Day 25 -- Rio to Lima

When you travel, you naturally have to spend time travelling!  One can be tempted to see days like yesterday as "wasted" with no great photo opportunities or places to report on.  But of course to get from one side of the continent to the other takes time -- and does give you some sense of this great land.

Left hotel at noon.  First failure of the detailed arrangements Chimu Travel put in place when the assigned driver called in sick; so hotel booked me a pre-paid taxi to the airport.  100 reals ($50).  I noted that the meter only said 78 real when we got there, but I didn't argue as the fixed price is set by the local government.  Flight for São Paulo left on time at 3.30 pm.. Only takes 50 minutes.  Three hour wait in a very modern and large airport there for flight to Lima.  Migration at the Brazil end was easy -- but a complete zoo when we landed into Peru.  Two large aircraft arrived together at 11pm local time (so 1 am by my body clock).  The immigration officers check every detail of your landing card, then seem to examine every stamp in your passport before they swipe it and finally get around to issuing you with a temporary visa.  Needless to say baggage had arrived ages before I got to the carousel, and had been corralled into a secure area waiting for me to show my boarding pass and head out.  Driver and guide waiting with name card held high.  

About 25 minute drive to hotel which is very modern and right in the centre of the city.  Half day tour is on the schedule, with time to wander around the downtown on my own as well.

The camera had a nice sleep in my checked luggage!