Left early in the morning to go to the US embassy. We decided to take the cab to not get late for the 8am appointment. I was not anxious having gone through the process many times before. Reached the embassy on time, but it was already bustling with people. Went to get in the queue for the embassy and decided to meet H at 9:30 outside the embassy. Some difficulties ensued that were unexpected however the visa was finally issued. Passport pickup could be anywhere between 48 hours and 5 days. Great! Perfect for planning the next leg of the trip. We decided to take the combi to plaza de aramas. Combi was the local transport option popularly used by many in Lima. Having regularly traveled by rickshaw and also local buses in India combi seemed like an easy option for commuting.
Some local guy helped us with figuring out which one to take. According to him it would not be easy to get to the plaza since it would require changing combis twice. We had all the time in the world so decided to go the slower route. Any combi trip so far was costing us 1 soles. Inside it was bustling with people and we fell at home. There was a young, disheveled lady sitting with a cute cherubic boy. She got curious in us and tried to figure out where we were going. She looked at our lonely planet lima center map and was smartly able to figure out and show us the route that would get us close to the Plaza. Then in sign language she also told us that the driver was her child's father and that he did not believe in getting married!! Talk about feeling at ease. She advised us not to pay more than 4 soles for the next ride in a hush tone since she didn't want the driver or the conductor to feel she was giving away insider secrets It was such a pleasant ride and we wondered why we were being advised not to take it. Reached a bustling center and were immediately told to take a shared cab by the driver. Seemed like he was a part of their group, and we went along. The ride took about 20 minutes and we were dropped off close to the Plaza. The first thing to strike us was the huge cathedral in the plaza. Christ Ruled. We were completely famished and looked for Cafe Natural that was recommended by Lonely Planet for vegetarian food. The food was pretty good and seemed good value for the money. After visiting 2 museums(nothing great) we had some delicious coconut pastry and some average coffee. Decided to call it a day and head back to the hostel. General observations from a day in the city:
- A line of combis(mini-buses) always arrive together- here's a video; it was a private local transport system and ran extremely efficient. There was typically a conductor who shouted the destination of the combi. They hardly stopped for a minute and you could get off on the way, wherever you wanted within reason. It was a cheap, easy way to travel conveniently in the city. They seemed to move faster than the rest of the traffic.
- Sign language seemed to be working everywhere
- Looking like a Peruvian, but not knowing Spanish worked to a disadvantage. Locals either started having a conversation or thought you were fooling them
- Weather is awesome- don't miss the Boston cold
- Building are very colorful
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