But this is not to say that Lima is a bad place and it has some noteworthy sites. While the historical centre of this city is not even close to what I witnessed in Cusco it is nonetheless an interesting place to spend a few hours walking around. The main plaza in particular is very beautiful with the Government Palace, the Cathedral and numerous yellow coloured buildings brightly decorating the central meeting point for natives of Peru's capital. Close to here is La Iglesia de San Francisco, a colonial style church which is as beautiful as any that can be seen in South America with hundreds of pigeons flying majestically around this stunning piece of architecture.
However while the Centro Historico de Lima has some very impressive buildings they are unfortunately drowned out by modern ugly structures which stand boldly beside them. Because of this I find it hard to believe that UNESCO deemed this place worthy of being declared a World Heritage Site. This sector of the city is pretty don't get me wrong, but it pales in comparison to the beautiful Gamla Stan, the old town of Stockholm, which UNESCO strangely deems to not be worthy of its prestigious title. In fact I would go as far to say that there are many parts of Dublin that are more picturesque than Lima's Centro Historico and despite its many charms I would never describe Ireland's capital as a beautiful eye-pleasing city.
One interesting experience that this city provided was when searching for a place to grab a quick bite to eat in Miraflores, the upmarket albeit unspectacular beach side suburb of Lima. As I strolled down through the main restaurant orientated street in this sector of the city I was approached by irritating employees from every establishment attempting to secure my business for the evening. What started out as an inconvenience shortly turned in my favour as one person in a desperate last throw of dice to lure me into his restaurant offered me a free beer or pisco sour. Looking unconvinced at what he had to say he proceeded to double his offer. At this moment I knew I was onto a winner and proceeded to negotiate with all further restaurant hagglers for two free drinks and not wanting to lose out to one of its nearby rivals they had no choice but to give in. It was a bit of banter as a one off experience but it must be one of the worst possible jobs the world has to offer - hassling people so that they eat in a restaurant almost identical in every way to the one beside it. And lets not get started on the amount of times I was referred to as "amigo" or "my friend". These guys must have a serious amount of mates!
There was however one crazy story which has to be documented. One evening I had arranged to meet up for dinner with a nice couple from New Zealand. About an hour and a half before we were to meet they were approached by a Peruvian man and some elderly lady who he claimed to be his cousin. Speaking in perfect English he somehow managed to convince them to join him for a drink. He proceeds to take them to some sketchy bar and before they have a chance to order a drink for themselves a large jug of pisco sour is placed in front of each of them. As it got close to the time when I was to meet the kiwis they tried to leave the bar establishment. This mysterious friendly man seemed adamant that they would not leave together and that instead he would accompany just one of them to where I was waiting. Not knowing the story at the point at which I met up with them I obviously agreed to head along to this bar where we were being given what were supposedly free pisco sours. However I felt something was up and this man seemed too nice to be genuine. As I got to the bar I started to feel very skeptical of everyone around me, and ensured that I had my hand covering my drink at all times so that nothing would be dropped in it. Some of the women in the pub were sketchy as well and bordered on being prostitutes. Known as bricheras in Lima they are not prostitues in the Amsterdam sense of the word but they are the type who expect to be bought about three expensive dinners and an enormous amount of drinks before they complete the so called transaction. Realising now that my kiwi friends had obliviously got themselves into a bit of a mess and that I stupidly went along with them I signalled to the couple that we needed to get out of this bar as quickly as possible. The "nice" man seemed concerned that we wanted to leave after just one drink. His hope was that we would have a few more rounds and after seeing the bill that was presented to us I can understand exactly why. 70 sols (about 18 euro) for each jug of low quality pisco sour was the damage to our wallets, about twice the amount that you would pay in a scam free establishment. We agreed to pay and get the hell out of this place as quickly as possible. Live and learn I guess!
I had an enjoyable few days in Lima but most of it was mainly related to meeting other people in the hostel. It is not the most exciting city I have ever seen but notwithstanding that Peru is certainly my favourite country I have visited so far with so much history that it is impossible to suffer from boredom.
As I write this latest blog entry I sit in Santiago, the capital of Chile after an overnight flight from Lima. This is the final chapter of my South American adventure. Time to go out in style!
Chau
No comments:
Post a Comment