Day 14: Final Day In Peru

Mishap in Cusco

This morning I woke up in Cusco. I had scheduled a taxi at 5:30 am and had a flight departing for Lima at 6:55 am — or so I thought. I got to the airport on time, but something was wrong. The airline I was flying with had no one at the counter and no guests lined up. I panicked as the time drew near departure and started asking around.

Getting information in the Cusco airport is difficult. There are few monitors indicating flight status and I didn’t see a single one that was turned on when I first arrived. Going to the information desk didn’t help either. I showed the ticket to the woman working there and she just told me to go and wait. I tried getting a wifi signal to confirm the flight status, but all wifi at the Cusco airport is locked up.

I was an hour into it. I was past my check-in time and I still had no answers. Finally, the people working for the airline I was using started to show up. I managed to flag one of them down, he looked at my information and informed me that I had booked a flight from Lima to Cusco, not Cusco to Lima! He also informed me that flights from Cusco to Lima were all full.

I don’t know how I made this mistake when booking the ticket. I have flown many times and never even came close to making such a mistake. Ah well, my priority was to get to Lima on this day, as I was due to fly out back to Canada the day after. I ended up buying another ticket and found my way to Lima about two hours later than I had expected.

Lima

I treated myself with a stay at a nice hotel. The hotel is right in Central Lima, close to the main square. I walked around most of the day and don’t have much to show in terms of photos. This would be my third day in Lima and I have to say, Lima does not appeal to me. The streets are overcrowded, the vibe seems unfriendly and there is no warmth to the place. At least this is how I felt in Central Lima. Districts like Miraflores feel a bit more relaxed.

I went out to find a place to eat and noticed that fried chicken is quite popular in Central Lima. Everywhere I turn, there seem to be restaurants deep-frying chicken. I even saw two KFCs. I figured I’d have what the locals were having and enjoyed my deep fried chicken on a bench in the plaza.

Final Post

This is my final post for the trip. Even though there was a lot I didn’t see, this trip exceeded my expectations. I really enjoyed the history, as well as the culture. I enjoyed ever place I stayed, with the possible exception given to Lima. Tomorrow I’ll hop into a taxi and make my way back to a frozen Calgary.