Where and When: Lima – Peru, 26 May 2023
1525: We land on time at Lima International Airport. Immigration is fairly straight forward, with about a 30 minute queue. The wait for luggage is a bit longer.
1635: After we collected the luggage we met up with our guide and driver and headed towards Lima. We are on a 10 day tailor-made trip to Peru.
Our first impressions of Lima are of a hustling and bustling city. We had arrived at rush hour on a Friday evening, so the traffic is pretty heavy.
Our hotel is on the district of Miraflores which is about 10 km south of the centre of Lima.
1800: After arriving at the hotel (Arawi Miraflores Express) there is enough time to freshen up and go for a short walk and a quick dinner before calling an early night.
Since it is a fairly short post today, I thought it would be useful to share a few facts and figures about Lima and Peru.
- Peru has a population of about 33 million people, and about 10 million of this live in Lima. Another 3 million live in the district of Callao on the outskirts of Lima, where the airport is located.
- Branco and Miraflores are the posh, up-market areas of Lima. These two areas are next to the coast line of Lima and has many high rise buildings with a sea view, which are home to the middle and upper class residents of Lima.
- Lima gets very little rain. It is infact, the driest capital city in the world.
Few facts about Peru
- Peru is divided in to 3 different areas – lowlands/coastal area, the Andes mountains and the Amazon, which forms 60% of Peru.
- History of Peru dates back to over 2000 years. Before my visit, I was under the impression that during all this time, the Inca empire ruled over Peru. But infact, Peru was dominated by different tribes and cultures during the course of its history. The Inca empire ruled Peru for only about 100 years. However, the Incas were ruling over Peru when the Spanish Conquistadores arrived in 1532, and therefore it is civilisation that is associated with Peru today.
- Peru is the name given to the country by the Spanish. At the time of Spanish colonisation, the Inca Empire was known as “Tawantinsuyu”, which translated to “The four regions”.
- Peru became independent from Spain in 1821.
- Modern day Peru’s main industries are Mining, Agriculture, Tourism and Fishing.
- Official language of Peru is Spanish. People also speak Quechua (the official language of the Inca empire) and Aymara.
- 95% of the Peruvian population is Catholic.
From next week I will be posting about our 10 day trip to Peru.
Have you been to Peru? What was your favourite part? Or perhaps you are planning to go? What would you like to see most? Leave a comment below, and let me know.
Diary of a Tourist 