A couple days in Lima

Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum

Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Jun 13, 2008
Messages
3,249
Location
Central Jersey
I wrote this report for another site, but thought I would post it here. As well. Hope you enjoy.

I was able to sneak a couple extra days off from work the weekend before, so the question became very quickly where could I sneak off too. Looking at fares, and assisted by ExpertFlyer I saw an opportunity to head out Lima for a couple days, and confirm the SWUs at booking.

My friend watched in amazement as I cooked up the whole trip in around twenty minutes, and with one phone call and a couple hundred dollars I was heading to Lima in business class the next morning. Within about 45 minutes I had done enough research to find the right neighborhood to stay in, and reached out to a tour company to set up airport transfers and a city tour. I was pretty impressed with myself. I usually enjoy the planning phase of a trip, and delight in going through all of the tiny details, but with this trip there simply wasn’t time to plan everything down to every little detail. I decided to splurge and hire a private guide and driver for the second day, so I would be sure to see as much as possible with my limited time.

I left his house later that afternoon to head home and pack. On this trip I decided to try out a new bag that I had ordered on Cyber Monday, so I was eager to see if it would indeed fit my needs. I packed everything up and did a little more research on Lima, and more specifically the neighborhood of Miraflores, where I had elected to stay. I went to bed a little bit earlier than normal even though my flight wasn’t till 11AM I was prepared for a hellish Monday morning rush hour drive from Central Jersey to JFK.

I woke up at 6:00 to be out the door by 6:30. I thought it seemed a little early, but NYC traffic never fails to disappoint. An accident mixed in with some roadwork in Staten Island made what can be only about an hour ride into an over two hour ordeal. Oh well I got to the long term parking lot right before 9AM and took the air train to terminal 8. I used the very nice first class check in area, and was helped without a wait. Two minutes later I was on my way to security. Unlike my last flight on Qatar without PreCheck I was through security in minutes. Time from the air train to the Flagship Lounge was only about 10 minutes not bad at all.

The Flagship lounge was pretty much empty, and aside from one clueless moron who was playing a game on his iPad at full volume it was rather quiet. Luckily, he quit his game after only a couple minutes if it went on any longer I was certainly going to say something to him. I heard back from the tour company, and sent my deposit that secured everything. There would be a driver waiting for me in arrival in Lima. I was quite happy to over pay by a few dollars for that convenience, since there are less then stellar reviews about the taxi situation there on Flyertalk. I was quite happy with the food selection and quality of the breakfast spread. Some eggs bacon, and potatoes what else could one ask for in the morning. The Flagship lounge is nice, but it really feels more like a business class lounge pretty much anywhere else in the world. Oh well that’s a well-treaded topic here on Flyertalk, so I won’t go into it further. Certainly a nice step up from the Admirals Club I would have had to use with my business class ticket if I wasn’t a OneWorld Emerald.

[SIZE=16pt]Flight AA942 JFK-MIA 767-300 Refurbed Cabin Seat 2J [/SIZE]

I had to head over to the midfield terminal, and I wanted to exchange some money so I left the lounge a little earlier than I needed to. I absolutely despise Travelex in general, but I still wanted to have some Peruvian Soles in my wallet when I arrived. I checked with both of there outlets inside the terminal and they both said they don’t carry Sol. I thought that was pretty weird since LAN has nonstop flights to Lima from this terminal. I wasn’t sure if I would have time to change any money in Miami since my connection was only scheduled to be fifty-seven minutes. Oh well I’d have to chance it in Miami I did have a travel alert on my debit card, but I hate relying totally on ATMs in foreign countries.

As got over to the gate for the flight I couldn’t believe how empty the terminal felt. For Monday morning in New York it just didn’t seem like there were a lot of folks flying. There also surprisingly was an almost complete lack of gate lice. Everyone was seated around the gate waiting patiently. Really didn’t feel like I was in New York that’s for sure. They called for first class passengers, and I had no trouble getting to the podium. I got settled into my seat quickly, and boarding continued very quickly. There was a PBD service of sorts with a tray of water and orange juice on offer. I understand that you can’t really do a full open bar service for a cabin this size, so it was better then nothing I guess. Flight time was announced at two hours and twenty minutes. We pushed back on time, and had a quick taxi to the runway.

I spent the flight listening to some music and doing some reading on my Kindle. While it was a fabulous seat for a domestic hop the lack of Wi-Fi was kind of a bummer since that’s usually how I pass the time on my domestic flights. There is also no seatback IFE on the 767 instead they offer a tablet preloaded with content, which wasn’t offered on this domestic flight. Not really a big deal for me because I don’t ever use seat back IFE for anything but the map anyway.

They started the service with a round of drinks, and warm mixed nuts as usual. They had a chicken salad, and pasta dish on offer. I elected to have the salad along with a vodka tonic. It was decent just like the other times I’ve had it since the latest catering changes. I think it’s a nice light meal that is somewhat healthy, and I’m glad they bought back entrée salads, and the chicken is now much better than it was. They rounded out the meal service with a warm cookie. It was nice to have the lie flat seat even though it was just a short day time flight it really is nice to be able to put your feet up.

I was pretty absorbed in my book for the remainder of the flight, and before I knew it we were on approach to a rather rainy day in Miami. There were only two connections announced mine to Lima, and a flight to Jacksonville. Of course we would be arriving at gate D4, and my flight was leaving out of D36. That meant it would pretty much be a walk from one flight to the other type connection.

At least being in the bulkhead I was the second person off the plane. Along my walk I found a small currency exchange stand that Soles and the exchange rate wasn’t too terrible, so I changed some money there. I then decided to throw caution to the wind, and stopped in the D30 club even though boarding was about to get under way. The friendly agent who checked me in told me they had just started boarding, but there really was no rush. I wanted to use my two drink chits to get some bottled water, so I wouldn’t have to worry about chasing some down on arrival. I stopped by the bar, and got the waters a long with another vodka tonic. I only spent a couple of minutes in the club, but I felt better knowing that I would have some water to drink on arrival and in the morning. I then headed toward the gate to get on board.

[SIZE=16pt]Flight AA972 MIA-LIM 767-300 Refurbed Cabin Seat 6A[/SIZE]

I boarded pretty much right in the middle of the boarding process. There was still bin space above my seat, so I took out the few things I wanted for this flight, and stowed my bag. I was only traveling with a backpack that was one thing that I felt this seat was missing was a decent place to store a bag. Soon a tray of water, orange juice or “champagne” was passed around. I elected for a glass of the bubbles even though I knew it wasn’t going to be all that good. Boarding was finished smoothly, and we got under way on time.

Once we got in the air the crew spent what felt like an eternity passing out the headphones and entertainment tablets. I decline just in case I ended up falling asleep towards the end of the flight, since I’ve played that game on AA before where they wake you up an hour out to collect them. Finally after they passed out the amenities kits, the menus, and bottles of water they started a proper drink service. I hate to sound like some kind of raging alcoholic, but it just felt like forever to get a drink by the time they took care of everything else.

The meal service was done at a pretty good pace though. After the warm nuts, and hot towels they served a mozzarella and couscous cold appetizer along with a small salad. There were four entrée choices, but I didn’t take a picture of the menu so I don’t remember what the others were. I decided on the chicken option that much I do remember, and the of course the picture I took helps ^ . I do remember I ordered it since it was served with wasabi mash potatoes, which was the highlight of the flight for me. They were really good even a couple weeks later they still stick out in my mind. The chicken was okay there was definitely way to much sauce on the plate though. I finished up with the cheese plate since I wasn’t really in the mood for ice cream. The cheese plate was identical to the cheese option they serve on snack flights domestically.

The rest of the flight passed by pretty quickly the crew did at least make a few passes through the cabin, and kept my glass full. I spent pretty much the whole flight caught up in the book I started earlier in the day. I know that there was a snack that was served prior to landing, but I didn’t take a picture of it and can’t remember what it was for the life of me. The only other interaction I had with the cabin crew was asking for a Peruvian Immigration Card in English, and the one FA was kind of snappy about it. He handed me the new card, and had a little too much attitude in his voice when he said, “Good luck in Peru.” My Spanish is admittedly stuck at a 5th grade level, so while I had a pretty good idea what the form was asking I wanted to fill it out in English just to be on the safe side. The whole thing kind of bothered me I didn’t feel like he should have been passing judgment on my apparent lack of language skills. Well I guess in all honestly it did really bother me because now even two weeks later writing this it sticks out in my mind most about the flight.

We landed on time and deplaned via jet bridge. There was no wait when I arrived at passport control. I was able to walk right up to a waiting officer. She only asked me how long I was staying, and then I was stamped into the country. Baggage claim was very busy though I was glad I didn’t have to stick around and wait for a bag. It seemed like every carousel was in use, and some were handling multiple flights. There was quite a long line to get through customs, but someone saw my apparent lack of baggage and pulled me out of line. I gave them my customs declaration and was escorted past the bag x-ray. Walking through a couple double doors I was dropped right into the thick of the arrivals hall. Yes it was pretty chaotic in there, but nothing like arriving in the absolute chaos you find in Vietnam. It only took me a minute to find my driver Jorge standing there with my name on a sign. He commented that I was very fast, and couldn’t believe I only had a backpack.

He led me to his car, and even with him leading the way I was still harassed about a taxi a half a dozen times before I could cross the street into the parking lot. I was immediately glad I didn’t try and save a few bucks dealing with all these taxi drivers, and had him come get me. He took me to the car, and left me waiting there for a couple of minutes while he paid for the parking. I was a little apprehensive about the drive from the airport since I read it wasn’t in the best part of the city, but I didn’t see anything that made me feel unsafe. Jorge did an excellent job whisking through the traffic, and gave me his cell phone so I could talk to my tour guide. About twenty minutes later we got to Hotel Miramar, and he came in to make sure I got checked in okay.

Check in was no problem as they had my reservation on file, so a quick photocopy of my passport, and I was given my room key. The hotel was nice enough certainly not n luxury, but I was only paying 40USD a night, so my standards weren’t very high. Although the room was very large and while dated it was very clean. The floors wi-fi router was also located in my room, so my internet connection was excellent. I was quite satisfied with my hastily made choice. I made a VoIP call to a friend back home, and then went to bed around 11:30.

[SIZE=16pt]Day 1 in Lima [/SIZE]

I woke up around 8:30 with no real plans for today. My tours were scheduled for tomorrow. I didn’t book anything for today, and figured I would just walk around the city, and maybe visit a few museums on my own. I just wanted to take a day and move along at my own pace, and not worry about checking boxes off of my itinerary. While Peru marks country number 52 for me it was really my first time on the continent of South America. I have only been down in South America once before, and on that trip I connected straight from Santiago to Easter Island without ever leaving the airport. While Easter Island is of course considered a part of South America I knew it wasn’t representative of the entire continent. While I guess there is no one city on any continent that could possibly represent an entire continent I still viewed today as my first real introduction to South America.

I wandered downstairs to check out the included breakfast buffet. I headed down to the lobby since I figured that would probably be a good place to start. After wondering around without success a staff member stopped me and asked me what I was looking for. Queue my 5th grade Spanish, and the only word I could remember in that moment was almuerzo the Spanish word for lunch. Luckily my one word answer was enough and they directed me to the third floor. The breakfast spread was pretty good, and the pineapple was simply the best I’ve had anywhere.

After breakfast I poked my head outside the hotel, and saw that right down the block was a grocery store, a very welcome coincidence. I headed over to it and purchased some more bottled water, and got my first Inca Cola. They also had an excellent selection of liquor, which I would certainly check out more thoroughly in the evening. It also allowed me to indulge in one of my other favorite things to do in a new country a walk through a grocery to compare the various products that are familiar and unfamiliar along with there prices relative to other parts of the world. With some newfound supplies in hand I headed back to the hotel to consult the all the knowing internet to try and plan my day.

The first thing I realized was that today was a public holiday for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Oops…the things you over look when you book a trip on less than 24 hours notice! That meant that the museums I was hoping to visit would be closed, so my rough idea went right out the window. It was at that point that I decided to just have a completely unstructured day. I figured that this entire area was deemed safe for tourists, so I decided to just let my feet plan the day. I grabbed a bottle of water and head out of the hotel.

For the rest of the day I spent pretty much the whole day simply walking around. There were all kinds of different parks around, and some streets with grassy medians with walking paths. I didn’t really know where I was going, so I just picked a direction and just started walking “that way”. I walked past all kind of different things including almost every American food outlet you could think of. I even found a Chili’s how they could possibly stay in business in a place like this seemed beyond me. There was both Dunkin Doughnuts and Starbucks. Papa Johns, Pizza Hut and Dominos. Along the way though I did see some more localized food, and began making mental notes for potential dinner spots. The weather was absolutely gorgeous it was around 70 degrees, and although some locals were wearing sweatshirts I was quite comfortable in short sleeves.

After walking quite a bit in two different directions from the hotel I decided it was time for some lunch. I know I should have gone somewhere else, but the golden arches were calling me. I guess like the grocery stores when I’m in a new country I love to see what unique oddities are served at the local McDonalds. I also justified my terrible decision by saying this would continent number five I consumed McDonalds in. I went with a Big Mac and a chicken sandwich that appeared to be unique to the area. McDonalds was of course just McDonalds, and I really should have visited a local spot for lunch. Oh well fully satisfied I retraced my steps and spent the afternoon walking in the other two directions from the hotel.

Yes it was kind of a wasted day just kind of wandering aimlessly around, but it was also enjoyable to me. It’s one of the reasons I enjoy traveling by myself so much no one could complain that their feet hurt, or that we were simply pissing a day way walking around. I found it to be therapeutic and exactly what I was hoping it would be a nice chance to just survey the city from street level. I also realized that with my somewhat darker complexion, brown eyes, and black hair I blended in quite well. I have been traveling so much in Asia lately that I forgot the joys of not sticking out like a sore thumb. I watched taxis slow down and ask those with blonde hair if they needed rides, or the random guys that were willing to exchange currency on the street corners didn’t ask me. Someone even tried to ask me for directions! Ha, I was really enjoying blending in for a change. After several hours on my feet I decided to head back to the hotel and rest for a bit before finding some dinner.

A few hours pasted in the hotel as I tapped away at some emails, and made a couple more calls. In all my infinite wisdom I forgot to think about being on the other side of the equator I told myself I’d head back out when it got dark. Yeah I was still in the Eastern Time Zone, but these are obviously some of the longest days of the year down here not the shortest. Around 7 I figured I should probably get a move on it, and find some dinner. Unfortunately, the two choices I had mentally tagged as interesting dinner spots didn’t open up on account of the holiday, so I fell back on an alternate restaurant I had spotted much earlier in the day.

I ended up going to a place called Don Belisario, which I would find out after I ate there was in fact a Peruvian chain of restaurants. Serving a popular style of chicken my tour guide the next day told me I made a good choice, and that the chicken dish I ordered was a Peruvian specialty. So, I got that right at least I was drawn more toward the sign promoting an all night happy hour. The drinks were two for one my kind of deal no matter where I am. Counting with my theme of going traditional I decided to have some Pisco Sours. Two were certainly more than enough I had a very healthy buzz as I was leaving. My whole meal with two strong drinks came out to be around 15USD.

Feeling good I started walking back toward the hotel. I decided it would be a shame to not keep the buzz going, so I passed by the grocery store, and found another welcome surprise. They had some singles of what appeared to be some craft beers. They had a couple different styles, so I picked up and IPA and a wheat beer. They made for an excellent nightcap to my day wondering around in Miraflores. I knew getting some sleep would be important since I had full 12 hour day of touring ahead of me tomorrow before my red eye flight back to Miami.

[SIZE=16pt]Day 2 in Lima [/SIZE]

I woke up at 8AM since I had arranged to meet my tour guide for the day in the lobby of the hotel at 9AM. I showered and had another good breakfast at the hotel. I packed up my stuff, and really came to appreciate my new bag. I had bought an Ebags TLS Weekender Jr. on Cyber Monday since the bag seemed to be well thought out. Once I had it repacked I realized that I did in fact agree with all the reviews I easily had everything packed in, and realized that I could easily pull off a five day trip with nothing but this one bag easily. It was an absolute steal at 60USD and I earned around 700 AAdvantage miles as well. I’m looking forward to putting it to the test on a more rigorous trip.

Check out was straightforward since I had prepaid for the room. I then had a seat in the lobby and waited for the structured part of my trip to begin. I had set everything up with a company called Lima City Tours, since in my 10-minute research session they came up as the number one agency on Trip Advisor. I had been emailing back and forth with Jhony the owner who had been very prompt in his responses. I was pleasantly surprised when Jhony said he would be my guide for most of the day. Jorge was back again to handle the driving. He confirmed everything one more time, and we got in the car to begin what would be a 12 hour marathon day taking me through the highlights of Lima, and a little further out of the city to some Pre-Inca and Inca ruins.

We started out by visiting some parks in the area. Including Lovers Park, which provided some lovely views of the Pacific Ocean meeting the cliffs that made up the coastline. We bounced around to a couple of other really nice parks, and made a quick stop at some ruins right in the middle of a neighborhood. Then we got to experience some traffic as we made our way toward the old town.

I was very impressed with the first square we visited. You could very clearly see a strong European influence in the buildings. Jhony was providing excellent commentary on the architecture as well as the history of the city after the Spanish arrived. He also explained the troubled history between Peru and Chile. We continued to walk along the pedestrian only streets that seemed to crisscross the old town area. He helped me understand more about the current political situation in Peru as we approached the Presidential Palace. He was hoping to show me a changing of the guard ceremony, but there were some protests going on a couple blocks away, so they weren’t doing it. I was little weary to be around any kind of political unrest being in a foreign country I know that is kind of a red flag. There was a heavy police presence and many of them were in full riot gear. Jhony assured me that it was fine, and the protests occur weekly, and were non violent.

We visited quite a few wonderful cathedrals that in my opinion were on par with some of the cathedrals I’ve visited in Europe. Obviously they weren’t the Vatican, but they were still impressive. It was really nice to have his undivided attention and we were able to have a very candid conversation about the state of affairs in Peru, and learn more about everyday life there. The highlight certainly was the Monastery of San Francisco. They started building it in 1673, and although you couldn’t take pictures inside a lot of the rooms one stood out above all the rest. The library was simply stunning it looked like something out of a medieval fantasy. Then we visited the catacombs where all the citizens of Lima were buried from its construction until 1808. He said there were over 25,000 people buried here. It was a pretty grim yet interesting place to walk through. The whole place really was extraordinary and I was very glad to get a chance to see it.

Afterwards we headed to what Jhony billed as the oldest bar in Lima. We had a couple glasses of Cusqueña, which I found to be really flavorful for a mass-produced lager. At the bar I expressed interest in visiting the central market, and upon learning there was a Chinatown I asked if we could visit there as well. He agreed since it was all just a short walk from where were. I have to say I am sucker for a good market experience. The market here didn’t disappoint and as we walked through the rows and rows of stalls I really felt like I was back in Asia. Hanging meats, fresh fish lined up, and every kind of fruit you can imagine. I could spend all day just watching the interactions in a place like that, so I was very happy that Jhony gave me some time to indulge myself there. While also pointing out the thousands of varieties of potatoes that are grown in Peru, along with some unique fruits I had never seen before.

As we made our way towards Chinatown we stopped in another local market that appeared to be almost entirely full of Christmas items. Jhony stopped and bought some Santa hats for his staff as he explained he was planning on returning to his home village to spread some holiday cheer to the kids there who he said wouldn’t get anything else for Christmas. I enjoyed standing back and watching as the transaction progressed. Thoroughly enjoying the moment to watch the mundane tasks of daily life. As we exited the market place the Chinatown gate came into view.

It was certainly on the smaller side, as it seemed to only occupy a couple of blocks. It was still a surprise to me, as I didn’t expect to find one at all. The pedestrian street featured mosaics of the various Chinese Zodiacs. He explained that most of the Chinese had actually moved out of this area of town, since many had become very successful business owners there. He also said that there are many restaurants all over the city that fused Peruvian and Chinese cuisine. Certainly interesting to learn more about Chinese influence throughout the world. I was glad to get a chance to take see it for myself.

At this point it was 2PM and I was certainly ready for some lunch. Originally the plan was for him to drop me at a non-touristy restaurant to experience some authentic Peruvian dishes. As we walked toward the restaurant I asked him to join me for the meal. He was very appreciative and agreed to join me. The restaurant certainly felt like it was a local hang out and it was very busy. We found a small table, and I told him to order me whatever dishes he felt like I absolutely had to try before leaving Peru. We started with some Ceviche, which while I normally wouldn’t order raw fish I still found it to be excellent and full of flavor. The stand out to me was the sweet potatoes it was served with. Wow, I know they are called sweet potatoes for a reason, but this was a whole new level it was sweet with a very complex flavor. I could easily have just eaten them for the whole meal they really just exploded with flavor. We rounded out the meal with a plate of Tacu Tacu del Mare. Again absolutely delish the rice and beans provided so much flavor. It was an excellent meal, and I now regret my total ignorance for Peruvian food those two dishes were honestly among some of the best food I’ve eaten this year. After settling up on the 17USD tab we started to walk over to meet back up with Jorge, and my guide for the trip to the ruins Gorki. I would meet up again with Jhony after my trip out of town.

As we headed out of town we stopped to get some fuel. What I didn’t realize was the car was powered on natural gas. It was interesting to see how CNG cars are fueled as opposed to their petrol burning equivalents. After filing up for around 10USD we continued on our way out to the ruins. Gorki was very enthusiastic and passionate not only about Peru’s history but its future as well. As we got further out we drove through some of the less developed areas of Lima. Much like what I have seen in Egypt the buildings were left intentionally unfinished to avoid taxation. It also became more and more clear that Lima is in fact in a desert. From all the wonderful parks in the Miraflores area I really didn’t believe it since there is green everywhere. However, as we got closer and closer to the ruins in Pachacamac it became clear that we were in fact in a desert complete with towering sand dunes.

As we arrived at the entrance to the ruins I felt like I was back in Cairo. The site was settled in around 200 A.D. and was home to different cultures before the Inca conquest, and then the eventual Spanish conquest. There were several different pyramids at the site, but I think the highlight was the temple of the sun. Gorki did an excellent job explaining everything, and why this site was so important for so long. Most of it was lost on me though as my background knowledge on ancient South American cultures is severely lacking. It was just a case of information overload, and obviously in our limited time at the site no one would be able to fill in the 1,000-year gap in my knowledge. Even though the nitty-gritty details were sailing right over my head I enjoyed visiting the site. The Temple of the Sun was really quite a sight to see. I also enjoyed seeing a restored portion of an Inca road. We spent a solid couple hours walking around the site. As we headed back to meet the driver I felt kind of bad that I really didn’t take as much away from the site as I could have if had done a little more background research.

On the way back towards the center of Lima Gorki organized a couple of detours to take me through a couple other districts of Lima that he felt I should see. We drove through the neighborhood that he grew up in on the way to Barranco. He said Barranco was more of the current arts and culture district of the city. We walked around a bit before heading over to a nice look out point. Sunset was just getting under way, so the sky was just starting to develop some great orange color. Gorki had to attend a class that evening, so we parted ways and Jorge drove me back downtown to meet up with Jhony again. We hit some rush hour traffic and crept along the highway until we exited right by the Peru National Football Stadium.

I was reunited with Jhony just outside the entrance to The Reserve Park. It was built on a battlefield from the War of the Pacific between Peru and Chile. A few years ago they revamped the park and filled it with thirteen different fountains. It really was a lovely place as each fountain was unique, and lit up wonderfully. Again it was hard to believe that we were in a desert with all this water flowing around us. They also had almost all the trees decorated with Christmas lights, so it was really a very colorful and vibrant area. It was a great way to end the day. After visiting all thirteen fountains my whirlwind tour of Lima was coming to a close. I thank Jhony for the excellent day, and told him that his excellent online reputation was well deserved. I couldn’t have asked for a better day, and I felt like I covered a lot of ground, and got a good mix of seeing a handful of districts mixed in with a little bit of history. It was definitely money well spent, as I would have never been able to see so much on my own.

After saying good-bye Jorge began retracing the route back to the airport. I know you can’t really experience such a large city in just two days, but I really felt like I got a good primer on Peru in general. As we approached the airport I knew that I would be back here eventually. My mother has asked me repeatedly to visit Cusco and Machu Picchu with her, and now that I’ve gotten a little taste of Peru I certainly am looking forward to making that a reality someday soon. As we pulled up to the terminal I thanked Jorge for everything, and headed into the terminal.

[SIZE=16pt]Flight AA918 LIM-MIA 767-300 Refurbed Cabin Seat 5A[/SIZE]

Check in was a breeze with an absolutely wonderful agent. She was efficient and very pleasant she seemed genuinely interested in my thoughts on Peru after I told her this was my first visit. A much different vibe then I’m used to checking in for my flights out of EWR haha. It was kind of a confusing walk to security and immigration as you had to head up some escalators and down a corridor. The signage could defiantly be better. There didn’t appear to be any priority security or immigration, but there really were no lines anyway. I got through all the formalities in about 10 minutes.

I only had about 30 minutes until scheduled boarding, but I still popped in the Sumaq lounge for a preflight drink. The lounge was pretty full, and it took a little bit of searching to find an empty seat. There was a pretty extensive food spread and a large full service bar. I grabbed a couple tea sandwiches, and a vodka tonic. The long day was starting to catch up with me at this point, and I knew I would have no problems sleeping on this flight. After about 20 minutes in the lounge I meandered over to my gate, since I wasn’t sure what kind of wonderful extra security screening would await us as US bound passengers. There seemed to be four gate agents working our gate, and one did an excellent job in getting everyone in the priority lane and group 1 in very neat single file lines. Boarding started on time, and it was definitely going to be a slow process as they were hand searching every carry on.

I was one of the first to board, and you could tell business class was filled with a lot of nonrevs as the crew and even one of the pilots came back to chat with some of the passengers. The PBD tray came around, and I had another glass of sparkling wine. There was a slight delay in pushing back, and after a quick taxi we were on our back to Miami. I took a glance at the menu, and after looking at the choices I decided nothing looked appetizing enough to loose any sleep over. I was sleeping well before the service got underway. It looked like about half the cabin also was giving the dinner service a miss. Not really a surprise considering the 11PM departure.

The next thing I remember was waking up just 45 minutes out from our arrival in Miami. The cabin was still darkened, and even though the menu had a breakfast service in it I really don’t think they offered it. Looking around no one had any service items, and I would imagine if they did a service they would have turned on the lights. I can’t really say for sure, and I didn’t ask about it. Shortly after I woke up the captain come on to announce our descent into Miami. Overall it was exactly what I had hoped for in the flight. I didn’t really care about the service I was just happy that I had a lie flat seat, and was able to get around six hours of sleep.

I got through immigration and customs in no time thanks to Global Entry. That early in the morning they were funneling those of us with Global Entry through the crew lane, so my interaction with customs was nothing more then handing him my slip from the kiosk couldn’t have been easier. Clearing security took a little longer since the precheck lane wasn’t open. They did give me a card for priority screening so I was able to keep my shoes on, and go through a metal detector instead of the body scanner. I head straight for the D30 Admirals Club in hopes of taking a shower. There was only one person ahead of me on the list, so I was accommodated quickly. I had a small bite to eat, and then it was time to board my flight back to New York.

[SIZE=16pt]Flight AA2493 MIA-LIM 767-300 Unrefurbed Cabin Seat 6J[/SIZE]

Boarding was pretty subdued at such an early hour. When I booked this ticket it showed this flight being operated by a refurbished 767. I guess if I looked more closely at my boarding pass I would have realized my seat assignment was wrong for a refurbished plane, but it really wasn’t to concerning on this short flight up to New York. My seatmate was one of the last people aboard the plane, so for a moment I thought I was going to have an empty seat next to me anyway. They closed the door on time, but it was discovered that maintenance didn’t return the log book to the plane so we had about a fifteen minute delay, while they located the log book and reopened the door.

Once all of that was settled they started the breakfast service. The choices were a breakfast quiche or oatmeal. I elected to have the quiche even though now in retrospect having eaten both multiple times the oatmeal would have definitely the better choice. The remainder of the flight was a pretty unremarkable domestic flight. The cabin crew disappeared after the service for the remainder of the flight. I dozed in and out, and almost finished the book I had started earlier in the trip. We made up a little bit of time we lost at the gate in flight.

We arrived at the midfield terminal, so it was a pretty decent hike to the air train. Again all of terminal eight felt rather empty. There was a short wait for the correct air train that would take me back to my car. The drive home was thankfully much easier then my experience getting to the airport.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed my short visit to Lima. I was certainly glad that I went, and that I elected to hire a guide to maximize my time there. Peru is certainly on the list of places to return too, and I’m looking forward to taking my mom down to help her complete another travel bucket list destination for her. In my limited research I read a lot of negative reviews about being unsafe in Lima, but I never felt unsafe even walking alone at night. I think that if you stay in the well-treaded areas there was nothing to worry about. I think its pretty universal that there are certain parts of any major city that one should avoid.

Thank you for taking the time to reading my report. I hope you found it somewhat interesting. As usual it ended up being much longer then I anticipated when I started writing it. You can see more high-resolution pictures [iNSERT LINK]
 
Excellent report Steve! Thanks for sharing!

And for sure visit Cusco and Machu Picchu and be sure to ride the Train, but be aware of the Altitude.

It effects you for a couple of days, especially when drinking alcohol and walking alot. ( Mexico City didn't bother me as much and it's @ 7,500 feet! )
 
Enjoyed your trip report to Peru Steve, and brought back some nice memories of a trip I took to Central America many years ago. It is fun to just walk the streets by yourself and enjoy the shops and the street scenes along the way. Doubt that I will ever make it back to Latin America with health problems these days, but encourage you to see the world while you are young. :)
 
Thank you very much Steve. People think I am an ambitious traveler, but I think you have me beat. I have been to Costa Rica, but the only South American location was Cartagena, Columbia on a cruise ship stop.
 
Back
Top