This may seem like an interesting title about our trip to Peru and Machu Picchu, but hang in there and it will all make sense. Sara and I have been wanting to go to Peru for two reasons: 1) To visit our friends in Lima who we met on a trip in Tahiti and also to hike the Inka trail. This trip we fortunately we able to do both.
We started our journey with a way too long set of three flights from LAX to St. Louis to Dallas then to Lima, Peru. When you use miles sometimes to have to be creative.
Our longest layover was Dallas and lets say we may have the current record for the number of laps around the international terminal consecutively. Good thing there is lots to look at there and many good choices for food…
We arrived in Lima after a red eye flight that we were both happily able to sleep on, because we put in no time to relax. In the early morning air we walked out of the airport with both of our backpacks.
We had been told to get into a “green taxi” (these don’t rip you off) and we were on our way to the town of Miraflores (look at the flowers) to our first (of many) hotel the Hotel Monte Real. Miraflores is a town in Lima on the Pacific ocean.
After dropping our bags and getting some water we starting exploring. Miraflores immediately reminds us of Orange County: On the Pacific Ocean, No rain, Beach breezes, Surfers, middle to upper class housing/high rises, upscale shops and places to eat. We had a small map from the front desk and starting walking toward the water.
We came upon Itsak Rabin park and a lookout over the ocean. We then followed it down to the ocean were we saw surfers on the waves.. we could have been in Huntington beach :).
There was no time to waste because we had to get back to the hotel for our Lima city tour. The tour van picked us up and we were off to see the sights of Lima. We had a driver and a guild which spoke to us as we drove…
Our first stop was not far from where we had walked in the morning. We went to Parque del Amor “Love Park” in Miraflores.
There is a gigantic sculpture overlooking the Pacific ocean of two lovers embracing. Such a beautiful park and there is also a great running path that runs North and South from this location along the bluff overlooking the ocean.
Lima is the capital and largest city in Peru with over 10 million people. Their driving is by “feeling” meaning they do not necessary follow the street signs, etc. and is very aggressive…this also means there is lots of traffic…and as you can see the streets are very narrow…
As we drove to the main square we drove by the Lima soccer stadium. It was so large I was only able to capture a part of it. Such a massive stadium for one of the worst teams in latin america (from our guide)…
Also on the way over to the main square we saw a labor dispute march going up the street..it was civil and peaceful…
We reached the main square and got out to take a look around with our guide..
The beautiful yellow colored building behind us are all part of the Lima Municipal Palace. This whole area well maintained and restored. The decorated windows and porches actually reminded us of the french quarter in New Orleans. Above the building you can see in the middle the Peruvian flag and to the right the flag of Cusco(you will see it again when we get there).
On the other side of the square is the Lima Cathedral…Francisco Pizarro in 1535 laid the first stone on this site and he is buried inside.
This cathedral’s structure is built completely of wood because even back then they knew that earthquakes (the earth shaking) had to be accommodated for in their structures… It is also very beautiful as you can see..
The walls have this strong bamboo and wood structure which is able to bend and contract as it need to…
Below the church are catacomes to bury prominent dead… like archbishops and prominent members of society…
Among the dead they also found these small coffins thought to belong to the children…
As well as others…
Next it was on to the Convent of Santo Domingo…
The architecture of this chruch, school, and convent was amazing…
Everywhere you walked there was ornamentation and frescos on the walls depicting artists representations of scenes of the bible and the history of this area…
There is a surviving library which books that date back to the 15 century. both the room and the books are works of art…
In the basement is a shrine. The stairway is so narrow and steep was have the walk down backwards.. good thing too because I totally would have hit my head..:)
The shrine in the basement has an oval ceiling and a decorated tile floor…very unique
We came back from the tour, took a short breather and then our friends Andres and Marilou, who live in Miraflores came to pick us up for lunch. We met them on a boat trip in Tahiti and it was wonderful to see them again. They drove us to a neighboring town Chorrillos where they belong to a beach club…
We had lunch literally on the water. Here you can see us enjoying our first Pisco Sour, a wonderful lemony alcoholic drink..more on it later when we make our own…
We had appetizers…. Ceviche, and yellow potatoes with octopus and avocado…sooo good. There Ceviche has an amazing lemon flavor very different from Costa Rica and it is server here with some of their giant corn..
And then some wonderful main courses. The chefs here like to mold flavors and tastes from many cultures together to form a new dish and taste.. it was delicious…
After lunch we walked around the club…
after putting our feet int the water we had some ice cream for desert…and caught up on the travels that our friends had been one lately..
After dropping off Marilu, Andres took Sara and I to an ancient temple in the middle of Lima called Huaca Pucllana…
It is a giant mud brick step pyramid in the middle of the city and not the only one…
The mud bricks are stacked in a row and stacked on top of each other over and over again. In the forefront is where the site has been excavated and off in the distance where it is smoother is yet to be uncovered..
As you can see behind the rows were are in the middle of this modern city where Sara and Andres are standing…
We had a great time with our friends and will miss them and thank them for their hospitality on our first day…
The next morning it was time for Kari’s last long run of his Marathon training schedule. So we both headed back down to that coast running trail in Miraflores and Kari ran for 3 hours. It was a tough 20 mile run but such a beautiful sunny day on the coast to do it…
After the run it was time to pack up, check out and move to the Hotel La Castellana to meet our tour group for the Inka trail.
After checking in we had some time so we went to check out the Kennedy Park area for food and shopping… we came across the Peruvian market…
There were rows and rows of things for sale..so we wanted to check out what people were selling even though we heard that the best deals are in the smaller towns..
Sara found these fun finger puppets… and there we so many handy crafts, woven fabrics and silver items for sale…
For lunch we found the busiest place near a park to eat and that was La Lucha Sangucheria which was packed…
They had awesome sandwiches and great service….I regret that I didn’t also have french fries here because they know how to make papitas fritas.
After making our way back to the hotel it was time for our Inka trail briefing in the hotel eating area. We signed up for the tour with Gadventures and a women came to brief us on our itinerary, and we got to meet our group.
We had some time before we had to go to bed and had heard about this water fountain light display that took place every evening in a nearby park so we went to check it out with some people from our tour group..and we were glad we did..
Video of Lima Fountains Show
Check out this video of all of the awesome fountains that they had at this park for us to explore…
It was a really fun place to explore and get literally into the fountains..so glad we ventured out to see it..
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