Lima

On the way to Lima...as a premonition of things to come...

On the first day in Lima I was greeted with unusually warm weather and immediately felt like I was on a vacation. I suppose it's almost an unconscious reaction to feel relaxed and chill at the first smell of the ocean air and sunny weather :) I stopped at a hostel literally 3 blocks from the ocean. Liman coastline  is gorgeous. The city itself is situated on a plateau above the sea level and they've built parks all the way along on top of the clifftops overlooking the ocean. This is the type of view you get from walking along these parks.

A shot of the surfers that invade this local hotspot from all over peru.

The parks undulate and follow the coastline in perfect harmony.

Having an ocean nearby you have musonic air flow that brings the hot air from the ocean toward the land in the evenings. The cliffs force the air upward creating these currents that can be used for paragliding. And indeed they are, in the evening you see tons of paragliders perform their majestic flights with the sunset drop.

 I was really fascinated by paragliders :) it was the first time I saw them up close.

 When you launch off the cliff, it really is scary because the drop is about 80m and you don't really have time to open the secondary parachute if anything goes wrong.

 The road to the beach takes you under a bridge, through traffic and palm trees.

 Long stretches of Liman beach.

 The next day I saw something rather peculiar, the infamous Liman fog. At first I thought it was smoke from a huge fire but it didn't smell like burning, and then i realized it's just fog. Apparently, in the winter season this fog is there every day, being simply mist from the ocean and transforming Lima in the "saddest city", being always grey as the sun never penetrates through this dense layer of mist.

 By the way, I staid in a hostel called Blue House, in Miraflores, which I highly recommend. It's a small place but very cozy and the owner is an awesome person, with some deep insights into life...but don't believe me, ask him yourself ;) At any rate, my second day in Lima I grabbed a bike and went on for a ride along the beach.

 The regions of Miraflores and Barraca of lima are really flourishing with expensive and very well taken care of highrise houses, overlooking the beach. Small parks with cute coffee shops and bridges. this particular bridge on the photo is called the bridge of sighs (Most Vzdohov) called so because it is very romantic and frequented by young couples on their first date :)

 I thought this monument on one of the Liman beaches looked very cool, mimicking the mast of a ship.

Another thing you see on the streets of lima...a robot walking among cars and asking for donation :) indeed, everyone is trying to get by however they can here, devising quite ingenious ways to earn money.

 One more beach view...

 me, sleeping by the overlook on the beach :)

 This must have been among the most gorgeous sunsets I ever saw. I decided to walk along the coast toward a gathering of the local hippies on Sunday, it's called Hippy Sunday :) As i walked along the beach, the sunset unveiled with all its marvelous colors, a really magical moment.

 El Parco del Amor in Lima, probably the most turistic place in the city, everyone that I know and have been here have a picture with the kissing statue, but not very many in these colors.

 Locals and tourists alike sitting on the beach, doing their own thing and enjoying the marvelous sunset.

 I loved the lighthouse on the right and the blurred highway near the shore. "I love lighthouses and seashell things ;))"

 Finally I reached the hippy sunday gathering. this place had everything, tons of drums and beats, a few people with some sort of primordial flutes, bubens and so forth. Some were juggling, chanting, dancing, or simply chilling on the cliff top.

 However strictly at 8 the local police raided the place and called the party over. They take great care in making sure there's alwasy order in the parks. I think the city invested a lot of money building this chain of parks along the edge so they invest a lot into protecting them. Anyways, if you're near lima, visit it.