Heading back to Lima, city tour, dinner show, homebound - June 4-5, 2011

It was our last day in Peru.  We had breakfast, packed up, took a few more pictures of the hotel and waited for Rosa to pick us up in the lobby to head to the airport for our flight to Lima.  One thing I forgot to mention:  the last time we checked out, the front desk gave us a "check-out" card marked with our room number and a $0 balance to give to the doorman.  I guess if you have luggage and try to leave the hotel without the card, the doorman would stop you.  So we got to do the same again.  Our trusty driver Renateo met us outside in a regular passenger car, not the big 20 person van.

hotel inner courtyard

Peruvian colonial style

beautiful stonework

one of many huge fresh flower displays in the lobby

When we arrived at the airport, it had been cordoned off by police and only passengers were allowed to walk through the parking lot into the terminal.  This was a precaution against terrorism as the next day was to be Peru's election day, with a heated competition for the presidency between Keiko Fujimori and Ollanta Humala (Ollanta won).  Rosa had to sweet talk the guards to be allowed to accompany us into the terminal.  Once inside, everyone's bags were searched before reaching the ticket counter.  The batteries from Babe's headlamp had to be discarded; he gave them to Rosa to take home.  The bottles of water I had stuffed into the check-in bags were removed and given to us to carry on our person.  The officer who was searching my bag didn't find my headlamp.  We got our boarding passes and headed to the gates, and it was unclear whether we could bring water bottles in, as there were no signs about liquid or gel restrictions.  In the United States, passengers are not allowed to go through security with bottles larger than 3.5oz, so we erred on the safe side and drank some of the water; I gave my unopened bottle to a janitor and she was very grateful.  It turned out you could bring water through security as I saw a passenger go in with a water bottle in their hand and the guards didn't tell her to throw it away!

The LAN Airlines flight to Lima was boarding via a single line, with passengers called by zone number.  I heard a few zones called but the line wasn't moving.  Then our zone number was announced and we decided to cut out of the line to get to the front; it seemed quite unlikely that the 20-odd people in front of us all had higher zone numbers than us so something must have been up.  It turned out that the first person in the queue had a later zone number, so was rightfully not making any moves to board, but I glanced at people's boarding passes behind them and their zone had already been called!  I think they were just following the leader and not paying attention.  Oh well, more overhead space for us!

The flight was uneventful, and a similar snack was served as last time...more chocolate, yum!  We arrived in Lima around 11am and our flight back to the United States wasn't leaving until 12:45am the next day, so Eduardo was going to give us a city tour and we reserved a folkloric show later in the evening including a dinner buffet.  He met us in the domestic terminal and our tour of Lima began.  We started by driving around the downtown area to look at the different styles of architecture.  There were a lot of casinos on the main street.  We also got out of the car to walk around the main square and side streets to look at more architecture.  There was a free museum showcasing the area's agricultural production and history, which was okay (thus no pictures).  Another place we went in was San Francisco Church, which contained catacombs and we saw lots of exposed skulls and bones in there...no pictures allowed.

different styles of architecture would be sandwiched in between other styles

one of the casinos on the street

very imposing

San Martin square

different styles of balconies

colorful facades

the main square

more interesting facades

Cathedral of Lima

we passed by a "broasting" vendor...this is a popular food

San Francisco Church, which we entered to look at the catacombs

We then drove over towards the river where ancient city walls had been unearthed and a park built around the ruins.

the walls were built in the 17th century

wall details

a hidden statue of Pizarro

We did more driving through town and traffic, with our next destination being the district of San Isidro (where Eduardo's uncle is mayor), where Eduardo had grew up.

San Isidro is the financial district...this was the first "modern" building we've seen

We stopped at El Olivar Park, where there were very old olive trees standing for almost 500 years.

these aren't the old trees

old olive oil presses

here's a gnarly old tree

pond with koi fish

We then headed next door to the Miraflores district, where we drove by some interesting pre-Incan ruins (the place was closed to tourists) and visited the coast.

pre-Incan ruins, which Eduardo says are even more interesting than Incan ones

a taste of home

the beach...it's cold and people are surfing

parachute cliff jumping

a restaurant on the pier

Love Park

where the parachuting jumped off

Afterwards, we made a improvised stop at a store that sold cremoladas, like a watery sorbet.  It was very refreshing!  There were so many flavors, half of which are fruits that come from the rain forest of which Eduardo could not find an equivalent English name.  It cost 4 soles for a small cup.

pick a flavor, any flavor

I don't remember all the flavors, but one of them was definitely mango

We then headed to the Lima Fountains, a collection of 12 spectacular fountains, and the entrance fee was only 4 soles per person!  We hardly had any soles left and we were scrounging around our bags to find change and also to pay for parking.  Eduardo had an in with the business across from the street from the entrance and the guy let him park there for a negotiated rate.  All we had to do was cross the street...how convenient!  It was just getting dark too, so it was the perfect time to view the fountains with the lights on.

there was a laser fountain show later that evening

The dinner show was coming up soon, so Eduardo was driving like a bat out of hell through the streets of Lima.  The driving probably would have scared a lot of people, but I didn't feel uneasy as all the drivers seemed to be aware of everyone else and were actually cordial to each other and allowed people to cut in front of them using glances and nodding as forms of communication.  Eduardo explained that this was accepted because if they let someone in this time, when they needed to do the same in the future, some other driver will let them in, like paying it forward.

The dinner show was held at Junius Restaurant, located inside the Doubletree El Pardo Lima Hotel.  We were to be seated in a side corner of the room where it would be hard to see the stage, but Eduardo asked for a better table, and we got it. :)  We were there earlier than the other guests, so we got to take our time perusing the buffet.  There was a wide variety of food, and all of it was fresh, even the ceviche, which Eduardo said was only normally eaten during the day, preferably before noon as that is when the fish and seafood are freshly prepared.  Only tourists ate it for dinner. ;)  The octopus ceviche was surprisingly my favorite and I ate so much of it!  It wasn't chewy at all.

sweet potato, salad, scallop, tuna and octopus ceviche

more of my favorites, plus fresh baked bread, mushroom casserole, lentils, pork stew

indigenous soup, good as usual

Eduardo told us to eat this by mixing the cream with the sugary bottom, so good

The show featured different styles of dancing.  My favorite was a father-son duo doing the "scissors dance".  The moves were pretty amazing as it took a lot of effort and precision.  I couldn't even get a good picture of it because the motion was too fast.

We left a bit before the show ended, as we had to be at the airport to check in for our flight back.  Eduardo took us quickly to the airport (but not harrowing...) and we had plenty of time to make our flight.  Alas, it was the end of our trip.  Babe and I had such a great time and it was the highlight of my sabbatical.  Good food, friendly people, scenic panoramas, testing the body's limits, what's not to like?  Goodbye Peru...hope to return to South America someday!