New Thing #88 - Peru (Day #8)

September 6, 2017

I woke up early for my first Lima excursion. B still has to work, so I'm on my own until the weekend. I was to be picked up at a local hotel, but had some time to kill before then. So, I spent a bit more time at the coast checking out the scenery.

My van was quite a bit late picking me up, and I was beginning to wonder if I should head into the hotel to see if they would call. I forgot how bad Peruvians are with punctuality. The van picked me up with a variety of other people, took us back to the coast for a meeting point, and everyone was herded onto new buses, depending on the specific tour, and tour language. I was on a bus with an Australian couple and a father/daughter pairing from Belgium, along with our guide, Ricardo, for the English speaking portion. We shared a bus with a Spanish speaking guide and 5 more tourists. Luckily, we each had headsets, so we could hear/understand our respective guides. This was genius.

We started with a quick verbal tour of a few neighborhoods in Lima, along with a brief history. Once in the van, we drove to Huaca Pucllana, an adobe and clay pyramid in the heart of Miraflores, once used as an administrative center for 500 years. I was hoping we got to go in, but sadly, we just looked through the gates before moving on.

All made by hand and still standing after thousands of years.

Ricardo drove us to the city center to give us further information on Lima, and the Peruvian economy and political climate.

President's Palace

Our guide told me I could put my hands through the bars to take a better photo and not 7 seconds later, the security guards were yelling at me. Thanks pal.

We stopped in the Cathedral of Lima, where we were able to take photos inside the cathedral itself, but not in the museum or catacombs. It's a shame though, because that was really cool and creepy. They were mostly feminine bones and skulls in multiple rooms laid out in symmetrical patterns. Google it if you want to see the photos.

This ended our tour and the van dropped me back off at the same mall we were in last night. I was starving so I stopped in to another Papacho's for some amazing chicken and pico tacos (I started with one and it was so damn good, I ordered another!) I also ordered "bitute" which I thought was a caesar salad, but for some damn reason, they had TWO things on the menu with the same freaking name. He misunderstood what I wanted, but was very kind and took it away to get what I actually ordered.

Fun fact: both my tour guide and waiter today thought I spoke Spanish. I guess my pronunciation of what little Spanish I remember was on point today. I must have gotten the deer in the headlights look when they started rattling things off before I could explain my Spanish is rusty at best.

View from the mall.

Hang gliders right off the coast. I wanna do this!

Freaking amazing taco!

I could watch these guys right out the window of the restaurant.

Correct bitute: essentially a chicken caesar salad with bacon. Yum!

Indoor/outdoor mall.

Does anyone else remember than Paddington Bear is from Peru? Because I sure as hell didn't.

After lunch, I had plenty of time to kill, so I walked around deeper into the city, in search of wood flair. I saw some at numerous shops in the Sacred Valley and knew I had to have some. But, I was struggling to find a design that spoke to me. There were plenty of trees, bulls and farmers, but I didn't just want to buy something to buy it.

Wood flair is made by sculpting individual pieces, sanding and painting them, then combining them with other individual pieces to make a sculpture. It's gorgeous and distinctly Peruvian. After a few hours' search, I finally found one I liked. Two dancers embracing. While I loved it, I didn't want to pull the trigger quite yet. I wanted to be absolutely sure this was the one I wanted.

Had quite a long walk back to B's, but it was gorgeous outside, so I enjoyed the shopping and the views.

Old school exercise equipment along the coast line.

The Kiss sculpture.

I seriously considering going hang gliding before I left, but it wasn't in my budget.

Made it back to B's for a nap and kitty snuggles.

Seriously the sweetest cat you'll ever meet. Except when she tried to bite me.

We went to dinner with some of B's friends to their favorite pizza place for a traditional margherita pizza before heading home for TV and sleeps. I'm losing steam on this vacay. It's by far the most physically demanding one I've done.