Peru (2019)
Inhalt/Content
Back in Lima
The last days in Lima we wanted to take it easy. Kevin and I are both little nerds and in our free time we like to play a Japanese trading card game called Weiß Schwarz. On the official homepage we saw that there were also card shops in Lima for this purpose. We chose two card shops which we wanted to visit. The first one was quite a flop, because it simply did not exist. At the second card shop a world opened up in front of us which we didn’t expect to meet here in Peru. Suddenly we were standing in a complete department store with only Japanese and Korean shops. In between there were trading cards and amusement arcades. It came as it had to come and of course we left a certain part of our holiday money there again while we walked from shop to shop in amazement. In retrospect it’s not even that surprising, since Latin America in general has a large anime fan community.
The next and last day we wanted to enjoy it the fullest. So we decided to walk from Miraflores (we were in the same AirBnB as at the beginning of our trip) to Barranco, a hip artist district, to go to the beach. We were a little worried about what to do with our valuables, but once we arrived at the beach the worry remained unfounded. A man came up to us and asked if we wanted to rent a beach couch from him. I let him know that we would be very happy to do so if the safety of our backpacks was taken care of. So he placed himself near our couch for the duration of our stay and always kept an eye on our things. The beach itself was not very nice. There was garbage everywhere in the sand and the water was very dirty and full of water plants. Nevertheless, after all the effort of the last days we enjoyed the relaxed time at the sea. While we were lying on our deck chairs between our trips into the water, salesmen wormed their way through the bathers and asked for snacks, drinks and cigarettes. At this point I would like to praise the probably most popular sweet dish of Latin America, the churros. Indeed, meanwhile, they are also available in Germany, but nothing is as good as the original. And so I jumped up from the couch full of joy when I saw an elderly gentleman with a big box full of churros, which he offered for sale. All in all it was really a perfect beach day.
The way back we started again on foot to see as much as possible. The way led us through parks and along really nice promenades. Back in Miraflores we stopped to watch several people doing paragliding. I would have loved to join in, but I didn’t have enough money and documents or adequate clothing with me. I did the paragliding much later in South Africa.
And so we arrived back at our AirBnB where we spent our last night in Peru.
Conclusion
Peru is a beautiful country and definitely worth a visit. It is important to bring time to visit the smaller towns far away from the “ruta de los gringos”. On our trip they were the real jewels and at least as interesting as the Machu Picchu. But specially in the smaller places, Spanish language skills are a must-have. In Cusco and Co, however, one is mostly addressed from the beginning only in English. As soon as somewhere prices are indicated in US dollars, one knows that one has landed in the hell of mass tourism. In Lima it is worthwhile to reach the destination by foot, as there is something to discover at every corner. Puno and Lake Titicaca were also very touristy, but also had some nice spots. Arequipa on the other hand should be visited in any case and not only used as a sleeping place to get to the Colca Canyon. Last but not least we bought a lot of souvenirs in Peru. A photo of this should not be missing 😉
