from heaven to hell

after paying the rip off taxes in quito for international flights (31 usd!!) i arrived 2.5 hours later in lima... the flight was with lan peru and just beautiful compared to iberia (and swiss for that matter!), and their flight attendants seem to be recruited out of miss latin america competitions

the customs system is funny, you press a button and it gives you a green light (go through) or red light (you get searched) before exiting the airport. thank god i got green as i probably would have had to pay taxes on my camera if not

i was happy to have a driver awaiting me as dodgy lima starts right at the exit of the airport... although they also try to improve the image with loads of guards it just doesn't feel right. the first 15 minutes of the drive were very 'interesting' - as i've never seen such a fucked up area other than in movies around the la ghetto. streets are wide, buildings ugly / half destroyed and gang like groups at every street corner... i never felt such uncomfortable before

it got better when we arrived at the beach, even though it was a bad introduction to the pacific ocean... i should have gone to esmeraldas first :) the drive along the coast was very nice and miraflores, the gringo area of lima feels quite a bit safer than the airport surroundings.

so here i am, meeting the fellow travellers for the next few weeks today and enjoying cloudy lima. i'm paying 1 sol (30 cents) per hour of internet and run around with 600 usd in cash. let's see if i make it back to the hotel in one piece hehe