Saturday 21/04 (2/2)
We arrive in Lima at 5pm local time; there’s a 2-hour time difference with Chile.
Very smooth arrival formalities. 30’ free internet so enough to order 1 UberXL (van) but not enough to follow the arrival of the second one (since the first one cancelled his trip). Conclusion: don’t use Uber without internet connection.
The van finally arrived; it’s a very old (and quite small) van. One of the windows broke on the way.
We arrived at the apartment at 7:30pm. Very nice, modern, clean and rather big (3 bedrooms, with 4 single beds and 1 very large double bed).
It’s already 9:30pm for us. I go quickly to Larcomar shopping mall, to buy some food for dinner. Larcomar is a modern and very nice nearby shopping mall, located along the cliff next to the ocean. One impressive architectural feature is that, when arriving to the mall, we don’t see it until being 10m from it (it is “below” the street level but with a great view on the ocean).
I’m back a bit before 10:30pm. I could only find sandwiches (apart from the typical fast food of course), from one of the most famous chains in Peru: ‘La Lucha Sanguchería Criolla’. Lima may be known for ceviche and seafood, but the city is also sandwich heaven; it has a strong sandwich culture. ‘La Lucha Sangucheria Criolla’ is supposed to offer the best sandwiches in Lima but we didn’t find them so good.
I work till midnight (2am Chile time). I try to prepare a programme for our 6-day stay in Lima.
Sunday 22/04
We wake up quite early: a bit after 7am.
It’s a day off for the kids today. I will try to get them rest during our stay in Lima. On Saturday, we indeed leave for a 5-week itinerant trip, mainly in the Andes (between 3,000 and 4,500m) + a few days in the Amazonian forest. It will be tiring for the kids (and for us): the first part is a 10-day trip from Lima to Cuzco by local transportation means (trains and buses), then there will be a 5-day trek (to reach Machu Picchu) and then a 4-day trip to the Amazonian jungle. So we need to get the kids fit to cope with such programme. After this itinerant trip, we will come back for a week in Lima and we’ll then have 13 days in the Galapagos before ending our trip with 2 months in the US.
Isabelle and I go to Larcomar to find something to eat for this morning + fruits and vegetables. We go to Wong supermarket. Fruits are not great.
Florence and Jules enjoy Netflix; they watch 2 movies. Ludivine downloads plenty of songs. Isabelle starts preparing the US and I try to fix the programme of our trip in Peru. I’ve never been in such situation: nothing (absolutely nothing) is booked after Lima, which we leave in less than a week… I have some work to do… But I start with working on many pending emails that require actions from my side. I therefore only start to really focus on the Peru trip after lunch (a salad; not very good). Last week, in Santiago, I sent an email to a dozen travel agencies in Peru, mainly based in Cuzco (recommended by the Lonely Planet) and I have to read all the answers that I received.
I spend the whole afternoon doing that, while Isabelle continues to discover all the wonders of the US. The kids also stay in front of their devices (Jules mainly to play, Florence to watch YouTube videos and Ludivine to download music).
I prepare pasta around 8pm. I then go with the kids, who didn’t go out of the apartment today, to Larcomar to eat a (Pinkberry) frozen yoghurt; I take an Häagen-Dazs ice cream. We also participate in a quick VR demonstration for the S9 Samsung mobile phone; kids enjoy.
We come back home around 9:30pm. Kids go directly to sleep. Tomorrow we will try to wake up early to get a kind of a rhythm for the next 4-5 days: homeschooling from 9am to 12:30pm then lunch (probably some ceviche outside) and then visit of the city.
Isabelle and I continue to work on our laptop until 11:30pm. Today, we spend our full day (more than 12 hours) in front of our laptops! Not great but, we believe, required.
Monday 23/04
We wake up quite early.
We all start working at 8:30am.
Around 12:30pm we go and eat. We wanted to eat a ceviche but most of the good places for ceviche are closed on Monday. By the way, they are also closed at night. Ceviche is indeed eaten traditionally on sunny summer days with a cold beer. Although some restaurants serve ceviche in the evening (particularly those frequented by tourists), typically Limeños (Lima’s inhabitants) will not eat it after the sun goes down as the raw fish would not be considered being fresh enough.
We go, on foot (30’), to the ‘Raw Café’, a vegan place in Miraflores. We drink good juices and eat nice wraps and pizzas (with cashew cheese). We very much enjoy (except Jules).
We come back on foot too. We let the kids go directly to the apartment while we do some grocery shopping, in the Metro this time. This supermarket is not great. We later on discover the Vivanda supermarket, which seems much nicer. We’ll definitely go there during our next stay in Lima (early June).
We then go to Movistar to buy 2 sim cards. It takes more than 1h30 to get them… It’s one of the longest processes to get sim cards since the beginning of the trip. It’s also the first time we don’t take a prepaid card (the postpaid option was better for the duration of our stay, according to the vendor). We even have to put our fingerprints on the documents (on top of our signatures and the copy of our passports…); we hadn’t done this since we lived Morocco.
Isabelle goes back home and I go to print a few documents (power of attorney for me and French homework for Jules).
I get back home around 6pm. I discover the messages I got regarding the trip around Cuzco (mainly from Matt, from Amazonas Explorer, who is very responsive). I also call him to discuss further (we’d also like to do a kind of volunteering social project).
Isabelle prepares a good tomato soup.
We play a few rounds of ‘Loup Garou’.
We talk with Ludivine. We are indeed afraid about her (lack of) progress in her academic programme. We’d like her to realize that she has to work much harder (and definitely more than her brother and sister) during the next 3 months if she wants to go to her “normal” year (4th) in September.
Isabelle and I work till 12:30am.
