Peru & Chile in 11 Days – Part 13 – Full Day in Lima, Peru

Our Itinerary:

• Day 1: Flight to Lima, Peru
• Day 2: Flight to Cusco, Peru + tour of Cusco + tour of Chinchero in Sacred Valley
• Day 3: Full-day tour of Sacred Valley – Pisaq (or Pisac) +  Ollantaytambo and  Moray
• Day 4: Full day at Machu Picchu – Travel + Intipunku Sun Gate Hike + Inca Bridge Hike + Exploring the Machu Picchu Ruins
• Day 5: Flight from Cusco to Juliaca, Peru + transfer to Puno (Lake Titicaca)
• Day 6: Tour of Lake Titicaca + tour of Sillustani + flight from Juliaca to Lima, Peru
• Day 7: Full day in Lima, Peru + red-eye flight to Easter Island, Chile (from Lima)
• Day 8: Full-day tour of Easter Island
• Day 9: Early afternoon flight from Easter Island to Santiago, Chile
• Day 10: Full-day tour of Santiago, Chile
• Day 11: Flight back to the US from Santiago, Chile (via Lima, Peru)

Baseline Expectations

I didn’t want to go to Lima.

Nothing personal against Lima, I am just not a huge fan of big cities.  There’s something about the crowds, the congestion, the pollution that makes me want to run from, not towards an urban setting.   Which is why when Mr. Travelbypoints included Lima in the itinerary of cities we would visit in South America, my initial reaction was a little warmer than mere apathy.  In fact, it was a very eloquent, “Argg!  Do we have to??!!”

Nonetheless, Mr. Travelbypoints’ determination to check as many cities off his master list prevailed and Lima wound up being the 5th destination in our 7 -city tour of Peru and Chile.

We arrived fresh from our short excursion to Lake Titicaca, where we had managed to be both underwhelmed by the touristy Uros Floating Islands and equally enchanted by the rustic beauty of the Sillustani Ruins at the tail end of our trip.  Bookended by these two very different experiences, our expectations for Lima were reset at zero – a true blank slate.

Actually, that’s not entirely true.  I arrived in Lima with one additional piece of mental baggage – a slightly irrational fear of Lima’s fleet of renegade taxis.   Prior to our trip, I stumbled onto an online forum touting the importance of being alert to illegal taxis that would whisk unsuspecting tourists to some deserted road and relieve them of all their belongings.  It probably didn’t help that we arrived in Lima in the thick of the night and felt slightly dazed from a full day of sightseeing and travel.  My imagination was on high alert as we entered the waiting area.

I needn’t have feared.  When we emerged from customs, we were greeted by the welcome sight of a bright Taxi Green kiosk (listed as a reputable taxi service in my research) and five minutes later we were aboard the car and well on our way to the hotel.

It was an efficient start to our 24-hour visit to the bustling capital city of Peru.  First stop – hotel and sleep.

Lima in a Day

The modern capital of Peru is known for many things, but at the top of the list are invariably “Food” and “Fog.”  We had our share of both as we spent a full day touring the city on foot before catching our red-eye flight to Easter Island later that evening.

Here are the highlights from our Lima-by-Foot tour, led by the ever intrepid Mr. Travelbypoints: 

 

Leaving Lima

After a full day of touring both the historic and modern centers of Lima, we hightailed it back to our hotel, grabbed a quick ceviche dinner and shower and then made our way back to the airport to catch our red-eye flight to Easter Island.  Our sojourn in Lima was pitch-perfect – colorful, tasty and short – and a great set-up for our next rustic destination – Easter Island, the most remote inhabited island in the world.

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