Asked a gas station employee if he ever had trouble breathing. He said, "It varies from season to season here" . . .

No itinerary, as we didn’t get out much in Lima besides Miraflores and the Centro Lima.

My friend Jocelyn, who travelled South America for several months recently, described Lima as “a hole” and was adamant that we spend as little time as possible there. This was after we had booked all of our flights, with 3 days in Lima, and couldn’t change the itinerary. We ended up getting out of town one day, and while the city wasn’t great, it wasn’t a hole. The pollution and weather was terrible (it’s known as “the grey city”), and the city was nothing more than a generic big city, but our hosts, Evan and Bertina, along with the seashore, made things ok.

Evan, an acquaintance of my sister’s from her Democratic National Committee work in Portland, was kind enough to host us. He didn’t seem to mind the weather so much, but then he’s from Portland. He and his roommate, Bertina, were great company and hopefully we reciprocated. They both work on a series of websites in Lima and I learned a lot about the wonder plant macca and its effects on women with menopause and the beauty of teatime and why it is perfectly natural to serve your dog English breakfast tea everyday as part of teatime.

The fact that I lost my debit card and was stricken with my first bout of stomach problems colored my opinion of Lima as well. I don’t know if Mexico City or LAN Peru Airlines is to blame because the stomach problems kicked in my first day in Lima, but warn all to be careful. Before you ask, of course I didn’t drink the water.

Overall impressions of Lima:

Miraflores, where we stayed, is the richest part of Lima and as safe as anywhere. It’s decent enough to walk around. The main draw is the oceanfront, which is the one top notch memorable part of Lima.

We explored Centro Lima, and while charming, found it to be a typical colonial city on par with most in the Caribbean. The choking pollution will be our lasting memory, and for this reason, I recommend going at night when there’s less traffic.

Food was ok. Best value (and maybe just best food) was found in the bakeries where fresh pastries and empanadas could be found for between 30-75 cents each.