I am writing this blog post, almost 2 months after returning from Peru. Not to sound dramatic, but the incident of losing my wallet really took a toll and prevented me from writing how I felt. And, believe me, it wasn’t the fact that I lost the money that hurt me. I just began to make so many connections in my life about the people I love and who I prioritize. I learned that travelling does that to you. I was on a life journey for 6 weeks, with a clear beginning and end, and there was no turning back during any time between the span. Coming out of the journey, I can see clearly the person I have changed into. Anyways, instead of me talking philosophically about life, let’s get into the fun stuff…
At the end of the 6 week time span, my friend and I took a round trip to Lima, Peru. It was a real struggle, because we needed to get to the airport, get ourselves to Lima, find our hostel, and just traverse our way around the new city. Lima is truly a whole different world from Arequipa. For 6 weeks, I got used to finding my way around Arequipa. Get on a combi and meet somewhere in Yanahuara? I got it! Get on a huge looking combi (they’re aren’t called combis in Lima) and go to all the cool museums? Not so much. My friend and I didn’t want to ride taxis around, because we thought, if we could survive Arequipan combis, we could survive the ones in Lima (without knowing Spanish). Honestly, it was hard. But we did it anyways.
The first day in Lima, we got on an Airport Express bus, which is basically a nice coach bus and got dropped off at a location near our hostel. My friend found a nice hostel called Kaclla, the Healing Dog Hostel. It is located in Miraflores which I thought was the best place to be. We struggled whether or not to live in Barranco but found Kaclla in Miraflores and fell in love. Keep in mind, we are students with a budget so the hostel was perfect for us. Our trip to Lima only lasted three days so we packed as much travel around the city as we could. We checked into our hostel and decided to ride a purple bus to the Barranco district which was only around 20 minutes away.
In Barranco, we ate at a random place on the street. It took us forever to find a place because we didn’t know which place was good enough to eat at. Then, we walked around and bought passes to three different museums: MATE (Museo Mario Testino), Pedro de Osma, and the Contemporary Museum. We visited all three on the same day which was exciting but nerve-wrecking because we had no idea how to get to each one. Plus, the museums closed at a certain and we didn’t want to be in Barranco at night time without a clue of how to get back home. Of the three museums, I’d have to say MATE was my favorite. This is partly because I love taking pictures of anything and seeing the photographs of one of the greatest photographers in his home country felt genuinely crazy.
However, I did also enjoy the other two museums. I loved the Pedro de Osma museum because of the incredible house in which it was held in. The architecture was unreal and every time we thought we were finished looking at the collection, we found new artifacts and pieces to look at.
The contemporary museum was interesting because (I know this might sound weird), but there was just so much space! Look at this picture below. I felt like I was entering in an empty warehouse, but the whole experience was cool. While the Pedro the Osma museum and the MATE were next to each other, the contemporary museum was further away. We got back onto that purple bus (on the other side of the street we got off), but rode too far from the museum. We told the bus driver to stop in Spanish but he took us to the next stop instead. It was a confusing debacle but we finally saw the last museum.
After touring around Barranco and looking at some cute shops that we could never afford, we headed back to our hostel for a nice night in. The weather was slightly chilly that night but knowing we had a place to stay after the hard work it took to get to Lima from Arequipa was the most comforting thing of the day.
At night, we did what we had to do- eat. But, instead of eating at some really cool Peruvian place, we found ourselves eating at a co-brand Pizza Hut and (another fast food joint). What can I say. It was honestly a stressful journey and we found comfort in finally getting something horribly unhealthy for us. Don’t worry though. We ate at Peruvian places the other days! This day, we were just so tired.
On a side note, my Pizza hut meal came out to be as expensive as a regular Peruvian sandwich which was upsetting but hey, what can I do (But it was also probably because we were in the heart of Miraflores in which there are tons of tourists). After dinner, we headed back to our hostel, did some nice bonding with the hostel dogs (whose name is Pisco), took a long needed shower, and went to bed. In case you were wondering, we bought the cheapest room, a 6 bed room, so we shared the room with four other strangers. It was cool though, not weird at all. One girl was from Britain and one guy was from Argentina (If I’m remembering correctly). From someone who was experienced life in a hostel, I totally recommend it for those of you wanting to travel.
So, this is the end of my blog post for my first day in Lima. I know it was long awaited. I’m getting back into the gist of making these blog posts. Currently, I’m in my school’s dining hall writing this up. I read some of the posts I made while in Arequipa and realized how much it meant to write down everything I experienced at the time. This Lima post might not be the most detailed one but I wanted to write it down to keep for my memories in the future.
Thanks for reading
<3 Roseann
