The morning after we arrived my 17-year-old and I each get up and go for a run down to the seacoast, I go first, she follows. Our hotel, The Casa Andina Private Collection, is in the seaside district of Miraflores. She's delighted that she's gone sightseeing on her own and exercised before breakfast.
We are about to embark on an Adventure by Disney trip, but this is our free day, so we consult with our Disney guides, Kory and Ernesto, as well as with our concierge. And we also look over the guidebook materials I'd brought. My older daughter picks out some great spots for us to see. After a 30-minute cab ride we arrive at the Plaza las Armas, the main square, to watch the grand, 30-minute ritual of the changing of the guard in front of the government palace. Really cool -- red regimental uniforms, shiny silver helmets with ponytails coming out of them. And we are talking precision marching, some straight-legged, some high stepping, all to the accompaniment of a great brass band.
This is also our first encounter with the omnipresent riot control police lined up behind their plastic shields and inviting tourists to pose with them. Absolutely hilarious.
Buildings are brightly colored,and they need to be because the sun only come out in Lima in the summer, January through April. The rest of the time, solid grey skies, like a donkey's belly, Pizarro supposedly said.
We walk down side streets lined with attractive sidewalk cafes with staff inviting us in. Above us, brightly painted--vivid blues, strong yellows--colonial buildings rise, their balconies filled with drying laundry.
Next, we head over to the Inca Market, which has some touristy stuff, but a lot of brightly colored textile blankets, runners, ponchos, diaries, hats, sweaters. All in all, really worth the stop. My older daughter picks up some cute drawstring pants; my ten-year-old gets a tiny globe of Machu Picchu and a tiny notebook.We'll come back here Sunday if we can.
For lunch we stop at a little store on a side street near the Inca Market and get really tasty empanadas; the only thing wrong with them, we should've gotten more.
We join the first part of a bus tour, passing (but to my disappointment, not stopping to visit) Huaca Pucllana, this huge unfinished temple that archaeoologists are still excavating. Then, it's back to the old section or Lima, where we see a massive demonstration in St. Martin Square--a beautiful square lined by beautiful white Grecian inspired buildings--by school teachers. Yeah! It's very orderly and at the tail end come a phalanx of mounted police in complete riot gear, even their horses wear face shields. It is my older daughter's favorite part of the tour.
At Archeological Museum, we learn the history of Peru through the prism of its pottery. The Chila ruled for 5000 years; the Moche Lima and Nasra tribes ruled overcame them and then were cconquered by the Wari, who themselves were undone by the forces of nature--earthquakes and tsunamis.
After the archeological tour, we do our own meandering aorund the neighborhoods of the central quarter, visting the Monastery of St. Francis, checking out local hangouts and just moseying. I am crazy about this colonial architecture and its Spanish-Moorish touches. One of my faves--a grand but worn building with an ornately carved wooden balcony that's closed; the glass in some of its window panes is shattered. We wonder what things looked like when everything was new and pristine.
We take one final shot of friendly riot police inviting us to pose with them, then we cab back to our hotel to play in the pool, which is gorgeous. Nice gym, too!
We will be back in Lima hSunday and have the afternoon and early evening to spend here; we definitely want to hit the city center or Barranco for a taste of Lima's night life. But now we know how truly horrendous traffic in Lima is, it's a city of 8.5 million and because it is a seismically active city (what a nice way to say it gets hit by massive earthquakes), it has no subway. So the best way to tour it is to pick three areas and just take a cab to each and explore around there.
Speaking of earthquakes, after dinner we experience our first earthquake drill, a one- or two-minute drill with impressive sirens and announcements to leave the building. Kory and Ernesto warn us in advance, but not everyone in the hotel knows that it's a drill; the stairwells fill with a lot of tourists in their bathrobes and slippies.
All in all, we really dig Lima. The people are unfailingly gracious; security guards and people on corners greeted us on our runs. Drivers graciously wave at me to give me the right of way--but as a general rule, pedestrians should take care. Cars have right of way, not people. And all vehicles push the lights, starting just before the light turns from red to green and still cruising through when the light changes from green to red.
Traffic cops give us friendly directions.
This morning: 5:30 a.m. wakeup call, first an automated one and five minutes later, a follow-up call from an actual person. Man, these Disney folks do not mess around! We board a bus for the airport, driving along the coast and watching surfers in the grey morning waves.
And now, we're flying over the Andes!
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