The early days: Miraflores

11/21/2016

Lighthouse, hang glider, coastal parks in Miraflores, Peru.

The adventure had finally begun, and I was on the ground in Peru, staying in Miraflores. Greater Lima, like many larger cities, is made up of neighborhoods, or almost separate municipalities, and Miraflores is very popular with tourist. Miraflores sits right along the coast, though steep bluffs separate it from the Pacific Ocean. There are a great string of parks along the top of the bluffs, and occasionally, there are stairs down the bluffs and across a major roadway to the beach, stony beach, but surfer's paradise. The plan was to stay in Miraflores for a couple of weeks until my van, and a bit later, my equipment arrived. But significant problems quickly surfaced, and I will document these in later posts. I do not want to rant on and on about what happened, how I was treated, how much it cost me, and how stupid and corrupt everyone associated with the port of Callao is, but people do need to know some things. The system is broken, and they, customs officials, my customs broker/clearing agent, others, never seemed to understand that I was just a tourist, a tourist who apparently did something so different that the idiots here in Peru simply couldn't understand. Now I am not saying all Peruvians are idiots, I met many wonderful people, people who became good friends. But I could not get officials and even my agent (who I paid) to understand that what I was doing, shipping a van and equipment into the country via a ship, was no different from driving across the border. I was still a tourist, a temporary visitor to Peru, I was importing nothing. I quickly became imprisoned in Peru, for two months. More on that later.

I had made reservations though Booking.com for my place in Miraflores, Casa de Baraybar, one block from the parks and bluffs. The room at first was nice, but small, though they eventually moved me to a nicer room; I never imagined when I made the reservations that I would basically be in Miraflores for almost a month, though did escape for 8 nights to get out of Lima during the continuous delays. The breakfast, included, was fine, and there is a bike path that runs from park to park along the coast, from the edge of Miraflores to Barranco, the next "town" up the coast. Miraflores very middle-to-upper middle class, and has many restaurants and bars, though scattered about a bit. It was a nice place to start, and so happy I brought my bike, let me explore, and also, do business associated with troubles I was having getting my van, and later, my equipment, into the country and through customs. I road places I should not have ridden (according to many locals), I got chased by more than a few dogs, crashed twice, but at least was able to explore. Peruvians are very proud of their food, especially their seafood, which was excellent, but could get expensive eating out every night. And I did discover La Mar Cebicheria, a ceviche place, guess operated by famous chef in Lima, just wonderful, would eat there every Sunday for a month. Basic ceviche dish, S/.30 (that is 30 soles, or about US$10, plus a couple of Cusquenas, my favorite Peruvian beer at US$2.50), very affordable. As you will learn, I grew to hate Peru, but if you have to go there, have to see Machu Picchu or whatever, Miraflores not a terrible place to start, or end your visit.