PERU DIARY #2

You would expect that with the time difference of 7 hours, the mornings here would be easy for me. And it is true that I wake up at 04:00 and then again at 05:00, but when the alarm goes off at 06:30 or 07:00, I still feel quite tired and worn out. The mornings always start incredibly early and then I find myself half-asleep during the 80% car rides. It's something. Anyway, I left you at the vineyards and the next morning (Saturday) we set off early in the day for a visit to El Carmen.

El Carmen is a small village in the Ica region. We had lunch in a hacienda there with a rich history of slavery, which I found a bit complicated. After a tour of the grounds, past the torture devices and through the pitch-dark cellars where the slaves were locked up and tortured until death followed, we sat down for an elaborate meal. I don't know, you shouldn't close your eyes to the past, but it almost came across as proud and I found it difficult to enjoy lunch carefreely afterward. After that, we got back into our van that took us back to Lima in four hours, and of course, I spent most of that ride sleeping.

Lima has 47 districts and one of them is Barranco, and I immediately fell in love with Barranco. I mentioned last time that the part of Peru I have seen so far is quite difficult to understand because it consists of loose clusters of villages and mostly a lot of sand and emptiness. I also didn't quite understand Lima. The only part I had seen looked more like Baghdad than a South American city, and I got a huge “what are you supposed to do here?!” feeling from it. But in Barranco, everything becomes clear. There hangs the sultry unrest that makes South America so enjoyable, the houses are beautiful and large, the bars are numerous, and the restaurants are everywhere.

We dined at Isolina Taberna Peruana (a recommendation) and then crossed the street to Ayahuasca, which has been named the best bar in South America by Condé Nast Traveller. So this one should be on your list, and when you're there; do yourself a favor and order the Lychee Sour because that might be the best drink I've had in ages. We hopped into a taxi and drove to Miraflores, another district that is buzzing and lively. A mojito came to the table and around 03:00 I cautiously suggested we should head back to the hotel, because with an alarm going off again at 07:00 and my strange sleep rhythm, I couldn't help but almost fall asleep in the café.

Then Sunday. We started at the Larco Museum where the history of Peru is displayed. I will tell you, I'm not really into museums. Almost always I find them boring and I can't muster the interest to look at a display case full of old stones and shards and find them interesting just because they are 2000 years old, but don't suddenly look that much more impressive. I must admit that at times it was quite fascinating (the Peruvians made pots and based on those pots you can pretty much understand the entire history from ancient to modern Peru) but still, I was glad when the end was in sight.

We ended that at the accompanying museum restaurant and that was a highlight because it was so incredibly beautiful. We had lunch with Ceviche (perhaps the most famous Peruvian dish and definitely my favorite) and when everything was finished and we had taken the last sips of the wifi, we headed towards the airport for a flight to Iquitos, because the next stop on the program is three days cruising through the Amazon, without wifi.

And here I am now. I'm on a fairly luxurious boat and will cruise through the Amazon for three nights. I look around and see rainforest, exotic birds, and vast rivers. It is serene and calm, with some elderly Canadians and Americans on the boat, and due to the absence of the internet, I feel for the first time in a long time that I am really completely away. I'm writing this on Monday and this diary will go online on Thursday and then I'll be back in the Netherlands. What a very strange idea that is. Anyway, I'll tell you in the next diary how this cruise went and whether I climbed a palm tree screaming for Instagram signal in search of reception.