The Hunt For Paddington Begins…

Leaving the USA behind I headed to Peru, via a brief stop in Panama, on a hellishly early flight. Catching up on some much need Miami-deprived sleep on the first leg, I got out my 80’s style Spanish phrase book to brush up on my very poor and underprepared language abilities. With phrases to survive customs such as “These are for my personal use” and “Do I have to unpack this myself?” added to my arsenal I was sure that I would receive a warm reception. While my books typical stroppy, western tourist approach to the Spanish language was sure to get me far I played it safe, prearranging a pickup from the airport to take me directly to my hostel for the week, leaving many a suspect taxi driver extremely disappointed by not gaining my business.

My hostel was in Barrancco, a coastal suburb of Lima a 25 minute, death-defying drive from the airport. It seems that Peruvian drivers are all about economy of space. Lane guides are token marks on the road, the name of the game is finding space- and driving flat out to get into it before one of your fellow drivers beats you too it. Or hits you. It’s an experience that I would imagine to be similar to being in a NASCAR race; only if they broke their omni-turning tendencies and finally worked out how to turn right and most of the competitors were driving buses. The word ‘loco’ was one of the first native words to grace my lips, repeatedly. And usually with some volume.

With slightly moist underwear, I made it to my lodgings in one piece. It was situated 5 blocks away from Barrancco’s central municipal park and 3 blocks away from the beach, unfortunately I had arrived in Lima during the spring meaning that the city was covered in a perpetual blanket of cloud. This was instantly making me question my South American wardrobe selection as I was under the assumption that South America was a pretty damn hot place. With assumptions being the mother of all fuck ups, my lackadaisical approach may be already proving to work against me. However, once again with my British resolve, a bit of bad weather wasn’t going to spoil anything for me.

While the weather may not spoil my time in Lima my complete ineptitude with foreign languages may. Before leaving on my travels I had spent several weeks brushing up on my Spanish so I wouldn’t be completely lost. Unfortunately, the last 6 weeks in the United States had sapped me of much of what I had learnt, leaving me to the disposal of the handful of pages at the back of my Rough Guide and my decidedly 80’s looking phrase book Becoming increasingly sure that the phrase book designed to ensure that your stay is a short and unpleasant one, I reverted back to the Rough Guide and my very broken Spanglish. With very few English speakers in South America it dawned on me how challenging this trip could be.

Despite my near inability to communicate and the constant cloud cover, I was able to spend my time by taking several long walks along Barrancco’s coast line. With a mixture of homely pebble beaches and the occasional sand covered section it was lined by upmarket restaurants, rundown football pitches and a constantly manic main road hugging the cliffs that support Barrancco’s lush and luxurious houses and apartment blocks. The walk along here was particularly nice, as the cliff tops all had well kept gardens and squares where you could sit, relax and stare into the Pacific Ocean below. The murky looking sea was often inhabited by a good number of surfers, keen to take on the 4-5 foot waves that constantly pound the shore.

The walk down to the shore takes you through the oldest and nicest parts of the suburb. The downwards slopping and often steep cobbled streets and small park areas are surrounded rustic houses, restaurants and bars offering lovely views of the ocean. There’s a bridge overlooking much of this old-time traditional district leading to one of the areas oldest churches, which despite needing some radical roof repairs, is lit up beautifully at night. However, this quaint coastal area is greatly different to the buildings and streets further inland.

Moving away from the Municipal area, the streets the pretty and relaxed ambience changes somewhat. The housing is far more modest and less glamorous than their cliff top counterparts, becoming less well decorated and more run down. The roads are far less maintained and pothole prone than central Barrancco’s well kept yet busy streets, and more and more vagrant dogs can be seen wandering the streets scavenging for scraps. Away from the tourist areas this is what the majority of Lima is like.

Another main area for visitors and backpackers that is similar to Barrancco is Miraflors. It took me a good 45 minute roundabout walk to find the popular area from Barrancco, having to ask in very, very broken Spanish for directions on route when my map reading skills failed me. Once arriving there it was clear that there was a lot more going on here than in my local suburb, with a far more commercial atmosphere and appearance as well as much busier streets. With many shops, restaurants, coffee shops and hostels surrounding another one of Lima’s grand and well kept garden areas there’s far more of an international choice than that which is offered by Barrancco. However, being surrounded by McDonalds, Starbucks, KFC and like isn’t really what I came to South America for, and while many homesick or unadventurous travellers are more than happy to stick to what they know it definitely wasn’t for me.

As I preferably wanted to stay away from these mammoth international chains I wanted to try as many of the local dishes as possible at the smaller restaurants in Barrancco. Armed with my trusty Spanish dictionary, deciphering the menus often took longer than ordering and eating the meal itself. The first meal I ordered on arriving in Lima was a thick cheese pasta affair, which being lactose intolerant wasn’t the greatest of starts. Things did get better after that though. Being so close to the sea meant that there is always a good selection of seafood available, including a local dish called “Cevice”. This treat is chopped raw fish soaked in lemon and lime, which despite its cold and wet texture was surprisingly nice if a little samey, but mixed seafood cevice certainly has a lot more to offer. Deep fried seafood is a common sight on menus and either comes in very large portions or I accidently ordered a platter for two to share. The surprised look on the waiter’s face the first time I ordered it would explain a few things, as well as the equally surprised look once he’d seen that I had seen the whole lot off. Other common dishes are variations of seafood and rice, or paella which are always a solid bet when looking at an undecipherable menu. Another tasty Peruvian dish, called Lomo Saltada, was made up of strips of beef in a tomato and onion sauce over a bed of chips with rice. While it may be overloading on the carbs it’s a starchy sensations; extremely tasty and filling. They’re also big on BBQed assorted meats, which can be a minefield but surprisingly nice if you don’t think too hard about what you’re eating. As of yet I haven’t worked my way up to one of Peruvians main specialities; coy, better know as guinea pig. For me it would be too much of an insult to the memory of Mr Giggs, but we’ll see as time goes by.

Despite travelling on my own and staying in a small quiet hostel I found it relatively easy to meet people. After going to an empty bar for a drink and a smoke I was soon followed by a group of 7 other newly arrived travellers from all over, who invited me over and gave me newfound hope in my poor language skills as most of their Spanish skills consisted of speaking English and putting an ‘o’ on the end of each word. After a few Pisco Sours we were all speaking perfect Spanglish. The next day I joined one of them again along with an army of Aussies that had invaded her hostel. We headed to a large and busy bar in Barrancco where we drink, played pool on the snooker table with tiny pockets and were entertained by an American cowboy hat wearing backpacker who insisted on dancing uncontrollably to the 80’s music being blared out by the DJ. Apart from my newfound hatred for pool it was good times, hopefully the group on my GAP tour through Peru will be as fun…

Tl;dr

-If you think you can survive in South America by just speaking English you are very wrong. Make sure you’ve got a good phrase book and not a dodgy 80’s one like me.

-The roads are crazy. If it’s not the mad taxis and buses zooming about its people back flipping their way across crossings. Bizarre.

-Going to South America, I was expecting hot sunny weather, unfortunately apart from one day Lima was covered in a blanket of cloud. And it remains so for 9 months of the year!

-Barrancco is a nice, quiet area of Lima, perfect for going to the beach and for walks as well as plenty of local restaurants and bars to enjoy the well kept garden and park areas dotted around the suburb.

-If you want a bit more action, head to Miraflores, but beware if you’ve come to South America to avoid home comforts you might not want to stay for long.

-There are lots of great seafood dishes to try out- just make sure you have your Spanish dictionary with you to work out what they are.