THE GRAND PERU-BOLIVIA 2018 TREKKING TOUR - A DAY IN LIMA

Ever since we were kids we've longed to visit one of our planets most wealthiest countries - Peru.

Of course, by saying wealthiest we don't speak in terms of money. According to many Peru is "a country blessed with a unique heritage. Where riches are measured in wellbeing and harmony with nature". - and after many years of dreaming about this distant and enchanting land, we finally got an opportunity to verify this claim. !

Whenever we thought about Peru, whenever there was some documentary abou it, each and every time we got hypnotized by on thing - the nature.

Churup Laguna

The impressive Andes, the romote glacier lakes lying beneath some of our worlds highest peaks, many ancient cities hidden in the mountains covered in clouds, the Amazon... Each and every part like a separate universes - harmoniously dancing all together forming a higher one. For all of us living in other continents, sights like these may seem otherworldly.
For us it most certainly did.

Keep calm and climb some mountains...

It's quite a challenge to pick a starting point in our Peruvian tale after we think about all the sights, moments and experience that we were blessed with during our exploration of this...words like awesome, amazing etc. are way to poor to portray what we went through so we will just say - of this land that makes you profoundly happy and grateful to be organically alive and conscious on this world.

So where to begin ?

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In my #introduceyourself article, I've mentioned that one of my missions will be to help in awakening the hidden explorer we all have deep within. I consider Peru to be a true ally and of great help in this respect. Even though our Peruvian adventure was to take place deep in the Andes, our first stop was in Lima so this is where our tale of this distant land will begin.

LIMA

The Pacific coast of Lima.

The journey from Serbia to Peru had lasted an eternity...but it was well worth it.
All those memories about our long and shaky flight have completely vanished the moment we inhaled the fresh air from a new continent.

There's no better feeling than the one that leaving all your worries back at home brings...as you are preparing to jump in to a clean and crispy sheets in a freshly made bed next to an open window...inhaling the tropical air that wafts the fresh ocean aroma including the completely new song and frequency emitted by local exotic birds.
Transition from the reality into the world of dreams came gently and almost unnoticeably.

Each new morning usually brings new kind of inspiration, and we were determined to make the most of the upcoming day. In spite of "tourist alert", we decided to check out the Plaza Mayor de Lima to get an impression of what the old Lima used to look like. Besides the main square, which is quite vibrant and touristy, this part of Lima has many little streets filled with shops, museums, bars, streets performers, restaurants etc. and we had a great time exploring them.

Plaza Mayor de Lima

The charm of the old times..

Ultra-Mega-Angel-Soldier-Roman-Warrior-Policeman ??

Even though we only had one day to spend in Lima, we have already found an unique way to get a really good impression of this wast and intriguing city. It turned out that this unique way had launched us in to the skies from which we got a wonderful opportunity to marvel upon the impressive skyline of Peruvian capital.

Hi form the sky !

In our opinion, paragliding is probably the best way to get an proper impression of Lima's unique beauty and specific geographical position.

The best spot to do paragliding is in Miraflores.

The Miraflores hills.

Miraflores is a neighborhood located in a beautiful and modern part of Lima just by the Pacific ocean.
The paragliding tours depart from the hills overseeing the impressive coast, filled with many surf rentals, restaurants, hotels etc.
The tours usually last for about 10 min. and cost 85$. The GoPro HD video is included in the price but some of the guides don't properly position the shooting angle go the camera - which may result in a strange angled footage.

The quality and the angle of the footage could have been better, but hey - you're flying !

Nevertheless, once you "detach" from the ground and slowly start ascend higher and higher, footage is the the last thing one thinks about. While we were landing to Lima we got the impression that the city was HUGE, and our paragliding tour had just confirmed it.
It had seamed as if we were looking at a river of buildings and constructions that flowed into infinity occasionally split by the nearby mountains. This was also our first time seeing the Pacific ocean and we just couldn’t have wished for a better introduction - the one that came from the skies.

3, 2, 1...

10 min., seriously !? This tour should last for at least an hour.

We consider paragliding to be a truly wonderful way to explore any kind of region that allows it. For those able to do it by themselves, it's one of those pollution free activities that cancel the money based type of tourism. It's just you, the wind, the nature and the profound freedom of the endless skies.

Great, but you just can't do all this amazing stuff on an empty stomach, right ?

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In our opinion, the local cuisine is one of the major ways in which we interact with, and get to know about, any kind of destination. Due to the lack of time, we didn't quite have an opportunity to explore the huge variety of local dishes and specialties. It should be noted that Lima hosts one of the most popular 3 Michelin stars restaurants in the world - The Central Restaurante Due to an incredibly tight schedule, we couldn't get a reservation in Central Restaurante but some of our friends that went have said that the experience was otherworldly.

However, we did find a restaurant called Alfresco had a really good ceviche and THE BEST grilled octopus that we've had so far. We would gladly recommend this restaurant if you ever happen to be in Lima.

Alfresco vibes.

The best grilled octopus EVER !

Shy chef - great food :)

The day had passed in the blink of an eye, and we even though we didn't get that much time to thoroughly explore the impressive Peruvian capital we still felt that our limited time was well spent.
After we've enjoyed our first and mesmerizing Pacific sunset, we bid farewell to Lima as we were slowly preparing for our next stop, Huaraz, which is a city located in northern part of Peru.

This city of Huaraz was the place where our first official trekking tour in Peru was to take place and this subject will be covered in our next article :)

All presented content (photography, text, etc.) is my original work.
I hope that you've enjoyed reading this article as much as I have making it.
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Love,
Damijan