No Sign of Paddington, yet.

I think it’s fair to say that, for me, Guayaquil was more interesting than irresistible; more educational than exciting. Maybe it was because the language barrier (my Spanish is improving but it’s not that good) didn’t allow me to have the sort of conversations with local people where you find out what makes a place tick. Nevertheless, I enjoyed my time there but was ready to move on to meet Paddington Bear!

It’s a flight of less than 2 hours from Guayaquil to Lima and what gorgeous scenery to look at on the way. Spectacular landscape including craggy snow capped mountains in the distance.

The journey from the airport to my accommodation was not so gorgeous, however, passing through seemingly endless and fairly run down industrial estates. But then again, the outskirts of many cities are less than attractive. Where I am staying though is in the Miraflores district which is, apparently, one of the more upmarket areas of this city whilst at the same time catering for an endless stream of itinerant backpackers staying in perhaps less than salubrious abodes!

At ground level, though, this place is full of shops and restaurants

of every size

and style.

And as it’s such a nice day, if you don’t want to eat or go shopping, you can just hang around doing very little.

This rather grandly named Central Park is actually quite small. But, as with other central parks around the world, there’s a lot going on – especially on a Sunday. It was not surprising, therefore, to find pictures for sale,

some of which were rather splendid, brightly coloured creations.

I then came across something I had never seen before –

a group of middle aged to elderly people sitting expectantly around a sort of Roman style amphitheatre. Clearly they weren’t waiting for some bear bating or gladiator fighting so I thought it was probably some open air church service as it was, after all, Sunday. So I waited and waited and suddenly the music started (Salsa or Samba, of course)