Moving Day – Our New Home in Lima Peru
Our three months in Guatemala went by so quickly that it hardly seems real. We thoroughly enjoyed our time in San Pedro la Laguna, San Pablo la Laguna, and Antigua Guatemala. The memories of the people we met and the adventures we had will be burned into our brains forever! But now that our 90-day Guatemala tourist visas are used up, it was time to continue the Two Travel Turtles Year 1 travel plan and relocate to Lima Peru!
Getting to Lima Peru
As you may expect, getting from Antigua Guatemala to Lima Peru involved some extensive travel. But surprisingly, things went pretty smoothly!
Our journey was broken up over 2 days.
Day 1 – Antigua Guatemala to Guatemala City
We departed our Airbnb at 9 am and waited for our van shuttle to Guatemala City to arrive ($15 USD per person). There was a strange issue with our departure, however.
Our driver was convinced that the streets in our Airbnb location were too narrow to accommodate his minivan, despite the fact that box trucks and pickups used it all the time. This resulted in a stressful exchange of calls with the driver to arrange a pickup location in a different spot.
The situation was all the more difficult because he spoke poor English and our Spanish was not of a level where we could easily understand his word choices, especially with all of the road noise in our area.
Eventually, we made it work and we were picked up at a different location 30 minutes late. What was strange was that the 2 other passengers we later picked up were in neighborhoods with streets similar to that of our Airbnb. So honestly, we still don’t understand why the driver couldn’t pick us up at our address.
C’est la vie.
We arrived in Guatemala City at our drop-off point (La Aurora International Airport) without issue at about 11:00 am. And from there we had an Uber (25.96 quetzales/$3.28 USD) take us to our nearby Airbnb, which we would use as a staging ground to prepare for our 5 am flight to Lima Peru the next day.
We used the exact same Airbnb as the last time we stayed in Guatemala City 3 months ago!
While in Guatemala City, we revisited the La Aurora Zoo (40 quetzales/$5.10 USD per person) with our good cameras. But it is clear that global inflation is taking a toll. The admission price was 25% higher than it was when we were last here!
We’ll post our pictures to the Two Travel Turtles Facebook page soon!
After exploring the area and grabbing some food, we were in bed by 9 pm. We wanted to get at least some sleep before our alarms woke us up at 2 am the next day.
Day 2 – Guatemala City to Lima Peru
We woke up at 2 am and, much to our surprise, we actually got 5 hours of solid rest! We gathered our things and were taxied to the airport by our Airbnb host (40 quetzales/$5.10 USD).
We arrived at La Aurora International Airport when it opened at 3 am and made our way through security with no issues at all. And our flight departed at 5 am without delay.
It was one of the smoothest airport check-ins we have ever experienced, enhanced I’m sure due to the low volume of people that early in the morning.
Our actual flight to Lima Peru had a 3-hour layover in Panama City, Panama. But there were no problems. In fact, this international flight (on Copa Airlines) was among the cushier ones we have ever had!
We were able to get business-class tickets for fewer United MileagePlus points (44,000 points plus $105.30 in taxes for both tickets) than what economy tickets would have cost us, which is completely counterintuitive.
But sometimes deals fall into your lap when you travel hack.
I explained in detail how we got these tickets in our post – SCORE A FREE ONE-WAY FLIGHT USING UNITED’S EXCURSIONIST PERK – TRAVEL HACK #2.
We landed right on time at Jorge Chavez International Airport in Lima Peru at 3.30 pm. Because we only use carry-on luggage, we exited the terminal and breezed through customs. We withdrew Peruvian soles from the airport ATM and met our private transport driver outside the airport exit door.
Our Airbnb host arranged this pickup for us (90 soles/$22.62 USD, including tip) and he dropped us off right at the door of our new Airbnb in the Miraflores district of Lima. We could have done this more cheaply using a collective shuttle, but with such a long travel day we were willing to pay for the convenience of door-to-door service during rush hour.
Welcome to Our New Apartment
As usual, we found our long-stay Airbnb following the detailed methods we describe in our post: A TTT Guide to Long-Term Airbnb Stays – How to Get a Cheap Apartment that Doesn’t Drive You Crazy.
Our new place is another studio apartment, unfortunately. But it has some serious perks!
First, the layout is much more functional than our last Airbnb. Our last Airbnb was fine, but we admit that the minimalist kitchen, lack of general storage, minimal potable water storage, and overall layout better served shorter stays (1 week or less) than long stays.
Second, we are a five-minute walk to ocean cliff views, ocean-side parks, beaches, and the major historic sites of Lima! So it is super convenient from an accessibility standpoint.
That said, here is a tour of our new place for the next 28 nights!
Entering the apartment, you can see closet storage (yay!) and a seating area with comfortable chairs…
Walking into that area and turning 180 degrees, you can see our sleeping area in the right corner…
With a well-appointed kitchen in the left corner. Big refrigerator, eating area, and a water filter (= free potable water) on the kitchen tap!
Moving into the kitchen area and turning 180 degrees, you can see the dedicated workspace (yay!) and the doorway to the bathroom.
Our bathroom has all of the basics and is very functional. It even has storage for our toiletries!
So again, about the same size as our last place but MUCH more functional in layout. It will be much easier to live our lives here when we don’t decide to go out for the day.
At $26.15 USD/night with the discounted monthly Airbnb rate (10%), this apartment is the most expensive of all the Airbnbs we have booked during our 1-year travel plan.
But we are still very pleased! Apartments are more expensive in Lima Peru, and considering its safe location and perks, it is worth the extra cost.
Until next time…
Thanks for reading!
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4 thoughts on “Moving Day – Our New Home in Lima Peru”
Looks like a great studio apartment – enjoy
Thanks! It’s shocking how a handful of minor changes makes such a big difference. Lesson learned!
Great things await you in Peru!!
We hope you are right!