That's Interesting…

well, since we were able to catch a much earlier bus from Paracas, we got to Lima in the early afternoon. After dropping our stuff at the hotel, we were ready to explore.
Lima is a huge city. Population of over 8 million. There is a lot of pollution and absolutely everyone is honking at everybody else. It is really loud. Since it is apparently also a den of thieves, I carried our passports, cards, and money in my bra, which according to David gave a great a new look. The city is too big to be really able to walk anywhere, so we had to take taxis. In the evening we went to see two pyramids that are in the Miraflores and San Isidro quarters and then we had dinner in restaurant overlooking the ocean. I must say the view was spectacular. I could hardly focus on the food. The restaurant was on a cliff above the beach and we just watched the waves and sunset coming in.

The next morning we did finished up our souvenir shopping, went on a tour of the second pyramid we saw the day before and headed to the center of Lima. There was a huge podium and screen set up for the World Cup right by the presidential palace. These people live soccer. The highlight of the day was going to the bullfighting museum. There was nobody else there, so David was able to ask all the questions he ever had about bullfighting. They had tons of pictures, outfits, photographs, stuffed bull heads,etc. At the end we were able to go see future bullfighters practice. Bullfighting is really a dance. A very, very manly dance. A bull that fights once, never fights again. The reason is that the bull learns that the fighter always steps away and that he needs to go after the fighter and not the fabric. Meaning that a bull who has fought is too deadly to face a fighter again. So, the boys are not able to practice with a bull. Instead one of them puts on a pair of horns and chases the other one around the arena while their coaches yell at them that in real fight they would be already dead 10 times over. Very interesting. They also had a pair of horns attached to a one wheel bike–but unfortunately we did not get to see that contraption in action. The arena and the museum where in  a very sketchy neighborhood and I was more than happy to get back to the center.

We finished the tour with a few churches and Plaza San Martin. Lima overall is a quite unimpressive city but Plaza San Martin was stunning. In my mind it did not fit in Lima at all. I should be in Arequipa not in noisy, busy, huge Lima.
Afterwards headed to the hotel. Our plane was at midnight.

In summary, this was an incredible trip. It surpassed my expectations by miles. My favorite was definitely the trail which was and always will one of the most incredible and surreal experiences of my life. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat and I really hope I will be able to one day.