Two days in Lima

We are finishing our trip. Three weeks ago we started the trip by dipping our toes in the Atlantic ocean in Miami. Today we completed the trip by dipping our toes in the Pacific ocean. Tomorrow we will be on our way home. (It will be hard going back into work!)

We spent our first day in Lima walking along the cliffs above the ocean. It was a nice lookout, but the sea fog was really thick. We got to an open air mall built into the cliff and had lunch. Robin had a wonderful rice and seafood dish.

We then walked to a preInca pyramid ruin. It was build with many clay tiles/bricks. The bricks looked like library books on end. While we were resting after our tour a waiter at the restaurant came out with a local custard dessert. We got to eat it because the people who ordered it had disappeared. The waiter looked like our friend Jim.

This morning we took a guided bus tour of Lima. We drove through several sections of town. We saw a couple of embassies. We also saw the residence of the US ambassador. We got out of the bus and saw a museum in the basement of the federal bank. They had many gold artifacts. Interestingly enough that exhibit was in the old vault. We walked over to the main square. Then over to a Franciscan monastery. The monastery is still in use. We saw a wonderful library with some very old books, the sacristy, and the catacombs. They buried people there instead of just storing bones.

We had a wonderful buffet lunch at a nice restaurant. It had typical Lima food. We then caught a taxi to the beach. Well beach might be a stretch, it was mainly rocks. We watched the surfers and paragliders. We are now on our way back to the hotel to get a bit of sleep before our early flight home.

****Robin's Note****

Hello everyone, as Joel wrote we are on our way back to the US of A tomorrow. Los estados unidos. People often ask " where are you from?" so we first say los estados, then Minnesota, then say near Canada. At least this gives them some idea of where we live.

We are staying in Miraflores, which is a wealthy suburb of Lima. I met the woman who owns the hotel. Her portrait is in the lounge. She looks to be in her early 70s and the portrait was painted when she was 26. The hotel originally was her family home .

We see servants walking the dogs and taking children out to the park. Often the women wear aprons. There are many hi-rises along the ocean and also tennis clubs. Such a contrast from the remote places we have visited in Bolivia!

Today as we were walking back to the hotel a young man asked us if we liked Peru. "Yes" we said. I think that Peruvians may feel that people have only one mental picture of Peru which doesn't include the urbane, hip and fast paced life of the cities. We have had such a great time on our trip! There is so much to see in Peru that I know we will return again someday. Perhaps we will become members of the South American Explorer's Club.

Tomorrow we leave for home, I am ready to drink water straight from the tap and also be able to flush my toilet paper down the toilet. I also look forward to seeing our family and friends.

Hasta luego!