5th March 2015 – Lima – 2015-03-13 12:46

We have our appointment at the US Embassy this morning at 8:00 am so after breakfast we catch a limo from our hotel and it takes just under the hour to do the 11 kilometers through Lima’s traffic. Everyone we speak to apologize for the traffic congestion in Lima and when we arrive at the embassy there must be about 200 people in 2 lines that snake around in front of the embassy. The line we’re in moves reasonably quickly and we get to the window, where they check that we have an appointment and check our paperwork. We don’t have to join the other long line we can jump the queue and go into security which is just like airport security. We then present to the patio window (it’s in an outdoor area) for more checking of our paperwork, this time the lovely lady speaks good English and she sends us to the cashier. The cashier office is actually inside the embassy so we need to go through another security gate to get inside. We pay our US$320 for our visas (a lot more than the $28 for the online ESTA ones that we had) and we go back to the patio window , then we are sent to the finger printing window, then finally to the line for our interview.ÿ The young American chap who interviews us tells us our passports will be ready for collection on Monday. We explain that we are leaving Lima tomorrow and heading to Ecuador and he says he will mark our visas for collection tomorrow morning at 10:00am but can’t promise that they will be done. So we’ll just have to wait & see what tomorrow brings. After this ordeal we head to the cafe across the road which serves a nice strong cafe con leche (latte) and briefly discuss what if we don’t get our passports back tomorrow. We decide there is no point worrying about it until it happens, so we call our group who are on a city tour and we arrange to meet them at a convent in the old part of Lima. The taxi ride takes us about 45 minutes as we drive into the old part of Lima. The buildings are beautiful, one has murals on the outside walls, it is quite grand. We meet our group at the Santa Rosa Convent which is named after one of the sisters who lived here and performed miracles, sadly she died in her thirties, and is remembered as she is on the Peru 200 Soles note. From here we drive down to Miraflores but it is so overcast down by the seaside that we can’t see the water. It is very humid due to the proximity of the coast to the Andes and the city looks like it’s shrouded in a sea mist. It is the wet season after all but it’s not raining in Lima, it’s raining in the mountains. After our city tour 4 of us go out to La Molina to visit the largest car museum in South America. The collection of over 100 cars is owned by a Mr Nicolini who made his fortunes from making pasta. There are 4 cars in the collection that are unique. A 1915 Wanderer Tandem Sport, the only surviving model in the worldA 1928 Stutz BB convertible sedan, the only one of its type in the world.A 1925 Fiat 502B Torpedo.All of the cars in the collection are significant Peruvian cars, most of them American with quite a few European cars. All of the cars on display are registered and are taken out to car shows and they are in immaculate condition. There’s a 1967 Mustang, 1965 Shelby and a beautiful 1950 Allard among others too many to mention. My favorite is a little red Fiat 850 sports car from the 50’s. No doors and really sleek. I fancy myself driving around is this little beauty! Michael’s favorite is an Alfa Romeo 2600 S Z that was in the workshop being completed, it’s gorgeous. The body design is by Zagato Milano.ÿ No MG’s in the collection and Michael has always hadÿ soft spot for Alfa’s.The workshop employs at least 6 men who are restoring the cars, a spray booth, chrome plating and wood working area. There’s a mezzanine full of spare parts and lots of future projects lined up, so there’s no shortage of work to be done here.Driving back through the Lima traffic is interesting with cars cutting across us at roundabouts, were still not sure who has right of way. How we haven’t hit anyIt’s nice to get back to our lovely quiet colonial style hotel for a good nights rest before our busy schedule tomorrow.