 |
| Basilica Cathedral |
Click on any image for a larger view
We are riding to the house, the terminal ride of our five
week adventure to South America. Nicida
and I look at each other smiling, for two reasons; it was a very successful
trip, all our hours of researching, planning and more research paid off. We are also smiling because we are glad to be
home. We have been on the road for over
a month. We enjoyed our time in South
America; we saw and did all that we had planned to see and do. Somewhere during our trip, I don’t know when,
it became an adventure. We didn’t plan
for the excessive Lima traffic resulting in multiple buses and a taxi to get to
our destination; the multiple; not one, not two, but three flat tires driving
across Patagonia; protests in Santiago; the vastness of Patagonia – a two lane
ribbon of road which we drove over 2,000 miles seeing other vehicles only
occasionally, and many other stories. We
remember, are able to talk about, smile and laugh about all these experiences –
making it an adventure.
 |
| Plaza Mayor fountain |
Our trip started December of 2017. Nicida had mentioned wanting to visit her
nieces and nephews that she has not seen for almost 20 years. They are in Peru, Chile and Argentina; having
emigrated from the horrible conditions in Venezuela. South America has never been on my bucket
list so I did my usual thing; go to the library, taking out books on Peru,
Chile and Argentina. Scanning the
highlights I promptly said I would like to go.
She had been to Peru on an organized trip a few years ago seeing Cuzco,
Machu Picchu and the Amazon but little else.
We used the same travel agency this time for the Lima, Cuzco, Machu
Picchu destinations over the first week but the remaining four weeks we assembled ourselves; taking about 60 hours each to come
up the final plan. We considered renting
a motorhome in Patagonia; only small ones are available, which wouldn’t work
for four adults. We looked at flying
between Santiago and Mendoza; about 12 hours by plane through Buenos Aires but only
five hours by car through the Andes: more paperwork, but a lot more
scenery. We finally ended up with
revision ‘E’ from our original plan. As
mentioned earlier, we consider our adventure a success, we saw and did what we
had planned; added a few things here and there; and came through the challenges
that met us.  |
| Parque del Amor statue |
I have kept diaries from several of my past trips and
decided I need one for this trip. The
hard part is keeping up with it on a daily basis. I managed to update it four nights out of
every five. If I didn’t keep up with it
daily I lost fun and interesting details.
By the end of the trip I had written 60 pages of our adventure.
 |
| Pacific Ocean |
Prior to leaving on our trip we are reminded not to eat raw
fruits/vegetables. Drink only bottled water.
Wandering down the sidewalks, street vendors are selling some of the
best looking strawberries I’ve seen in a long time; I have to keep reminding
myself to ignore them. I know one of the
first things I will be eating once I get back home, my mouth waters thinking
about it.
There are three of us on the Peru portion of the trip. After a bit of sightseeing we stop in a
grocery store stocking up on water, fruit, salty and sweet snacks. I see more types of bananas/plantains than I
knew existed; small, medium, large.
Nicida and Eugenia being from South America are familiar with some of
the different varieties buying several; some good, others… We are careful to buy only fruit we can peel; primarily
bananas, apples.
 |
| Basilica Cathedral |
After lunch with Nicida’s nephew and family we wander
through Kennedy Park in honor of John F Kennedy. Cats own the park. The only place we do not see them is in the
kid’s play area teaming with kids running from swings to slides on to jungle
gyms. The parks and streets are
spotless, countless city employees with brooms and trash cans sweep
everything. It is a little unsettling
seeing those same employees all wearing dust masks over their faces – what do
they know that I don’t.
 |
| Metro bus |
That afternoon we decide to go to Plaza Mayor, the main
plaza of Lima. There is a ‘Christ of the
Miracles’ celebration this evening. The
plaza is about 5 miles from our hotel.
Jumping on a local bus we make progress at a snail’s pace: move one
block, six people get off to be replaced by six others; repeat. “Let’s take the metro-bus, it’s quicker”. The six of us jump off so six others can take
our place; we immediately make our way towards the metro station, a half mile
away. The traffic and the blaring horns
are never ending. Arriving at the metro
station we purchase our tickets heading to the next line for the bus. The first one arrives with room for twenty
people making us feel that one or two more buses and we will be on our
way… After ten buses of one person squeezing
their way off the bus then one person squeezing to fill the ‘open’ space; a can
of sardines comes to mind. We move on to
plan ‘C’; taxi. Several taxis stop, wanting the fare but are
scared away at the sight of five adults and one child.
Finally one stops; looks at us; then motions
us into his cab. Being the tallest I get
to sit in the front seat. I immediately
think how spacious the seats were on the flights I just got off of a few days
earlier. The other five are in the back;
the thread bare seats sink down like a under-inflated air mattress. Only their heads appear in the windows of the
cab. I feel as much as hear the cab
bottoming out as we go over each speed bump and pothole. The cabbie works overtime shifting gears to
keep the cab moving forward – I wasn’t certain it would a few times. He dives back and forth block by block
inching us closer to our destination. Finally
arriving at Plaza Mayor we tumble out of the cab thankful we are alive to tell
the story. The plaza is stunning with the
church, government buildings and fountains.
As evening moves in the plaza is lit up.
The churches are so ornate both inside and out I would have a hard time
paying attention to the church service. Our
taxi ride home is less perilous but takes us 90 minutes to go the same five miles. |
| Huaca Pucllana |
After a breakfast of cheese, eggs, fruit, rolls and coffee
we wait for the tour van to pick us up.
No time was given us on our itinerary so we wait. A call comes in announcing they will be by to
pick us up in 10 minutes; 30 minutes later we get in the van for the tour. Given the traffic challenges we had last
night we should have expected the delay.
We were taken to the Huaca Pucllana, an adobe and mud brick pyramid
structure in the center of Lima. It was
constructed between 200 and 700 AD. We
were not able to walk the pyramid but it looks impressive from what we had
seen. The tour continued with a return
trip to the Plaza Mayor with a tour of the church facing the plaza then a
another church with thousands of bones of monks and patrons stored in the
catacombs underneath. We stopped for lunch
at an Italian restaurant overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Afterward we dined on delicious baked sweets
we found at one of the local bakeries.
Taxi drivers badgered us looking to supply a ride to anywhere we wanted
to go; the Peru Gold Museum. Pieces in
the museum start pre-Inca including burial pieces, tools, jewelry and
goblets. The weaving and fiber pieces
are amazing to see. The detail of the
work is outstanding. 
We entirely skipped
the arms portion of the museum; the gold of Peru was a compelling sight. We attended a folk dancing show displaying
regional Peruvian folk dances. Those attending
the show were encouraged to dance with the folk dancers by a look and
encouragement from your friends at your table.
I ducked out the first time but was encouraged to folk dance later that
evening. Towards the end of the evening
almost everyone was dancing; folk and otherwise. |
| Pachacamac gate, to the right of the road |
We rented out taxi driver for the next day. We start with a visit to the archeological
site of Pachacamac about 25 miles outside of Lima. The site was started 200 BC by the Lima
culture as a religious site. Succeeding
cultures took over the site each expanding the site and what it was used for
ending with the Incas in the 1400’s. The
main structure is the temple of the Sun, painted red so it could be seen from a
far distance. There are still hints of
red on the exterior walls. In the early
1500’s the Spaniards came and looted the site for its gold and tore down
structures to build their own churches and other buildings. Only four of 16 original
pyramids have been unearthed at this point.
Cranes for tall building construction surround Pachacamac. The outskirts of Lima are encroaching on the
edges of Pachacamac, who knows what may be under those buildings. |
| Temple of the Sun |
 |
| Temple of the Sun |
The Larco museum followed lunch. Here we learned more about the pre-Inca
civilizations. More gold and pieces of
precious metals are on display. We
finish the Larco museum in the erotic ceramic section where nothing is left to
the imagination.
Parque del Amor, Love Park,
overlooks the Pacific Ocean with statues and art dedicated to love. A park with fountains including synced video
and music was popular with many of us.
The night ended with a Peruvian folk dancing exhibition. The ultimate exhibition was a the coordinated
dance with scissors. The dancers were clanging
the scissors to the beat of the music while doing tumbling moves comparable to
what is seen at the Olympics.
On to Cuzco.
Thank you for stopping by,
Mark
Hurry up and post the trip to Cuzco!!! Anton and I can't wait to read about it. Esther
ReplyDelete