Jet lag works miracles. It has succeeded in doing what has never been achieved in the 52 years of my existence….. waking up early! In Lima we are 5hours behind the UK time so today I found myself wide awake at 3.30am local time (8.30am at home). This was going to make it a long day so I decided to enter into the world of listening to Podcasts to pass the time (Jo Marler’s Things People Do was my podcast of choice today and I learned all about life as a submariner, Solo Arctic Explorer and Lifeguard).
Breakfast is available from 5am, (I think perhaps because cabin crew stay in the hotel so there’s lots of people with early starts), we resisted until 7am then could wait no longer. Funnily enough it was very quiet at breakfast at7am, but a lovely breakfast waiter called Oscar spent his time chatting to us and telling us all about Lima and how it had changed over the years. Breakfast was up on the 18th floor which meant we had an amazing view over the city and its rooftops. Lima has very little green space and as you look over the city you can see that the only way it can expand is upwards so it’s a patchwork of cobbled together buildings (many ramshackled) all crammed in. Oscar told us that 1/3 of of Peru’s population now live in Lima - approx. 10million people squished into the city. Oscar is probably in his 50’s but still remembers when the city was much smaller and there were fields and lots of green space. It’s only in the past 40 or so years that people have migrated to Lima from elsewhere in the country for the dream of earning more money.
The conversation started when Oscar noticed me pointing out the window at something and came over to see if he could help. I had spotted children playing football on what I thought was a school playground with a dirt makeshift pitch. What I hadn’t noticed was that the children were actually playing football on a rooftop - Oscar said this was a school and they have no space so the roof top is the only area for the children to play. There was netting round the area but not nearly as high as the netting we have at school to stop balls going into the teachers gardens. My gosh those rooftop children were much more careful with their ball than some others that spring to mind!
The rest of the day was spent exploring the city. We visited the main cathedral, saw the presidents palace (a bit like Buckingham palace from the outside) which was guarded by soldiers, a fancy big church which had Krypts and many elaborate alters all dedicated to different saints. I still find it difficult to understand how the church can be so opulent when there is so much poverty round about it. We saw a large queue of people outside one church and it was only as we got closer that we realised the people were all queueing for food which was being handed out. It really makes you stop and think how lucky we are.
I have to admit that by the time late afternoon approached I was in need of a siesta so we headed home. We had a quick bite to eat and did a spot of people watching in the hotel. We came to the conclusion that the couple sitting near us were having an illicit affair - the gentleman was much older than his partner, gazed far too lovingly into her eyes and had 4 mobile phones at all times on the seat next to him, there was definitely something amiss there. Then there was a convention which emptied out - we spent ages trying to decide what kind of convention would have a workforce consisting of 29 women and 5 men. Turns out it was a medical company of some sort. I went for “a little snooze” at 4.30pm and slept for 13hours! Andy had tried to wake me but I was out for the count so left me to have the mother of all sleeps. It’s safe to say I feel brand new and raring to go on another adventure tomorrow.
Roof top football pitch
Roof top football pitch
In a Krypt of the main cathedral
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