After 4 days in Cusco, we finally arrived in Lima - our final destination in Peru, the capital and largest city of the country. Lima is located on the Pacific Ocean, so this basically means that we reached the other side of South America and saw the other ocean that surrounds the continent. Interestingly, this was our first place on this trip that is at sea level. It sounds a bit crazy, because two days earlier we were above 5000 metres. It was a drastic drop in elevation, but it also means that we finally had typical summer weather and could finally wear shorts. We stayed in the city centre in a backpacker hostel, so it was the perfect place to explore the historic centre of Lima, which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988 for its originality and high concentration of monuments built during the Spanish presence. It is amazing how many beautiful palaces and cathedrals are located in one place. Lima gained independence in 1821, therefore, on the 100th anniversary, the city received many gifts from other countries, including the 2.5-meter-long Statute of Liberty from France. Currently, this monument is located in the so-called French square. North of Lima is the Rimac district, which is located near the San Cristóbal hill that is famous mainly for Catholic pilgrimages. The most interesting thing for us was that this mountain is very colorful, because on its hills there are favelas with buildings that are painted in different colors. This is how it should be in Rio, because poor neighbourhoods can also look interesting. On the second day we visited the Miraflores district, which is the most affluent and exclusive residential area south of Lima city centre. It is a place full of five-star hotels and fancy restaurants. The main advantage is its direct location by the ocean. It's also an ideal place for surfing as we could see a surf school almost every 100 metres. To be honest, we felt that it was a bit too touristic and we prefer our familiar places in Rio as they are more local. The unique thing is that the entire Lima coastline is made up of cliffs on which all the luxury hotels and residential buildings are located. Such a beautiful scenery. All three days we ate at the local markets, where a two-course lunch costs just 10 soles. What shocked us most about Lima, and Peru in general, is that almost every other car on the street is a taxi and its drivers constantly honk on pedestrians to encourage them to use the service. By far the best transport option is public or city buses that operate really efficiently and most importantly are much cheaper. The standard cost of a bus is 2.5 soles.