lima – You Should Go Anyway

In my endless quest to take advantage of travel deals, I picked up a mistake fare ticket that took me from Chicago to Lima, Peru, and back home by way of Toronto. I hadn’t been to Toronto before so figured what the hell? And it was less than $300 for main cabin and I got upgraded to first class on the two domestic legs of the flight. As a result, I found myself on a 48-hour journey to Peru jam packed with fun (and transportation!)

For both days, I enlisted the help of Wheel The World to plan everything on the ground, including a half-day tour of Lima followed by an AMAZING day going up to Machu Picchu. (Sofia at WTW was the best!)

I had no problems with the flight into Lima on Delta, as my chair arrived in fine condition. We got in late at night and thankfully I had booked a room at the Wyndham right at the Lima airport. It’s located literally next to the airport, over a short footbridge from the airport’s 2nd level — which has a ton of great restaurants in the airside food court. I highly recommend staying at any airport hotel if you arrive late after a long day or have a very early flight. I did not want to worry about getting a taxi or anything in the middle of the night and trust me, I wasn’t in the mood.

The hotel worked just fine for its purpose — a six hour sleep and a free breakfast — before we had to get up for our tour of Lima. In the morning we were greeted by our tour guide, a van driver, and another helper who was there in case I needed any assistance with my chair. I forgot to take pictures of the bathroom and the van we ended up using but we figured it all out.

The first van, however, was a little too short and since I sit very tall it was obvious that the ride would be uncomfortable. But after a phone call and a brief wait, a much taller van/bus arrived and it was wonderful not to have to crouch down for the day. The ramps were made more for a manual chair, and consisted of a set of two telescoping ramps that assume your back wheels line up perfectly with your front ones. As mine do not, we did our best to guide my chair up and down the ramp for the few times we got in and out of the vehicle.

We spent a lot of the next five hours in traffic, but it was a very nice way to get an overview of the city beneath the “Panza de Burro” or “donkey belly” gray sky. I didn’t mind the slow pace because it was very interesting to observe the people and the place. I even got to see all the treasures people were selling at every stop light — from inflatable kid-sized soccer goals to homemade popcorn.

As I’m more of a “show me as much as you can” kinda traveler, we made only a couple of actual stops to get out and wander around. It was a little chilly and I was still tired so that was fine by me! We spent the most time wandering around the Plaza De Armas De Lima or one of the main squares of the city. It was mostly flat and a lot of the side streets are mostly pedestrian dominated so even when there were not curb cuts I could safely roll in the street.

It had a little bit of everything, from a fountain to tons of students on field trips to protesters to amazing churches and many places to get souvenirs. Often times the souvenirs would come to you in the form of the aforementioned street merchants!

We had great luck to hear the military band play prior to the changing of the guard before hopping back in the van and heading around in a giant circle that led us through Miraflores and some amazing olive tress, but also right past Huaca Pucllana which is a giant pyramid being excavated right in the middle of the city. It was so surreal to see shopping areas and mini-mansions one minute and then this giant mound of old bricks being examined by archaeologists the next.

Our tour brought us back down along the coast where new athletic facilities are being built and it looked to be an up-and-coming place for recreation and relaxation along the water.

After the day of driving we got back to the airport in time to grab a quick bite and hop on or plane to Cusco for the second day of the adventure!

If I were to stay in Lima longer, I’d opt top stay in the Miraflores area as it seemed a bit more wheelchair friendly.