, extremely popular, think Swiss Chalet plus a diner plus a Chinese noodle house.
8:30pm – A few pics from my walk back to the hotel, early night tonight as I need to do laundry before bed.
9:30pm – Back in my room, doing laundry. Energy levels are unpredictable while travelling, tonight I am absolutely exhausted.
A Bit Gone 