Day 1: Introduction and background

When I travel it is primarily for work, though I try to pick places to work where I know there is fertile ground for mongering. I tend to work long 8-12 hour days which really only leaves the evenings free, and as I often meet work colleagues at my hotel, any visitor needs to be gone by morning so my evening companions don't cross paths with my professional contacts. Let's just say that in my line of work my hobby would not be looked upon with approval.

I decided Lima would be a good destination both for work and for the chicas. After my trips to Brazil I have a fondness for South America in general. The people are very kind and passionate and I find the cities of South America to be exciting and fun.

This time around I had no time to see any of the tourist sites or to get out of Lima to see the jungle or mountains. I enjoy seeing sites but through my work I got to see more of Lima than most tourists.

So I booked a trip on frequent flier miles from my city to Jorge Chávez airport. My flight was supposed to get in at 11:30 at night but due to a bad delay, we got in around 5 in the morning. The airport seemed very clean and modern, definitely up to international standards. I never check bags so I headed right to an atm in the baggage claim area to get some cash. I later realized that the machine charged me a fee, whereas the other ones around town did not. But if you need the cash I think the fee was s/7.50 which isn't horrible.

I then went to the customs window, which was relatively easy despite the fact I had to declare some commercial goods. That process was fast and after paying my duty I headed to the customs inspection area.

For most passengers who have nothing to declare, after getting your bags you head to a small gate and press a button. You get either a red light or a green light. If you get red you will be subjected to a search which appeared to primarily be done with large x-ray machines. If you get the green light, as I did, you pass through and are free.

After passing customs there were many taxi drivers waiting for your business. I found one inside who looked trustworthy and had ID from a taxi company (not that this couldn't be made up). But he seemed genuine and said he knew my hotel. He asked for s/65 and settled for s/40.

He was a nice guy and got me to my hotel quickly with no issues.

I stayed at the Hotel Maria Luisa. www.marialuisa-hotel.com

The posted price in was s/80 for a 'matrimonial' room but I negotiated s/60 per night. Keep in mind that they do NOT accept credit cards, only cash! This was a surprise. After three or four days they asked me to pay for my days so far and I did, then I paid again on the last day. Very reasonable policy. They also did some laundry for me for s/6.

The staff were friendly. All of the desk workers are women, a few are a little cute, which made me a bit shy about bringing girls back at first but I got used to it. The first night I brought a girl back I got a tiny bit of a dirty look, but she said nothing. They didn't check ID or sign any of the girls in, and had no problems with two girls in the room, though I never tried three or more.

The hotel room was decent. It was clean and had large windows facing the street. Anywhere else in Lima this would be undesirable due to noise, but the Maria Luisa has a perfect location on a small street with basically no traffic. It's a very short distance to tequilla rock, calle de pizza and parque kennedy. It was really a perfect location.

One of the most important things to me about a hotel is the shower. I love a nice strong, hot shower. I would say this one rated about a 4. On my scale a the Le Meridien in Vienna is a 10 with its multiple jets and strong pressure. A 1 is the Al Ebaa palace in Baghdad with its trickle of cold water. Here the water was hot all the time, which was a plus, but the pressure was sorely lacking.

I found everything you could need within a short walk from the hotel. There are tons of restaurants ranging from the high end Astrid Y Gaston which is only a block away, to inexpensive 'menu' joints where you can get a decent meal for s/8. There are pharmacies, cafes and pretty much anything else you could want. I hate shopping malls, but the Larcomar mall is a 10 minute walk and it's worth seeing if only for the view. There are also several banks around with atms, none of which charged me a fee to use with my US bank account.

I would strongly recommend the Maria Luisa if you're looking for an inexpensive place to stay. I'd stay there again, though next time I may also look into an apartment rental.

I had a plan in place with the help of this forum. Upon my late arrival I was going to check out pizza alley and TR on my first night. However, I arrived at the hotel around 6 in the morning and had to meet a colleague at 9. So that was out. I had a bit of sleep, showered and went to work unsatisfied.

Sorry for the long intro but in the next installment we'll get to the action...