Each of these South American capitals were stop over type trips where I would spend a few days having downtime before or after the places I was prioritising my time (southern Peru, Galapagos, Caribbean coast). Therefore I went with lowered expectations and did very little research.
Lima was the first capital visit. I stayed in the area of Miraflores which was a long long time in a taxi, maybe 90 minutes. This is a big social area in Lima, with restaurants, bars and big shopping areas. It is also a short walk to the beach.
There are also some ruins from the time of the Lima people (predating the Quechua people ) these ruins showed incredible building intelligence as many old ruins do. This place was build with bricks laid out in bookcase style. This is important as it was earthquake proof, a common problem in the region. This meant that the damage to the pyramid ruin was wear and tear and not due to movement of the earth.
I spent the next 5 hours walking along the beach and through the neighbourhoods alongside the beach. The beach is nothing to write home about. Colour was not great, and are mainly pebble beaches (if you call pebbles beaches). Also lots of failed building projects or areas in disrepair even though the area is popular in summer. Walking through some of the neighbourhoods was nicer, especially the Barannco area which had a lot of well preserved colonial buildings. Lima definitely had a big city feel though! Very chaotic and spread out over a big distance.
Quito was my next capital. From what I had been told, it was a dangerous place and not really worth the time. But I wanted to stand on the equator, so planned a few nights there. After my first afternoon I was enamoured by the place. Quito is located up in the mountains and has a beautiful active volcano just a few hours away. It is apparently the highest peak in the world when measured from the earth's core. So an impressive mountain. The historical centre was really lovely. Would challenge a lot of old towns in Europe with its architecture and it's preservation. Also, as i was staying in a smaller hostel where everyone knew everyone, it was the nights I decided to party properly and dance! Both nights were great fun, and it felt safe, even when walking home at 5 am alone. The first night was the highlight as I was befriended by locals and went back to a house party when the clubs closed.
As well as this I did the equator monument which was good to check out, but a non affiliated museum next door based on where the old civilisations thought the equator is was much more interesting and informative and they did a bunch of tests to try and prove where the equator is, including the draining water test. (The direction of the swirling is true if you had doubts). On the final day, I headed up a gondola in the city that takes you to 4000m, and from there you can walk as high at 4700m. I didn't have the time to get to the top, but I did quite enjoy the altitude.
I flew from Quito to Bogota. Bogota again is a big city, and feels like it. It also feels a little unsafe, but a lot of this is due to the tourist area also being a common area for crime, especially at night. While in the old town I witnessed 5 police beating a guy who was carrying drugs and tried to fight an escape. The locals seemed to feel that even if he hadn't tried to escape he would of got beaten as police brutality is apparently a problem in Bogota especially. The main thing I did in Bogota, other than walk around the old town, which was not very impressive, was to do the graffiti tour. This tour was excellent and a lot of detail was provided about the artists, and the meanings behind the images. There was also a lot of information about the politics of the city and how far Colombia still has to go to be deemed as a successful and stable country. Definitely worth the time. I do have one more night in Bogota at the end of my time in South America, but not sure what I will do. Probably a day trip outside the city.
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