25th June 2013, 14:26
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25th June 2013, 14:41
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25th June 2013, 15:47
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25th June 2013, 16:04
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25th June 2013, 16:43
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25th June 2013, 19:53
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25th June 2013, 20:15
| #22 |
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26th June 2013, 09:42
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26th June 2013, 11:52
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| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Jaipur
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| Re: To the Lost City of Incas - Peru on a Budget! Quote:
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Both being from the hotel industry, we love our food and do not mind experimenting with it. Hence we do end up having a great time with food. Quote:
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26th June 2013, 13:49
| #25 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Jaipur
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| 22/05/2013 : Lima LIMA Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. Its population is estimated to be around 9 million and the home for about 1/3rd of all the Peruvian population. Lima lies in the central western coast of Peru but even after being a coastal city the highest point of Lima Metropolitan is around 1500msl. When the Spanish invaded Peru, they moved the capital from Cusco to Lima. The Spanish being a country of seafarers found Lima to be more viable a city as its head quarters than Cusco that was up in the Andes Mountains. Lima has two predominant seasons that are summers and winters. Being close to the tropics and being a coastal city surprisingly Lima does not receive any rain. This phenomenon is due to the cold Humboldt Current that flows along the coast. The cold breeze from the sea results in foggy conditions in the city which are quite common especially during change of seasons. The summers and winters are usually mild but very humid during the day. Being the most favoured city of the Spanish in the South America, Lima has lots of colonial art and architecture especially seen inside the colonial churches and in all the old colonial buildings. But when you are a tourist and have only so much time during the day to visit such places you really can’t see everything in a trip. So the best is to have a plan and decide what all you want to see and what all you want to give a miss in a city. We did exactly that. Every night before sleeping I used to refer my Lonely Planet guide and we used to decide what all would be on our agenda the next day. Peru has so much of history that visiting all the churches and all the monuments and all the ruins in the city was not possible. So we would decide on the best church or the best kept ruin for the day and proceed there. Roaming In Lima In the morning (22/03/2013) we got up pretty late and were just in time for the buffet breakfast at the hotel. We also had to meet an Indian Lady at the hotel to whom we had to hand over some stuff that we carried from her Mom from Delhi. After breakfast and discussions with the lady we decided first to buy a local Peruvian sim card and then walk to the main square of Lima city called ‘Plaza De Armas’, have lunch and after that proceed to Miraflores district of Lima. Buying a sim card was easy but somehow getting it activated was turning out to be difficult. A process that should take no more than 10 minutes had already taken about an hour. The problem was that we spoke no Spanish and the person we were dealing with spoke no English. Deciding not to waste any more time we continued on our walk towards Plaza De Armas. It was a cloudy day with a few drops of rains falling now and then but luckily it was not that humid, ideal weather to enjoy the walk. The street that we took was only a pedestrian street with shops of all kinds lining it. We passed another square “ Plaza San martin” and there was some sort of anti govt demonstration that was going on. But the best part was that even during the demonstration and all the rallying around on microphones the crowd was pretty disciplined. After taking a few pictures we carried on. Next we entered a colonial church name ‘Iglesia De la Merced’. The church had beautiufull architecture both from outside and inside with some lovely carvings. As the service was on we decided not to spend much time there and move on towards Plaza de Armas. Somewhere close to Armas we found a boy and a girl selling Peruvian Sim cards on the street. Luckily the girl spoke some broken English and we decided to check with her regarding our sim card problem. She was very helpful and went out of the way to help us. So much so that she left her work, took us all the way to the Movistar office, acted as our interpreter and helped us in getting our card activated. We reciprocated with a generous tip for helping us out. In the process we had lost a lot of time and it was time for lunch. We went back to our hotel and after a quick bite we decided to go to Miraflores. Miraflores is the most popular tourist area of lima. It is right next to the coast and offeres amazing view of the pacific ocean and the coast line. It has plenty of restaurants, lots of accommodation for all budgets, lots of parks, lots of artists and artisans selling stuff and lots of other touristy things. Basically it’s very vibrant and has lots of soul to it. It took us about 30 minutes in a taxi to reach Kennedy Park at miraflores from our hotel. We had chosen Kennedy Park as we were told that it’s a very happening place. But since it was just after lunch the park was more or less dead. So we decided to walk towards the coast and enjoy the views from there. The coast at Miraflores is also called ‘Costa Verde’. The name is very apt as just where the sea meats the coast there starts a cliff and the walls of the cliffs are very green. The weather was foggy and the fog covering the cliffs, though reducing the visibility to a great extent, but was adding immensely to the beauty of the coast. After roaming around the coast and enjoying nature at its best for couple of hours we walked back to Kennedy Park. As the evening was setting in Miraflores was coming to life. Lots of street artists, musicians, dating couples, kids and families were making the mood at the park light and enjoyable. There is also free wi-fi internet access in the park and people can just relax enjoy and catch up on their news there. As mentioned earlier, by 1830 hrs it gets completely dark so it was time to head back to the hotel. We still were not hungry and not tired even to call it a day so we decided to take a walk back to ‘Plaza De Armas’ that we had missed earlier in the day. Again evenings in the main square were full of activity. Lot of locals had collected and were relaxing and enjoying the weather. The monuments were pretty well lit that added to the beauty. We spent an hour there, had our dinner and came back to our hotel and slept. Tomorrow we still had about half a day in Lima before catching a bus to our next destination that was Nazca. Now for some pictures from the day. Kindly note that no flash photography is allowed inside the Churches. One of the squares at Lima – Plaza San Martin  A Demonstration under process  Walking the streets lined with shops and old colonial mansions  A Colonial Church - Iglesia de la Merced  Beautifull architecture  Approaching Costa verde. You can see a tennis club in the foreground  Costa Verde, all fogged out  Though the visibility was poor but the fog added to the charm of the cliffs  lots of clubs dotted the Pacific Ocean coastline  breathtaking views  Taking a walk along the coast  The apartments next to the coast under fog cover  A shopping mall by the coast  People relaxing at Kennedy Park  Lots of activities  Monuments well lit up as the night falls. BTW this is the court just across our hotel. (I did not carry a tripod so all night shots are either hand help or by keeping the camera on solid base)  La Cathedral de Lima lit up at Plaza de Armas  A closer look  More colonial buildings  Palacio De Gobierno (government palace) at the Armas  To Be Contd……Next Day |
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26th June 2013, 14:53
| #26 |
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26th June 2013, 15:34
| #27 | |
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| Re: To the Lost City of Incas - Peru on a Budget! Quote:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...and-incas.html | |
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26th June 2013, 16:58
| #28 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Jaipur
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| 23/05/2013 : Lima half day and Lima to Nazca 23/05/2013 : Lima half day and Lima to Nazca We just had the first half of the day left in Lima as we had a 1400 hrs bus to catch for our 7 hours bus ride to Nazca. Since we did not have much time on hand we divided just to walk to the main square of Lima “Plaza de Armas’ and visit a few colonial churches there. Surprisingly we were to realize later that all main squares in Peruvian cities are called Plaza de Armas which literally means a place where weapons are presented or a place where Parade is held. This was a blessing in disguise as whenever we wanted to ask where the directions for main square, we just remembered the name Plaza de Armas. The Plaza de Armas of Lima is huge and magnificient. It has historical buildings all around it and the square is neatly decorated with well maintained gardens, lovely flowers, benches to sit and an impressive bronze fountain in the centre. At one side of the Plaza is the ‘Palacio De Gobeirno’, this is the official resident of the President of Peru. On the right of the palace is ‘La Catedral De Lima or the main cathedral This is the most important of the Colonial Churches as the Archbishop stays at his palace right next to the cathedral. This is also one of the oldest buildings standing in Lima. Though this Cathedral was badly damaged in an earthquake in the 16th Century and totally destroyed in another earthquake in the 17th century, but still subsequent restoration work has bought it back to its original glory. The Cathedral is as impressive from inside as it is from outside. Apart from a museum it also has lots of tunnels and dungeons where one can see remains of many important men in the Colonial history of Peru. We did not have much time left after the tour of the church so we decided to head back to the hotel. En route we picked up some empanadas as our lunch for our bus ride to Nazca. We quickly checked out of the hotel after settling our dues and took a taxi to Cruz Del Sur bus station. This was the company we had chosen for our trip to Nazca. NOTE: - Lima does not have a central bus stand. All individual bus companies have their own departing stations. So remember to find out the address and reach the station in time. Pictures so far:- Plaza De Armas with Presidential palace and the Main Cathedral  Presidential Palace  A closer look with the royal guards standing to greet a dignitary  Arrival of the dignitary  On the right is the cathedral and the left of the pic (balconies) is the Archbishop’s Palace  Another view  Closer look at the Cathedral architecture  Pictures from inside the cathedral ( Note, all the pic s are hand held without the use of flash)    Going inside the dungeons   Remains of the buried  Some burial techniques  Some more remains    More pictures from the cathedral      Pictures, paintings, costumes, art from the cathedral museum     Lima to Nazca About Cruz Del Sur Buses  I had pre booked 2 tickets with Cruz Del Sur Company to Nazca. This company is the best and the most recommended company for interstate travel in Peru. Though they are lot expensive than local companies but I feel because of the safety, security and comfort on long distance travel its totally justified. Cruz del Sur has two classes of travel. The VIP class is on the lower deck and has more seat space and leg room and the regular class is on the top deck and is still comfortable but not as comfortable as the VIP class. Ofcourse the lower deck prices are about 20% higher than the top deck. The top deck also has some really really discounted (promotional) seats that they offer on internet booking. If you get these seats then these buses turn out to be as economical as regular buses. I booked 2 of these seats on our journey from Lima to Nazca and these seats were absolutely fine. Because the bus was empty, we were also offered a seat change but we were happy on these seats. At the bus station they weigh and check in your luggage and issue you a luggage tag (just like at airports). You have to pass a security point before entering the bus and once you have boarded you cannot alight. Also while boarding a camera films the faces of all those boarding. These are all safety features. There are 2 bus drivers in all coaches and they change after every 4 hrs. The bus does not stop anywhere in between apart from scheduled stops. If the bus stops, the control room comes to know as it is connected with a GPS to the bus. Also a maximum speed of 90kmph is maintained and if it is crossed a continuous beep indicates to slower the speed. The bus has neat and clean toilets on each level. The seats even on the top level are very comfortable and recline a lot. They also issue a pillow and a blanket and also have a safety video played before the bus starts. During the journey snacks are served and a regular supply of beverages is given. So all in all the bus is absolutely v.f.m. for long distance travel. Lima to Nazca This 460 kms journey took us about 7 hrs to complete. We started at 1400 hrs and only reached our hotel in Nazca by 2130 hrs. After getting out of Lima the bus moves south on the Pan American highway. Most of the journey is along the Pacific Ocean coast and that offer’s splendid views. But unfortunately the day light diminishes by 1730 hrs and also because of the tinted bus windows, you can’t see much outside for most of the time. The only stop for the bus en route is at Paracas. Paracas is a small town popular with tourists on the coast. It’s not foggy here like Lima so it’s a very popular destination with tourists. Paracas also hosts a lot of birds so that’s another attraction. Next is Ica, which is the province capital of Ica region. It has the only airport in this region and Nazca from here is an hour away. At Nazca, our guest house was kind enough to send us a complimentary pic up from the bus stand. We reached our guest house by 2130 hrs and quickly headed out for dinner, came back and slept. Tomorrow would be an early morning flight over the Nazca Lines!!!! Not many pics from the journey, just a couple Along the Pacific coast  The barren dessert  Our guesthouse at Nazca  Nazca Lines....To Be Contd |
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26th June 2013, 17:09
| #29 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Pune
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| Re: To the Lost City of Incas - Peru on a Budget! @deky - Any snaps of the interiors of the bus. The bus surely looks very comfortable from the outside. Bigger version of the sleeper coaches in India  |
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26th June 2013, 17:38
| #30 |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: May 2009 Location: Atlanta, GA
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