Oct. - 02 -2006
Dear all,
Since I arrived at Peru, I have not seen the sun but for a couple of times and then only for a couple of hours... The climate of Lima is on the cool side at this time of the year. The temperature has been between 66 and 70 deg. F. with overcast skies, thin fog and a relative humidity of 80% most of the time. They say that once you leave Lima towards the high sierra the sun is there... well, this is the spring time and I am still missing the sun... can't wait for the summer!!
While the prices of food are low, the prices of fuel are pretty high. Gasoline
is around 15 soles/gallon and diesel at 13 soles/gallon (3.2 soles/dollar)
La Punta, where I am at, is a very pretty town with brightly painted brick/cement
large houses (over 4000 sq ft) chalet type of house construction. Wide, clean
streets with wide clean side walks with small shops of all kinds so you don't
have to go to Lima to get stuff including a small market but with a wide variety
of fresh vegetales, fruits, meats and fish... There are a couple of bakeries
one of which makes the type of bread that I like so I am set!!
Everything is very clean in La Punta. You can feel a sense of security and wellbeing strolling the streets. There is a clinic open from 8am to 8pm with real doctors which - I think I already told you about this - cost 5 soles for a doctor's visit and the farmacy at the clinic is well stocked. There is a larger farmacy just a block down the street.
The restaurants are not abundant but are diverse
and very inexpensive.
Transport to Lima and the towns now part of Lima como San Isidro, Miraflores,
etc, is also very inexpensive. For 1 Sol you can travel to Lima from La Punta
which takes 45 minutes to an hour. The shops in Lima and its privilege suburbs
are similar to those in the USA. Large stores stile Home Depot, Safeway, etc
in large shopping centers USA stile but with Peru prices are in abundance.
As I said previously, the avenues, streets and buildings in the better districts of Lima are all very clean, nicely painted and pleasant to look at. However, once you leave those areas, this country is not any different from other latin-american countries. Dirty towns with unfinished, unpainted small houses, in dirty unpaved streets with trash all over is what I saw on my way to the archeological site of Caral, about 115 miles (184 km) north of Lima.
Caral, is from 3000 to 4000 BC - so they say. The trip North along the coast was on a good (toll) 4 lane highway until Supe. Just before Supe, you take a dirt road for 24 km to Caral which takes about an hour to travel. All along the coast the land is bared. A sand desert without a tree or vegetation. Only where there were rivers (dry most of them) there was some vegetation. The overcast sky and haze gave the surroundings a "dirty" and unpleasant look. The road passes through several cities, towns and villages that as I said leave much to be desired when compared to La Punta and Lima suburbs.
I have only seen a little part of the coast from
Lima to Supe but I hope that traveling through the interior is more pleasant
with sun and good weather.
We are in the "spring" time here but the raining season is the summer
(Dec-Jan). Since the interior of the country is at elevations higher than 10,000
feet,
(3,000 meters) I am going to wait until the later part of October to travel
to Huancayo, Ayacucho, Cusco, Machu-Pichu, Puno, Arequipa, etc, etc. I just
hope that it will be a little warmer than now and without rain... will let you
know!
So far my experience in Peru is very positive. They
say there is a lot of crime and insecurity in the tourists areas as well as
in other less privilege places... I have not felt that insecurity yet but I
am taking precautions... after 3 months in the Galapagos where there is no crime
of any type, is kind of weird to have to take security precautions....
Felipe