Barrios de Lima

Peru!! Jone and I are finally on our trip... And finally bought a camera cable so we can share more than just the photos from her phone. 

Photo by Jone

Our first day in Lima started in the neighborhood of Miraflores, a more upscale barrio near the beach.  following the advice of Jone's aunts, we decided to walk to the neighboring barrio of Barranco. Lima itself is a bit like an overgrown pueblo, rebar sticking up for the next level. Barranco was supposed to be a little more bohemian, artsey. We weren't too sure until we turned onto a street lined with beautiful graffiti, and finally a brightly colored colonial square.

Photo by Jone

When we had seen all there was to see and used the Starbucks bathroom, we hopped on a bus back to Miraflores. We found a great lunch at a little Peruvian cafe and ordered a great beef and pepper roast (think south american goulash) and roasted chicken, both served with rice. It revived us! 

Grabbing our bags, we headed downtown. Honestly, the historical center of Lima was a bit of a letdown. There are three squares with beautiful Spanish colonial architecture, but between and around is rather desperate. One street has been revived into a European-style shopping and pedestrian zone, but it took us a little while to find it. 

Panorama by Jone

 Later in the evening, Jone asked a traffic cop how to identify official taxis. It's important here that you don't get into a cab that takes you somewhere else and robs you! So we (safely) caught a taxi to the bus station at the north side of town, and late at night boarded a bus to Huaraz...

More photos to come, my tablet-based browser isn't handling blogger very well today.