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It
started off so well, if you are Angela’s dad that is! We arrived at the
Iberia check-in desk, at London Heathrow Airport, on Friday 2 September
2006 at 4:45am, an hour and a quarter before it even opened!
The
flight out to Lima was via Madrid, Spain. It was a great flight and we
actually watched our own plane take-off and land! No, we were not
strapped to the wings! Iberia have a camera built into the tail of their
planes so you can watch what is going on outside whilst you are flying.
Seeing
the Amazon from the plane didn’t really create the "wow" factor we were
expecting. Funnily enough it just looked like a big forest! What were we
expecting I wonder? However, that giddy feeling that we have been talking
about kicked in as we flew over The Andes, it was spectacular. I think it
finally dawned on us that we are going to experience something amazing
over the next twelve months.
Our
taxi journey from the airport to the hotel was, in Angela’s choice of
word, "Interesting!" Even as someone who has driven in the centre of
Paris on a Saturday evening, I would never attempt to drive in Lima!
Three lanes go into one, cars on your left turn right, in front of you,
without any warning other than the obligatory use of the car-horn!
Our
hotel was right next to the Pacific Ocean and guess what you could hear
all night long? Yep, you guessed it, car horns! Whereas normally it
would have been annoying and we would probably have gone and asked to
change rooms, it made us feel like we were in South America. That busy,
fiery, vibrant Latin American feel even seems to apply to the traffic! We
were so tired that the noise didn’t keep us awake, although one car-horn
did make Angela jump as she wasn’t sure whether it was in the room or not!
Lima
was far safer than we imagined, but then we stopped in Miraflores, the
tourist centre of Lima, and the police presence there is plentiful. The
parks were beautiful to walk through and full of some very talented
artists, but as soon as they see US$ the prices go through the roof!
One of
the famous, local drinks, Pisco Sour, is a blow-your-head-off drink that
Angela took a real fancy to, whereas I can thoroughly recommend Conqueza
beer! Two Pisco Sours and Angela was drunk and she had a hangover the
following day! Incidentally, the regular "flat-white" coffee here beats
just about any espresso you can find in the UK!
From Lima we flew up to a
town called, Iquitos, on the banks of the Amazon and were instantly
affected by the heat and humidity, as the sweat poured off us within
seconds! Iquitos is inaccessible by road, so you have to either fly
there, or catch a boat along the Amazon. Subsequently there are very few
cars and vans in Iquitos, but the thousands of Rickshaws make up for it!
The buzz is incredible, you really can feel the vibe of this Amazonian
town. We spent the night enjoying a couple of beers at a local pub,
overlooking the Amazon River, eagerly awaiting our adventure into the
jungle the following day. |