Lima, Peru: Days 1 & 2

 One of the things Henry and I both wanted to do when we retired was travel. Our boys gave us the book, 1000 Places to See Before You Die, and we’ve been checking off places as best we can: the Great Wall of China; Mont St. Michel and the Eiffel Tower in France; the Blarney Stone in Ireland; Hadrian’s Wall in northern England; La Boca in Buenos Aires. Two weeks ago we returned from a 3-week trip-of-a-lifetime to Peru, Bolivia and Argentina. It has taken me most of those two weeks to unpack, put away souvenirs, and sort through the more than 1500 pictures I took on our trip.

On October 1, we flew from Los Angeles to Lima, Peru where we joined a tour group for the first two weeks. We immediately saw the advantages of a first-rate tour when we were met at the airport at midnight and escorted to our hotel. On reaching our room, we found: snacks laid out for us, including sandwiches, fruit, juice, water, and cookies; 

 bathrobes and slippers; AND a gorgeous ocean view.

We were on our own the first day, Friday, so we took advantage of the time to walk around Miraflores, a district of Lima. We started out by perusing the plethora of markets filled with souvenirs. 

While there were tempting items to buy (and we did buy some), there was more to do. I’d read about Gelateria 4D which sounded pretty yummy, and when we stumbled on it, we stopped to see if it was as good as advertised. It was. 

We also found a pre-Incan ruin that was within walking distance of our hotel. The Huaca Pucllana (a sacred site) was built of vast amounts of book-sized adobe bricks, stacked one upon the other.

Our guide told us that the pyramidal structure had served as a burial ground around 500 AD; it was covered over and not re-discovered until the 1980’s.

Henry, always the astute observer of public transportation, noticed as we walked the streets of Miraflores, that besides some of the dirty, crowded buses, there were also small vans with men hanging out the side windows. 

We learned they were hawkers, trying  to get more business for these privately owned vans. We elected to walk back to the hotel instead of trying a ride with the locals.

Day 2 Saturday

At 8:00 AM, we met our guide, Kate, and the other 30 members of our tour group over breakfast. Kate had us introduce ourselves and outlined our itinerary for the next couple of days.  She told us that we had an unannounced opportunity the next day to visit the Nazca Lines, those mysterious drawings in the desert that could only be viewed from the air. We quickly decided to sign up to take advantage of this trip, forgoing a museum visit for the chance to see the drawings of an ancient people. An hour later, we boarded a bus for downtown Lima where we visited the Cathedral of San Pedro and a Franciscan monastery, finishing the morning with the changing of the guard ceremony at the president’s palace. 

The square in front of the cathedral was filled with colorfully dressed ethnic dancers and musicians celebrating a feast day.

In the cathedral, we saw examples of how the Peruvians have adapted Catholicism to their own culture. They preferred the image of a living Christ to a crucified one. Statues of Mary showed an expectant mother instead of a young virgin. An image of Jesus as a young boy had black hair and was dressed as a Peruvian youth.

 The Changing of the Guard at the President's palace:

After the changing of the guard, we walked a short distance to Casa Aliaga, the ancestral home of one of the founders of Lima, continuously occupied by family since 1548. We were served Pisco sours and appetizers while we waited to be seated in the dining room for lunch.

After lunch, we boarded our bus again for visit to a privately held gold museum, replete with 25,000 gold items, Samurai armor, and an ancient skeleton.

We returned to our rooms with time to change for dinner in yet another private home, that of a couple who are dedicated to preserving Peruvian culture. This home held a collection of 1500 Nativity scenes, all on display. After dinner on the terrace, we returned to our hotel for the night.

Note: If you haven’t been keeping track, we started our day at 8am and finished about 10pm. Tour vacations are hard work!